MANAGING RISK IN HIGHER EDUCATION HIGHER EDUCATION SECTOR RISK PROFILE 2018 - PWC

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MANAGING RISK IN HIGHER EDUCATION HIGHER EDUCATION SECTOR RISK PROFILE 2018 - PWC
Managing risk in
                     Higher Education
                     Higher Education
                     Sector risk profile
                     2018

Education Risk
Assurance Services

March 2018
MANAGING RISK IN HIGHER EDUCATION HIGHER EDUCATION SECTOR RISK PROFILE 2018 - PWC
Contents

Introduction and scope                       1

Risk trends 2018                             2

The student perspective                      5

2018 Risk profiles                           6

Appendix – Risk themes and sub-categories    7
MANAGING RISK IN HIGHER EDUCATION HIGHER EDUCATION SECTOR RISK PROFILE 2018 - PWC
Introduction and scope                                                                                                                 Risk trends 2018

Introduction                                   The sector is grappling with a cultural
                                               change as students view themselves as
                                                                                           This paper aims to add to the discussion
                                                                                           on risk at institutions, by giving a view
                                               consumers with the associated need to       of what’s on others’ minds as expressed
Arguably the Higher                            continuously improve the student            through their risk registers. We have
Education sector is going                      experience (only 32% of students from       also added comment on the students’
                                               England think they achieve good value       perception based upon work we did with
through one of its most                        from their courses1) but without diluting   our interns in the summer of 2017 by
turbulent periods for a                        academic quality. In addition, the sector   asking them “what do you want from the
                                               needs to ensure it is still managing the    university of tomorrow?”
generation. This includes                      traditional but potentially high risk
increasing scrutiny on the                     compliance areas such as UK Visas and       Our sample, scope
cost of a university degree;                   Immigration (UKVI), Competition and
                                               Markets Authority requirements,
                                                                                           and methodology                                                                         Year on Year trends
vice-chancellor pay and                        Prevent legislation, business continuity    We have reviewed the risk registers from                                                As we have undertaken this analysis for a number of
                                               and health and safety.                      37 Higher Education institutions. We
benefits; the new regulatory                                                                                                                                                       years now, we summarise the top five risk themes for the
                                               With such an uncertain and risky            reviewed all the risks in each risk
framework aimed at                             environment it is more important than       register identifying those similar in                                                   last five years to provide a multi-year view on how they
‘championing the interests                     ever to have effective risk management      nature and categorising the group of risk
                                               embedded in to a university’s decision      to a risk theme. The average likelihood                                                 have evolved. The risk of student under recruitment has
of students, promoting                         making processes. Effective risk            and impact was calculated for each risk                                                 been a constant presence in the top five. Not surprisingly
choice and ensuring students                   management should ensure                    category to identify those themes
                                               management and governing bodies are         identified as being of higher risk. The                                                 financial sustainability and pensions have been
receive a good deal for their                  focused on the areas that matter,           detailed findings of our analysis are set                                               common themes, with pensions hitting top spot for
investment;’ financial                         understand the risks they face, how they    out in the remainder of this paper; this
                                               are being managed and whether the           includes commentary on the top risk                                                     2018, whilst the political uncertainty in recent years
uncertainty with the                           actions to mitigate risk are having an      themes, a comparison with prior years,                                                  is also reflected.
upcoming review of funding                     impact. To some extent current risks are    and the types of individual risks
                                               driven by factors outside of a              included within each theme.
and the ongoing Brexit                         university’s control and it is about how
negotiations.                                  both individual institutions and the
                                               sector as a whole have the ability to
                                                                                                                                       Top 5 risks
                                               respond to the challenges ahead.                                                            2014                   2015                      2016                     2017                       2018
                                               Arguably the Higher Education sector
                                               is riskier now than it has ever been.                                                   1   Student recruitment    Student recruitment       Student recruitment      Government policy and      Pensions
                                                                                                                                                                                            and financial            political landscape
                                                                                                                                                                                            sustainability

