Governance. It’s crucial to the education character, leadership and risk management of institutions which can have turnovers of hundreds of millions of pounds. Though it’s a task that may only come around every five to 10 years, the Board appoints the Vice Chancellor and thus absolutely shapes the university.
But how do student governors take up a role on the Board when they are often at the start of their careers? At least, in their own minds they have not yet started their careers, and the Board will be populated with ‘heavyweights’ who will have many years of their careers already behind them, and sometimes have completed an entire working life and have retired? How do they contribute and make their voices heard, when they may clearly have less experience of managing huge capital investment projects, navigating difficult human resources decisions, reading balance sheets, and political and diplomatic negotiations?
