In a phoenix-from-the-ashes turnaround, the Quality Assurance Agency appears to have been saved from anticipated dissolution following a concerted effort from HEFCE which had hoped to out-manoeuvre the agency in its quest to secure its own future. However, QAA won major parts of the quality assessment tender and will implement large parts of the TEF. Blackstock has steered the ship through the choppiest of waters with a friendly personal style which certainly helped to endear him to civil servants during the quality wars of the last 18 months.
But all’s not well in Gloucester as a brutal restructuring programme will likely mean the loss of significant expertise from the agency. And the quality wars are not over yet: when the dust settles on the Higher Education and Research Bill and UUK’s sector agency review, the final settlement agreed with the government and the sector may still not be wholly favourable for QAA. But being the likely recipient of a formal role in the new system, the QAA will almost certainly live to fight another day – something that looked unlikely at several points over the past months.