Discover and share good practice for smarter working universities

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.

Don’t wait for Godot, start fixing things now

Inspired by the absurdist Samuel Beckett play Waiting for Godot, the University of Sheffield's Rachel McAssey issues a call to arms in her blog; instead of waiting for big change to happen, get some problem solving skills and start making small improvements.
Kim Frost, University of London

Kim Frost: ‘I find human behaviour to be the most fascinating subject’

Attracting and keeping staff in one of the most expensive cities in the world is a challenge. Kim Frost, director of human resources at the University of London, and chair of Universities Human Resources, tells us about how working efficiently can help to meet this challenge.
Heather Lawrence, University of Strathclyde

The cross-cutting themes of the ITF projects

Managers should witness first-hand how processes earmarked for improvement work before agreeing to those changes, Heather Lawrence of the University of Strathclyde's business improvement team writes. Her blogpost, focusing on lessons from the Innovation and Transformation Fund, also advises capturing feedback and communicating findings throughout the projects.

A call for tools to measure the effectiveness of technicians

Technicians are involved in many areas of university life, yet sometimes the vital skills that they possess are not recognised within their institutions. In this blogpost, HEFCE's Steve Butcher argues that if universities want to make the most of their technical workforce, they need a tool that measures the benefits they bring.

Academic Career Frameworks: making the change

Bournemouth University’s new career frameworks for academics are the subject of a longitudinal study funded by the Innovation and Transformation Fund. In this blogpost Matthew Bennett highlights some of the learning gathered to date.

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.
Times Higher Education

THE Leadership and Management Awards 2016

The THE Leadership and Management Awards are seeking entries for their 2016 programme. They include awards for outstanding estates, leadership and procurement teams, with the entrants for the latter category required to demonstrate how their work contributes towards the attainment of the recommendations set out in the 2011 Diamond report.

Fitter for the future

Think human resource efficiency is all about redundancies? Think again. In this post, UCEA's Laurence Hopkins explores a range of ways in which Higher Education institutions are increasing organisational efficiency and effectiveness through their human resources policies.

Developing the next generation – Brunel University

A guidance and good practice resource for the leadership development of early career researchers and academics, based on a research project funded by the Leadership Foundation's Innovation and Transformation Fund.