                                                                                                                                       2   Research funding and   Research funding and      Government policy,       Brexit                     Government policy/
                                                                                                                                           quality                quality                   public funding and                                  political landscape
                                                                                                                                                                                            sector reform

                                                                                                                                       3   Pension deficits and   Funding body grant        Investment in IT,        Financial sustainability   Student recruitment
                                                                                                                                           affordability          reductions                cyber security, data
                                                                                                                                                                                            and management
                                                                                                                                                                                            information

                                                                                                                                       4   Tuition fee pricing    Government policy         Significant investment   Student recruitment        Reputation
                                                                                                                                                                  and political landscape   and transformational
                                                                                                                                                                                            change programmes

                                                                                                                                       5   Information systems    Pension deficits and      Research funding and     Organisational change      Information security/
                                                                                                                                           and technology         affordability             quality                  and transformation         cyber
                                                                                                                                                                                                                     programmes

1 Student Academic Experience Survey, HEA/HEPI, June 2017

1   Managing risk in Higher Education                                                                                                                                                                                     Higher Education Sector risk profile – 2018   2
MANAGING RISK IN HIGHER EDUCATION HIGHER EDUCATION SECTOR RISK PROFILE 2018 - PWC
Key risks facing the sector 2018

                                                                                                                                                                                As with previous years, cost inflation         Whilst a number of institutions are
Our review has sought                   Government policy/political                  Student recruitment                          Information/cyber security
                                                                                                                                                                                pressures and the need to achieve              looking at developing business
                                        landscape                                    The lifeblood for many institutions,         The onset of the need to be GDPR
to understand the most                  The current political instability and        student recruitment remains a constant       compliant and the ever increasing and         efficiency savings are identified risks;       intelligence strategies and how
                                                                                                                                                                                however it is clear the biggest worry to       management information therefore
significant risk areas as               uncertainty around government policy         on risk registers. Whilst in previous        complex threat of cyber-attacks has
                                                                                                                                                                                universities is the risk of reducing           can be improved, the sector does, in our
                                        is seen as a major risk. This uncertainty    years there have been specific concerns      meant Information Security has re-
assessed by institutions                to some extent reflects how tuition fees     around postgraduate or international         entered the top five risks identified         income. Specific examples include              opinion, lag behind in this area. As the
                                                                                                                                                                                potential cuts in government funding,          operating environment becomes more
and sector trends. Here                 became one of the central themes of the      recruitment, now the risk appears to be      by institutions. In our experience,
                                                                                                                                                                                the inability to grow income through           volatile, having real time, accurate
                                        2017 General Election and the perceived      present across all areas of recruitment.     institutions are making good strides
we provide a commentary                 influence of the student vote. A number      This may be reflective of an increasingly    towards GDPR compliance. Generally,           commercial and non-academic income,            information on which decisions can
                                                                                                                                                                                missing student fees and research              be based is becoming increasingly
on the key risk themes                  of factors are driving this risk including   competitive market with changing             management and governing bodies have
                                                                                                                                                                                income targets. It appears institutions        important.
                                        the government review of tuition fees        demographics and an overall reduction        a good overview of this risk area,
identified from our analysis.           and future funding, the risk (and            in applications for places, particularly     including those that are transparent          are acutely aware that a failure to
                                                                                                                                                                                                                               Business continuity
                                        opportunity) higher apprenticeship           for nursing places and mature students.      they will not achieve compliance by the       reduce costs and increase income
                                                                                                                                                                                                                               To some extent the fact this risk has
                                        degrees bring; the new regulatory            But it is not just about numbers, many       25 May 2018 deadline. The use of              growth will seriously impinge on
                                                                                                                                                                                                                               increased is a symptom of institutions
                                        framework as the Office for Students         universities are concerned about             phishing, ransomware and denial of            institutions’ future investment in
                                                                                                                                                                                                                               becoming more aware of the need to
                                        comes in to being and recent ministerial     maintaining entry grades and quality         service attacks on institutions are on        infrastructure and facilities.
                                                                                                                                                                                                                               improve organisational resilience
                                        changes. There is an acceptance              at both undergraduate and postgraduate       the increase, the motives being to obtain     Teaching Excellence                            against a significant business
