ABSTRACT
The legislation did contain one provision regarding the governance – ‘good governance’ of course – of higher education institutions. The use, in the Policy Statement, of language which sounds like it must be enforceable, the recognition of the shifting fee landscape and the challenge of institutional governance to be ‘more strategic’ have been combined to create the impetus for change. The Act neatly defines the route to ensure that higher education institutions (HEI) governance, strategy and delivery would be required to take policy priorities into account. The refrain from the then Education Minister Leighton Andrews in late 2010 was of a ‘smaller and stronger’ sector in Wales – and his unambiguous warning to HEIs was that they needed to ‘adapt or die’. In particular there is a significant move from having the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales ‘expect’ delivery from HEIs to being able to require it.
