59 Virtual Brochure – February 2024 This briefing describes common approaches and highlights good practice covering: • gaining assurance through existing governance frameworks (including the use of compliance and assurance maps) • the changing role of the Audit Committee • an additional Council or Board sub-committee. Irrespective of the different approaches taken by institutions, we’ve identified four elements which we believe are critical to success in all contexts. The challenge There are 24 conditions with multiple sub-components addressing everything from corporate and academic governance to financial sustainability and the entirety of the student experience from first engagement to graduate destinations, presenting governors with complex and often unfamiliar territory in terms of processes, data, and terminology. Although there is now greater clarity about how the OfS’ will regulate in practice with the approval of changes to the “B” conditions on quality, standards, and outcomes, the regulatory conditions will continue to evolve. On the horizon there are new conditions relating to harassment and sexual misconduct15 and 15 https://www.officeforstudents.org.uk/news-blog-and-events/press-andmedia/ofs-plans-consultation-on-new-condition-of-registration-to-tackleharassment-and-sexual-misconduct-in-higher-education/ the OfS’ signalled16 that it will review conditions relating to consumer protection and governance in the next two years. While every governing body will have seen documentation indicating that their institution complies with each condition, demonstrating how compliance is realised in practice isn’t so straightforward. Processes are not always transparent or wellintegrated. Governors may be faced with a stack of reports, finding it hard to see where risks actually lie, and some governors (student governors and those unfamiliar with the HE sector) may find it difficult to provide the necessary scrutiny. There’s a risk that too much time is spent on compliance at some governing body meetings and too little at others. So, what works? At Uniac we’ve examined the ways in which governing bodies seek to gain the assurance they need across all the conditions of registration. It’s clear that a variety of different approaches have been adopted as the regulatory framework becomes more familiar and embedded. In the sections below we describe our high-level observations about what works and actions that institutions may wish to consider. 16 https://www.officeforstudents.org.uk/publications/office-for-studentsstrategy-2022-to-2025/
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