Vice-Chancellor · Russell Group
The Vice-Chancellor I
Lead a Russell Group university through a financial and reputational crisis.
Executive simulations
Scenario exercises built on the HE Perform model. Fictional institutions, real numbers — the financial structure of each draws on the same sector data behind the rest of the practice.
The engagement
A facilitated simulation built around your institution.
The bespoke version is designed around your committees, your real risks and your live decisions. Multi-strand, two to twelve hours in the room, ending in a debrief and a written playbook. Participants work the problem in real time and the exercise pushes back — surfacing how your team actually decides under pressure, where governance holds, and where it bends. For executive teams, governing bodies and SLT away-days.
Try one yourself
Eight free scenarios · no sign-in · 10–20 minutes each
Vice-Chancellor · Post-92
The Vice-Chancellor II: Ashworth Metropolitan
Steer Ashworth Metropolitan through a Graduate Route squeeze and an agent-network visa investigation.
Merger · Post-92
The Merger: Righton & Southex
Steer Righton through a six-turn merger with Southex. Partnership of equals, or acquisition with good PR?
Principal · Scotland
Scotia West
Steer a Scottish post-92 institution through merger pressures during a hard year for the sector.
UCU · Branch Chair
The Branch Chair
Navigate disputes, negotiations and member politics from the union side of the table.
PVC · EdTech AI
The PVC: EdTech AI
Decide how to procure, govern and respond when an AI study companion comes to your executive board.
Cascade · Six desks
Someone Else's Department
A regionally critical university fails its visa-compliance check. Move through six desks — UKVI, the VC, the OfS, the minister, the Treasury, and back — as the cascade unfolds.
Academic · Summer
Happy to Help (Not)
Six weeks of summer, one overdue paper, and a working group that must not contain you. A lighter, first-person survival simulation for the research-active academic.
The scenarios are fictional; the numbers underneath them are not. Their financial structure draws on the HE Perform model and other sector sources. New scenarios are added when something in the sector demands it, and announced on LinkedIn. For a version designed around your institution, book a call.