69 Virtual Brochure – March 2025 Conclusions There are a number of questions arising for boards from the recent Public Inquiries and the OfS focus on governance of higher education institutions: • Is accountability clear through governance and management structures, particularly for high risk or key strategic projects? • Is robust scenario planning a key feature of risk management? • Should governance failure feature more highly on the risk register? • Is reputation, for which institutions usually have a low-risk appetite, being mitigated at any cost? • Is whistleblowing and public disclosure properly enabled and is legal privilege used appropriately? • Are assurances provided by the executive being tested and challenged constructively? • Do ethics codes only exist for academic purposes or are there ways in which ethical corporate governance practice needs to be included? • Are the business aims of the institution consistent with the interests of its students? As Uniac and others have highlighted, the current higher education governance model may no longer be sufficient to meet the challenges of the sector’s increasingly fast-paced commercial environment, more demanding regulatory requirements, and potentially, a more rigorous corporate governance regime. We expect to see changes to governance codes as various public inquiries report and the OfS has flagged its likely consideration of changes to the E Conditions on Good Governance. Uniac is keeping a watching brief on these issues in order to continue to advise our members and clients accordingly.
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