The Innovation and Transformation Fund (ITF), supported by the Leadership Foundation and Hefce, stimulates projects to unlock and share good practice in order to advance efficiency and transformation across the higher education sector.
ITF round 1
A number of Innovation and Transformation projects stimulated by the Diamond Review were carried out during 2012-14. These included the Efficiency Exchange, HEPA, the PMA service and the Strategic Sourcing Toolkit.
ITF round 2
A second round of projects focusing on workforce change was initiated in 2014. The projects supported by this programme are designed to bring about transformational change and are supporting a second phase of work on efficiency and effectiveness in higher education, led by Professor Sir Ian Diamond.
Efficiency maps
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ITF round 2 - workforce change projects
Posts
Five enhancements to help universities evidence the benefits of change
Following publication of their guide to evidencing the benefits of business process improvement in higher education, the business improvement team at the University of Strathclyde have responded to users’ feedback with an updated version. Nicola Cairns shares some new insights gained from collaborating with colleagues across the sector.- Balancing the needs of managers and planners in a performance planning framework
When the University of Lincoln considered their current performance management processes through the eyes of their academic managers, it provided valuable insights. Liz Lacey explains how blending two different approaches helped to inform a review of the way performance planning is carried out by academic leads. - Is the diversity of terminology used by HE change practitioners diluting our shared goals?
A sector-wide survey was launched in April by the University of Strathclyde's Business Improvement Team to capture feedback on how its Guide to Evidencing the Benefits of Business Process Improvement in Higher Education has enhanced their delivery of change initiatives and how the guide could be improved. Nicola Cairns shares her insight into some of the survey findings. 
LFHE unveils Innovation and Transformation Fund grant winners
The universities of Edinburgh Napier, Northampton and Strathclyde have been selected by the Leadership Foundation to take part in the 2016 Innovation and Transformation Fund (ITF) round. Each ITF project is worth up to £8,000 and will fund initiatives that unlock and share good practice across the sector.- 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. - Evidencing the benefits of business process improvement – what do you think?
Following the success of its guide to evidencing the benefits of business process improvement projects in higher education, the University of Strathclyde wants to develop the guide to make it even better. In this blogpost, Dr Nicola Cairns introduces a survey that will help to make the guide a valuable tool for use across the sector. - Schools Planning Framework for Academic Leaders
The Schools Planning Framework project funded by the Leadership Foundation for Higher Education, seeks to explore the development of a practical application of a performance management tool, aimed at academic units. The report sets out the findings of the project as a case study based at the University of Lincoln. - 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. - 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. - 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. - Development of an Academic Intern SchemeThis project will develop a professional development scheme for postgraduates interested in an academic career. This intern scheme is designed to offer an innovative and inclusive way to expose postgraduate taught and research students to wider academic skills, practices and processes, whilst providing an opportunity to see the workings of a higher education institution.
- 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. - Engagement driven approach to process improvement – University of Hertfordshire
This report describes a project to develop an approach to process improvement within Higher Education that focuses on people, acknowledges their different perspectives and uses these perspectives to enhance capability. - Putting Students at the Heart of Our Processes – University of Leicester
This report is a guide to the University of Leicester's exploration into whether connecting senior leaders more closely to the student experience created an impetus for organisational improvement. It contains information on “what works” in engaging senior leaders and seeks to provide insights for institutions looking to develop similar approaches. - Participative Process Review – toolkit
The process reviews developed by Oxford Brookes have been specifically designed to enable teams to subsequently self-facilitate further reviews. This toolkit introduces the concept of carrying out process reviews to professionals working in higher education. - How Participative Process Reviews can nurture conversations and deliver efficiencies
After taking part in workshops run by the Oxford Centre for Staff and Learning Development, teams in Oxford Brookes University have changed their practices to make them less complicated, more streamlined and more cost effective. As part of a series of posts by the nine ITF-funded projects, Ian Whiting explains the aims of the Participative Process Review programme. - Are students at the heart of our processes?
The University of Leicester has developed an approach to engaging senior leaders with the student experience. In the latest of our blogs from the nine Innovation and Transformation Fund projects, Claire King writes that the university believes it can provide valuable insight for institutions looking to develop similar approaches. - Developing the next generation of researchers and academics
When developing guidance on good practice to inform staff development, Brunel University asked academic and research leaders to reflect on their own experiences early on in their career. As part of a series of posts by the nine ITF-funded projects, Fiona Denney explains the work. - Engagement driven approach to process improvement
When University of Hertfordshire staff were invited to review a frustrating process to change a key academic document, the energy generated by the engagement process was channelled into something positive. Gill Sadler explains how this engagement-driven approach is being embedded in the university’s process improvement work. - 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. - A guide to evidencing the benefits of business process improvement – University of StrathclydeThis guide describes how higher education institutions can evidence benefits of business process improvement. It outlines how to quantify benefits throughout a typical project life-cycle for process redesign / process modelling activities and demonstrates how to gather, record and communicate the information to allow for more accurate reporting of a project's impact.
- Guide to evidencing the benefits of business process improvement launchedA range of ways to maximise the opportunities to evidence benefits of business process improvement are outlined in a guide published by the University of Strathclyde. Heather Lawrence explains more about how it can help higher education staff.
- Universities failing to evidence the benefits of business improvement, survey revealsA recent survey by the University of Strathclyde reveals that universities are not successfully evidencing the benefits of business process improvement. Strathclyde's Heather Lawrence introduces the findings of the research.
- The P3 Project – People, Performance and Process, Bangor University
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. - How do you demonstrate the success of efficiency projects?The University of Strathclyde is gathering information about how higher education practitioners demonstrate the success of their business improvement projects. The university’s business improvement manager Heather Lawrence explains how you can help.
- Nine projects to create ‘transformational change’ funded by LFHENine universities across the UK have won funding from the Leadership Foundation for projects designed to bring about transformational change in higher education.
- Open Course in Technology Enhanced Learning (ocTEL) enrolment starts 28 AprilThe Open Course in Technology Enhanced Learning (ocTEL) is back! Starting on 28 April 2014 you will be able to participate in this free online course designed to help you better understand ways to use Learning Technology for teaching, learning and assessment.
- National Academic Workload Management Conference – 12 December 2013The aim of the conference, sponsored by the Leadership Foundation, is to share Academic Workload Management knowledge and experience with the sector. Several universities, as well as the Leadership Foundation and KPMG, will report on their observations and involvement with the project. UWE will share information and talk about the challenges which the University has faced with its own model and system. Date and timings: Thursday 12 December 2013 – Registration at 09:30 for 10:00 start (UK Local time). Venue: UWE Exhibition and Conference Centre in Bristol.
- Strategic Sourcing in Higher Education – SurveySenior managers involved in strategic sourcing decisions within UK higher education institutions are invited to participate in a HEFCE and Leadership Foundation funded research project. This will be of interest to vice chancellors, chief finance officers, finance directors and heads of procurement.
- Universities – the ‘intelligent customers’ of the futureHigher education institutions should develop their own approach to becoming ‘intelligent customers’ of suppliers, which will involve investment in new skills, changes in culture and raising the profile of procurement and supply professionals. So says Dr Dharm Kapletia of Bristol Business School, University of the West of England (UWE) who wants to hear about the […]
- ITF – update on funded projectsThe nine projects funded under the joint HEFCE/Leadership Foundation Innovation and Transformation Fund (ITF) – including the Efficiency Exchange – are making good progress in delivering new resources and effective ways of working in UK higher education.
