‘Ground-breaking’ study examines impact of college governance

Stone King, a specialist education and charities law firm, has joined forces with education experts at the University of Sunderland for a ground-breaking new study exploring the effectiveness of college governing in England.

In the summer of 2024, Stone King and the University of Sunderland agreed to undertake a piece of research together that aimed to understand the impact of governance reviews in further education colleges in England.

Governance reviews, more commonly known as External Reviews of Governance (ERGs), are independent evaluations of the effectiveness of a college's governing body, structures, and operations.

These reviews provide an expert, unbiased view of how well the governing body is performing its functions, offering fresh insights, identifying strengths, and highlighting areas for improvement to enhance overall board performance and stakeholder confidence.

Over 18 months, researchers worked with a range of colleges across the country whose governance reviews had been conducted by Stone King, carrying out interviews and analysing reports.

The study examined whether governance reviews bring about measurable and impactful change, who the key individuals within the review process are and how their roles impact outcomes and potential changes in practice.

It also looked at insights gained by reviewers and how these are subsequently enacted within each college’s governance framework.

Leading the study for the university are Professor of Professional Education, Gary Husband, and Visiting Professor and Stone King Consultant, Ron Hill.

Tom Morrison, partner and head of Further Education at Stone King, said: “We are proud to have been able to support this important work.

“Like the University of Sunderland, Stone King cares about colleges. Colleges are critical actors in society: if we believe in their transformative power and if we think that effective governance supports a college to be at its best, then it follows that we need to find ways to help governance be at its most effective.

“For the first time, the sector has access to independent research based on evidence which provides a strong foundation on which to build some key messages.

“One of those relates to the importance of the role of the Governance Professional and the need for it to be appropriately resourced and supported.

“Alongside the positive contribution which we hope that governance reviews make at institutional level (and we now have evidence to demonstrate they do), our hope is that the sector as a whole will benefit from the work carried out as part of this collaboration between the University of Sunderland and Stone King, with the support of all those colleges who participated.

“We are planning further work together to support the sector and are eager to hear everyone’s thoughts on what will add the most value.”

The research findings will be shared with all participating colleges, as well as key sector bodies such as the Association of Colleges (AoC), the Sixth Form Colleges Association, the Education and Training Foundation (ETF), the Further Education Commissioner, the Department of Education (DfE) and the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).

Click here to read the full report.

Pictured from left to right: Tom Morrison, Gary Husband, and Ron Hill