Wheaton, Alison Thompson; (2022) An investigation of influences on and dimensions of English university governing body roles. Doctoral thesis (Ph.D), UCL (University College London).

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Abstract

This research addresses two questions: how are English university governing body roles characterised at sector level and how do English university governing body members perceive their roles and why? The analytical framework includes governing body attributes and a range of governance theories. It was conducted at system and institution level. At system level, governing body attribute data were aggregated across 120 English universities, resulting in a new dataset. Relevant documentary evidence and data from thirteen expert informant interviews were thematically reviewed. At institution level, five university case studies were conducted, including interviews with over sixty governors. English university governing body composition has become more homogeneous but member characteristics have become more varied. The majority of governors across at least four cases identified nine governing body roles, aligned to strategy, oversight and support clusters. They also identified six key internal, external and individual influences. Three cross-cutting themes relate to influences; the importance of governing body composition, the emergence of ‘new’ stakeholders and the significance of context. Two pertain to roles. Governors largely agreed regarding their strategy and oversight roles. Views differed amongst governors, and compared to sector expectations, regarding governors’ support roles. A conceptual framework of dimensions of governing body roles is introduced. The first is the degree of integration in the key role areas. The second is the nature of involvement. The third is the level of legitimacy. In addition to testing of this conceptual framework, this research could be broadened to include smaller, specialist universities in England, as well as geographically, across the UK and overseas, particularly in Europe and Australia. It prompts exploration of internal members’ and academic lay members’ contributions to academic governance, how to best codify governing body support roles and stakeholder perceptions of governing bodies.

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