Les Ebdon, director of the Office for Fair Access, talks with Martin McQuillan about eye-balling vice-chancellors, surviving select committees and meeting Idi Amin.
On the auspicious date of 1 April 2018 the Office for Students will take over the statutory duties of the Office for Fair Access. On this day, the director of fair access to higher education, Les Ebdon, will hand over the access codes to Chris Millward as the new director of fair access and participation. In its final months, Offa is as busy as ever, but its director was in reflective mood when we met to discuss his time in the role.
Ebdon knows something of social mobility. He grew up on what he terms “a corporation estate”, attending the local grammar school in Hemel Hempstead. He was the first in his family to go to university. He studied chemistry at Imperial College London where he discovered another world. He recalls writing to his mother to tell her he had eaten rice as a main course for the first time, having previously only ever had it for pudding.
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