DUDLEY College’s chief executive officer Lowell Williams has been appointed to a new government advisory group which aims to improve the quality of further education.

The group, which will be known as the National Leaders of Further Education (NLFE), is made up of six other principals from colleges who have been rated good or outstanding by Ofsted.

The NLFE has been created in order to bring the quality of all 300 further education colleges across the country up to the standards of the very best, as part of a raft of initiatives the government is taking forward to strengthen the role and remit of the further education commissioner Richard Atkins.

Mr Atkins will work with the NLFE team to secure improvement in colleges which have been identified as needing support.

This first cohort of college leaders who have been recruited to NLFE will form part of a strategic mentoring team that will work with identified college partners.

This will mean the best practice and strategic vision from the colleges of NLFE leaders will be able to be replicated in the colleges needing assistance and backing.

Dudley College, which is frequently cited in the top 10 nationally, with high levels of student satisfaction and achievement rates well above national benchmarks, has been led by Mr Williams for more than nine years.

In his new role he will also draw on his breadth of experience in the sector more widely as a director of the Black Country Colleges group and chairman of the West Midlands Further Education and Skills Productivity Group.

He said: “I’m delighted to be able to share some of the exceptional practices we have developed here at Dudley College in the years since I have been here.

“In doing so I will be able to draw on my 17 years’ experience as a principal and share the knowledge I have gained from working with hundreds of very committed people.

“Leading a college is a tough job, with all of the changes in the sector, colleges need to be resilient and in a position to deal with the challenges they are facing.

“I hope to be able to support fellow college leaders develop their own institutions with a degree of empathy for the task.”

Peter Davies, chairman of Dudley College Corporation, added: “I see this appointment as acknowledgment of Dudley College as a high performing organisation and Lowell’s contribution in helping to make it that way.

“He is modest about his own considerable leadership skills but I know he will take pleasure in being able to make a contribution to the success of other colleges across the country.

“ A college and its leaders are only as successful as the learners they support, and doing the best for learners is what drives him.”