Chief schools inspector returns to his roots

THE chief inspector of schools and vice-chancellor of London University is to quit both jobs next year and return to his native Scotland, writes Colin Hughes.

Stewart Sutherland yesterday told John Patten, Secretary of State for Education, that he had agreed to take the job of principal of the University of Edinburgh. Professor Sutherland, who grew up in Scotland and spent his early academic career at the universities of Aberdeen and Stirling, wrote: 'In the end it has to do with returning to roots.'

He was principal of King's College from 1985 before becoming London's vice-chancellor in 1990. He will serve out his full four-year term there, moving to Edinburgh in September 1994. His successor in that job has a rough task: many academics want their colleges to leave the London University federation, so the next vice-chancellor may preside over its break-up.

As the first senior chief inspector in charge of Ofsted, the schools standards authority, Professor Sutherland has had to develop the new 'privatised' inspection regime.