A picture of the Board of Times Higher Education (THE) has been doing the Twitter rounds and attracting attention because of its lack of diversity*. THE has been part of the higher education landscape since 1973 but since 2012 has developed its role as a provider of league tables on a plethora of issues. It’s developing combination of data services, branding and hiring services saw it bought by Inflexion Private Equity in 2019.
Much of the chatter on Twitter has simply posted the picture and danced around the implications for a business that claims to generate 320,000 online page views and visits from 2.8m “…academics, university leaders, students and their families” each month. These are big numbers and THE’s intention to exploit the data generated was made clear by its Chief Development Officer in recent reporting in the PIE and elsewhere. For an organization holding that much potential power and authority in higher education there is arguably a responsibility to consider positive steps on diversity, equity and inclusion at Board level.
This is particularly so when THE has made a great deal of its latest Impact Rankings league table judging universities around the world on their commitment to the UN Sustainable Development Goals. It may be worth the Board considering Goal 5 – Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls. Target 5.5 sums it up by saying – “ensure women’s full and effective participation and equal opportunities for leadership at all levels of decision-making in political, economic and public life”
Several other Development Goals imply a wider consideration of equity, diversity and inclusion but Goal 10 focuses on reducing inequality within and among countries. Specifically, target 10.2 says “..empower and promote the social, economic and political inclusion of all, irrespective of age, sex, disability, race, ethnicity, origin, religion or economic or other status.” Even Blackrock, possibly the world’s largest asset manager, has commented “..we expect companies in all countries to have a talent strategy that allows them to draw on the fullest set of talent possible,”
THE operates as part of Bologna Topco Limited which may be a slightly inside joke about the University of Bologna’s claim to being Europe’s oldest university having been founded in 1088. Or possibly the Bologna Process signed in 1999 to ensure comparability in the standards and quality of higher-education qualifications across Europe. It’s worth considering the Statement of the Fifth Bologna Policy Forum to see the commitment to fair access both in higher education and employment.
As one would expect of any company Bologna Topco Limited the Director’s Report contains some fine words on issues of equal opportunities. However, they are placed, even in the revised version of the Annual Report under the heading – Employment of Disabled Persons – which might suggest that insufficient attention is being paid to what this might really mean. None of this is intended to suggest a lack of sincerity in the Board’s thinking but attention to detail and action are equally important.
Good intentions may have been captured in the inaugural THE Live session with HSBC UK that asked: “What action do we need to take to ensure that every voice is represented at a senior level?”. For reference the HSBC UK board membership is available and people can make up their own mind about it but their policies and targets on inclusion and diversity seem clear. But searching the THE site does not provide much detail on their own approach or ambitions in this area.
Universities have come under significant pressure to increase diversity in their senior academic and administrative ranks for many years. It is particularly ironic in the current context that the THE Student noted on International Women’s Day this year that “It is striking that still only a few of the world’s top universities are led by women.” It’s World University Rankings showed that only 41 of the top 200 universities were run by women.
It may be time for universities to do their own due diligence on the way that THE is reflecting the need for greater diversity and inclusivity. There is the potential for a powerful, united approach, perhaps led by UUK and the NUS, to put pressure on THE to begin to reflect at Board level the drive for equity, inclusion and diversity that is holding so much of the world’s attention. It is the brands, reputation and attention of universities that hold the key to THE’s future and that power should be exercised for good purposes.
*For colleagues not on Twitter this is the picture that was circulating. I would be happy to credit the copyright holder if provided with authoritative details. The Board membership is the same as the Active Director list for Bologna Topco Limited at Companies House in the UK.
It is reasonable to note that Ms Fabrizia Rizzi was a non-executive director of THE for three months (according to her LinkedIn profile) from February 2021 until her resignation in April 2021. At the time she was an Assistant Director of Inflexion but moved on to another company in May 2021.
Title image by Joshua Woroniecki from Pixabay