Academic governance: lessons from clinical governance?

The boards of healthcare organisations are unambiguously accountable for the quality and safety of patient care through a system known as clinical governance that has developed over the last quarter century.

In higher education ‘academic governance’ does not even merit a Wikipedia entry. Most universities run a bicameral governance system, with a council looking after the money, buildings and regulator and an academic board focusing on the standards.

At a time of financial crisis for the sector – separating the money from the actual governance of the institution’s purpose – this is a set-up with failure baked-in.

GGI has been looking at what lessons universities and other educational institutions could take from healthcare, and while the parallels are not exact – much of healthcare is extremely transactional – nevertheless there is much to learn.

And at a time when the HE Regulator in England is led by a senior colleague who previously led the healthcare regulator and is now chair of a London teaching hospital, thinking about the lessons from healthcare may well put HE leaders ahead of the curve.

At our round table we will be laying out the case for learning from clinical governance, particularly looking at improvement that can be gained from understanding failure, and how judging on results only is insufficient. Places will be limited so, please request your place now.

If you'd like to register your interest, or if you have any questions or comments, please contact events@good-governance.org.uk.