
Providing assurance about academic governance and the student experience is a core function of the governing body, yet we know that governing bodies can lack confidence in this area and huge changes in approaches to teaching and learning as a result of Covid-19 means that performance may be even harder to gauge.
Booking and price information
Event date: 28 June 2023
“The governing body must actively seek and receive assurance that academic governance is robust and effective” CUC HE Code of Governance 2020
This virtual event, taking place on 28 June 2023, is specifically designed for Chairs and all governors who wish to understand more about how they can assure the quality of education and the student experience appropriately in the light of recent events.
Using our insight from working with over 350 members worldwide and bringing together key partners, you will hear:
- Advance HE experts in teaching and learning sharing evidence on educational developments in the last year and the questions these raise
- Student perspectives on the evidence about lived-experiences in UK HE
- Governor and secretary perspectives and lessons learned on actions taken to achieve effective assurance by the Board
- Regulator insights about expectations and key issues we need to consider.
The event will be an interactive session with opportunity for governors to network in an online environment and share their views as well as ask questions of speakers and each other.
Event outcomes
Attendees will:
- Develop a better understanding of educational developments, academic governance and assurance in practice
- Develop confidence about their role
- Learn from other governors’ and Board approaches.

Programme
9.30am - Welcome and introductions - Aaron Porter, Associate Director (Governance), Advance HE
9.50am - HE Policy landscape - focus on learning and teaching - Charlotte Snelling, Policy Manager, Universities UK
10.10am - What will the changing regulatory landscape mean for individual institutions and governing bodies?
Charles Knight, Senior Adviser Learning and Teaching, Advance HE
10.35am - Panel session - How do we have oversight of academic quality and hear the student voice in our governance?
Professor Claire Taylor, Deputy Vice Chancellor, Wrexham Glyndŵr University
11.05am - Break
11.20am - What does national research tell us about the student experience? - Jonathan Neves, Head of Business Intelligence and Surveys, Advance HE
11.50am - Reimagining student engagement
Tom Lowe, Head of Student Engagement and Employability, University of Winchester
12.20pm - Breakout rooms
12.45pm - Plenary
13.00pm - Close

Student voices video
Self-filmed during the Covid-19 pandemic, in this short video first and second year students talk about their higher education experiences and describe the challenges they face, what they enjoy and what they would change.
Related content
Academic governance fit for the future?
Professor Paul White on why academic governance should evolve as we start to move towards our post-pandemic education future
The implications of the pandemic reach much further into academic portfolios than concerning the ‘standard’ delivery models for ‘standard’ young, full-time undergraduates. This means that the questions that academic governance systems need to ask about the quality, efficiency and effectiveness of educational opportunities need to consider a very wide range of issues.