                                        universities need to be agile to respond     level, possibly an indication of taking      sensitive student or staff personal data      Framework (‘TEF’)                              disruption; but also reflecting the
                                        quickly to an ever changing political        a longer term view of ensuring higher        or commercially sensitive research data.      Reflecting the need for institutions to        increasing national risks around terror
                                        environment and a number have                retention and progression rates.             As the technology and methods used            enhance and protect their reputation in        related incidents. We are certainly
                                        identified not being able to respond                                                      by hackers change, it is important for        an increasingly competitive student            noting a number of universities
                                        quickly enough as a risk. The ability of     Reputation                                   institutions to ensure they have an           market, the need to improve or simply          becoming more aware of their
                                        institutions and the sector to positively    Given some of the bad publicity the          effective information security                maintain institutions’ TEF category            vulnerabilities and becoming more
                                        influence policy making is also seen as      Higher Education sector has received         framework. Information security is not        remains high on risk registers. Whatever       prepared for security incidents;
                                        a risk. From a regional perspective how      over the last twelve months it is, to some   purely about technology; equally as           institutions’ thoughts are on the merits       although we still see varied practice
                                        well universities are identifying and        extent, no surprise that specific risks on   important is the need to instil the right     of the TEF process there does seem to          when it comes to scenario planning and
                                        exploiting the opportunities that come       reputation have moved up risk registers.     behaviours in staff through awareness         be an acceptance that an institution’s         incident testing.
                                        with devolution is also a common             Institutions have listed a number of         and training, as well as having the           TEF category can have both a positive
                                        theme.                                       factors impacting on this risk theme,        necessary physical security in place.                                                        Other areas of note
                                                                                                                                                                                and negative impact on their
                                                                                     and to some extent many are linked to        But, in a sector which relies on                                                             Although not in the top 10 risks,
                                                                                                                                                                                competitive position.
                                                                                     other risk themes in this document;          openness, partnership and cooperation,                                                       organisational change and
                                                                                     although the overriding concern is about     getting the right balance of academic         Poor MI/data quality                           transformation programmes remain on
                                                                                     protecting stakeholder confidence            and student freedom whilst ensuring           As the move towards greater                    the agenda. So too are compliance
                                                                                     including students, the regulator,           effective information security, is an         transparency continues apace and more          areas, which whilst are assessed to have
                                                                                     funders and partners. Our view is that       issue institutions continue to grapple        and more data is made available                a low likelihood can have a significant
                                                                                     this may lead to institutions becoming       with.                                         publicly, the requirement to ensure            impact, including UKVI, Health & Safety
                                                                                     more active in how they manage their                                                       the accuracy and quality of such data          and Prevent. Staff related risks are also
                                                                                     reputation, not just in terms of             Financial sustainability                      continues to be an issue.                      moving up risk registers, most notably
                                                                                     protecting against damage to it, but also    (including pensions)                                                                         industrial relations as well as risks
                                                                                                                                                                                Throughout our work across the UK,
                                                                                     in more clearly showing the value they       The perennial risk area of Financial                                                         around staff development and
                                                                                                                                                                                we continue to identify issues related
                                                                                     create.                                      Sustainability remains high on risk                                                          performance to facilitate a move
                                                                                                                                                                                to the lack of effective data quality
                                                                                                                                  registers, with Pensions being deemed                                                        towards a culture of high performance.
                                                                                                                                                                                frameworks. We’ve noted issues around
                                                                                                                                  as the highest individual risk facing the                                                    Finally, is the sector coming to terms
                                                                                                                                                                                the need to ensure a culture of ensuring
                                                                                                                                  sector at the moment. Whilst pension                                                         with the potential impact of Brexit?
                                                                                                                                                                                data input at source is right first time,
                                                                                                                                  risk is linked to current scheme deficits                                                    Brexit has significantly fallen down the
                                                                                                                                                                                every time; a lack of clarity on who is
                                                                                                                                  and potential upward pressure on costs,                                                      rankings this year.
                                                                                                                                                                                responsible for the quality of data or the
                                                                                                                                  there is also a clear link with another
                                                                                                                                                                                process and controls around the data
                                                                                                                                  increasing risk area: industrial relations.
                                                                                                                                                                                submissions themselves.

