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Governance Conference 2024: Transformation in HE - governing with humanity

Advance HE's Governance Conference returns for 2024. This year’s conference theme is “Transformation in HE - governing with humanity”. The Conference will explore the complex landscape of governance within HE, highlighting the important conversations around humanity.

This year's conference focuses on exploring what it means to govern with humanity in HE. We will take the time to reflect on how the complex and ever-changing landscape makes it more difficult than ever to navigate policy, politics, and people. We will draw on lessons learned from the past and how we can build on this to create an effective long-term governance strategy.

We will be joined by high-profile speakers from the world of politics, higher education and looking beyond to other sectors for a series of keynotes, panels, and interactive sessions. The conference is an ideal opportunity to connect with fellow Governors in higher education, Governance Professionals, or Executives and learn about developments across the higher education sector, focusing on higher education in the UK and internationally.

Join us at the Governance Conference 2024

Date: 4 December 2024
Venue: Eastside Rooms, Woodcock St, Birmingham B7 4BL

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As a FHEA I found the governance conference a great opportunity for networking with such a diverse group of academics and practitioners in the field of higher education.”

Zeinab Younis, Associate professor, The British University in Egypt. Governance Conference attendee.

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Who should attend?

Chairs of the board, Governance professionals, Secretaries, Governance Managers, and staff, student and lay governors of HE institutions.

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Workshops

Launch of “Diversity of Governors in HE” report

This session offers an exclusive launch of the bi-annual Diversity of Governors in Higher Education” 2024 Report, the third iteration of this report. The report authors will share an initial overview to highlight trends and opportunities for the sector building on findings from the 2020 and 2022 reports. The session will feature an expert panel where the report’s authors will be joined by Monika Nangia, Academic Registrar at Durham University, for a discussion to reflect on the report’s findings and practical implications for higher education institutions. We will explore with participants how we as a sector can further improve governing body diversity to bring different perspectives to Board thinking, create impact for stakeholders and to better inform decision making. The report offers a unique analysis of the diversity of governing bodies in the higher education sector with comparisons to staff diversity and explores key intersectional diversity illuminating range and depth of diversity across UK HE Boards.better inform decision making. The report offers a unique analysis of the diversity of gover ing bodies in the higher education sector with comparisons to staff diversity and explores key intersectional diversity illuminating range and depth of diversity across UK HE Boards.

Measuring What Matters

Advance HE recent work on Measuring What Matters surfaced a mixed picture in terms of performance reporting to HE governing bodies in the UK and Australia, and also in external reporting. There is no standard approach in the way KPIs are presented across the universities, for example, whether they included time bound targets, trend data and benchmarked data. To inform strategic decision making in these challenging times governing bodies need to have a robust and integrated picture of university performance. This workshop will simulate Board room discussions using some of the reflective questions raised in our discussion paper and will encourage all attendees to test the debate in their own university governing bodies.
Download the reports here

ESG interactive workshop: What does the sector need and how might it need to change?

Is ESG important, and if so why, given everything else going on in the sector.
We will explore, in groups, the sectors current position and strengths, and we will consider what might need to change.
Delegates will be challenged to test the humanity of their governance oversight model, their role and whether an ESG approach can offer an integrated approach to considering risk, opportunity and strategic decision making.
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Programme

Download Resource

Governance Conference 2024 Programme

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Speakers

Sir David Behan

Interim Chair
,
Office for Students (OfS)
Sir David Behan
Sir David Behan is Interim Chair of the Office for Students. He took up his position in July 2024, following the conclusion of the Independent Public Bodies Review of the Office for Students, which Sir David led. He was appointed as the new chair of King's College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust in April this year. Between 2018 and 2023 he chaired the Board of Health Education England and until August 2024, was a Non-Executive Director of NHS England chairing the Workforce, Training and Education Committee.

