Corporate Governance Briefing

Good corporate governance is fundamental to the success of any organisation and particularly those that are operating within a challenging and changing environment. HEFCE expect HEIs to assess the effectiveness of their governance arrangements regularly and they check on this as part of their institutional assurance reviews.

The Financial Reporting Council has issued an updated version of the UK Corporate Governance Code. The Code is a guide to a number of key components of effective board practice. It is based on the underlying principles of all good governance: accountability, transparency, probity and focus on the sustainable success of an entity over the longer term. The updated Code places further emphasis on risk management.

In addition, the Committee of University Chairs (CUC) has issued a final draft of its Higher Education Code of Governance which reduces the number of principals from ten to seven.