A new position of massive significance in UK higher education means a new entry to the list in Chris Husbands, Vice Chancellor of Sheffield Hallam University and chair of the Teaching Excellence Framework Panel. As Wonkhe extensively covered at the time of the results’ publication, TEF proved to be anything but an exclusively metrics’ driven exercise, with Husbands’ panel exercising a great deal of discretion in determining universities’ outcomes, especially between Silver and Bronze ratings.
Husbands has sought to be the mediator between the sector and the government on TEF, recognising that the exercise is an inevitability if the government wills it, but seeking to mitigate some of the sectors’ anxieties about the process. Quite how many phone calls or quiet words at the Athenaeum were sought with him by fellow vice chancellors is unknown, but Husbands’ position gives him great influence over his peers – and their future job prospects. Recent changes to TEF have arguably made the exercise more subjective and less reliant on data, potentially giving Husbands and his panel an even more influential role next year.