Risk management in public universities in pursuit of performance: A synthesis of the literature

Abstract

Risk management has become an emerging trend in the higher education sector due to the dynamic and evolving environment of the sector and the opportunities it offers to control the risks involved, improve the governance system and achieve the expected performance.

The purpose of this work is to analyze the link between risk management and performance in public universities, through a review of the literature, based on recent bibliographic references.

The analysis revealed that, in the majority of cases, there is a significant link between the risk management system, whose implementation is based on sequential steps (risk identification, risk assessment, risk treatment and risk monitoring), and the performance of public universities, which is in itself measured by several indicators (academic excellence, scientific production, information technology, satisfaction of stakeholder expectations and by increased responsiveness).