If Sir Anthony’s rise up the power list tells you anything, it’s that there’s mileage in relentless self-promotion (see also: Andrew Adonis). Seldon has been an outspoken and active vice chancellor and has cemented his position as the unofficial leader of the more established end of alternative providers. He has also had success at Buckingham by topping the TEF Gold ratings and bringing Mary Curnock Cook on board as an adviser. Now if only he could get HS2 to stop at Buckingham, he’d likely have even more success putting his university on the map.
Seldon also exemplifies the rise of independent HE more generally – with the ear of policymakers and the press for what we used to call the “Challenger sector”, we see the passage HERA2017 as confirmation of their central place in HE policymaking.