UCD Agile: the start of a continuous improvement journey
University College Dublin (UCD) is seeking to weave continuous improvement into the fabric of the university. Its director of agile, Michael Sinnott explains the university’s approach.
How a smaller institution can make a worldwide impact using lean
An institution’s size does not have to limit its ambition, as the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland is proving. The college, ranked in the top 250 of the Times Higher Education (THE) world rankings, is using Lean to help it achieve its goals in a complicated environment, as Doreen Gilfedder explains.
What lean could mean for you
Do you develop a cold sweat whenever you hear the term “lean”? Our series of blogposts about lean methodology aims to change all, that starting with an introduction to the philosophy of lean by Edinburgh Napier’s Steve Yorkstone.
Lean: seeking a shiny new process
One of the hardest steps to make in business process improvement is to move from a defined process map of the current situation to a shiny new process. So says Ollie Jones, who describes how his team is applying the lean range of tools and techniques at Leeds Beckett University.
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.
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.
Lean: taking the strain out of admissions
Middlesex University has boosted staff confidence, reduced mundane tasks and produced a better student experience, simply by improving their admissions system. Karolin Arvidsson sets out how they did it.
Improving Macquarie University with lean
Case study: An Australian university has been applying lean to streamline and improve its processes, discovering along the way how big a change the methodology can effect in the organisation's culture.
Learning lean in a lean way
Higher education professionals from across the world met in Stirling last month to discuss approaches to lean. Vincent Wiegel shares his reflections of an event attracting a growing number of delegates each year.
Operational efficiency: learning from Leicester City’s Premiership success
What can universities learn from Leicester City Football Club’s Premiership success? Perhaps more than you realise. On the AHUA blog, Alison Kennell, university secretary at York St John University discusses parallels identified between football management and institutional efficiency in a recent project to introduce lean processes.
