Stella Mbubaegbu has become the first black female further education college principal in the country since incorporation.

Her appointment as principal and chief executive of Highbury College, Portsmouth, boosts the number of principals who come from ethnic-minority backgrounds to four - the other three incumbents are men.

An evangelical Christian, Mrs Mbubaegbu, 45, believes passionately in the importance of education.

“Education is vital,” she said. “It changes people. It gives them equality of opportunity, whether black, white, whatever.

“My grandparents made sacrifices to send my father to university in England. Education can absolutely revolutionise people and move them from one point to another.”

The former vice - and for a period acting - principal of Croydon College was born in Nigeria. She spent some years as a pupil at a Surrey primary school while her father worked in England for Shell.

The rest of her education took place in Nigerian schools and at Benin University, where she took a BA Hons and MA in literature.

“My father said, ‘I have not got lots of money or property to leave you but with a good education you can go anywhere’,” she added.

Following a spell teaching at a leading Nigerian girls’ school, she worked as an academic assistant registrar with the West African Examinations Board before moving to join her husband, an orthopaedic surgeon, in England in 1988. The couple, who have dual nationality, have three daughters.

After teaching English part-time at Southwark College, she rose rapidly through the lecturing ranks to become senior lecturer and then quality manager.

During this time she took a post-graduate certificate in post-compulsory education and training, and then an MEd. The latter was awarded with a distinction and she won a prize for her dissertation on developing total quality colleges.

She joined Croydon College as director of planning and quality in 1998 and then became vice principal in 2000.

“I have a passion for doing my job well rather than being ambitious. How can I be the best that I can be in this post? How can I make a difference? Now I have done this where is the next challenge? Where can I make the next contribution?” She has achieved a lot in a relatively short space of time.

She has led college inspections and managed practically every area and function in a further education college.

While very pleased to have been appointed principal, she is sad - but not surprised - to find she is the only black female principal.

A recent report from the Commission for Black Staff in Further Education reveals that black students make up 14 per cent of the total student population - in some urban areas they are more than 50 per cent of college students - but just 6.8 per cent of staff are black.

Black senior lecturers comprise one in a thousand of the total lecturing staff and about one in 20 senior lecturers. Only 3.7 per cent of heads of teaching departments are black.

The survey reveals that more than eight out of ten colleges have no black staff in senior positions. It also shows that more than eight out of 10 colleges have no black staff in senior positions.

Mrs Mbubaegbu believes that there are many talented and well-qualified black managers who would make very able principals. She hopes that it is only a short time before other women are appointed.