Financial pressures across higher education are well documented. Faced with constrained funding, demographic challenges, increasing competition for students and greater regulatory scrutiny, universities are exploring strategic alliances, shared services, franchise arrangements and institutional mergers.
As Nick Hillman OBE recently observed, collaboration is becoming an increasingly important feature of the sector’s future.
Much of the current debate focuses on growth. Should institutions merge? Should they expand through partnerships? Should they seek new markets at home and abroad? Collaboration can create significant opportunities, enabling universities to access new markets, share expertise, strengthen resilience and enhance the student experience.
However, institutions are most likely to realise these benefits when governance evolves alongside ambition. As partnership models become more common, governance may prove to be the factor that separates successful collaborations from those that struggle to deliver their intended outcomes.
The rise of collaboration
Across the sector, there is growing evidence of institutions seeking strength through partnership. Recent examples include strategic alliances, joint ventures, new medical school collaborations and larger group structures. At the same time, several proposed mergers and partnerships have failed to progress. For many institutions, independent growth is becoming increasingly challenging. Collaboration therefore offers an attractive route to growth and long-term sustainability. Shared resources, specialist expertise and access to new opportunities can create significant value for institutions and their stakeholders. But collaboration also introduces greater organisational complexity. Successfully managing that complexity often determines whether partnerships achieve their strategic objectives.
Growth through collaboration requires strong governance
Recent commentary presents two contrasting perspectives. One argues that institutions must continue to grow and diversify revenues to remain sustainable. The other highlights evidence suggesting that expansion can create complexity without necessarily delivering long-term success. The lesson is not that growth should be avoided. Rather, successful growth relies on governance arrangements capable of supporting increasingly complex organisational structures while maintaining accountability and strategic focus. Structural change can create opportunities, but it is rarely a substitute for effective governance. Institutions that combine growth ambitions with strong oversight are typically better placed to realise the benefits collaboration can offer.
The governance opportunity
Many collaborative arrangements begin with a compelling strategic vision. Fewer organisations devote the same attention to the governance frameworks required to support them.
Key questions quickly emerge:
- Who is accountable when decisions affect more than one institution?
- How should governing bodies oversee shared services or provision?
- How are financial, regulatory and reputational risks allocated?
- What happens when strategic priorities diverge?
- How is institutional autonomy maintained within larger structures?
These are not barriers to collaboration. They are the foundations of successful collaboration. Institutions that address these questions early are more likely to build partnerships characterised by transparency, trust and effective decision-making. Legal agreements remain important, but sustainable success depends on governance arrangements that can accommodate change and resolve differences constructively over time.
Lessons from the academy trust sector
The school sector has spent more than a decade addressing many of these challenges through the development of multi-academy trusts. Trusts have had to balance local identity with central oversight, establish clear delegation frameworks and create governance systems capable of operating across multiple institutions. While universities operate in a different environment, many of the underlying challenges are similar. As higher education institutions increasingly explore formal partnerships and group structures, there may be valuable lessons to learn from a sector that has already developed practical approaches to collaborative governance.
Culture matters as much as structure
Governance is only part of the story. Many unsuccessful collaborations can be traced to differences in culture, values or institutional ambition rather than shortcomings in legal documentation. Successful partnerships require alignment of purpose, shared objectives and a clear understanding of how decisions will be made when priorities differ. In this context, cultural due diligence can be just as important as financial or regulatory due diligence. Strong governance frameworks are most effective when supported by trust, shared values and a common vision.
Looking ahead
Collaboration is likely to play an increasingly important role in the future of higher education. Universities will continue to explore alliances, group structures, franchising arrangements and mergers as they respond to financial and operational pressures. The opportunities are considerable. Institutions that collaborate effectively can unlock growth, strengthen resilience and enhance outcomes for students and stakeholders alike. The universities most likely to thrive will not necessarily be those pursuing the greatest number of partnerships. They will be those that establish governance frameworks capable of balancing accountability, autonomy and strategic alignment across increasingly complex organisations. In a more collaborative future, good governance will not be a constraint on growth. It will be the foundation that enables it.
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