Discover and share good practice for smarter working universities

Vegan and Vegetarian Society at the University of Stirling

As part of our Student experience series we hear from students who have recognised a need for support and changes to be made within their campus. Students at Stirling University set up the Vegan and Vegetarian society to broaden the food choices in their canteen . University can be more than the course.

Universities in 2018: Riding trends to drive change

Globalisation, digitalisation and advanced knowledge-based economies, the three mega trends Professor Dr Maurits Van Rooijen discusses in this opinion piece, questioning universities positioning to serve the needs of the modern economy. Opening doors to new opportunities and embracing new higher educational provision is the future of learning.

ProtectED: A way forward for universities which aims to improve student safety and well-being

Student safety should be a priority for all universities, but with 39% of universities not providing sexual misconduct training for staff, and only 29% of universities with a mental health and well-being strategy, this demonstrates there is need for improvement. Lucy Winrow from ProtectED discusses student safety and understanding 'what works', driving change in national standards in the HE sector and safeguarding the student experience
The Aber-Bangor Strategic Alliance team

People, process and performance – a model for change in HE?

A project to bring the questions of people and performance together with lean methodologies has been developed by the Aber-Bangor Strategic Alliance with funding from the Innovation and Transformation Fund (ITF). The Alliance’s Chris Drew provides the first in a series of posts by the nine ITF-funded projects.

Donna Kendall: striving for success, the Coventry way

Coventry University has been one of the star performers in recent university ranking tables. The university’s pro vice chancellor for strategic development, Donna Kendall, tells Rosie Niven the role she plays in building on this success for the future.
CCTV camera

Making campus safety more efficient

A government code regulating CCTV stimulated Aston University to take a fresh look at their surveillance technology. Mark Sutton explains how complying with the surveillance commissioner's code has resulted in efficiencies and savings.

Process improvement events – why they are worth the effort

Process improvements are "the most effective way of achieving a strong project team with collective responsibility for improvement activities," says Rachel McAssey. In this blogpost, the University of Sheffield's head of process improvement explains how project teams can benefit from these events and shares advice on running them.

How you can engage people to evidence the benefits of business improvement projects

Following the launch of last year's guide to evidencing business improvement, the University of Strathclyde's business improvement team are now testing out a business exploration map tool. Nicola Cairns' blog explores how people can be engaged to ensure that the potential benefits that they have identified fully demonstrate the impact of their project.
Children's drawings of people

Developing student and staff personas: a practical guide

If you want to be sure you're meeting the demands of your stakeholders as they use your services, creating personas to identify their needs will help sharpen your focus. As consultant Jean Mutton explains, it's a technique that's becoming more widely used and it needn't be a difficult process.
Spanish language books

Simpler processes to support students studying abroad

When the University of Sheffield's Global Opportunities and Engagement team realised that their various admin systems had become too cumbersome, they called for help. Rachel McAssey explains how her team of lean practitioners carried out a process review that has produced many benefits including significant time savings.