Diversity of background, knowledge and experience has become a priority in board recruitment in recent years and the latest data reveals that the focus is having a positive impact.
Advance HE’s new Diversity of governors in higher education report, the third iteration of the biennial research, details the composition of governing bodies across 209 institutions, and finds a continuing upward trajectory on the vast majority of indicators.
The direction of travel is a reflection of the extent to which boards take “equality, diversity and inclusion so much more seriously than even in quite recent times”, according to a governor at a Russell Group university in the north of England.
“Most board recruitment is guided by a skills matrix now and some universities even have headhunters on retainers who specialise in diverse outreach,” he said. “Every year one or two board members will leave, just because of the size of boards, providing opportunities for more diverse appointments – so I do think a lot more thought is going into it.”
In some areas, such as Black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME[1]) recruitment, progress has been particularly strong. The proportion of UK BAME representation, for instance, has increased from 10.2 per cent in 2019/20 to 15.2 per cent in 2022/23, rising to 17.8 per cent for all nationalities.
“I’m really pleased to see that there is movement in the right direction,” said the governor of a small specialist provider. “But there are still about a third of boards that do not have BAME members and that worries me, because we are increasingly attracting students from across the globe.”
She argues that the board and the executive needs to be diverse to provide “that appreciation of the different communities and cultures our students are coming from”. She continued: “It really adds value to the discussions that boards are having, and the decisions being made on the back of them.”
On other indicators, however, progress is slower. Figures on governors by gender show a rise of 1 per cent in female representation compared to the previous year – to 43.4 per cent – on the back of negligible movement the year before that. The 2022/23 figure is three percentage points below the proportion of academic staff who are women, while non-academic female staff make up more than 60 per cent of the professional workforce.
“Progress has been slow and that is seriously something we need to talk about and should not be happening in this day and age,” said one governor. “What is preventing women from putting themselves forward?”
One suggestion in the report is the “leaky pipeline” phenomenon, which helps to explain underrepresentation in other categories too. Across the sector, as seniority increases, proportions of women, ethnic minorities and people with disabilities decreases. Older white males without disabilities are still overrepresented in senior roles and it is from these ranks that governors with the necessary level of experience and knowledge tend to be drawn.
Barriers exist that prevent female, BAME and disabled staff reaching these senior leadership positions, such as a lack of role models, differences in rewarding and recognition, and disparities in contract type.
Schemes such as shadowing can help give individuals the confidence to put themselves forward, according to a recent former governor at a university in London.
“Opportunities to shadow the board or be observers is something practical that boards can do,” she said. “I can think of a couple of people who are really good, but don’t quite have the experience yet, that could benefit. Representation is really important, so that people see themselves in those places. Psychological studies show that we tend to be more open to engaging with people who share characteristics. Too often governance can seem very far away and in an ivory tower but if you see yourself there, it can help with that.”
She also points out that diversity should go beyond the protected characteristics and that which is observable.
“One of the ‘old white men’ on our board had started at the very bottom of the university and worked his way up and could bring a wealth of background and experience, so it is not only about what people look like,” she said.
Similarly, there can, and often is, underrepresentation within the blanket BAME category.
“We have very strong Asian representation on the board and on the senior management team but no Black board members, for instance,” said one governor. “We are an international university, and we could still go further in terms of international representation.”
On this last point, the Diversity of Governors report shows that the proportion of international governorship across the sector has increased marginally over the past three years. However, the UK governor proportion remains at more than 90 per cent at a time when non-UK academic staff represent about a third of the academic workforce.
Moderate increases in governors who disclose a disability has also been recorded, rising from 5.8 per cent in 2020/21 to 6.5 per cent in 2022/23, in line with an increase in the proportion of all academic staff who disclose a disability (6.2 per cent).
There is evidence from the data of intersectionality of protected characteristics, which means that some of the diversity on boards may be down to a smaller number of individuals with multiple characteristics. Governors from traditionally underrepresented backgrounds also tend to be younger, for instance.
Individuals with multiple characteristics can carry a substantial load if called upon to be the voice of the underrepresented.
“In a former governor role, I was the only person of colour,” said the board member of a specialist institution. “That brings a number of challenges. You are constantly seen as a go to person to talk about EDI, inclusion or diversity. That may not be comfortable for everyone. I don’t mind but it is a burden that one has to carry. If you have someone on the board and you constantly go to them on those issues only, then it is something you might reflect on.”
The coincidence of intersectionality – being young, a woman and a person of colour for instance – can be an isolating experience, this governor suggested.
“You could be the lone voice and there can be lot of cliques in boards, especially with traditions like pre-dinner drinks,” she said. “There may be an inner circle where the conversations are happening or sometimes decisions are being made by a very small group of people. We can set any number of baselines or targets but unless we challenge the norm and resolve to make the change, the boards will not change and as a result our institutions will not change.”
A similar point was made by a recent governor who is female, international and, at the time, a junior staff member.
“I don’t mind speaking up in meetings and I never felt like people didn’t listen to me or dismissed me or didn’t treat me like an equal,” she said. “But others might not feel as comfortable. What we need to do is actively encourage people from a variety of backgrounds to stand. I have female colleagues, who are Indian or Chinese, and I tell them about the role and what they might get from it and I say ‘I think you would be great’.”
For this staff member, her role on the board, and on other university committees, increased her sense of belonging and commitment to the institution because she “felt like I had a place at every level of the university”.
Going forward, an expansion of the data collected from providers by the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) will allow diversity of boards to be explored in even greater depth in the future.
A review of the staff record is proposing to include personal characteristics such as faith and sexual orientation and for all universities to provide returns on professional services staff, which is currently an optional collection.
An independent governor in Wales believes that drilling down as far as possible into broad categories, such as BAME, will give a clearer picture of where more work needs to be done:
“We need data on subgroups so that we can really understand where positive action can be taken, and in areas such as LGBT and religion and belief data,” he said. “Given tension, particularly in the middle east, and the toxicity of the trans debate, it would be helpful to know how different communities are represented.”
In terms of action that individual universities can take to try to maximise board diversity, a number of governors recommended governance reviews and cited their positive impact.
“What makes a big difference – and good boards do it – are governance reviews every three or four years,” said a Russell Group governor. “It’s a regular enough cycle that you can keep tabs on whether the things that were recommended last time have been done. It’s a way of learning from best practice across the sector because the findings are partly informed by the work that has been carried out at other universities.”
According to this governor, having a “good range of people” across the table sparks important conversations in a variety of areas, including gender and ethnicity pay gaps, access and participation and free speech.
“When a board becomes more diverse it does change the nature of the conversation, the focus of the conversation and even the agenda ultimately,” he said. “A range of insights is incredibly valuable to board effectiveness.”
[1] This definition is widely recognised and used to identify patterns of marginalisation and segregation caused by attitudes toward an individual’s ethnicity. Advance HE recognises the limitations of this acronym. Where possible, the report presents data disaggregated by more detailed ethnic groups in addition to data consolidating BAME governors as a group.
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