Laura Maska

Managing Director
,
Aegean College
Laura Maska Bio Pic
With over two decades of experience in Higher Education, Laura Maska has been with Aegean College since 2010. She has held multiple leadership roles, including Head of Institutional Development and Head of Admissions, and has served as Managing Director since 2018. Her academic background spans Business, Psychology, and Leadership and Management in Higher Education, equipping her with a broad perspective on institutional development and governance.

Teerachai Chemnasiri

Council Chairman
,
Walailak University
Teerachai Chemnasiri
Teerachai, 78, is a prominent Human Resource professional specializing in teamwork development and cultural transformation. He had served as the Grid Partner in Thailand for 35 years and retired early this year. He had more than 300 client organizations covering government offices, state enterprises, public organizations, and business companies in Asia including China, Indonesia, Laos, Singapore, and the Philippines.

Dr Stephanie Harris

Director of Strategy, Insight and Member Engagement
,
Universities UK
Stephanie Harris
Dr Stephanie Harris is currently the Director of Strategy, Insight and Member Engagement at Universities UK (UUK), the representative body for UK universities where she has worked for 7 years in various roles. These roles have included leading UUK’s immigration policy, managing the organisation’s international response to the covid-19 pandemic, and developing UUK’s current strategic plan. In her current role, Steph acts as a senior adviser to the CEO and makes sure UUK’s work is driven by and for its membership.

Facilitators

Alison Johns

Chief Executive
,
Advance HE
Alison Johns
Alison is the Chief Executive of Advance HE. She was appointed in the autumn 2017, to lead the merger of three national agencies which created Advance HE in 2018. Prior to that, she was the Chief Executive of the Leadership Foundation for Higher Education (LFHE).

Aaron Porter

Associate Director (Governance)
,
Advance HE
AP
Aaron leads on Advance HE governance activity through the delivery of our national Governor Development Programme which engages with around 900 governors across the UK on an annual basis. He has extensive experience leading reviews of over 25 governing boards. Aaron was previously President of the National Union of Students (NUS) and also chair of trustees for the organisation.

Dan Tinkler

Governance Development Manager
,
Advance HE
Dan Tinkler
Dan joined Advance HE in January 2020 and has been in the post of Governance Development Manager since October 2021. Dan works on developing our approach to supporting Advance HE’s member needs across our governance portfolio of work.

Florence Reedy

Researcher (quantitative)
,
Advance HE
Florence Reedy
Florence joined Advance HE as a Quantitative Researcher in June 2023. Prior to this, she was Policy and Research Manager at the Association of Graduate Careers Advisory Services (AGCAS).

Dr Monika Nangia

Academic Registrar and Director of Student & Academic Services
,
Durham University
Dr Monika Nangia
With over two decades of dedicated service to higher education, Dr Nangia is a seasoned and trusted senior leader with the ability to drive a transformative impact on university operations. Her commitment to inclusivity and support for learners from diverse backgrounds, particularly those facing disadvantages, has been instrumental in broadening access to higher education.

Dr Colette Fletcher

Head of Governance & Consulting
,
Advance HE
Dr Colette Fletcher
Colette joined Advance HE in May 2023. As the Head of Governance & Consulting, she is now responsible for leading Advance HE’s existing governance advisory portfolio and developing the wider consultancy business. She is passionate about advising and supporting senior leaders in UK HE on governance and other critical issues and supporting the boards of higher education providers to be as effective as possible.

Nina Langlie

Strategic Consultancy Manager
,
Advance HE
Nina Langlie
Nina manages the expansion of Advance HE’s strategic consultancy portfolio. She holds an MBA and is an experienced programme and partnerships manager interested in experiential learning, inclusion, internationalisation, governance, organisational management, and delivering impactful projects. Nina previously worked in international market development and student mobility at two UK universities, established a grant-funded international touring project at the Science Museum, and led youth engagement and leadership programmes in Washington, DC.

Kim Ansell

Senior Consultant Governance and Leadership
,
Advance HE
Kim Ansell
Kim has worked across higher and professional education providing support to groups at all levels including senior leadership teams and Boards, to facilitate change, strategic thinking, planning and performance improvement.
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