Ian Diamond is one of those vice chancellors that seems to spend as much time on the policy scene as inside his own institution. Although he’s been involved in many substantial reviews in the past, it is his eponymous Diamond Review of Welsh Higher Education which he is polishing off right now on behalf of the Welsh Government that will probably make the biggest splash of all. Hotly anticipated, the Diamond Review is likely to shape the future of Welsh higher education policy for years to come and a new Education Secretary appears ready pick up the challenge of reform. From tuition fees to sector agencies, nothing appears off the table.
And it’s not just being watched carefully in Wales – if the HE systems in the UK were to pull further apart, there could be numerous implications for policy in England, Scotland and Northern Ireland as the relationships between institutions and students across increasingly visible borders get every more complicated.