Good governance is critical to delivering impactful HE and confidence and trust for stakeholders. Yet we know that understanding what is effective in your context is needed more than ever to navigate turbulence and be fit for the future.
Enhancing Governance for Institutional Success
We support boards, governors, and senior leaders to strengthen governance frameworks, ensuring they deliver accountability, transparency, and strategic impact. Our evidence-based guidance helps institutions meet regulatory requirements while driving sustainable success.
Advance HE’s comprehensive understanding of the sector, the challenges facing governing bodies and best practice in the sector, meant that their work was extremely productive and their report insightful.
University Registrar and Secretary
Services to support governing bodies
We know that every provider of higher education is different and the requirements upon you will be different as a result. Whether you subscribe to the HE Code of Governance by CUC, the corporate governance Code or another; whether you are regulated by the Office for Students in England or operate under another system, we work with you to evaluate the effectiveness of your governance in context and offer wider support and development.
We provide tailored services to universities, private providers or further education colleges offering HE to ensure that Governors and governance professionals have the resources they need to promote good governance in their institutions. Our consultants offer a range of expertise in the delivery of sensitive and developmental reviews from a range of settings.
Governance effectiveness and benchmarking
At Advance HE we use three key lenses to explore effectiveness, based on years of research and experience evaluating governance in higher education. These are enablers; behaviours; and outcomes. By looking through these three lenses we are able to explore the processes and policies, skills, culture and relationships and impact that add up to deliver good governance.
Our programmes, events and bespoke consultancy all use this approach to ensure that your governance is as effective as it can be, drawing on the latest practice and insights from HE and beyond. We offer a unique and extensive benchmarking dataset.
Academic governance and assurance
Rapid changes in the higher education landscape, including evolving student expectations, financial pressures and increasing regulatory scrutiny, have placed academic governance and assurance firmly in the spotlight. Effective governance is critical to ensuring high-quality learning and teaching, positive student outcomes and institutional resilience.
Drawing on extensive experience supporting teaching and learning across the sector, Advance HE offers unparalleled insight into effective practice and the conditions that enable success. Our Academic Governance Effectiveness Framework provides institutions with a practical tool to evaluate and strengthen the effectiveness of their academic governance arrangements.
Value and integrated thinking and reporting
Higher education is looking for an improved narrative about the value it creates for students, parents, funders, governors and society, and this is much deeper and wider than value for money – it is about understanding and joining up the relationships between the resources available to a university, the stakeholders impacted by the activities of the institution and the consequent creation (or destruction) of value across all activities.
We are at the forefront of supporting institutions to explore Integrated Thinking and Reporting and bring in diverse, global perspectives on governance, strategy and stakeholder engagement
Achieving Degree Awarding Powers
Applying for Degree Awarding Powers is a significant undertaking for any provider and requires them to evidence effective institutional governance and assurance of quality and standards through a robust and intense process involving regulatory bodies.
Our people
Our team of governance experts and associates have the breadth and diversity in experience and understanding in the development of effective governance that you would expect from an organisation who has spent close to two decades working in the HE sector.
Who we’ve worked with
Keep up to date with Advance HE
Monthly Governance Bulletin
Every month we send out a newsletter that collates the latest news from the month and our most recent resources, including blogs and Advance HE reports. The newsletter also highlights upcoming dates for key events and programmes within the Advance HE portfolio.
Governance News Alerts
Our News Alerts provide regular updates from across the sector on the latest policy changes or introductions, updated guidance and news. We provide an at-a-glance view of the piece along with the implications for boards and governors.
Resources and guidance
Advance HE is committed to producing and sharing news, guidance, research, publications, resources and toolkits to support good governance. Take a look at our Governance guidance pages where these are collated.
