About the OIA

Background | Our Staff | Board Of Directors

Background

The Higher Education Act 2004 provides for the appointment of a designated operator of a student complaints scheme in England and Wales. The OIA is the designated operator of the Scheme with effect from 1 January 2005.

The first Independent Adjudicator for Higher Education was Baroness Deech.  The current Independent Adjudicator and Chief Executive is Robert Behrens.

He was educated at Burnage Grammar School in Manchester and at the Universities of Nottingham and Exeter.  He began his career lecturing in Public Policy and Administration at Coventry Polytechnic.  In 1988 he joined the Cabinet Office and worked on the development of ‘Fast Stream’ training and the provision of equality of opportunity training and development at the Civil Service College.

From 1992 – 1997 Rob was Director of the Southern Africa Development Unit.  He led UK-sponsored development and training for the African National Congress and other liberation movements in preparation for the creation of a post-Apartheid Public Service.  This programme was established in South Africa and the UK at the personal request of ANC President Nelson Mandela.  Rob continued to provide support and assistance to the post-Apartheid Government after the democratic elections of 1994 and was the only British Civil Servant to address the Constitutional Assembly in Cape Town in 1995.

In 1997, Rob was promoted to the UK Senior Civil Service and became Director of the International Public Service Group, which provided high level technical assistance to 25 countries in transition, including the applicant countries to the European Union. He was also a member of the Business Executive of the Civil Service College and the Senior Management Team of the Centre for Management and Policy Studies.  

In 2003, Rob became Secretary to the Committee on Standards in Public Life which advises the Prime Minister on ethics issues and the conduct of Public Office holders.  He oversaw the Committee’s Tenth enquiry and Report and the publication of the first National Survey of Public Attitudes towards Public Office holders.

In 2006 Rob was appointed Complaints Commissioner to the Bar Standards Board, regulating the behaviour of barristers in England and Wales. In addition to handling individual complaints, he published a Strategic Review of Complaints and Discipline in 2007, a review currently being implemented by the Board.

Rob has been Independent Adjudicator and Chief Executive of the OIA since May 2008.  He is a Trustee of the Fort Hare University Foundation, UK.  He is married with two teenage children and is a lifelong supporter of Manchester City Football Club.

The first Deputy Adjudicator is Michael Reddy. He is an ex-Clifford Chance commercial lawyer and manager and was previously Deputy Banking Ombudsman.

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Our Staff

The Independent Adjudicator and Chief Executive

Robert Behrens - BA, MA 

Deputy Adjudicator

Michael Reddy – LL.B, LL.M, MBA, accredited mediator, barrister (non-practising)

Senior Assistant Adjudicator

Susanna Reece – BA, MSc, solicitor (non-practising)

Senior Reviewer

Felicity Mitchell – BA, PG Dip in law, barrister

Adjudication Staff

• Alex Blacknell – LL.B, solicitor (non-practising)
• Isobel Brown (Liaison Manager) – BSc, PGCE, MA
• Katie Carter – BMus, DMS
• Fiona Draper – LL.B, solicitor (non-practising)
• Tony Drew – BSc, CQSW, APCIP
• Siobhan Hohls – BSoc Sci, LL.B, Attorney admitted under the High Court Rules of South Africa (non-practising)
  
• Craig Knowles – BA, LL.B, Barrister and Solicitor of the High Court of New Zealand (non-practising)
  
• Anne Lee – LL.B, solicitor (non-practising)
• Jo Nuckley – BA, MPhil
• Claire Oldfield - BSc
• Sarah Payne – BA, MBA, solicitor (non-practising)
• Helena Pell – BSc, solicitor
  
• Chris Pinnell – BA
• Kay Shepherd – BA, solicitor (non-practising)
• Niamh Sherwood – BCL, solicitor (non-practising)
• Helen Walton – ATCL, BA, LL.B, Barrister and Solicitor of the High Court of New Zealand (non-practising)
• Patricia Witts – LL.B, PhD, solicitor (non-practising)
• Rufina Wong - BSc, solicitor
• Victoria Woollen – BA, PG Dip. in Social Security law, solicitor (non-practising)

Administration Staff

• Teresa Broad
• Cheryl Emerton (Administration Officer)
• Cheryl Goswell
• Sandra Reader
• Jo Smart 
• Dominic Taylor
• Deborah Thompson – BA
• Charlotte Wootton (Liaison Officer) – BA

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BOARD OF DIRECTORS

The Board of Directors has 14 members. Eight are Independent Directors, appointed by the Board because of the value and relevance of their skills and experience. Six are nominated by the major representative bodies in higher education in England and Wales. They are the Nominated Directors. The representative bodies may also appoint Alternate Directors, to attend Board meetings if their Nominated Director is not available.

Directors are normally appointed for terms of office of 3 years, which are renewable.

