Richard Atkins
Richard Atkins (LLD)
Wednesday 15 July 3:00pm
Richard Atkins has been Principal and Chief Executive of Exeter College since 2002, and was previously Principal of Yeovil College for seven years. He is currently President of the Association of Colleges (AoC).
Exeter College was established in 1970 as the country's first Tertiary College. Provision at the College includes A levels, International Baccalaureate, BTEC diplomas, apprenticeships, adult and community learning, vocational Higher Education and international developments. The College was rated as outstanding by Ofsted in a private "no notice" inspection in 2012 and again in a public inspection in 2014.
Richard started his working life at Harrods, successfully passing through their management training programme and taking up leadership roles. He then returned to university, graduating in History and Education, before becoming a secondary school teacher. Whilst studying for an MSc he transferred to working in a further education college in Sussex, and following posts at colleges in Surrey and York, Richard was appointed Principal at Yeovil in 1994.
During the past 20 years Richard has held a number of national roles in further education whilst serving as a College Principal. He was President of the Association for College Management (ACM), a member of the Adult Learning Committee, a Commissioner for Adult and Vocational Teaching and Learning and a member of the AoC Board. He is currently Chair of AoC Sport, the sector owned organisation responsible for the development of sport and physical exercise in colleges.
In Exeter Richard has played an active role in City and regional partnerships, involving colleges, schools, universities, local authorities and businesses. Exeter College works in partnership with the University of Exeter to sponsor Exeter Mathematics School, and a multi-academy schools trust for three local secondary schools. The College has other local award winning partnerships with employers including Flybe, Michael Caines and the Met Office.
