by: Michelle Mosiere
Enterprise vs Academic Risk: Why the Difference Matters
Risk management in higher education is often discussed through the lens of enterprise risks that affect an organisation’s viability, including strategic, operational, financial, compliance, reputational, and technological risks. This framing, while useful, can obscure a critical distinction that sits at the heart of what it means to be a higher education provider.
The Higher Education Standards Framework (Threshold Standards) 2021 (HESF) creates an inextricable link between academic activity and regulatory compliance. This raises an important question: is academic risk simply a subset of enterprise risk?
What is Academic Risk?
Academic risk exists where there is potential for a negative impact on the quality, integrity, or reputation of an institution’s academic activities. Common examples include:
- poor course design or delivery leading to weak student learning outcomes
- non-compliance with accreditation or regulatory requirements
- academic misconduct or breaches of research integrity
- insufficient staff capability, capacity, or high turnover affecting teaching quality.
Academic risk can be understood as a sector-based form of enterprise risk because maintaining academic quality and standards is central to the business of any registered or aspiring higher education provider. Without credible academic outcomes, the institution’s purpose, revenue model and reputation are compromised.
Academic risk is nonetheless distinct from enterprise risk because poorly controlled academic risks will trigger enterprise risks, particularly regulatory and reputational risks.
Who Owns Academic Risk?
Academic risks are managed by academic leaders and overseen by peak institutional bodies such as the Course Advisory Committee and the Academic Board.
While enterprise risk frameworks often sit with an institution’s governing body, effective risk management in higher education depends on how well academic risk controls are embedded in academic and corporate governance processes.
A two-pronged test assesses this effectiveness of these processes. Firstly, examine how frequently and rigorously the Academic Board:
- reviews and recommends updates to the risk register
- critically scrutinises course changes arising from interim and comprehensive course reviews
- monitors whether agreed improvements are implemented as intended
- evaluates the effectiveness of those improvements over time
- commissions benchmarking activities and ensures outcomes inform continuous improvement
- interrogates student success data at a granular, sub-group level
- integrates feedback and data from key stakeholders, including students, staff, employers, and industry.
Next, determine how successfully the corporate governing body monitors its delegations and interrogates early warning signs of declining academic standards.
How to Strengthen Academic Risk Management?
Institutions that manage academic risk well use internal reporting to strengthen educational quality and student outcomes in a sustained and HESF-compliant manner. Ideally, this results in cohesive stewardship and strong academic risk management driving continuous improvement.
DVE has developed an Institutional Excellence Hub that centralises enterprise and academic risk reporting across three tiers for decision makers and peak institutional bodies:
- Governance and risk (e.g. compliance, risk management, delegations, academic integrity)
- Operations and assurance (e.g. course reviews, third-party arrangements, complaints and appeals, research and scholarly activity)
- Student lifecycle and experience (e.g. marketing, agent performance, admissions, enrolment, progression, retention and attrition).
Our Hub assigns risk ratings to identified academic and enterprise risks based on institutional benchmarks. In so doing, it:
- offers a real-time, pan-institutional understanding of emerging risks and trends
- provides access to instantaneous, high-level dashboard reports
- links reports to granular data sets and associated documents, such as the risk register
- documents monitoring and review activities in line with HESF requirements.
If you would like to see how the Hub can be tailored to your institution’s bespoke needs to elevate the management of academic and enterprise risks, please contact us via info@dvesolutions.com.au or 1800 870 677 for a demo.
