More than half of university spending on staff, HESA data shows
Staff costs make up more than half of the £31.2bn total expenditure of higher education providers, the 2014/15 finance figures from the Higher Education Statistics Agency reveal. The figures, which are presented in an interactive dashboard, also show a total income for the sector of £33.2bn
Academic Futures: a new career route for postgraduate students?
The University of Lincoln is developing a programme to tackle the lack of professional development schemes tailored to the needs of postgraduate students interested in an academic career. Rebecca Sanderson explains the project funded by the Innovation and Transformation Fund that explores how to provide postgraduate students with more effective career development opportunities.
Projects fit for purpose: delivering more with less in the public sector
A recent report has investigated what makes successful project management in the public sector. John Lakin, one of the researchers for the report, comments on the lessons for higher education.
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.
‘Do different things and do them differently’ – complexity and culture in workforce efficiency
The HE workforce workstream of the Diamond review was led by a partnership including UUK, HEFCE, University Human Resources, UCEA and the Leadership Foundation. Gwen Wileman provides a brief snap shot of some of the huge achievements in workforce efficiency that are being made across the sector.
Academic Career Frameworks: Key to Change?
Bournemouth University’s new career frameworks for academics are the subject of a longitudinal study funded by the Innovation and Transformation Fund. Here is a report from 2015 setting out the findings gathered to date.
Putting together a change team at Loughborough University
Loughborough University’s THELMA-award winning change team aims to ‘walk in the shoes of the customer’ and identify where business processes can be improved. Project leader Dr Anne Mumford explains how the team’s approach has delivered more efficient services in a way that empowers staff.
Making data work harder for both academic and HR staff
When the University of Bath introduced its new research information system in 2012, the aim was to ease the burden on academics and to make it easier to reuse data. Katy McKen explains how research managers teamed up with HR to create a system that they discovered had many possibilities.
Appointing PVCs: are universities getting maximum bang for their buck?
A desire to bring in fresh blood is encouraging universities to turn to executive search agencies for Pro Vice Chancellors. But Sue Shepherd argues that this is neither a good use of resources, nor effective in achieving the ambition of reaching the widest possible pool of candidates.
The eight wastes in higher education
Every workplace has ways in which they could improve their practices and higher education is no different. This infographic captures how problems like overprocessing, reworking and waiting affect staff, students and academic alike.
