Reflections on Risks and Regulation in Higher Education

This article focuses on the role that risks, together with their prediction, management and mitigation, play in the regulation of higher education. It will attempt to identify some concepts currently associated with risks in the higher-education systems of developed countries; discuss how these are applied through instruments of regulation in diverse public/private economies and raise some questions for consideration about the implications and effectiveness of regulatory requirements for the leadership and governance of universities. In particular, it will look at the English system of higher-education regulation, as administered by the Office for Students.