3   Managing risk in Higher Education                                                                                                                                                                                      Higher Education Sector risk profile – 2018   4
MANAGING RISK IN HIGHER EDUCATION HIGHER EDUCATION SECTOR RISK PROFILE 2018 - PWC
The student perspective

In the summer of 2017, we
took the opportunity to ask
                                         1    Technology

                                         For our student interns the use of
                                                                                     2    Transparency

                                                                                     There has certainly been a shift in their
                                                                                                                                  3    The importance
                                                                                                                                       of place
                                                                                                                                  Many of the interns recognised the
                                                                                                                                                                              4    Collaboration

                                                                                                                                                                              The students had viewed working
                                                                                                                                                                                                                          5     Wellbeing

                                                                                                                                                                                                                          An area is that starting to appear on risk
our student interns what                 technology has become second nature to      perception of themselves as customers        importance of making a positive impact      together across multiple disciplines as     registers there was a desire to support
                                         them whether this be for studying,          into stakeholders that are looking to        in their local communities, using their     another way to enhance their degree         fellow students on issues such as mental
they would want from the                 socialising or even banking. They realise   influence the strategic direction of their   local area as a source of inspiration for   courses and broaden their horizons.         health and housing. Indeed the view
‘university of tomorrow’ and             the importance of technology and            universities as well as obtain value for     their ideas and another way to add value    They saw the development of projects        was student welfare should be at the
                                         understand its potential impact within      money. An overriding view was students       to their degrees and employability after    across disciplines as a way of developing   heart of university life.
challenged them to work                  the coming years. They identified           are kept in the dark over how and where      graduation.                                 their employability skills.
together to bring their ideas            artificial intelligence as something        the university spends their money and        Many want universities to have a,
                                         universities should be embracing to give    therefore struggle to see the value of       “comprehensive sustainability strategy
to life. Whilst not necessarily          students a better learning experience.      their investment.                            that acknowledges the institution’s
expressed in the language                                                                                                         responsibility to wider society and
                                                                                                                                  increases its resilience in the current
of risk, the insight they                                                                                                         uncertain economic and political
provided does signpost a                                                                                                          climate.”
number of areas that
arguably should be
appearing on risk registers
over the coming months.
Five specific themes were
identified:

    The full report can
    be found here:
    www.pwc.co.uk/
    studentsvoice

5    Managing risk in Higher Education                                                                                                                                                                                Higher Education Sector risk profile – 2018   6
2018 Risk profiles

    2018 Higher Education sector risk profile

                            0.90

                                                                  UKVI Compliance
                            0.85
                                                                                             Teaching Excellence Framework

                            0.80

                                                        Health and Safety
                                                                                                                Poor MI / Data Quality

                                                                                                                   Business Continuity (excl Cyber)
                                                                                                                                                                               Student Recruitment
           Average Impact

                            0.75
                                                   Compliance with legislative                                          Financial sustainability
                                                         requiremets                  Culture and staff performance                                                                                  Pensions
                                                                                            and development                           Information Security                    Reputation
                                                                                                                                            / Cyber
                                                       Estate Investment / Delivery                     Prevent Strategy
                                                         of Capital Programmes                                                       Change Programmes/Projects
                            0.70
                                                           Employability                                        Student
                                                                                                                experience                          Research and Enterprise                               Government policy/political
                                                                                                                                                                                                                 landscape
                                                                                            IT Infrastructure
                                                                International

                            0.65                         Academic Quality
                                          Brexit
                                                          Partnerships                                           International strategy
                                                                                         Governance and
                                                                                           leadership
                            0.60                                                                        Staff Recruitment and Retention                               Industrial Relations
                                                             Strategic Decision Making             Course Portfolio Management
                                                                and Implementation

                            0.55
                                   0.45                             0.50                                0.55                                 0.60                                0.65                           0.70                                     0.75
                                                                                                                                   Average Likelihood

7    Managing risk in Higher Education                                                                                                                                                                                 Higher Education Sector risk profile – 2018   8
Appendix – Risk themes and sub-
categories
Below we summarise some of the anonymised risks included on institutional risk registers to give some context for the
individual risks within risk themes. This is not an exhaustive list, and is included for illustrative purposes.

