Lord Puttnam is a much-decorated film producer. His films, which include The Mission, The Killing Fields and Chariots of Fire, have won Oscars, Baftas and the Palme D’Or. He retired from film production in 1998 to focus on public policy work, of which education has been a substantial part. In May, he was appointed chair of Pearson College’s academic board. The college is part of Pearson, the first FTSE 100 company in the UK directly delivering degrees.
Your association with higher education is well established, but this is a departure from some of your previous roles, for example, as chancellor of The Open University and the University of Sunderland. What were your reasons for taking up the role?
Pearson College is providing innovative learning opportunities specifically tailored to the needs of the creative industries and other sectors. Given my background this was of particular interest.