Birthday bash

(Photograph) - Comedian Ben Elton flew off to the Cannes Film Festival after joining his father, Lewis Elton, at celebrations to mark the fifth birthday of the Staff and Educational Development Association in London last week.

Professor Elton, who is SEDA's first honorary life member, is sceptical about the prospects of the Institute for Learning and Teaching and the Quality Assurance Agency improving teaching in higher education by top-down prescription. An expert in how change can be introduced in higher education, he believes in unobtrusive leadership that combines letting ideas percolate up from the bottom with effective management at the top. Photograph: Geoff Franklin