Belinda has been working in Higher Education for sixteen years, firstly in an administrative role in Academic, Development, Quality and then moving to a central planning role with oversight by Office of the Vice-Chancellor.The planning function merged to form Research, Innovation and Strategy in 1998 and Belinda moved into a new role in Strategic Planning. During this period Belinda combined study with work to gain a PGDip in Management Studies and gained extensive experience of both HE policy in respect of business relations and regional partnerships as well as contributing to large scale projects and project management.More recently Belinda was the Deputy Head of the former department PACE (Partnerships, Access, Community, and Engagement) with specific responsibility for regional partnerships and the then emerging South West Lifelong Learning Network. Since September 2007 she has had full time responsibility for the network as its Director. This is a Higher Education initiative bringing together all HEI’s, FEC’s and other key stakeholders including businesses covering Poole, Bournemouth, Dorset, South Somerset, South Wilts, Devon and Cornwall.