We are delighted to announce the appointments of new chairs for two key bodies within sparqs’ governance structure. Roddy Henry, Depute Principal (Planning and Student Experience) at Inverness College UHI, and Prof Tina Harrison, Assistant Principal (Academic Standards and Quality Assurance) at The University of Edinburgh, will chair our College Advisory Group and University Advisory Group respectively.
The role of the advisory groups is to help shape the work of sparqs by providing sector-relevant sounding boards and guidance to ensure our projects and activities complement the priorities of the sector. The groups, which meet three times a year, including once jointly, are comprised of staff and student officers from across institutions and students’ associations, plus representatives of sector agencies.
The chairs of the two advisory groups also sit on the sparqs Members’ Steering Committee, which is formed by representatives of our partner agencies and which plays a vital role in our governance and operational oversight.
Tina and Roddy both bring a wealth of experience in learning, teaching, quality and student engagement, and have been involved in sparqs’ work over many years.
Tina has been in her current role at The University of Edinburgh for ten years, during which time she has chaired and led numerous areas of work, and co-operated closely with sparqs on quality and student partnership. She has been a member of sparqs’ University Advisory Group for five years, is a current member of the Scottish Higher Education Enhancement Committee (SHEEC) and the Quality Arrangements for Scottish Higher Education (QASHE) group, and has recently joined QAA Scotland’s Strategic Advisory Committee.
Roddy worked previously at Glasgow College of Nautical Studies (GCNS, now a part of City of Glasgow College), the Scottish Further Education Unit (SFEU) and as an Inspector with Education Scotland. He has been involved in many sector forums, and has worked with sparqs nationally in various ways, including the College Improvement Project and our development of guidance on student engagement in the college quality process. Roddy is a member of the Colleges’ Quality Development Network Steering Group, the Colleges Scotland Implementation Team for the Learner Journey Review and a college sector representative on the Adult Learning Strategic Forum Working Group.
Our two new chairs were appointed following open processes developed in conjunction with Colleges Scotland and Universities Scotland. We are grateful to those agencies for their collaboration.
Tina and Roddy begin their roles as chairs with immediate effect, and the first meetings of the academic year of the College Advisory Group and University Advisory Group will be later in the autumn.
For more information please contact Eve Lewis, Director of sparqs – eve.lewis@sparqs.ac.uk.
