Term of office ends: September 2014

Ruth retired from the civil service in April 2009 to pursue other interests and opportunities.  Her immediate preceding role was as Director General, Higher Education, which she took on in 2006. She advised Ministers on future direction and strategy for HE, and had policy responsibility for expanding and widening participation in HE; grants and loans to students; developing the Research Excellence Framework; and forging new relationships between universities and schools/colleges to improve student progression. She oversaw moving work on processing students' grant and loan applications from local authorities to the Student Loans Company. She was responsible for Government spending of c. £7 billion p.a. on HE institutions and £3 billion on student finance.

Ruth was the Government assessor to the Board of the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE), 2006-2009. She is a Governor of Birkbeck, University of London.

Ruth was a career civil servant for over thirty years.  She joined with history degrees from Somerville College and St Antony's College, Oxford, her D. Phil involving a formative year doing research in Argentina.  She worked in several central government departments - Treasury, Trade and Industry, Social Security and Education -  covering a wide range of topics including European Union issues, financial services regulation, welfare to work programmes including developing the New Deals for Young and Long Term Unemployed people and education finance.