The Committee of Scottish Chairs (CSC), which consists of the Chairs of govering bodies all 19 of Scotland’s HEIs, has noted both the publication of the report of the review into higher education governance in Scotland, and the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Life Long Learning’s statement on the report to the Scottish Parliament today. CSC will now carefully consider the report, its recommendations, and the practical implications flowing from them, and will respond as appropriate once that consideration has been completed. From its initial reading of the report the CSC welcomes its re-affirmation of the importance of the independence and autonomy of the HE sector in Scotland but, at this early stage, notes that some of the recommendations will require detailed consideration and discussion. One example, in respect of which the report is not unanimous, is the recommendation for the election of chairs by potentially only two of an institution’s many stakeholders. "We believe that this will not improve governance for a number of reasons including that it will introduce material conflicts of interest and dissuade able candidates from putting themselves forward, said Tony Brian on behalf of the Committee of Scottish Chairs and the Chair of Glasgow Caledonian University. He went on to say: “CSC will work closely with Universities Scotland. It is important to ensure that any changes strengthen and not weaken the existing good governance in what is a highly successful sector which punches far above its weight, with Scotland having five universities in the top 200 in the world”.
Universities Scotland also responded to the publication of the review into university governance with Professor Seamus McDaid, Convener of Universities Scotland, commenting: “We continue to be committed to a model of university governance that is robust, accountable, inclusive and transparent. We also believe in a strong role for students, staff and other stakeholders in the running of our universities. We have been open to this review from the outset because we believe our governance arrangements should be subject to the same continuous improvement that we strive for in our teaching and research. However, it is important to remember our starting point; Scotland’s universities are a high-performing sector, with high levels of student satisfaction and better research performance than can be found in most other countries. This success is, in large part, a product of current governance arrangements”. In responding constructively to the call for evidence, Universities Scotland’s submission made fifteen recommendations as to how university governance could be further strengthened, many of which looked to embed examples of good practice across the whole sector. A number of these recommendations appear in the report.