Governing bodies ‘too focused on competition, not sector health’

Emergence of governors from private sector means oversight bodies have ‘lost touch with university community’, according to new draft code of conduct

May 28, 2025
Boardroom with chairs and intercom system
Source: iStock/luchunyu

University governing bodies should keep an eye on the collective needs of all?institutions instead of just prioritising individual success if they want to improve the financial health of the sector, a?campaign group has said.?

The Council for the Defence of British Universities (CDBU), a group of serving and former senior academics, has published a?, which sets out standards for the bodies in charge of universities.?

“The need for governors to be scrupulous – and to operate according to the?highest standards of public, organisational and academic life – is particularly pronounced?during periods of financial pressure and political mistrust,” the document reads.?

It sets out six key values, including constructive criticism, equity of membership and collaboration and professional trust. Authors hope the document will give “practical advice” to help university governing bodies become more “transparent”.?

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“University governors have got a tough job and it’s a thankless job as well, and most of them aren’t paid at all,” said Steven Jones, professor of higher education at the University of Manchester and one of the authors of the code.?

Since the emergence of the Office for Students in 2018, university governing bodies’ duties have “increased substantially”, he said, leading to an increase in the number of “lay” governors – who come from outside the university – with financial and legal backgrounds, as opposed to academic ones.?

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“I think the danger with that is that you lose touch with universities as places within the community that have a fundamentally educational purpose,” Jones said.?

“You do need people who are experts in being able to keep universities financially afloat, but I think there’s maybe a little bit of distance that has crept in between the governing body, which tends to be quite a…shadowy part of the university…and the communities of staff and students who are on campus.”

He said the growing number of governors with backgrounds in the private sector has meant these bodies have sometimes become more focused on competition than collaboration.?

The new code explicitly calls on board members to “remain mindful of their collective?accountability for the reputation and wellbeing of the wider higher education sector”, as well as individual institutions.?

Research conducted by Jones and colleagues?last year also identified evidence?of cliques and hierarchies within boards, leaving some members feeling their views are discounted.?

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The draft code says “the community in which the university is based” should be included in boards and steps should be taken “to ensure that membership is not dominated by governors from commercial or financial backgrounds”.

“This diversity extends to leadership of the board and its subcommittees, roles that are allocated on a transparent basis and reviewed annually.”

It also calls on governors to be more transparent about financial decisions, including in the case of severance schemes and course or departmental closures, to “maintain the trust of staff and students”.

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“While pecuniary considerations are important, the governing body also pays close attention to the importance of universities as multi- and inter-disciplinary communities of scholars, the public value of subject areas to wider society, and the likely human costs of redundancy,” it says.?

Jones added: “We’re prompting university governors to think of their role as being one that is more about being stewards, not only for their own university, which is obviously really important, but also for the whole sector.”

“And the argument we’re trying to make is that if the sector’s doing well, probably your university is going to be doing well, and if the sector’s doing badly, it’s very difficult for your university to buck the trend.”

CDBU is??on the draft code until 31 July.

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helen.packer@timeshighereducation.com

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