Kim Ansell, Senior Consultant, Leadership and Governance, Advance HE, introduces a new report, 'Current practice, challenges and recommendations for university accountability and performance monitoring,' and a sector discussion paper, 'Measuring What Matters – shaping future understanding of institutional performance for value creation and strategic decision-making in 2024', both overseen by a sector steering group comprising, Advance HE, AHUA, CUC, Guild HE and Universities UK.
Current practice, challenges and recommendations for university accountability and performance monitoring, Carol A. Adams Emeritus Professor of Accounting at Durham University and Chair of the Global Sustainability Standards Board
This stimulus research was commissioned by Advance HE to prompt discussion on how universities present themselves in their annual reports and the role of the governing body in monitoring performance on the value universities create for their stakeholders and the impacts of universities on sustainable development.
The report reviews university reporting and performance monitoring, identifying challenges and opportunities for improvement. The study looks in detail at a small sample of key university documents: the annual report; and reports containing key performance indicators reviewed by governing body in nine universities in the UK and Australia.
It was overseen by a sector Steering Group including: Advance HE (Victoria Holbrook and Kim Ansell), AHUA (Helen Watson), CUC (John Rushforth), Guild HE (Gordon Mackenzie and Brooke Storer-Church) and Universities UK (Professor Steven West).
Published alongside the report is, Measuring What Matters – Shaping future understanding of institutional performance for value creation and strategic decision-making in 2024, a generative discussion paper and reflective questions for senior leaders and governing bodies from Advance HE supported by the sector steering group.
Higher Education providers understandably have a short-term focus on financial sustainability, in year finances and ‘big-ticket item’ financial commitments, such as pensions, in the current climate. But governing bodies and executive teams will need to think far beyond keeping a tight rein on the purse strings to navigate a strong and sustainable future.
Risks and opportunities can be environmental, geographic, social, or related to EDI or the business model, and depending on how those risks and opportunities are handled they can lead to both financial and reputational risk and opportunity.
As the HE landscape continues to change, governing bodies will increasingly need to look at risk in the context of opportunity and in a more integrated way. It is time to ask ourselves some challenging questions, for example:
- Is the Board really doing risk oversight or is it doing risk management?
- Does the Board and Executive fully understand materiality in the context of the business model and strategy?
- Is the Board covering short, medium and long term horizons?
Governing bodies and executive teams will need access to robust and holistic information in order to operate effectively in this context. But how do we ensure that we are really measuring what matters? The information should not only provide confidence to inform decision-making but should also facilitate scenario-based thinking and consideration of strategic options. The data should help make sense of how the institution is performing in the translation of the strategy into the business operating model and by extension build trust, confidence and reputation with key stakeholders.
Different organisations present information and use their Annual Reports in different ways. Some choose not to invest too much effort in them, preferring instead that they serve as a simple financial statement and/or a marketing tool. Others are innovating and exploring the use of integrated reporting to articulate the value that higher education creates. It has always been important to measure what truly matters to your institution so that you can understand the impact that you are having, but at a time when cost of living increases are creating concerns about whether people can afford to benefit from higher education, when running costs are spiralling but tuition fees are static, it has arguably never been more important.
Today Advance HE launches two new contributions to the debate. The first is a research report by Professor Carol Adams, offering a snapshot of current practice in a selection of UK and Australian institutions in relation to performance information in Annual and Board reports.
The second is a discussion paper. Using the Adams research as a stimulus, a sector steering group comprised of representatives from Universities UK, GuildHE, the Committee of University Chairs (CUC), and the Association of Heads of University Administration (AHUA) held a series of consultative conversations to offer further insight into current practice and to formulate the key questions that governing bodies and executive teams might helpfully be asking themselves about performance oversight.
Wherever you are in your thinking about measuring what matters to you, this discussion should offer some useful context, key themes and questions to enable a Board and Executive discussion beyond the usual frames of reference.
“At the University of Tasmania we have invested significant effort into improving our sustainability reporting, as part of our annual reporting, which has provided our governing body with consistent and robust information to inform strategic decision making and strategic oversight of our university in line with our strategy and values. We welcome these two reports and the insights they provide as we continue to refine our reporting both to our Board and externally to other stakeholders.” Professor Rufus Black, Vice Chancellor, UTAS
“At the University of the West of England, Bristol we have been refining and developing the way in which we use data to underpin our decision making. Our reporting framework has been developed to highlight performance metrics from the Board down to programme and modules. Our balanced score card seeks to support a range of academic, financial and sustainability priorities and provides oversight reporting both internally and externally. As we progress we want to enhance our approach through AI and Machine Learning and Analytics to support improved predictive analytics rather than just responsive analytics. These reports provide a valuable resource for us to use as we refine our reporting approaches.” Professor Steve West, Vice-Chancellor, University of the West of England
“Measuring and reporting on how we create and deliver value to our communities is an integral element of the governance of Deakin University. Measuring What Matters gives us further impetus to advance this in a holistic, integrated manner and to closely align our management reporting with our public Annual Report. We benefit significantly from learning from the experience and good practice of UK universities and organisations in other sectors.” Dr Glenn Nicholls, University Council Secretary, Office of the Vice-Chancellor, Deakin University
Current practice, challenges and recommendations for university accountability and performance monitoring and Measuring What Matters – Shaping future understanding of institutional performance for value creation and strategic decision-making in 2024 are both available here
Kim Ansell, Senior Consultant, Leadership and Governance Advance HE: An MBA graduate, Kim combines strategic insight with a sound understanding of operational excellence. She has worked across higher and professional education providing support to both senior leadership teams and Boards, to facilitate strategic planning and performance improvement. Kim’s work at Advance HE focusses predominantly on reviewing and helping shape organisations’ future direction, stakeholder engagement, and embedding new practices. Kim is a co-opted governor at the University of West London, Workforce Committee.
Measuring What Matters is an Advance HE Member Benefit Project which explores how Higher Education governing bodies are currently measuring and articulating performance in order to better evidence the value that they create for all stakeholders. Find out more
In the media…
Read what the media had to say following the publication of this report:
‘Significant gaps’ in university annual reporting data
Two new reports, published by Advance HE, examine how nine different universities present themselves through official data
Universities display “significant gaps” in their annual reports, according to new analysis.
A sector steering group undertook a review of reporting after finding that institutions lacked “holistic oversight” and that accountability for performance-reporting and oversight could be improved. It reviewed how nine universities in the UK and Australia present themselves through annual reports and key performance indicators (KPIs), and the role of the governing bodies in monitoring performance on the value universities create for stakeholders.
Read the full story here Times Higher Education, 17 September 2024
There are “significant gaps in university annual reports” compared to those of organisations in other sectors, an Advance HE-commissioned review has found. The review looked at nine UK and Australian universities’ annual reports and governing body performance monitoring reports, noting a lack of detail or consistency in areas such as economic impact reporting, environmental indicators, or social issues such as campus sexual misconduct which are attracting significant news coverage. On diversity and inclusion, the review argues that reporting was “more concerned with telling a positive story, than providing data by which performance could be assessed, managed and monitored.” Wonkhe, 17 September 2024
It was also reported in Research Professional News 8am Playbook here.
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