ABSTRACT
This chapter provides an overview of the relevant legal requirements, highlights some of the challenges these create, and the kinds of responses institutions. Universities in England can take a number of different legal forms and the institution’s constitutional documents will set out details of how governance should operate. The requirement that the institution’s governing instruments must uphold the public interest governance principles makes up the second directly relevant condition. The Higher Education Code of Governance, which is the most commonly used code in the higher education sector, is maintained by the Committee of University Chairs. Institutions have never had as much flexibility to determine the model of governance that best suits their individual circumstances and priorities. The governance framework should reflect what an institution wants its governing body to do and how that fits with the roles of the other key parts of the institution’s broader governance, namely the executive and the senate.
