Founding Independent Chair, Education Board

BSMI is an independent business and marketing school preparing to register with the Office for Students (OfS). We are appointing our first
Independent Chair to lead a newly formed Governing Body and provide genuine, robust oversight of a founder-owned institution as it enters regulated higher education.

This is a rare opportunity to build governance from the ground up: shaping the board, embedding the OfS public interest governance principles, and acting as the institution's senior independent voice through the registration process and beyond.

• Lead and chair the Governing Body; build and develop a small, high-calibre board
• Provide independent challenge to the founder/owner and executive on strategy, finances, quality and student interests
• Oversee regulatory compliance with OfS conditions of registration, including during the assessment process (which may include an OfS interview)
• Chair decisions on reserved matters, oversee conflicts of interest, and act as the destination for whistleblowing concerns
• Champion academic standards, fair treatment of students, and financial sustainability

• Board-level experience in UK higher or further education governance — e.g. university or college governor, HE non-executive director, registrar, principal or senior leader
• Genuine independence: no financial, family or business connection to BSMI or its owner
• Confident, constructive challenger with sound financial literacy
• Knowledge of the OfS regulatory framework (or the ability to master it quickly)
• Willing to undergo fit-and-proper persons checks as a "relevant individual" under OfS condition E9

You will be the founding Chair of a new provider, with real authority hardwired into the company's constitution — an independent-majority board, removal-for-cause protection, and a scheme of reserved matters guaranteed by the owner in a legal deed. Your independence will not be ornamental.

Send a CV and short covering note explaining your governance experience and interest to [duygu]. Informal conversations welcome before applying. A full role description and the Governing Body Terms of Reference are available on request.

BSMI is committed to equal opportunities. Appointment is subject to fit-and-proper persons and right-to-work checks.