Govt’s preferred choice for Office for Students Chair to face Education Committee amid universities funding crisis
The Education Committee will question the Government’s preferred candidate to become the new Chair of the Office for Students (OfS), Professor Edward Peck, on his suitability for the role.
Meeting details
Professor Peck may face questions on his plans for the OfS, including how he would deliver support for students and universities as the higher education sector faces funding pressures that are prompting many universities to make redundancies and withdraw some courses.
He is likely to face questions on his plans to address the findings of the Behan Review, published in July 2024, which made 32 recommendations. Sir David Behan said the OfS needed to:
- Have a greater focus on the interests of student;
- Assure and improve quality in higher education;
- Ensure financial sustainability in the sector;
- Be more transparent and independent from government;
- demonstrate stronger leadership.
MPs are also likely to ask about how Professor Peck would deliver the OfS’s 2025-30 strategy, which was published as part of a consultation in December and is based on recommendations from the Behan Review.
The previous Education Committee considered the work of the OfS during its 2024 inquiry on the impact of industrial action on university students. The Committee heard that the OfS could have had a more proactive role in responding to industrial action, and that it did not have “particular presence or standing in the minds of students”. Correspondence summarising the findings of the previous Committee’s inquiry can be found here.
Professor Peck became Vice Chancellor of Nottingham Trent University in 2014. Since 2019, he has been a trustee of UCAS and the Chair of UCAS since 2024. Since 2023, he has chaired the Higher Education Mental Health Implementation Taskforce and has been the DfE Student Support Champion since 2022. In 2018-19 he was a member of the independent advisory panel to the Augar Review of Post-18 Education and Funding. His career began in NHS management.
The last OfS Chair, Lord Wharton of Yarm, resigned several days after the 2024 general election, six months before his four-year term of office was due to end. Sir David Behan has served as Interim Chair since 26 July 2024.