2009 Annual Governance Conference
Stepping up to self-regulation                                24-25 March 2009

Diary Date: Annual Governance Conference: 18-19 March 2010

Thank you to everyone that attended this year's Annual Governance Conference on 24-25 March 2009. This was the second annual conference combining a wide range of governing body members, including; chairs and vice chairs, governors (including staff and student governors) and clerks. The main event sponsors were Lloyds TSB Corporate Markets, with LLUK sponsoring the evening dinner and Becta provided a very popular internet cafe for delegates.

Initial feedback suggests that delegates found the event to be a valuable use of their time, balancing the national educational context and the specific concerns of the sector and the governance audience. For many clerks and governors the conference offered the chance for updates and professional development for specific areas of their role. This year’s workshops included topics, such as, Becoming an outstanding corporation, Managing funding risks in a volatile market, Governing in a recession and Making use of the Framework for Excellence.

There were a number of themes emerging from the conference. Sion Simon announced that the government is awaiting the final report of the LSIS seminars on self-regulation before announcing the next steps. At that point the implications for governors will be clearer. However rising expectations of colleges and the greater responsibility by the sector for its performance and standards implied by greater self-regulation will inevitably put additional demands on governors and their scrutiny role in safeguarding the public interest.

The new and real challenge of the colleges with delayed capital build projects was a topic of high national media coverage in the week before the conference and emerged strongly from conversations at the event. Responding to this, LSIS held a breakfast meeting on the second day at short notice to provide delegates with the space for small discussion groups in order to share and consider priorities.

This post conference web site contains:

• Speakers' biographies, presentations and useful links 
• Workshop presentations
• Photo gallery
• Sponsors
• Feedback - a chance to complete a conference evaluation form and to offer LSIS guidance and advice on the Leadership Skills for Governance support programme for 2009-10.