Edward Peck is taking up his role of chair of the regulator for England’s higher education sector at a time when the Office for Students’s role continues to evolve. Tasked with managing the sector’s financial sustainability, developing a new approach to quality, and building trust with providers while being prepared to crack down where necessary to sustain public confidence in the sector, the regulator must face in multiple directions at once, all while regulating under a market-based framework that may not support the objectives of the current government in every respect. We’ll be discussing the regulator’s key priorities and strategy, and how to find the tricky balance between support and challenge.