Understanding our risks

The importance of risk management in higher education has increased in recent years. Navigating our way through significant events such as the pandemic, a cyber breach, and economic and political instability has not been easy. The current operating environment is challenging and will continue to be so. Having an effective and proportionate risk management framework has allowed us to steer our way through these events whilst ensuring the achievement of our strategic objectives is not disrupted.

Risk and opportunity often go hand in hand and taking considered risk is part of our normal process. We regard ourselves as ‘risk aware’ with a risk management process which is proportionate and involves the systematic identification, evaluation and mitigation of risks that threaten our strategic objectives, service delivery and assets. Risk cannot be fully eliminated and the systems and procedures that we have in place allow the risks we face to be identified and understood so they can be better managed in order to reduce the potential impact and likelihood. We have recently started looking at our risk appetite and this will be developed through the coming academic year.

Our colleagues and governing body recognise risk management as an integral part of our activities. Our risk governance arrangements, which are overseen by Council, owned by Executive Board and led by our Risk Manager, seek to ensure that we have visibility and alignment of principal risks and material issues, supported by effective communication and collaboration with key internal and external stakeholders. Our strategic risk register as at the end of July 2022 contained 20 strategic risks.

On the following page we provide further detail on our high-scoring strategic risks along with our risk mitigations, as well as describing key opportunities for the University.

We also consider opportunities and look to our internal capabilities as well as the external environment to identify and shape these. Further details are provided within the strategic and operational review (pages 18–35), with key areas being:

◼ focusing on ambitions to grow our international student numbers in support of our strategy

◼ enhancing our reputation as a high-quality education provider to strengthen our reach in all activities

◼ driving our ongoing digital and data transformation, and therefore enhancing further the high-quality learning offer available, whilst also providing new and innovative learning offers

High-quality academic experience | Stakeholders impacted: Students, Colleagues, Our local community

Our priority is to provide our students with an education for life. Providing an education and broader university experience that is recognised as high quality impacts our ongoing ability to attract students, colleagues and funding. Our recent National Student Survey (NSS) results highlight that we can do better and that is why going forward we will put students at the centre of what we do.

Risks

Further decline in student satisfaction relative to the sector will result in a lack of confidence in our provision. If we do not offer a high-quality and engaging education we risk loss of market share.

Students may not feel the overall experience is what they expected or value for money.

Mitigations

Clear and achievable action plans resulting from student surveys are produced, implemented and evaluated. Clear and owned Education Strategy. Active management in academic units to ensure effective implementation and to embed a student-centred culture.

Continual working with students. Discussion around value for money and tuition fees at various University committees.

High-quality student experience | Stakeholders impacted: Students, Colleagues

Student life can be stressful, the pressure of adjusting to living independently in a new environment, city or country can be tough and it is clear to understand why some students would struggle. The wellbeing of our students and the quality of the experience they have whilst they are with us continues to be an area of focus. We have made a significant investment into our physical and digital facilities, and are working hard to ensure that our structures are robust and provide the support our students need when they need it. This includes looking at a package of measures to support students with the cost of living.

Risks

Student mental health and wellbeing needs are not supported, and the University fails to respond to mental health issues. Investment into our student mental health provision, including the adoption of a new model placing wellbeing advisers in schools and training personal tutors allowing us to ensure effective joined-up support.

Insufficient appropriate resources and facilities that support the learning and broader experience.

Colleagues do not engage with students or act on their feedback.

Mitigations

Programme of investment in teaching and learning facilities including study spaces, student systems, networks and hardware to access blended learning. Analysis of insights provided during the student lifecycle so that we can identify and intervene sooner when we learn about patterns which give cause for concern.

International student recruitment | Stakeholders impacted: Students, Colleagues, Our local community

Whilst we have had a successful year with regard to international student recruitment, we are aware that the operating environment is both competitive and complex. Changes in fees, funding and immigration policy, as well as global economic uncertainty, make the global market difficult. Our student recruitment strategy has been developed to help our ambitions to further increase our market share and look for opportunities that will enable us to grow our international student numbers.

Risks

Failure to achieve the right mix of recruitment and fee levels will impact our long-term financial sustainability. Lack of diversity and exposure to political conflicts created by a failure to attract and recruit students from multiple countries. Insufficient/ineffective international marketing activity.

Mitigations

Clear, approved and owned International Student Recruitment Strategy.

Regional recruitment plans across a number of different regions with clearly defined objectives.

Focus on coordinated marketing with campaigns to support the international student journey in place.

Our digital infrastructure and cyber security | Stakeholders impacted: Students, Colleagues, Our partners

Our students and colleagues need secure, reliable and performant IT services. The threat of cyber attacks has not gone away and is a continued area of focus for our Executive Board. Digital transformation has been high on the agenda for some time. We know that we need to deliver a digital experience that meets the needs and expectations of our students, colleagues and other stakeholders.

Risks

Improvements in cyber security cannot mitigate all areas of vulnerability completely.

Additional governance and cyber security controls may impair the user experience and may lead to some users to attempt to operate outside the scope of the secured IT services.

Investment into our digital infrastructure may not be perceived to enhance student or colleague experience.

Mitigations

A commitment to investments in our IT governance, cyber security architecture and capability. Encourage more securityconscious and cyber-aware service users.

Our future campus plans will drive our ongoing digital and data transformation.