Members of the Learning and Skills Council, which will take over responsibility for funding all post-16 education and training from April, met for the first time this week.
The meeting on Tuesday was addressed by higher education minister Baroness Blackstone and held at Birkbeck College, where she was formerly master.
Chairman Bryan Sanderson said: "In the 1820s, George Birkbeck (pictured) set out his vision for the institution that became the Birkbeck College - to liberate the mind and to lead to self-improvement, including gaining skills for work. The council represents an historic alliance of expertise from business, further and higher education, trades unions, local government and community organisations, with a similar mission."