Melody Stephen, a Law with International Studies student at the University of Manchester, Alistair Jarvis CBE, Pro Vice-Chancellor for Partnerships and Governance at the University of London, and Simon Bates, Partner and Member of the Management Group at PA Consulting, will join as Trustees.
Law student Melody has a strong passion for creating and promoting policies that pursue equality, diversity and inclusion in Higher Education, having served as General Secretary of University of Manchester Students’ Union as well as on the University’s Board of Governors. She currently sits on the Advance HE governance strategic advisory group and on the board of the National Union of Students.
As Pro Vice-Chancellor, Alistair’s role includes leadership of governance, communications, development, marketing, legal, inclusion, regulatory compliance and supporting partnerships with federation members. He was Chief Executive of Universities UK (UUK) from 2017 to 2022, and prior to that was UUK’s Deputy Chief Executive and Director of External Relations from 2013.
Simon has spent most of his career in the management consulting sector, advising private and public sector clients on strategy, operations, organisational and technology delivery. Simon’s particular areas of expertise are around customer-centric, data-led and digitally-enabled services. He has worked with some of the largest corporates, and with many start-ups and scale-ups.
The Board provides strategic guidance and scrutiny, while ensuring UCAS meets its charitable objectives.
Melody Stephen said: “Working with young people, I’ve developed a passion for advocacy, and education is a field in which more youth voice and representation is needed to match the rate of change accelerated by the pandemic. My experiences in law and education have also made me dedicated to compassionate policy making.
“I’m thrilled to be joining the UCAS board to continue to make sure the voices of students from every background are heard and represented.”
Alistair Jarvis CBE said: “I’m delighted to be joining the Board of UCAS - an organisation that I’ve long admired with dynamic leadership and services that are of great value to students and the education sector.
“With continuing growth in demand for higher education, strong political interest in the admissions system, and the development of a Lifelong Loan Entitlement, it is an exciting time to have the opportunity to support the UCAS team to further enhance their offer.”
Simon Bates said: “I look forward to bringing my experience of helping organisations with their digital strategy and transformation to this role on the UCAS Board. As an organisation that embraces new digital services and technologies, I hope to help further strengthen UCAS’ digital and data-led offerings to provide seamless customer experiences.”
Andrew Parkin, Principal at St Dominic's Sixth Form College in Harrow on the Hill, is to become Chair of the UCAS Council while Mike Nicholson, Director of Recruitment, Admissions and Participation and Deputy Head of Education Services at the University of Cambridge, has been appointed to the new role of Vice Chair of Council.
As head of St Dominic's Sixth Form College, Andrew has led the College from strength to strength over the past 10 years, and it is now one of the most successful post 16-providers in the country - with all headline data significantly above national benchmarks. He was previously Senior Deputy at St Augustine’s High School in Kilburn and Deputy Head of Sion Manning Girls School in North Kensington.
Mike joined the University of Cambridge in October 2021. He heads the team responsible for supporting undergraduate and postgraduate student admissions, student recruitment and marketing (UK and international), scholarships and funding, and widening access and participation, as well as the new Foundation Year in Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences. He previously worked as Director of Undergraduate Admissions and Outreach at the University of Bath, University of Oxford, and the University of Essex.
The Council represents UCAS customers and stakeholders, and is responsible for providing expert advice and guidance to the Board.
Andrew Parkin said: “I am delighted and humbled to have been appointed Chair of the UCAS Council at such an exciting time in the organisation's history. I look forward to working with colleagues from across all sectors to provide the best advice possible to the Board of Trustees, to ensure that UCAS continues to put the interests of students at the very heart of all that it does.”
Mike Nicholson said: “The UCAS Council is an important conduit for stakeholder groups and organisation to assist UCAS in deciding the future direction and development of the admissions service and associated activities. I hope that my experience, gained over a 30-year period, will support the Council in having an effective voice when representing the UCAS stakeholder community.”
Camille Stallard, Chief Financial Officer at the University of Gloucestershire, is joining UCAS’ Finance Committee as a co-opted member. Before joining the University, Camille worked at the Higher Education Funding Council for England and the Polytechnic and Colleges Funding Council.
Camille Stallard said: “I am thrilled to be appointed as a co-opted member of UCAS’ Finance Committee. UCAS plays such an important role for the Higher Education sector and I look forward to assisting UCAS on its journey. It’s an exciting time for UCAS with the lifelong skills agenda evolving and with such rapid developments in technology impacting on how students and HE providers wish to access their services. I hope that my finance and sector experience will add value to UCAS’ forward planning.”
UCAS Chief Executive Clare Marchant said: “I’m delighted to welcome such impressive appointments to our Board, Council and Finance Committee. Collectively, their expertise and experience will help shape the future of the organisation as we enhance our personalised, digital offering to support students in making ambitious and informed choices amid growing demand, and deliver new services for advisors, universities and colleges to assist their students in the decision-making journey.”
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About UCAS
UCAS, the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service, is an independent charity, and the UK's shared admissions service for higher education.
Our services support young people making post-18 choices, as well as mature learners, by providing information, advice, and guidance to inspire and facilitate educational progression to university, college, or a degree apprenticeship.
We support 1.5 million students every year to explore entering higher education, employment and apprenticeships and manage almost three million applications, from around 700,000 people each year, for full-time undergraduate courses at over 380 universities and colleges across the UK.
We also provide a wide range of research, consultancy and advisory services to schools, colleges, careers services, professional bodies, and employers, including apprenticeships.
We’re a successful and fast-growing organisation, which helps hundreds of thousands of people every year. We're committed to delivering a first-class service to all our customers — they're at the heart of everything we do.