Risk Management
In the increasingly volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous (VUCA) current and future environments, there are Black Swan and Black Elephant risk events which the National University of Singapore (NUS) must be prepared to address. It has therefore chartered ORMC to transform its risk agenda and establish a culture from being risk reactive to one that is more pro-active, pre-emptive and risk intelligent in addition to the recovery measures which are already in place. At ORMC, we oversee the strategic and operational risk areas of NUS and implement recommendations as appropriate.
NUS’s approach to risk management encompasses:
- Active partnering with faculties and business units to facilitate the implementation of the right risk and governance models.
- Deploying a wide variety of digital-physical channels in our communication strategy to improve risk awareness and ownership across the University.
- Adopting a risk intelligent approach that comprises the use of social sensing tools and predictive analytics to complement traditional risk management processes and practices.
- A quarterly meeting of the Risk Management Steering committee, chaired by the President of NUS, at which the Committee receives updates and makes recommendations.
- A quarterly risk report circulated to the Executive Committee, where specific recommendations requiring approval are tabled for further debate and discussion.
The Chinese characters for crisis are both danger and opportunity. The positive impacts of successful pre-emptive risk mitigations are opportunities for NUS to capitalize. The risk intelligent approach used is dynamic and anticipatory; it is a fundamental shift away from a typical, remedial approach risk management. It is the aspiration of NUS that our new paradigm will serve as an example for risk management and risk intelligence protocols for other institutions of higher learning.
