Universities need to rethink their business models for core research and teaching work or face having to undertake ¡°repeated restructurings¡±, according to a former vice-chancellor.

Chris Husbands, who ran Sheffield Hallam University from 2016 to 2023, said there had been ¡°major strides in rethinking operating models, particularly for professional services¡± in recent years but less focus on institutions¡¯ ¡°core delivery model¡± including staff-student ratios, the structure of staffing and estate use.

¡°Without a secure and deliverable core academic model, institutions are simply going to be forced into repeated restructurings on other aspects of their activity. And that¡¯s not going to be healthy for institutions or the sector,¡± Husbands told a webinar on sector collaboration hosted by the Higher Education Policy Institute (Hepi) and Jisc.

With institutions on their own ¡°struggling with change¡± and?little prospect of significant funding?coming from central government, Husbands said the sector needed a ¡°shift in the culture of leadership¡±.

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While the competition that has defined higher education for the last 15 years had brought ¡°real benefits¡±, said Husbands, it had also ¡°delivered homogeneity, duplication, over provision and overlaps and that needs to change¡±.

Hypercompetition ¨C reflected in the regulation and funding regime ¨C had also driven the management culture in the sector, said Husbands, but what leaders now needed to ask was ¡°how they work effectively with others in terms of thinking about the institution in the context of its place¡±.

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More?collaboration and service sharing?has been repeatedly raised as a way of ensuring English institutions can get themselves onto a firmer financial footing after suffering from a long-running fee freeze and?dwindling international recruitment.

Sam Sanders, advisory lead for education, skills and productivity at accountancy firm KPMG, told the event that this difficult context had allowed conversations ¡°to be had that until now sometimes haven¡¯t had the airspace they need¡± and it was an opportunity ¡°to really explore options that I think logically we¡¯ve all known are entirely feasible for a long time, but really haven¡¯t had the impetus behind them¡±.

Sanders said ¡°we should assume everything¡¯s in scope until we find a good reason for it not to be¡±, especially given many services universities offer are not ¡°unique selling points¡±, as they do not differentiate the experience they offer to students compared to other institutions.

This allows ¡°a very, very long list of things you could look at¡± for universities ¡°including things that have traditionally been completely out of scope¡± and seen as being part of the academic domain, Sanders said.

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Panellists, however, agreed that in collaborating on services, there was a risk that the sector would become too dependent on single suppliers.

This ¡°could hand huge power to a private contractor¡±, said Husbands, while Sanders flagged the risk that this one singular service on, for example, student record-keeping, could ¡°stifle innovation and stifle the competition required to keep that thing up to date¡±.

¡°We¡¯ve seen in some areas with a very small number of credible competition options, the investment over multiple decades in key products hasn¡¯t been there, and that¡¯s one of the challenges¡±, he said.

tom.williams@timeshighereducation.com