James Bennett

Jim Bennett has taken leave of absence from HEFCW Council for one year from 30 June 2010 while interim Principal of Coleg Gwent.

Appointment: 1 April 2010 to 31 March 2013

James Bennett has recently retired after more than four years as Principal of South Tyneside College. a large and very diverse college with a higher education (HE) portfolio of over 1000 full time equivalent students.

Prior to that he worked for seven years as Deputy Principal and VP of Coleg LLandrillo Cymru, a successful Further Education (FE) College with a large HE portfolio and outstanding quality profile.

He was an Her Majesty’s Inspector in Estyn's post-16 team for three years and Officer for Wales for the Further Education Unit and the FE Development Agency (FEDA) for six years, in which time he played a major role in the development of the credit and qualifications framework in England and Wales.

His other experience includes being a local authority adviser/inspector in Clwyd and Dorset, an FE lecturer in economics and leadership and management and a teacher of economics in a school. He has lived in north Wales for 26 years and in that time has learned to speak Welsh.