Ian Kimber

Ian Kimber has more than 30 years’ experience in higher education encompassing working in universities, the Queensland state public service, and higher education regulatory and quality agencies in Australia and the UK, where he has achieved a wide range of significant strategic and operational outcomes. 

Ian was Executive Director of the Office of Higher Education, then Assistant Director General for Tertiary and Non-State Education with the Queensland state government from 2006 to 2011. In these roles he was responsible for state policy on higher education, and quality assurance and regulation of tertiary education and non-state schooling. Ian’s responsibilities also included oversight of the state’s support for international higher education.

From 2011 – 2015 Ian was Special Advisor then Executive Director, Regulation and Review with the Tertiary Education Quality and Standard Agency (TEQSA). In these roles he designed and implemented TEQSA’s regulatory business processes, and established then led the agency’s Regulation and Review Group. Ian was variously responsible for TEQSA’s international engagement, and engagement with other regulatory bodies, including professional regulators, nationally.

Ian spent five years from 2015 - 2020 with the UK’s Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education (QAA), where he was firstly Director of Quality Development then Director of Universities, Quality Enhancement and Standards. Ian provided the intellectual and strategic leadership for QAA’s work in innovation, business development, research, quality enhancement, membership and services development, UK and international partnerships and Access to Higher Education. During this time, Ian was involved as the QAA’s representative in most of the significant tertiary education quality and regulatory policy developments in the UK.

Selected Publications and Presentations

Papers and Key Note Presentations

• Quality Assessment Review and the TEF, Loughborough, Feb 2016, Higher Education Strategic Planners Association 2016 Annual Conference ‘What have Universities ever done for us? Evidencing the universal benefits of Higher Education.’
• Lessons from the UK’s Teaching Excellence Framework, Melbourne Dec 2017, Students, Quality, Success 2nd Annual TEQSA Conference
• Innovations in Assuring the Quality of Teaching & Learning - The Changing UK Landscape, Nov 2018, Macau, 10th Higher Education International Conference on Innovation and Developments in Teaching and Learning Quality Assurance
• Academic Risk Management for Governing Bodies, London July 2018, Committee of University Chairs Annual Conference
• The Role of Quality Assurance in Ensuring Academic Integrity, Vienna Nov 2018, 13th European Quality Assurance Forum