Cristina Devecchi, Author at Efficiency Exchange

Role: Editor In Chief at Efficiency Exchange - Centre for Citizenship, Enterprise and Governance

EDITORIAL. Never Alone: Universities’ key role in supporting students’ wellbeing and mental health

Cristina Devecchi - 31 January 2018

Among the many issues universities are currently concerned about, students’ mental health and wellbeing have become a core concern. According to a YouGov’s survey (2016) a quarter of our students suffer mainly of depression and anxiety, or, mostly, both combined. The need to perform, financial worries, and being in a different and new social environment can all contribute to making students feel overwhelmed at times. The IPPR study Not by Degrees (Thorley, 2017), however, paints an even more disturbing picture.

Reclaiming efficiency as value co-creation: Blockchain for an inclusive university landscape

Cristina Devecchi - 12 December 2017

Times of change require new ways to think, but also new ways to capture what we do and its impact. In this blog, our Editor-in-Chief sets the scene for a series of blogs focused on the use of Blockchain as an innovative tool to answer some of the challenges universities face in showing they are ‘value for money’ and ‘value for students’.

Events

5-6 October: AURIL conference, Bristol

Efficiency Exchange - 8 June 2017

This conference will explore how universities are using their global networks and partners to achieve more far-reaching knowledge exchange impacts and create new international business partnerships in other regions of the world.

10 October: Higher education conference and exhibition, London

Efficiency Exchange - 13 July 2017

This year’s event will tackle the challenges and opportunities that come with increased competition and choice in the sector off the back of momentous higher education reforms. Delegates will gain an exclusive introduction to the Office for Students, learn how to establish their institution as an international brand, debate the drive for digital in the sector and identify ways to enhance the student experience.

A toolkit to encourage more ambitious access agreements

John Butcher - 19 September 2017

Universities can do much more to target resources at widening the participation of adult learners, a research report funded and published by the Office for Fair Access (OFFA) suggests. Dr John Butcher of the Open University outlines some ways universities are attracting adult learners and introduces a toolkit developed by OFFA that can encourage more of these initiatives.

Collaborative teaching laboratory at the University of Birmingham

How one university is tackling under-utilised teaching spaces

Ian Tidmarsh - 16 January 2017

Single discipline teaching labs can often be under used: typically for just 24 weeks per year. Ian Tidmarsh explains how new larger teaching labs at the University of Birmingham aim to provide more flexibility, higher utilisation and thus deliver better value for money.

Discussion: restructuring a research office

Efficiency Exchange - 10 September 2015

Restructuring can help to achieve many efficiency benefits for universities - but it is never an easy option. In this discussion, Richard Bond of the University of the West of England and Julie Northam of Bournemouth University share their experiences of restructuring a research office.

Discover and share good practice for smarter working universities

Cristina Devecchi