The Committee of Scottish Chairs appointed a Steering Group to oversee the preparation of the new Scottish Code of Good Higher Education Governance. The membership of the Steering Group included representatives from the private, public and third sectors with considerable experience of good governance and higher education between them. A former university Rector was appointed to represent the student interest. The Group was supported by an expert secretariat. The Steering Group operated within a published Terms of Reference.
Committee Members
Lord Smith of Kelvin Kt (Chair)
Lord Robert Smith was appointed Chairman of the Organising Committee for the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games in February 2008. He is one of Scotland’s leading business figures, is Chairman of the Weir Group and Scottish and Southern Energy.
He was knighted in 1999 for services to the National Museums of Scotland, and holds honorary degrees from the universities of Edinburgh (1999), Glasgow (2001) and the University of the West of Scotland (formerly Paisley, 2003). He is Chancellor of the University of the West of Scotland and chairs The Smith Group, which studies opportunity pathways for young people not in education, employment or training. He became a member of the House of Lords in 2008 as an Independent Crossbench Peer.
The Rt Hon Dame Elish Angiolini
Currently Principal at St Hugh’s College, Oxford, Dame Elish is the former Lord Advocate of Scotland – the highest law officer in the Scottish legal system. Prior to this she was Solicitor General for Scotland. She was the first woman, and the first solicitor in the modern era, to hold either position. Born in Govan, Glasgow, she attended Notre Dame High School for Girls and studied Law at Strathclyde University. She is now a visiting professor at Strathclyde, an honorary professor at Aberdeen University and holds honorary degrees from the universities of Glasgow Caledonian, Strathclyde and Aberdeen. She is also a QC and Privy Counsellor.
Mr Simon Pepper
Simon Pepper was Rector of University of St Andrews 2005-8, and principal author of ‘The University Rector’, an introduction to the role of the Rector in Scotland, including a draft “Rectors’ Charter”. Before that, he was founding director of WWF Scotland 1985-2005, awarded OBE for services to sustainable development in 2000.
He was an external appointee to the Cabinet Sub-Committee on Sustainable Scotland (chaired by First Minister) 2004-7, and has served terms of office on the Deer Commission and the National Committee of Forestry Commission Scotland. He is currently chairman of the Scottish Government’s Climate Challenge Fund Panel, and a member of the Scottish Committee of the Heritage Lottery Fund and the board of Scottish Natural Heritage.
Mr Tony Brian
Tony Brian has been the Chair of Court, Glasgow Caledonian University from 1 August 2011. He also chairs the Court Membership Committee and sits on the Remuneration Committee. He joined the Court in 2003 and has previously served as Vice-Chair of Court and, prior to that, as Chair of the Audit Committee.
Tony qualified as a lawyer in 1978, becoming a partner of a corporate legal firm in Edinburgh the next year. He joined Bank of Scotland in 1984 and has served in a range of senior functions, including Managing Director for offshore operations in Jersey and the Isle of Man. He has worked in the Group Risk area for Bank of Scotland, specialising in regulatory and governance issues. In 2003 he became Deputy Head of Group Regulatory Risk of HBOS plc. and in January 2005 was appointed Joint Head of Group Regulatory Risk. In November 2005 he was appointed Head of Risk for the Europe (excluding UK and Ireland) and North America Division. In April 2009 Tony joined the Insurance Division of Lloyds Banking Group, the largest insurance business in the UK, as Director of Operational and Regulatory Risk and Risk Infrastructure. He retired from LBG on 30 June 2011.
Mr David Ross
David was President of Glasgow University Union 1969-70 and graduated from Glasgow University LL.B (Honours) in 1970. He trained as a lawyer becoming a Partner of Biggart Baillie of Glasgow and Edinburgh in 1977, Head of Corporate 1997 and Chairman and Senior Partner 2001-2008. He specialised in Corporate and Commercial Law, particularly in the UK electricity and gas industries. From 1997-2002 he chaired a Euro- American Lawyers Group comprising some 20 law firms based in many of the main commercial centres in Europe and USA. President of Glasgow Chamber of Commerce 2002-2003, Chairman of Scottish Chambers of Commerce and a Director of British Chambers of Commerce 2003-2007. Director of Scottish Council for Development and Industry 2003-2007. Secretary of Loganair 1997-2012 and a Director 2009-2012. David retired from the Law in 2009.
David Joined the Glasgow University Court in 2004 and was appointed Convener (Senior Lay Member) from 1 January 2010. He currently Chairs the Investment Advisory, Nominations and Remuneration Committees, is a member of the Finance Committee and represents the University at UK Committee of University Chairs and its Scottish equivalent. In 2007, he was appointed a Director of APUC Ltd. He is also a member of the Advisory Board of Interface – which matches businesses with academics at Scotland’s Universities and Research Institutions.