    Risk theme                Sub-categories of risk                                                                                      Risk theme            Sub-categories of risk

    Government policy/        • If the political environment does not result in a coherent and supportive policy framework for HE.        Pensions              • Meeting increased costs in payroll cost inflation and pension provision becomes financially
    political landscape       • Developments in government policy/legislation developments impact on the university resulting in a                                unsustainable.
                                loss of competitive position relative to international/UK peer institutions.                                                    • Continued USS funding pressures despite changes already made to the scheme.
                              • The results of future government spending reviews and/or government policy changes are uncertain                                • Staff pension scheme deficit increases.
                                and may result in further changes to the HE sector funding system.                                                              • Changes to USS pension resulting in potential for liabilities to the university.
                              • That changes in government policy impacts the funding model for research and teaching and results                               • If the pension scheme deficit has a continuing adverse impact on the balance sheet.
                                in a reduction in university income.
                                                                                                                                                                • That the pension scheme leads to significant and potentially unstable costs now and in perpetuity,
    Student recruitment       • Growth in on-campus and distance learning student recruitment fails to achieve targets, leading to                                and may have an impact on borrowing.
                                loss of competitive position in the UK and internationally.                                                                     • The cost of providing the current defined benefit pension schemes may escalate to such an extent
                              • Failure to achieve our Home/EU undergraduate recruitment targets which encompass number and                                       that it significantly impacts on the university’s ability to invest in critical aspects of teaching quality,
                                quality.                                                                                                                          student experience and estate.
                              • Ability to recruit students to meet agreed growth targets.                                                Financial             • The threat to sources of public funding.
                              • Ability to meet the required improvements in application rates to support improved numbers and            sustainability        • The inability to win profitable contracts across the range of the university’s areas of focus.
                                selectivity.
                                                                                                                                                                • The university fails to achieve sustainability by maintaining, growing and diversifying income
                              • Attractiveness to potential students affected by ongoing pressures on student life [costs and career                              streams.
                                outcomes] resulting in failure to meet recruitment targets.
                                                                                                                                                                • Lack of long term financial sustainability.
                              • Home and EU Undergraduate student recruitment – The university fails to recruit the target number
                                                                                                                                                                • The university has insufficient finance to achieve strategy and cover new development objectives.
                                of Home and EU students.
                                                                                                                                                                • If university Sponsored Schools underperform, then all parties concerned may experience major
                              • Decline in home applicant pool and reduction in domestic demand for Arts Design subjects.
                                                                                                                                                                  incidences and financial complications.
    Reputation                • The reputation of the university is not at a level to align with the aspirations of the strategic plan.                         • If loss of NHS funding for courses in Health and Well Being is not addressed.
                              • Through student recruitment, staff recruitment, collaboration or a business relationship, the                                   • Inability to develop commercial income or contribution as per plan.
                                university establishes links with a country, person, organisation etc. that may damage its reputation.                          • Failure to address rising costs has an adverse impact on the university’s academic excellence,
                              • The perception of the university by external bodies, informed by league table positions and other                                 reputation and financial sustainability.
                                metrics within an increasingly competitive environment, may impede our ability to attract, retain
                                and develop research-active staff of sufficient calibre to maintain and grow our research reputation      Teaching Excellence   • Continuing low Teaching Excellence Framework (‘TEF’) categorisation at institution/subject levels.
                                and income.                                                                                               Framework             • Failure to achieve high standing in the TEF.
    Information               • Failure to implement effective controls to avoid breaches of General Data Protection Regulation                                 • The university fails to maintain a significant profile for Teaching Excellence.
    Security/Cyber              (‘GDPR’).                                                                                                                       • Initial and sustained low TEF rating relative to comparators.
                              • If the university does not comply with the General Data Protection Regulations by May 2018.                                     • Correlation between low rating and lower fee rate.
                              • If cyber security measures do not provide adequate protection.                                                                  • The university has not achieved ‘Gold’ in the TEF by the time tuition fees are linked to the TEF.
                              • Information security – systems are compromised or fail to deliver services.                                                     • Poor TEF rating impacts on reputation, finances and market position.
                              • That the Institution is subject to a cyber-attack or other event that compromises its systems and data                          • Academic and financial difficulties and tensions created by poor placement of the university in the
                                to a catastrophic extent.                                                                                                         TEF.
                              • Deterioration/loss of information assets and data.                                                        Poor quality          • Failure of quality recording, collection and utilisation of our data or accuracy of our operating
                              • As a result of a failure in IT security and/or governance, the university suffers a major data loss,      management              information.
                                breach of security or loss of systems availability. Specific attention is drawn to consequences of        information/data      • Management Information is not meaningful, reliable, or does not triangulate for internal decision or
                                breach of the General Data Protection Regulation.                                                                                 external reporting.
                              • Failure to maintain sufficient cyber and information security impacts negatively on institutional                               • Data management. university is ineffective with regard to data management leading to audit issues.
                                reputation has adverse financial implications and a detrimental impact on learning, teaching and
                                                                                                                                                                • Failure to provide accurate and complete operational/student management information leading to
                                research.
                                                                                                                                                                  disruption to support services.
                              • Corporate and personal data not accessed or stored securely, or processed appropriately.
                                                                                                                                                                • That data is not sufficiently integrated to support strategic planning and decision making.
                                                                                                                                                                • Inadequate and ineffective data management and quality assurance.

