During the 2021/2022 academic year, there was a thorough review of Council’s effectiveness and an assessment of our governance maturity. 

This was carried out independently, by the Halpin Partnership who are experts in strengthening practise and improving the agility and resilience of governance in higher education.  We commissioned this because it had been several years since we have had an independent look at our governance and we wanted to ensure things hadn’t slipped and that we are applying best practice.

In parallel with the Halpin review, Chairs of all Committees that report directly into Council have also been conducting self-assessments of their Committee’s performance to give us all the insight we need to update, modernise, re-align and restructure governance that is fit for the future of UEA.

The Halpin report  has given us plenty of food for thought. Council is agreed that we can, and will do better in our governance.  Increased transparency is certainly one important priority that we are already moving forward on and we are committed to improving relationships between the Council, the Executive Team and Senate by adopting some new ways of working including ensuring that the delegation to, and reporting back from committees happens effectively.  We are working on being more explicit about where responsibility and accountability lies,  where delegation should happen, and where decisions are made, which is especially important as the Strategic Review Programme commences. 

Implementing changes to governance is being overseen by Council’s Governance Committee which I chair and which includes the Deputy Chair of Council, Jeremy Clayton, Senior Independent Member, Andy Wood, Independent Council member Stephen Evans, and the Vice Chancellor. The work will be delivered through the Strategic Review Programme’s “Efficiency and Resilience” project led by the Chief Resource Officer, Ian Callaghan.

 

Dr Sally Howes

Chair of UEA Council

2022/07/14