Content
UK Higher Education is in the midst of challenging times both financially and in policy terms, amidst ongoing bouts of reforms. Challenges include the UK’s departure from the European Union, the increasing commercialisation of university education, ongoing repercussions of the Higher Education and Research Bill and the Stern Review, a problematically high reliance on international students, the increasing casualisation or the workforce, global political events, and an increasing recourse to and reliance on debt financing with an associated decrease in reserves. These challenges facing the UK HE sector would at the very least warrant careful review of risks, reflection on academic priorities, and enhancing financial resilience, which in turn requires a quality of governance at the highest level.
The exercise of governance places great importance on the clarity of roles and responsibilities, on institutional accountability and transparency. Although the development of best practices can foster good governance e.g. the HE Code of Governance; Committee of University Chairs (CUC, 2020), such efforts may not be sufficient on their own, and instead is increasingly clear that university governing boards need to reflect deeply about the way in which they carry out their role and to consider that the way in which decisions are taken will affect the quality of those decisions (FRC, 2018), and how they learn from past mistakes (Marnet and Soobaroyen, 2018 - download the report here).
This one-day symposium will debate some of the most acute governance and accountability issues confronting academics, practitioners, and policy-makers against the rapidly changing political, social, and economic landscape in which UK HEIs operate.
Event format
The symposium will comprise the following sessions:
- Introduction and presentation: Dr Oliver Marnet and Professor Teerooven Soobaroyen will reflect on the initial LFHE report, relevant events since, and updates to HEI governance issues, followed by Q&A
- Keynote speaker presentations, followed by Q&A
- Breakout sessions
- Panel discussion
- Closing talk / reflection
Speakers
Professor David Weir
Professor Weir has been a Dean/Director of several Business Schools and a Professor in several Universities including Ancient Universities, former Colleges of Advanced Technology, Municipal Colleges, Colleges of Education, Colleges of Theology and French Grandes Écoles and is a former company Director. He served on research council committees and the (Finniston) Committee of Inquiry into British Engineering. He consults globally on organisational excellence and higher education. Author of many publications, member of the Business Excellence Institute and Foundation Fellow of the Leadership Trust.
Professor Teerooven Soobaroyen
Teerooven is Deputy Dean of Partnerships & Professor in Accounting at the Essex Business School. His research focuses on the interplay between accounting, accountability and governance. Teerooven's work considers diverse empirical settings such as companies in developing/emerging economies, corporate foundations, public sector, charities, non-governmental organisations and higher education institutions.
Teerooven has been President (2020-2022) of the British Accounting and Finance Association (www.bafa.ac.uk) and Immediate Past President of the African Accounting and Finance Association (www.aafassociation.com). He is an Associate Editor of the Journal of Accounting in Emerging Economies and Sustainability Accounting, Management and Policy Journal (SAMPJ). He is editorial board member of Accounting, Auditing and Accountability Journal, Accounting Forum, Journal of Public Budgeting, Accounting and Financial Management, Critical Perspectives on Accounting, African Accounting and Finance Journal and Comptabilité, Contrôle et Audit (Accounting, Auditing and Control).
Dr Oliver Marnet
Oliver is Director of Accreditation and Associate Professor in Accounting at the Southampton Business School. His research interests encompass behavioural and cognitive factors affecting the quality of judgement and decision-making of Boards of Directors and External Auditors across corporate foundations, public sector, charities, non-governmental organisations and higher education institutions. He has conducted research for the ICAEW and the LFHE, and provided evidence to BEIS, CMA, ICSA, ICAEW, PIRC, H3C and the European Commission.
Oliver acted as an academic adviser to the FRC’s update of the Higgs Guidance (The Guidance on Board Effectiveness, FRC, 2011, 2018) and provided written evidence to the CMA’s 2019 Statutory Audit Services Market Study, the BEIS’ 2019 Future of Audit Review, and the EC’s 2022 Public consultation on strengthening the quality of corporate reporting and its enforcement, with particular reference to joint audit arrangements. He is a member of the British Accounting and Finance Association (BAFA) and their Auditing SIG, and the British Academy of Management (BAM) and their Corporate Governance SIG.
Professor Elaine Harris
Elaine Harris is Emerita Professor at the University of Roehampton, London, where she headed up the Accounting and Management Control research group and ran the Business School doctoral programme. She edited the 2018 Routledge Companion to Performance Management and Control. Her latest research investigates the strategic investment decisions in universities, decisions made by sell-side analysts, sustainability in business acquisitions and project appraisal. Elaine is an honorary Professor at Aston Business School, chair of the Management Control Association and associate editor of the British Accounting Review. She was awarded a lifetime achievement award (2020) by the British Accounting and Finance Association (BAFA).