9     Managing risk in Higher Education                                                                                                                                                                                        Higher Education Sector risk profile – 2018       10
Risk theme                  Sub-categories of risk                                                                                    Risk theme             Sub-categories of risk

 Business continuity         • External incident compromises campus operations or access.                                              Health and safety      • The university does not provide a safe working/studying environment.
 (excluding Cyber)           • Failure to operate due to severe business disruption or sudden environmental change.                                           • The university fails to comply with legislation, regulations and duty of care obligations.
                             • Loss of moveable assets resulting in inability of the University to function properly and to provide                           • That the institution fails to comply with the Health and Safety at Work Act.
                               satisfactory services to students.                                                                                             • Failure to effectively manage health and safety with consequent risk or damage to staff and
                             • Poor resilience/protection of key University assets that might be affected by power failures; harmful                            students.
                               effect on productivity, research, health and safety, IT and reputation.                                                        • If the university does not comply with National and International Health and Safety Laws and
                             • If the University does not respond effectively to Major Disruptions, Damage to its Operations,                                   Regulations then legal action could be pursued by third parties.
                               Damage to its Infrastructure and/or Staff or Student related Critical Incidents, then there may be                             • That failure to comply with The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order (RRO) 2005 leads to closure
                               detrimental consequences to the Institution.                                                                                     of buildings, enforcement and prosecution.
                             • If emergency management and business continuity planning fail to respond effectively to an
                               unexpected event.                                                                                       Prevent                There is a perceived loss of human rights/freedom of speech due to Prevent activity in the university.
                                                                                                                                                              Indication of this might include:
 Brexit                      • If the UK Government fulfils the commitment to withdraw from the EU.                                                           • Breakdown in relationship with trades unions and/or students’ union.
                             • Impact of EU Referendum result on operating conditions and market trends.                                                      • Campus events no longer organised on campus.
                             • Impact of Brexit on staff retention and recruitment, student recruitment and research income.                                  • Complaints from academic colleagues.
                             • If the University does not manage the impact of the exit from the European Union effectively, then                             • Unauthorised event takes places under university auspices.
                               we may encounter a series of adverse repercussions.
                                                                                                                                                              • Delivery of the Prevent duty dilutes academic freedom and/or freedom of speech.
                             • Reduction in demand from EU students post Brexit.
                                                                                                                                                              • Delays in producing and delivering training materials.
                             • Brexit – loss of EU students and staff and research funding, collapse of negotiations.
                                                                                                                                                              • Failure to prevent radicalisation of students and promotion of extremism (Prevent).
                             • The UK’s decision to leave the EU may adversely impact upon EU staff/student recruitment, research
                               income and collaborative activities.                                                                    Industrial relations   • Employee relations deteriorate to a level which leads to disruption or inability to deliver either
                             • Impact of Brexit: economic uncertainty, in particular market impact on pensions and investments.                                 critical activity or ‘core businesses’.
                                                                                                                                                              • Poor employee experience leading to industrial action.
 Organisational              • Failure to deliver major strategically high profile development projects on time and to budget.
                                                                                                                                                              • Interruption to research and education activity due to industrial action.
 change and                  • Inadequate implementation of major projects both individually and as a combined programme of
 transformation                                                                                                                                               • If academic staff participate in Industrial Action then it may cause disruption to the university’s
                               activity leads to a failure to implement change effectively.
