3 1 As our sample contained registers with different scoring matrices, we have normalised the inherent (re-mitigation) and residual (post-mitigation scores) by scaling to a common factor in order to allow for more effective comparison. Executive Summary Uniac is pleased to publish its annual higher education (HE) strategic risk analysis report for 2025/26. This report provides a comprehensive assessment about how universities are thinking about, defining, and managing their strategic risks, alongside observations about the design and use of strategic and corporate risk frameworks. It highlights good practice and pinpoints topics and issues that governors and leaders may want to consider to ensure that they’re having the right conversations about risks and risk management to inform strategic decision-making. Our analysis draws on the strategic risk registers of 20 universities of widely diverse size, mission, and organisation, as well as the latest published research and analyses of the UK higher education sector’s performance. As we publish this year’s report, the Committee of University Chairs (CUC) is part way through its review of the HE Governance Code. The CUC review aims to ensure that HE governance frameworks are suitably future-facing and designed to meet the growing risks and challenges that university leaders and their governing bodies are trying to navigate. It’s significant that the call for evidence asked searching questions about the breadth of risk analysis that governors should have access to, and about what effective and proportionate risk management should address. Risk headlines As in previous years, the body of our report considers the HE risk landscape in detail and examines how institutions are describing, mitigating, and reporting on their most significant strategic risks. Undoubtedly global political upheaval and ubiquitous access to AI, alongside weak economic growth and deepening political divides and inequality in UK, continue to impact on universities in numerous ways. We explore these themes further in our EU risk analysis report. While the government’s announcement that tuition fees in England will increase in line with inflation in the short term has eased immediate financial sustainability risks, rises in national insurance and pension contributions and the planned introduction of an international student levy continue to drive increases in the institutional cost base. At the same time, more students are having to work while studying to make ends meet, and the graduate employment market remains challenging. With tuition fees the predominant source of income, new dynamics are in evidence in the competition for home and international students. It’s therefore no surprise that this year our strategic risk analysis finds that overall, normalised inherent risk scores are higher in 2025/26 than in 2024/25 in 65% of the strategic risk areas examined¹. This points to a shared belief that: • the likelihood of risks occurring is increasing; and/or • the severity of the impact of these risks is likely to be more significant; and • the recognition of a more uncertain and riskier operating environment. By comparison, average residual risk scores show a broadly similar range and pattern to 2024/25 suggesting that while certain risks may be increasing, institutions remain broadly confident in their abilities to manage these risks effectively. In some cases, for example in relation to compliance risks, this also appears to reflect effective planning and rapid implementation of controls and processes to respond to new requirements. Table 1 below shows the highest ranked inherent risks based on average risk scores over the last three years. The table shows that consistently the three most significant risks universities are managing are cybersecurity and the paired risks of student recruitment and financial sustainability. This is likely to remain the case for the majority of institutions in the medium term. Rank 2025/26 2024/25 2023/24 1 Cybersecurity Cybersecurity Cybersecurity 2 Student recruitment Student wellbeing Student outcomes 3 Financial sustainability UK policy environment Student recruitment Student recruitment Student wellbeing
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NTI5NzM=