The new chair of the Higher Education Academy is Rama Thirunamachandran, the vice-chancellor of Canterbury Christ Church University.

Professor Thirunamachandran, who has been a member of the HEA board since 2010, succeeds Don Nutbeam, the vice-chancellor of the University of Southampton.

He takes the helm at the York-based organisation, which supports and encourages teaching excellence, at a pivotal time in its development.

Teaching is at the top of the higher education policy agenda, with Jo Johnson, the universities and science minister, planning a teaching excellence framework to measure English institutions¡¯ performance. Universities deemed to offer the highest quality teaching will be allowed to raise tuition fees in line with inflation from 2017-18, the government has said.

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However, the HEA faces significant financial challenges, with its central funding, worth ?15 million in 2013-14, expected to dwindle to zero in coming years.

Professor Thirunamachandran, formerly the deputy vice-chancellor of Keele University and director for research, innovation and skills at the Higher Education Funding Council for England, said it was a ¡°great privilege¡± to take on the HEA role.

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¡°The HEA¡¯s business is about teaching quality, and this is high on the agenda across the sector and in governments in the UK and internationally ¨C and it¡¯s something about which I am passionate,¡± Professor Thirunamachandran said. ¡°The HEA is in an enormously strong position to use its networks of best practice and its custodianship of the UK professional standards framework to help to make a real difference to student outcomes through teaching quality.

¡°The HEA has a central role to play in supporting the HE sector and I am confident its services will support institutions and individuals in their focus on student outcomes.¡±

chris.havergal@tesglobal.com