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The following shows our top 5 strategic risk themes over the last three years and how that compares with other reports:

KPMG (our internal auditors) contribute to our annual report and outline what they see as the emerging risk trends across Higher Education.  We use this to help identify further areas that we need to focus on:

This year, we are continuing to mitigate against the risks and opportunities outlined in the SMG strategic risk register as well as focusing on the following

1. Technology and data

The KPMG report has called out key technology and data challenges inherent in the Higher Education sector as likely to continue to dominate in the coming years.  Key focus areas:

• Technology Strategy and operating model
• Cyber and privacy
• Data governance
• Programme/change delivery
• IT Operational resilience

2. Student and staff experience

Several key reports and presentations point to the long-term impact of a post pandemic hybrid working model. Coupled with workload and pandemic fatigue, how staff and students will feel 12 to 18 months into the new model should be considered. 

3. Sustainability and our response

It is well understood that this will be the dominant challenge at a global level for years to come.  How organisations respond will be a key risk in attracting funding, talent and students.  

4. A sense of community

The long-term impact of isolation through lockdown periods and continuation of working home alone is thought to become a key risk over the coming year.  Students and staff may feel the loss of a community/social cohesion environment.  

5. Levelling up and digital inequalities

Recent and forthcoming government policy changes will become a key area over the next 2 years with an expectation that the University will contribute to the improvement of education outcomes for disadvantaged demography.  This is aligned to the growing disparities in accessing learning, teaching and working digitally.  The cost and accessibility to technology and broadband will become a key consideration in learning, research and ways of working models over the coming years.

Cybersecurity is a major risk to any organisation which is why we are focusing on mitigation actions such as Multifactor Authentication and training for all staff and students.  This is a constant and imminent threat to the University that could result in:

1. Confidential and sensitive data being made available in public domain
2. Malware infecting our systems and directly impacting on our teaching and research data
3. Increased chance of ransomware
4. A significant fine
5. An adverse impact on our reputation
6. A lack of trust from staff, students and external parties (including grant providers) on our ability to securely manage and protect our data

Some of the key actions we are taking to mitigate this risk include:

1. Recruit additional capacity and capability to support information security
2. Regular desktop exercises to enure preparedness for future attacks
3. Continued rollout of multifactor authentication
4. Continued training for all staff and students
5. Continuous review of the risk across governance bodies

One of the key areas that senior leaders are always focused on is ensuring that students receive the best academic and non academic experience that we can provide.  Specific risks include:

1. Student expectations are not met
2. We fail to attract the highest achieving students that represent a diverse student population
3. Students do not complete studies
4. Colleagues lack capacity to engage with changes to enhance learning and teaching
5. Aspirations of teaching staff to enhance teaching and assessment cannot be realised

We focus on mitigating actions to ensure we do not have:

1. An inconsistent student experience
2. Loss of student face to face interaction and informal networking considered vital to the student experience
3. An adverse impact on the academic learning experience and student retention
4. An adverse impact on our student recruitment
5. Become less competitive with a current and relevant portfolio of subjects
6. An adverse impact on staff wellbeing and ambition for learning and teaching

Some of the things we are doing to mitigate this include:

1. Maintain close knit ties with SRC and remain transparent with continued commnunications
2. Student surveys and feedback loops with students to develop action plans
3. Ensuring that our SRC reps at School and College levels have as much input as possible to decision making and course feedback
4. Continue to prioritise investments that contribute to our learning and teaching strategy

Climate change is the biggest challenge the World is facing and the University has a vital role to play in this in terms of research and playing our role in the community to achieve our Glasgow Green Strategy.  This risk is seen as joint highest with Cybersecurity by the Senior Management Group.  As well as delivering against the Glasgow Green Strategy, mitigation actions include:

1. Review and action plans from the Public Sector Climate Change Reporting Duty Data Return
2. Increasing in-house resources and expertise to support the implementation of Glasgow Green
3. Greater focus on sustainability at all committees and prioritisation given to investments that directly contribute towards delivering against our strategy
4. Staff and student collaboration in identifying and implementing action plans
5. Building on the carbon reduction gains made during the lockdown and how we use these to achieve our 2030 targets, especially in relation to business travel and commuting
6. Continued programme of work coordinated by the Centre for Sustainable Solutions
7. Further development of the UN SDG goals

For further information, please contact Stewart.Miller@glasgow.ac.uk, Sustainability Manager

The mental wellbeing of our staff and students is the highest priority for the University.  The long term impact of Covid-19 on our sense of community, increased workload and ensuring we work and study in an equal, diverse and inclusive society is something that is at the forefront of many of the risks we review.  Much of this is covered in the People and Organisational Development Strategy and our values as an organisation.

Our goal is to deliver a values-led culture that makes the University of Glasgow an exceptional and aspirational place to learn, research and work.  There are many initiatives driven by People and Organisational Development aimed at cultivating an engaging and enabling work environment supported with organisational behaviour that empowers people to thrive.  Ongoing work includes:

1. A comprehensive delivery and action plan to implement and deliver strategic People and OD objectives
2. A comprehensive socialisation programme to embed the University values
3. Regular monitoring and review of analytical data with reference to Key Performance Indicators including mental health and wellbeing and attendance data, diversity index and colleague satisfaction
4. Regular monitoring and review of our PDR process aligned with University Values and our Glasgow Professional Behavioural Framework
5. Embed better ways of working through People First
6. Continued partnership working and engagement with Campus trade unions
7. The Embedding New Ways of Working project

You can find out more about our initiatives in supporting mental health and wellbeing here.