Policy Dialogue webinar 4 Topic: Academic Governance in Higher Education Date

Context

Governance centres around accountability and responsibility. But to whom or what? In universities we are accountable and responsible for several missions:

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  Upholding our societal missions around public and planetary good
  
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  Being a good business – a sustainable, viable and ethical entity
  
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  Compliance with regulations.
  

Of the three pillars of autonomy that universities are striving for, academic autonomy may seem perhaps the clearest and perhaps the most confident transition point given that this is our ‘core business’. However, the tensions, risks and also opportunities around academic quality and its assurance and the Student Experience more broadly are complex. Leading a university’s academic short and long-term provision through such complexity, keeping the university ‘on mission’ requires ongoing and rigorous attention to all facets of academic standards, the systems and processes through which these are delivered and held to account. It requires effective and robust academic governance. In UK universities this role is fulfilled by the academic board (or council). In many ways the academic board complements and counters the corporate governance role of the governing body, and thus the relationship between the two is critical.

In this Policy Dialogue session in our governance series, we hear from speakers who have been at the heart of university academic governance, sharing their experience of the many different and interconnected facets that combine together to deliver a university’s academic mission at a consistent and consistently high quality and standard. The speakers will share some of the principles and practices as well as the ‘hot’ issues for academic governance in the UK today.

Programme

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