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Governance Not Management

The role of the governing body is to govern and not to manage the institution. This is the job of the chief executive officer (usually the vice-chancellor or principal) and others appointed by a board for this purpose. However, there may be exceptional circumstances where the line between management and governance becomes blurred, for example:

In some institutions it is quite normal for there to be overlapping membership and joint committees between the governing body and the academic board or senate.
In others nominated governors with particular skills or knowledge may have an oversight role for particular areas of management.
Because of the expertise of individual governors there may be occasions when the head of the institution chooses to seek specialist advice about a sensitive decision.
In small institutions governors may find themselves particularly involved in operational matters because of the lack of specialist support staff.

In each of these cases the separation between management and governance can be maintained, but a board needs to be sure that appropriate checks and balances are in place to avoid an unintended blurring of boundaries. In general, boards should be very cautious about setting up their own committees (eg marketing) which are more properly the province of the executive.

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