Peter Williams CBE - Honorary Fellow 2011

Peter Williams was Chief Executive of the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education (QAA) from March 2002 until his retirement in September 2009. Prior to that he was the Deputy Secretary of the British Academy. During his very influential career at QAA,  he worked to make quality assurance a vital tool for professional academics and a means of underpinning the strengths of higher education in the UK. 

In addition to his work in the UK, Peter has made presentations and participated in a number of international quality assurance projects in Europe, South America, the USA, Canada, China, India, The Middle East, Japan, Korea and New Zealand. In 2005 he was elected President of the European Association for Quality Assurance in Higher Education. During his time with ENQA, he was one of the principal authors of the European Standards and Guidelines for Quality Assurance in Higher Education.

Peter is a governor of the University of Wales Institute, Cardiff (UWIC), an academic governor of Richmond, the American University in London, and a trustee of the British Accreditation Council for Independent Further and Higher Education. He has recently been appointed as a member of the Education Honours Committee. In the current year he is Middle Warden of the Company of Educators. Peter also works as an independent higher education consultant.

Peter was appointed as a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the Queen’s Birthday honours list in 2009 in recognition of his services to higher education. He is the holder of three honorary doctorates from British and Irish institutions.