UCU Scotland comments on University Governance report

The report by The Review of Higher Education Governance panel was welcomed today by the Minister in a statement to the Scottish Parliament. The review itself was instigated by Michael Russell, the Cabinet Secretary for Education partly in response to UCU concerns over crisis's in university governance and management that has led to a series of disputes across Scotland.

The report makes recommendations most of which are intended to increase the democracy and transparency of governance and university management. In particular the panel recommends:

•Protecting academic freedom and institutional autonomy
•The appointment of two nominees of both students and staff unions to the governing body and committees
•Greater transparency in appointments and remuneration of senior management
•Election for chairs of governing bodies
•A broadening of the experience of governing body members and greater transparency in appointment procedures
•Evidence Base on higher education in Scotland is built up to inform further reform

Responding to the report, UCU Scotland president, Gordon Watson, said:
"UCU brought our concerns over the escalating number of disputes at our universities to the Cabinet Secretary and we welcome this report which if implemented in full as Mike Russell wishes, will go some way to addressing our concerns about the breakdown of governance and the lack of accountability in decision making. To that end we are pleased that the review has recommended governing bodies should have direct staff and student union representatives and the chairs be elected by the university body. This is further enhanced by the recommendation that staff and students should be members of many of the main committees including those which decide senior management salaries and appointments."

The review panel included Terry Brotherstone, a former UCU Scotland President, as the STUC nominee who stated:
"I congratulate the Cabinet Secretary on appointing a genuinely representative advisory panel and for accepting its main recommendations and Professor von Prondzynski for agreeing to chair it, for his practical approach and for his genuine interest in staff and student opinion as it was reflected in the submissions we received.

"I hope our Report will begin a movement towards much more open governance in Scotland's HE. It is vital to engage staff and students - and their unions - in strategic decision-making founded in meaningful consultation rather than top-down 'managerialism'. Equally it is important to make the way universities work much more understandable to wider society: that of course includes taxpayers whose funding is crucial to the continuing success of institutions that, while they are rightly seen as public bodies, must remain independent of direct Government control or the undue influence of other outside interests.

"Academic freedom - the right of staff to pursue creative intellectual work freely and the obligation to exercise this critical autonomy for the long-term benefit of a sustainable democracy - is the foundation of Scotland's international reputation in scientific and humane research and of our universities' ability to continue to attract and play their part in the education of so many able students from at home and abroad.

"A recommendation of the Report is that a Centre for Research into Scottish HE should be set up to ensure that ongoing, perhaps more radical, reform can be based on independent evidence, for example concerning the impact of the huge changes in university governance since the 1980s. At this unique moment in our history, universities must rise to the challenge not only of informing public debate, but also of looking at how their own place in society can be better understood, in a revival of the tradition of the 'democratic intellect', as Scotland seeks to define its social identity in a more independent way."