Four in 10 UK university governors are white British men

Four in 10 governors of UK universities are white, British, able-bodied men, with growth in the number of women on boards slowing, analysis has found.

A report by Advance HE found that out of 3,870 governors from across 209 institutions in 2022-23, 43.4 per cent of governing body members were women, whereas men made up 56.1 per cent.

However, this represented an increase of only 1 percentage point in the number of female governors since 2020-21, and only a 1.1 percentage point increase since 2019-20.

At almost a third (31.6 per cent) of institutions, between 45 and 55 per cent of governing body members were women. But of the remainder, female governors were in the majority in only 11.5 per cent of governing bodies. This is even less than in 2020-21, where women were in the majority on 15 per cent of governing bodies. 

The report also notes that “some governors are representing multiple identities and protected characteristics, suggesting it may only be a relatively small number of individuals with intersecting characteristics who are responsible for increasing the overall diversity of governing bodies”.

Meanwhile, there was a “mixed picture” for the representation of black, Asian and minority ethnic staff, with 17.8 per cent of governors belonging to such a background. But 35 of the 209 institutions’ governing bodies had no representation from an ethnic background, representing 16.7 per cent of boards. 

Again, concerns have been raised that certain staff members are single-handedly boosting diversity figures, because of a “high degree of overlap” between governors who are from a black, Asian and minority ethnic background and other under-represented groups.

Conversely, governors who were white, male, UK nationals and who reported no disclosed disability constituted 41.6 per cent of governors. This group was in the majority in more than a quarter of governing bodies. 

Alison Johns, chief executive of Advance HE, said she was “delighted” to see “promising increases in ethnicity, gender and disability” representation.

“It is essential we maintain our focus, energy and efforts to continue these improvements and ensure governing bodies reflect the diversity and characteristics of the staff and student community that they work with,” she said.

juliette.rowsell@timeshighereducation.com