Professor Andrew Wathey CBE appointed interim Chair of the Student Loans Company

The Department for Education has today confirmed that Professor Andrew Wathey has been appointed as the Chair of the Student Loans Company (SLC), on an interim basis, with effect from 1 February. Professor Wathey replaces Christian Brodie, who served as Chair for six years from January 2014.

Professor Wathey is Vice-Chancellor and Chief Executive of Northumbria University, prior to this he was Senior Vice-Principal at Royal Holloway, University of London. He has comprehensive experience of the UK’s education sector having held a number of senior appointments. Professor Wathey has been a Non-Executive Board member at the SLC since 2018 and was Chair of the SLC Stakeholder Forum between 2010 and 2017.

Universities Minister Chris Skidmore MP said: “I am pleased to welcome Professor Andrew Wathey as the new interim Chair of the Student Loans Company. I am confident his experience and knowledge of the higher education sector will be invaluable to the SLC and the important service it provides to students and graduates.

“I would also like to thank Christian for his leadership and dedication during a period of significant growth and development for the organisation.”

Professor Wathey said: “Every year the Student Loans Company enables almost 2 million students to invest in their futures through higher and further education by providing trusted, transparent, and accessible student finance services.

“I am delighted to take the reins of this important organisation, and to provide stewardship for an interim period. I would like to pay tribute to the significant work of Christian in leading the Board and the Executive Leadership Team to provide the critical service over the last six years, while achieving significant improvements and growth in the range of products offered.”

Paula Sussex, SLC Chief Executive said: “I look forward to working closely with Professor Wathey as we strive to fulfil our vision to be widely recognised as enabling student opportunity and delivering an outstanding customer experience in the efficient delivery of the four UK governments’ higher and further education finance policies.”