If we ran a lobbying Power List, the work of Alex Proudfoot’s Independent Higher Education would see him very near the top. The extent to which the emerging regulatory architecture of higher education is shaped around the needs of a particular model of “alternative provider”, coupled with the fact that this has been achieved in such a short space of time, suggests that Proudfoot and others have been successful in making the case for private and not-for-profit higher education.
However, there is still work to do. The appointment of an experienced advocate for traditional universities – Nicola Dandridge – to the OfS Chief Executive role was not universally welcomed by IHE members. Concessions required to pilot HERA through an unexpected pre-election parliamentary wash-up period have constricted the route to university status and degree awarding powers. And the overriding public perception of independent HE as being of necessarily lower quality will require far more than the ear of key policymakers.