The view from the board: revisiting the ‘Beyond the sector’ keynote panel at Data Matters 2026

Most people working with data will have experience of preparing documents for boards, panels, working groups or committees.

But the request for data itself can throw up all sorts of questions, such as what data will be most useful or meaningful? How much analysis or interpretation should you put on top of the raw data?

On the other side, when is too much data expending effort or oversharing to the detriment of reaching a consensus and plan of action?

The two sector panels at Data Matters 2026 represented the full range of expertise from colleagues focused on governance at board level to experts preparing and using data daily to inform and improve processes to transform business-as-usual into best practice.

We've drawn out some of the themes from each panel in a two-part feature: the full discussion in each panel is available as a video in the Data Matters 2026 watchlist at the bottom of each feature.

We’ve started with the panel keynote, hosted by Robin Ghurbhurun, managing director of FE and skills at Jisc: ‘Beyond the sector: leveraging cross-industry data practices to strengthen HE and FE governance for institutional sustainability’.

What does a board contribute?

In his introduction, Robin captured just some of the many factors a board member may consider in their role:

“Stakeholders including governors on those boards are seeking assurances around the quality of programme provisioning, student recruitment, student retention, student performance, their well-being, workforce recruitment, capability and adaptability of that workforce, ethics, much talked about today, fiscal challenges, in the organisations.

“Also… fiscal sustainability, estate management, regulatory compliance, investment and diversification opportunities, civic responsibilities, just to name a few.”

The many topics presented to a board are also part of the wider challenges brought to a board in today’s climate. Tertiary education sector is undergoing rapid transformation, with rolling news of redundancies, escalating debt and impending mergers.

The panel explored how HE and FE institutions can enhance long-term sustainability by adopting data-driven governance practices.

A board, consulted and challenged properly, is a vital resource for an organisation. Its privilege of not being hands-on, coupled with skillsets gathered across sectors and professions is invaluable when engaged with meaningfully.

The success of a board centres on its governance, but what does it really mean? The answer runs deeper than how different working groups and committees talk to each other, and what impact does board governance have in the day-to-day running of an organisation?

Scott Mulholland, chief information data and estates officer, Newcastle College Group (NCG) summarised governance as:

“…ensuring the long-term health of the organisation and its performance as a responsible corporate citizen…making sure that the strategy remains on course, which takes you to some of the most important data sets and KPIs you need to have access to…”

As Shri Footring, governor, Anglia Ruskin University commented, the link between data and boards is essential for the success of an organisation:

“…every decision that we make as a board, every problem that we look at that we try to solve, there's data somewhere that helps to inform that decision that needs to be made.”

So, the movement beyond intuition and tradition and toward evidence-based oversight is underway, but how do you manage the flow of information, so it doesn’t become a flood?

How much is too much data?

Data-informed decisions, big data, harnessing data are all common terms when discussing about data, but where does that data come from, and when does it complicate the analysis and assessment of issues it is meant to be helping?

While Shri noted, even collecting small discrete pieces of data on sustainability ‘into a coherent whole’ has usefully informed strategic decision making, there was agreement that bloated board packs can end up obscuring the topic.

Scott summarised the issue, saying:

“The thresholds between governance and executive responsibility could very easily become blurred if we were to give the board too much data and too much data blinds them to the really strategic issues that they want to focus on and should focus on.”

Another way to consider data is as an information source, factoring into the whole, or underpinning facts and context. Used right, data underpins expert thoughts and opinions and helps the board to move from high-level understanding to agreeing something workable and lasting with the executive leadership.

There was wide agreement on the panel that zoning in or deep diving into an issue or risk brought about more productive conversations and potential mitigations at a board level:

“AI was one that was identified which is easily as much an opportunity as a risk ... but that was a really useful and constructive discussion, and the executive took things away from that and so did the board.”

– Scott Mulholland

The overall view was that data is an absolute requirement, but not at the expense of overwhelming the time and resources of the board, versus targeted conversations and specific resources.

Data, finance and compliance

Data to inform the best practice and comparability - stepping away from inward focus - is particularly where board members can help, with an 'agnostic' view of the situation aligned with their own experience or background from other sectors and organisations.

“…most of the material that comes to the board … does tend to be internally focused and sometimes what you need to bring in is comparability and a comparison with the broader environment and what's been going on elsewhere.”

– Fiona Salzen, trustee, chair of finance and treasury committee, Jisc

Rosalind Gill, director of policy, analysis and external affairs, National Centre for Universities and Business (NCUB) summed up the importance of looking outward and direct comparison:

“…contextual and external data matters to an institution and the environment in which it operates.”

Boards bring together representatives across the public and private sectors and industries, creating an invaluable mix of different disciplines and expertise.

Fiona made the point that the private sector background of many board members may also mean they are more comfortable with in-depth financial information, not least the language of return on investment (ROI), profit and loss, and overheads.

But this awareness and understanding is something the panel agreed should be encouraged across higher and further education. Ensuring colleagues across an institution are more comfortable with financial information as a data source is a growing imperative:

“…that kind of data is just as crucial to the organisation as all the learning and the learning data and the recruitment and everything else.”

– Fiona

Rosalind expanded on why increased focus on financials is especially applicable in today’s business climate:

“...I think what we're seeing now actually is a more overt change to thinking about the skills and training system in terms of economic growth and what the country needs and what companies need.”

– Rosalind

Crucially, there is no single answer to what data means to a board, but it’s a vital part of constructive discussion and contributes to a focused, effective board and more targeted, meaningful and auditable support and challenge.

Find out more

• Watch the full discussion from Data Matters 2026 on YouTube.
• Register your interest for Data Matters 2027.