                                                                                                                                                                services and provisions.
                             • Failure to deliver returns on strategic capital and academic investments.
                                                                                                                                                              • Staff or Union industrial action disrupts business continuity and damages staff/union relationships.
                             • Failure to effectively manage transformational change, results in disengaged staff, which adversely
                                                                                                                                                              • Failure to manage the negative consequences of a failure in good campus relations, e.g. industrial
                               impacts on the reputation of the University as an employer of choice.
                                                                                                                                                                action, student protests or extremism.
                             • Failure to identify suitable software and suppliers.
                                                                                                                                                              • Failure to prepare for and respond to national or local level industrial action impacts on the
                             • Procurement and/or implementation of new systems does not proceed to intended timescales or                                      university’s ability to operate and has a negative impact on our reputation.
                               costings.
                             • Failure to implement as intended due to pressures of ‘business as usual’ activities.                    Culture, staff         • Lack of engagement with continuing professional development to support high quality teaching and
                                                                                                                                       performance and          research.
                             • Failure to deliver intended efficiencies in administration.                                             development            • If performance in areas of weakness identified in the staff survey does not improve.
                             • New systems fail to secure buy-in and support from staff.
                                                                                                                                                              • Poor productivity and/or insufficient capacity for teaching and research and student contact.
 UKVI compliance             • If compliance with UKVI requirements is not maintained, then we may not be able to Recruit                                     • Failure to develop leadership capability in academic and professional service staff.
                               International Students as a consequence of a downgrade in our Sponsors Licence.
                                                                                                                                                              • Low staff engagement impacts performance negatively.
                             • The university must ensure that visa refusals, completions and registrations comply with UKVI
                                                                                                                                                              • Failure to appropriately develop staff in line with strategic plan.
                               requirements.
                                                                                                                                                              • We fail to achieve a high-performance culture, and ensure our workforce, management and
                             • Further changes to visa regulations may impinge on ability to recruit international students.
                                                                                                                                                                governance are effective for delivery of the strategy.
                             • Failure to remain below the Home Office’s defined levels of acceptable non-enrolment, visa refusal,
                                                                                                                                                              • That we fail to promote staff development and to tackle poor performance, leading to
                               and course completion rates per annum, or failure to satisfy UKVI auditors that the university meets
                                                                                                                                                                disenchantment of high performing staff and a staffing model that does not deliver effectively
                               all its responsibilities as a Tier 4 sponsor.
                                                                                                                                                                against the university’s requirements.
                             • The university community includes students and/or employs staff that do not comply with
                               requirements of UK Visa and Immigration, resulting in reputational damage and loss of overseas
                               students.

11   Managing risk in Higher Education                                                                                                                                                                                    Higher Education Sector risk profile – 2018   12
Contacts

  Ian Looker                                         Ian Roberts                                         Chris Monk
  National Education Lead Partner                    Senior Manager                                      Senior Manager

 T: +44 (0)1132 882 019                               T: +44(0)7738 310 054                               T: +44(0)7710 396 621
 E: ian.looker@pwc.com                                E: ian.d.roberts@pwc.com                            E: chris.g.monk@pwc.com

www.pwc.co.uk/education

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