Higher Education Funding Council for England gets new board members

With funding a key driver of e-learning, technology and ICT in higher education, these appointments carry strategic weight.

Mr Johnson also announced the appointment of two new Board Members.

Dr Beverley Malone, General Secretary, Royal College of Nursing and Edward Smith, Global Strategy Leader for Assurance, Pricewaterhouse Coopers will join the Board immediately and have been appointed for a period of 3 years.

Mr Johnson said:

"I am very pleased to be able to make these appointments. The new members bring a wide range of experience to the HEFCE Board, in strategic and critical thinking, and also an interest and understanding of the mechanisms of the higher education sector. I am confident that they will be able to provide strategic advice and guidance to the Funding Council in taking forward an ambitious programme for higher education."

The Higher Education Funding Council for England was established on 6 May 1992 under the terms of the Further and Higher Education Act 1992 and assumed responsibility for funding higher education in England on 1 April 1993, succeeding the Universities Funding Council and the Polytechnics and Colleges Funding Council.

The HEFCE's main functions are to advise the Secretary of State for Education and Skills on the funding needs of higher education institutions in England and to distribute available funds. In 2004-05 the HEFCE is distributing over 5 billion to support teaching and research in 132 institutions of higher education and of higher education courses at 201 further education colleges.

Members of the Board, including the Chairman and Chief Executive, have collective responsibility for the control and management of the HEFCE as a corporate body. The Board is responsible for developing policies and ensuring that projects, programmes and activities undertaken by the HEFCE are consistent with the overall provisions of the FHE Act and any guidance or directions issued by the Secretary of State.

David Young joined the Board in June 2001 and was appointed chairman of the Board by the Secretary of State for Education and Skills from October 2001 until September 2004. David was born in 1942, grew up in Sheffield and studied at Corpus Christi College, Oxford. He spent the first twenty years of his working life in the civil service (Ministry of Defence and Cabinet Office), leaving in 1982 to join the John Lewis Partnership. He retired from there in 2002 as deputy chairman, having also been finance director. David was treasurer and a member of council of the Open University 1996-2001 and has been a trustee of the Royal Air Force Museum since 1999. David Young has been reappointed for another two years.

Dr Malone became General Secretary of the Royal College of Nursing (RCN), the UK's largest professional union of nurses, in June 2001. The RCN has a membership of over 360,000 nurses, midwives, health visitors, nursing students, cadets and health care assistants. As General Secretary, Dr Malone is a member of the NHS Modernisation Board and the Economic and Social Research Council. She also represents the RCN at the pan-European nursing body, the Standing Committee of Nurses of the EU, the Commonwealth Nurses Federation and the International Council of Nurses.

Edward Smith is a chartered accountant and a senior partner in PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC). Having been on the UK Board responsible for strategy, knowledge, technology and people for the last three years, he is now a member of the Global Assurance Leadership responsible for strategy, research and development and a member of the Global IT Executive. He is also responsible for all PwC services to a number of its major FTSE clients and to the DTI.

Dr. Beverly Malone and Mr Edward Smith have been appointed for a period of 3 years.

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Higher Education Funding Council for England