BIOGRAPHY

KAREN HINTON CMgr MCMI

Karen is from Livingston in Scotland, and was first generation to go to , studying at the for MA (Hons) Sociology. Karen has since graduated from the University of with an MBA, holds Chartered Manager status with the Chartered Management Institute; and is currently undertaking a PhD, researching the impact of Degree Apprenticeships on social mobility.

Karen’s career began in widening participation at the University of Edinburgh – working with students like herself whose family, social and economic circumstances made them unlikely to progress into higher education. She moved to Suffolk in 2010, taking up a position at the University of Suffolk, where she is responsible for the development and implementation of the University’s student recruitment and outreach strategies. She is also responsible for development of the market and portfolio of the University, including a new portfolio of Higher and Degree Apprenticeships. Karen undertakes considerable analysis of UK higher education and applicant behaviour to help the University develop its recruitment and marketing strategies.

As a volunteer, Karen undertook four years as Chair/Panel Member of the City of Edinburgh Children’s Panel, working with children and young people at risk and in local authority care. She completed a three year term as UK Vice-Chair (Governance, Policy and Management) for the Higher Education Liaison Officers Association, where she was responsible for the development of policy on a range of issues within Higher Education for the 1000 members across the UK; and she has recently held a -year role as Enterprise Adviser for Stowmarket High School.

Karen is married and lives in Suffolk, and is a member of the Stowmarket Striders Running Club. Karen ran the Edinburgh Marathon in 2017 to raise money for Alzheimer’s Research UK, and regularly participates in Half Marathons in Suffolk, and .