Our Vice-Chancellor

This month saw the launch of the new report from the American Council on Education on the globalization of higher education, “Strength through Global Leadership and Engagement.” I was lucky enough to be one of the three overseas members of the 19-person advisory board that oversaw its production, and I can attest to the fact that the meetings were not only happy and productive under the inspirational chairing of John Sexton and Molly Corbett Broad but have, I think, made the report into something special.

The current furore regarding the validation of degrees at a distance by the University of Wales – a unitary institution accrediting degrees in the United Kingdom and abroad – is a sure sign that some form of regulation of higher-education quality standards is not only desirable but necessary. In particular, the problems at the University of Wales are likely to affect the international reputation of the blameless Welsh universities that are not part of the institution and this clearly cannot be right.