Independent Directors

• Margaret Doyle - Appointed November 2005. Margaret is a consultant and researcher on alternative dispute resolution (ADR) and an independent mediator. She has a Master’s in Research in Law and Sociolegal Studies from Birkbeck, University of London, and has conducted research for a wide range of government departments and voluntary sector organisations. Margaret is also an independent director of The Ombudsman Service Ltd.
• Mark Emerton MA LLM FCMI - Appointed September 2004. Mark is a barrister, investigating miscarriages of justice as a Commissioner at the Criminal Cases Review Commission. He also sits part-time as an Employment Tribunal Chairman and Immigration Judge, and as a Legal Assessor for the General Medical Council.
• Professor Norman Gowar MPhil DSc DUniv FIMA FRSA - Appointed August 2003; Chair of the Board. Now retired, Norman was a mathematician for the English Electric Company before becoming a Lecturer at City University. He then held a number of posts at the Open University including Deputy Vice-Chancellor, before becoming Principal of Royal Holloway, University of London from 1990 to 2000. He is a member of the Council of the University of Sussex.
• Sophie Holmes - Appointed March 2005. Sophie has been involved with the OIA since its inception, initially as a Nominated Director, nominated by the National Union of Students, where she was Director for Research and Development. She is now Director of Communications at the YWCA.
• Terry Price B.Ed, CPFA - Appointed June 2008. Terry is an accountant currently performing a number of non-executive roles for government bodies and housing associations. He is also Chair of Governors at Esher Sixth Form College and St Lawrence Junior School. Previously Terry was Director of Strategic Finance at the Metropolitan Police and Director of Resources at Sport England, and he has thirty years experience in local and central government.
• Hugh Smith BSc MBA - Appointed September 2004; Deputy Chair of the Board. Hugh is the Director of Tetragon, an HR consulting and project management business. He was previously Head of Graduate Recruitment at BT and Director of Training with Concert joint venture. He has contributed to the Dearing Report; was a founder Director of the Quality Assurance Agency and has worked with careers advisory services and students, and Enterprise in Higher Education.
• Cecilia Wells OBE PhD - Appointed March 2005. Cecilia is co-owner and Director of Astar Management Consultants Ltd. She has experience of working both strategically and operationally in the private, public and voluntary sectors. Cecilia is currently involved in equality and diversity strategy, policy development and implementation and is a Non-Executive Director of the Office of the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman.
• Colin Wilby BA, MBA, FCIPD – Appointed June 2008. Colin has a varied business background in the food manufacturing and engineering industries, working for large companies, including Lucas, Associated British Foods, Nestle and RHM in personnel, operations and general management roles. Most recently Colin was Managing Director of a business unit within RHM plc. He is now a Non-Executive Director of Medway NHS Foundation Trust

Nominated Directors

• Ray Burton FCA - Nominated by the Committee of University Chairmen. Appointed April 2007 Chair of the Audit Committee. Ray is Chair of Governors of the University of the West of England, Bristol. A chartered accountant and mediator, Ray retired as a partner in PriceWaterhouseCoopers in 2000, and is now a school governor, non-executive director of a number of companies and occasionally acts as an expert witness in litigation.
• Gareth Lewis - Nominated by Higher Education Wales. Appointed August 2003. Now retired, Gareth was an academic lawyer before moving into university administration, becoming University Secretary at (the then) University College, Cardiff. More recently he was Deputy Principal of the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, and Director of the Wales Office of Universities UK. Gareth continues to serve on Employment Appeal Tribunal and Independent Complaints Panels.
• Maxine Penlington - Nominated by the Association of Heads of University Administration. Appointed August 2003 Maxine is the Secretary and Registrar of the University of Central England in Birmingham, following a career in educational administration. She is a member of the Higher Education Regulation Review Group and was formerly a governor of a College of Further Education, with 9 years as its Chair.
• Aaron Porter - Nominated by the National Union of Students. Appointed July 2007. Aaron is Vice-President (Higher Education) of the NUS
• Heather Somerfield - Nominated by Guild HE. Appointed September 2005 Following a long career in higher education management, Heather is now Registrar and Clerk to the Governors at Newman University College Birmingham. She is also a school governor.
• Professor Michael Thorne - Nominated by Universities UK. Appointed August 2007 Michael has been Vice-Chancellor of Anglia Ruskin University since the start of 2007. For the previous 5 years he was Vice-Chancellor of the University of East London. Prior to that he held appointments at University College London, Cardiff University, Sunderland University and Napier University. Most of his academic output has been in mathematics and computer science but most recently he has contributed to the education policy debate internationally. He currently chairs the government's Advisory Council on Libraries, is a Parliamentary Skills Commissioner and is a member of the Board of the Learning and Skills Network. His passion for music has seen him conduct all of Wagner's major operas in the last 7 years.

Alternate Directors

• Pauline Aldous - Alternate Director for GuildHE. Appointed May 2007. Pauline is Registrar at York St John University. She leads the Academic Registry, which embraces all student administration and the Quality and Standards Unit. She is a member of the University Executive Group and chairs the University’s Strategy Group. Pauline also serves on the Executive of the Academic Registrar’s Council and represents York St John on the AHUA
• Alex Bols - alternate Director for the National Union of Students.  Appointed November 2007.  Alex is the head of Education and Quality at the National Union of Students.  Previously he was Senior Campaigns and Conferences Officer at Universities UK.  Between 2001-2004 he was Secretary-General of ESIB - the National Union Of Students in Europe (now European Students' Union) based in Brussels.  He is also a school govenor in both Primary and Secondary sectors.
• Professor Malcolm Gillies - Alternate Director for UniversitiesUK. Appointed August 2007. In August 2007 Malcolm became the Vice-Chancellor and President of The City University London. He came to City University from the Australian National University (ANU) which he served since January 2002 as Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Education) and since October 2006 as Vice-President (Development), although based at Yale University in the United States. In the preceding decades he was a pro-vice-chancellor at the University of Adelaide, a faculty dean at the University of Queensland and a lecturer at the University of Melbourne.
• Christopher Turner PhD - Alternate Director for the Association of Heads of University Administration. Appointed January 2007

Company Secretary - Michael Miller

NB. Board members are not involved in the review of individual complaints.

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