Before coming to Warwick, James spent over twenty-five years working for the British Council, the UK’s international organisation for cultural relations and educational opportunities. His postings took him to Kuwait, Malaysia, Swaziland, Malawi, Germany, Kazakhstan and Russia. He was instrumental in the mid-1980s in establishing a collaborative programme between the British Council and UK education institutions to promote British education around the world. He was also responsible in Africa in the 1990s for managing several major donor-funded programmes to support the development of basic education in leastdeveloped countries.

He has degrees in modern languages and applied linguistics, and in his early career taught in teacher training institutions in Laos and Tanzania.