Australia Appoints New Higher Education Watchdog Chief
The head of the UK’s higher education watchdog is to take over the management of Australia’s equivalent organisation.
Anthony McClaran, who has led the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education (QAA) – the independent body tasked with monitoring and advising on standards and quality in UK higher education, since 2009 – will leave in October to become the chief executive of Australia’s higher education regulator, the Tertiary Education Quality Standards Agency (TEQSA).
He has been appointed to serve a five-year term at TEQSA.
Before his current role, McClaran had been chief executive of admissions service UCAS since 2003 after working at the organisation for eight years.
After graduating with a degree in English and American Literature from the University of Kent, he worked in university administration at Warwick, then became academic registrar, and then acting registrar at Hull University.
He has held numerous governance positions across the school and university sectors, including chair of the Council of the University of Gloucestershire, Governor of the National Star College, and Chair of the Employment and Skills Advisory Committee of Gloucestershire First (now GFirst).
Australia’s minister for education and training, Christopher Pyne, said in a press release published yesterday: “The government is committed to red tape reduction and quality enhancement in higher education. I look forward to working with Mr McClaran to ensure Australia’s higher education providers deliver teaching, learning and research of the highest quality and institutions are not overburdened with red tape.”
About Winnie Agbonlahor
Winnie is news editor of Global Government Forum. She previously reported for Civil Service World - the trade magazine for senior UK government officials. Originally from Germany, Winnie first came to the UK in 2006 to study a BA in Journalism & Russian at the University of Sheffield. She is bilingual in English and German, and, after spending an academic year abroad in Russia and reporting for the Moscow Times, Winnie also speaks Russian fluently.
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