Bridging Policy and Practice: Leading AI Transformation with Keith Smith, CEO at HRUC

🎧 Episode Title:
Bridging Policy and Practice: Leading AI Transformation with Keith Smith, CEO at HRUC 

🎙️ Podcast:
The AI Works Podcast

Hosted by Richard Foster-Fletcher
Co-hosted by Kurt Hintz

🔍 Episode Overview

How can further education (FE) institutions turn national policy into meaningful practice when it comes to artificial intelligence? In this episode, Keith Smith—CEO at Harrow, Richmond and Uxbridge Colleges (HRUC) and former senior leader at the Department for Education—joins us to share his perspective on sector leadership in an AI-integrated world. From building system-wide collaboration to preparing students and staff for the demands of a digital economy, this conversation explores what it takes to lead well through uncertainty, complexity, and rapid technological change.

Keith shares practical insights on:

• Creating an AI strategy at the organisational level
• Supporting staff through disruption with purpose and clarity
• Building communities of practice across the FE sector
• Partnerships that stretch thinking, including HRUC’s collaboration with MIT

Whether you're in education, policy, or industry, this episode offers a grounded yet ambitious perspective on the leadership required to move from AI awareness to confident, inclusive action.

🧭 What We Cover
✔️ Embedding AI into FE strategy and operations
✔️ Staff development and psychological safety in times of change
✔️ Opportunities for AI to improve inclusion and neurodiverse learning
✔️ Sector-wide collaboration and the proposed AI community for FE
✔️ The future of AI in physical form: robotics, automation, and governance
✔️ Leadership lessons from policy to practice

👤 About Our Guest
Keith Smith is the Chief Executive of Harrow, Richmond and Uxbridge Colleges. Prior to this role, he held senior leadership positions at the Department for Education, where he played a pivotal role in shaping national policy for the further education sector. He now leads one of the UK’s most forward-thinking college groups, with a focus on AI adoption, staff wellbeing, and system leadership. 

🔗 Links & Mentions

• Harrow, Richmond and Uxbridge Colleges: https://www.hruc.ac.uk
• MIT Industrial Liaison Program: https://ilp.mit.edu
• Connect with Keith Smith on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/keith-smith-1733b9140/
• Richard Foster-Fletcher on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/richardfosterfletcher
• Kurt Hintz on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kurt-hintz/

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