Modernising Principal to leave College of Estate Management
Posted on: 8 May, 2013
Dr Ann Heywood, Principal of the College of Estate Management, has announced that she will be retiring from her position in July 2013.
Based in Reading, CEM is the leading distance learning provider specialising in property and construction, with 3,500 undergraduate and postgraduate students in 105 countries. CEM’s history dates back over 90 years and in that time it has educated more than 150,000 students, many of whom have gone on to become leaders in the property and construction industry in the UK and internationally.
Ann Heywood, an alumnus and a former research fellow at the College, has served as Principal since January 2007. She has led CEM through a period of modernisation and expansion, which culminated in the granting of degree-awarding powers by the Privy Council in January 2013, making CEM the first not-for-profit, solely distance-learning institution able to award its own degrees. Previously, the CEM’s degrees had been validated by the University of Reading and the Open University.
Dr Heywood said:
“After six years as Principal, I feel that CEM is set on firm foundations as an internationally esteemed institution of higher education. Being granted its own degree-awarding powers marks a significant turning point for the College, and I am proud to have been at the head of putting the whole academic and administrative team at the forefront of the online and distance-learning revolution. I have therefore decided that the time is right to hand on the leadership of CEM to the next – and ninth – Principal.”
Delva Patman, Chairman of the College of Estate Management, thanked Dr Heywood for her contribution to the College:
“Under Ann’s leadership CEM’s academic offer has been completely upgraded, focusing on quality and delivery. The improvements she led in staff training, development, and measuring performance have made a real difference to the value that students receive from CEM. A new bursary system enables a broader range of students to benefit from our teaching. Ann is held in high regard by all the Trustees and professional bodies associated with CEM, and we all wish her the very best in her future career.”
