The Quality and Impact Committee assures the Advance HE Board of existing quality standards, the value delivered to members, and progress on enhancements that strengthen Advance HE’s brand, value proposition, reach and reputation.
Its responsibilities include:
- Approving and monitoring the organisation’s Impact and Evaluation Strategy.
- Overseeing quality assurance of new models and partnerships in the UK and internationally.
- Monitoring performance against KPIs that assess quality, performance and impact across the portfolio.
- Approving peer review quality policies and assuring compliance across services.
- Scrutinising reports from appeals and complaints panels relating to peer review.
- Providing assurance on Advance HE’s role as an Ofqual-registered End Point Assessment Organisation (EPAO).
Members act as independent, expert voices, bringing both support and constructive challenge to help Advance HE maintain excellence and grow its global influence.
Committee Members
Dr Sam Grogan (Chair of Committee)
Following an early career in the creative industries, Sam has spent the last decade and a half in student-centric leadership positions within a range of higher UK education institutions. As Pro Vice Chancellor for Student Experience at the University of Salford, Sam holds Executive responsibility for quality and standards of the academic portfolio, Executive responsibility for the Learning and Teaching Network within the university, Executive responsibility for developing the learning philosophy underpinning the student journey and Executive oversight of the wider pastoral and supporting infrastructure which underpins the student journey and outcomes. These responsibilities focus upon enabling student success in the context of performance against student quality metrics to ensure value for money.
Sam has also led on the university’s academic response to Covid-19. He has ensured teaching and learning practices have adapted towards delivery of excellent student outcomes, and that institutional practices are reimagined to learn from the pandemic as we tilt towards positive and lasting change.
Alongside work at Salford, Sam continues to work in leadership and thought leadership nationally and internationally, building on a range of external engagements and board experiences.
Jon Scott (Co-optee)
Jon is a higher education consultant with extensive experience in academic governance, quality assurance and developing practice in learning and teaching. He has ongoing expertise in undertaking institutional reviews having served as a reviewer for the QAA for over 20 years as well as being an Accreditor for AdvanceHE and for the Royal Society of Biology. He was also a member of the main TEF Panel. As a previous Pro Vice-Chancellor and, prior to that, an Academic Registrar, he has an in-depth appreciation of educational management and governance which has been broadened through his experience of serving on boards of governors and as an academic adviser in both higher and secondary educational institutions.
Jon is an emeritus Professor of Bioscience Education and has led on a range of educational projects, including assessment and feedback, academic integrity, belonging and retention and the student experience. In 2011 he was recognised as UK Bioscience Teacher of the Year, as a National Teaching Fellow in 2012 and as a Principal Fellow of AdvanceHE in 2013.
Professor Joanna Newman
Professor Joanna Newman MBE FSRA joined SOAS as Deputy Director and Provost in September 2023. In her role she provides academic and strategic leadership to support the School’s overall strategy and lead on its Education Strategy 2021-26 that sits at the heart of the Strategic Plan 2021.
Prior to joining SOAS, Joanna became the first female Secretary General of the Association of Commonwealth Universities, an international organisation dedicated to building a better world through higher education, with more than 500 member universities in over 50 countries. In that role she directed the administration of the UK government’s three main international scholarship programmes – Chevening, Commonwealth, and Marshall Scholarships – as well as the multilateral Queen Elizabeth Commonwealth Scholarships.
Her previous roles include serving as the Vice-Principal (International) at King’s College London, where she was instrumental in forging new international research and teaching collaborations; the Director of the UK Higher Education International Unit (now known as Universities UK International), where she led the development of a UK-wide international education strategy; and Head of Higher Education at the British Library.
Joanna serves on a number of boards, including the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network’s Leadership Council, the High-level Advisory Group for Mission 4.7, CARA (the Council for displaced academics) and the QS Global Advisory Committee . She is a Senior Research Fellow in History at King’s College London and contributes to the MA in transnational History. Her most recent publication is Nearly the New World: The British West Indies and the Flight from Nazism, 1933-1945. In 2014, Joanna was awarded an MBE in recognition of her work promoting British higher education internationally.