Mr Eric Sanderson
Eric is the Chair of the Court of the University of Dundee.
Eric graduated in law from the University of Dundee in 1972. He was President of the Students’ Association in 1972-73. After graduating he qualified as a Chartered Accountant and became a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Bankers in Scotland. He also studied at Harvard Business School.
He was for nine years Chief Executive of British Linen Bank, Bank of Scotland’s investment bank, then sat on the Bank’s Management Board as Head of Group Treasury. More recently he has been Executive Chairman of Kwik-Fit Insurance Services and Non-Executive Chairman of MyTravel Group.
He has also been a non-executive director on a number of boards, including British Rail prior to its privatisation. He has now retired from executive duties but is non-executive Chairman of MWB Group Holdings PLC (property, retail and hotels) and is a non-executive director of First Milk Limited and of Schroder UK Mid Cap Fund plc.
Lord Vallance of Tummel
Lord Vallance is Chairman of The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland.
He is also Chairman of Amsphere Ltd, a member of the Supervisory Board of Siemens AG and a member of the Allianz AG International Advisory Board. He is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Bankers in Scotland, a Fellow of the London Business School, an Honorary Governor of Glasgow Academy and an Honorary Fellow of Brasenose College Oxford.
He spent his executive career with BT Plc, joining its Board at its inception in 1981, becoming Chief Executive in 1986 and Chairman from 1987 until May 2001.
He was made a Knight Bachelor in 1994 and joined the House of Lords, as a Liberal Democrat Peer, in 2004. He is a former Chairman of the House of Lords Select Committee on Economic Affairs.
He has held a number of other positions in the past, including: President of the CBI, Chairman of the European Services Forum, Chairman of the European Advisory Committee to the New York Stock Exchange, Vice Chairman of the Royal Bank of Scotland Group, member of the Board of Directors of the Mobil Corporation, member of the Security Commission and a member of the European Advisory Council of the Rothschild Group.
Expert Advisors appointed by the Steering Group
The Steering Group appointed two governance experts to assist them in their work to develop the new Code and to ensure that discussions and consultations with students, staff and other interested stakeholders can take place at all 19 institutions across Scotland.
Mr Kevin Clarke
Kevin recently retired as University Secretary at the University of Stirling (1995-2012). Prior to this, he was Clerk to the Senatus and Deputy Secretary at the University of Aberdeen (1985-1995), Assistant Registrar of the Medical School at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne (1983-1985) and an Administrative Assistant at Loughborough University of Technology (1977-1983). HE graduated from the University of Stirling with a BA in Philosophy in 1974.
Kevin has been a member of CUA and then AUA throughout his career in higher education. He was a member of the Association of Heads of University Administration (AHUA) from 1995 to 2012 and served during that time as a member of various Funding Council and other national bodies, including the SFC Strategic Change Funding Panel and its Merger Committee. He served two terms as Convener of the Universities Scotland Secretaries Group, as a member of the AHUA’s Executive Committee and latterly as AHUA’s Deputy Chair.
Dr Peter West OBE
Peter West was born and brought up in Edinburgh and is a graduate in Modern History from the University of St Andrews, where he was President of the Union. His professional life in university management has spanned the Universities of Edinburgh, Leeds and, latterly, Strathclyde where he had a 20-year career as Secretary to the University. In April 2010, after retiring as Secretary, he became Special Adviser to the Principal of that University. Later the same year, he was appointed, at the instigation of the Scottish Funding Council, Chief Operating Officer of Edinburgh College of Art, responsible for guiding the final stages of its merger with the University of Edinburgh in August 2011.
From 1998-2001, he was President of IMHE, the Higher Education Management Programme of OECD, the first British University Secretary to hold that position. He has been involved in Higher Education management training in many parts of the world and has published widely on the subject. He is currently a Board Member of ESMU, the European Centre for the Strategic Management of Universities, based in Brussels, and he chairs the annual Winter School for emerging leaders of European Universities.
He established and led the Strathclyde University Malawi Millennium Project, and subsequently served as chair of the Scotland Malawi Partnership until his appointment in 2010 as Scottish Honorary Consul of the Republic of Malawi.
Peter West holds honorary doctorates from the Universities of Rostov-on-Don in Russia and of Malawi, and Fellowships of Bell College and the University of Strathclyde. He is a Deputy Lieutenant of the City of Glasgow, and was awarded the OBE for services to Higher Education in Scotland and Malawi in 2006.