Volunteer Governors (Trustees) with quality of education or people services experience to join our Corporation

What will you be doing?

The Corporation/board is keen to attract well motivated candidates who have a focus on learners and are able to contribute to the College’s future.  Being a College Governor gives you a great opportunity to get involved with the governance oversight and decision making processes of the College and its strategic direction.  You would bring your individual perspective, knowledge and experience and it would provide you with an interesting and rewarding voluntary role and opportunity to develop new skills, whether in board-level leadership or team working or simply in the application of your existing knowledge and experience within a professional environment. We operate a Committee structure (Finance and General Purposes Committee, Quality and Standards Committee, Audit Committee, Search and Governance, Remuneration and Subsidiary Companies).  There are external full Governor, independent member and shadow Governor opportunities to suit your availability and commitments, with Corporation/Committee meetings throughout the year (we have use of Microsoft Teams for remote/hybrid meetings), depending on individual involvement, for example, full Governors attend 5 full Corporation meetings a year.  Independent Governors on a particular Committee attend 3-4 meetings a year.  You will receive full training, guidance and support to fulfil your role as a Governor, as required. The Governing Body has ultimate responsibility for the College. It determines the strategic direction and sets the policy framework within which College leaders manage from day to day; it holds College staff to account, through the Principal, for delivering the outcomes required; and it seeks to ensure that the College is fully accountable to the communities that it serves. The Principal is accountable to the Governing Body for the management of the College and for implementing the strategy. The College has up to 17 Governors, made up of 12 external independent full Governors, 2 Student Governors, 2 Staff Governors and the Chief Executive, plus independent Members (Co-optees) and Shadow Governors.

What are we looking for?

The College has a strong commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion and drawing its Governors from all sections of society. The Corporation is looking for members who can bring a range of skills, experience, perspectives and backgrounds to the College.  Diverse views among Governors are likely to lead to better decision making and a more effective Corporation.  The aim is to recruit a diverse board with the right mix of skills for effective governance, to enable balanced decision making, to mitigate the risk of ‘group think’, to generate challenge, to introduce new perspectives and better reflect the wider community. We are particularly interested to recruit individuals with Further Education and Higher Education Skills (quality of education), a background/skills in land based/land related activities and individuals with people services/wellbeing (HR) skills, although have opportunities for finance and audit professionals, legal, business, local community and charity work too. 

What difference will you make?

As part of our Corporation/board you will support and shape our work and strategic direction, as well as help us achieve our purpose to Feed the Planet/Save the World.  ‘Learning is in our nature’ supported by a shared goal ‘We are a specialist land-based provider developing talent, to respond to current and future challenges for the economy and environment.’ As a Governor/Trustee, you will have a real opportunity to offer your unique skills to help the strategic progression.