Developing a global mobility framework for higher education
The global mobility of higher education staff is an area that has traditionally been difficult for universities with responsibility split between several departments. In this blogpost, Ian Ross of the North West Universities Purchasing Consortium’s (NWUPC) describes efforts to obtain better value for money in the procurement of global mobility services.
Ensemble purchasing: mighty oaks from little acorns grow
Smaller institutions in London are joining forces to get bigger bang for their buck from procurement. Kat Humphries introduces Ensemble Purchasing, a new cost sharing group dedicated to procurement.
Encouraging more sophisticated procurement through PMAs
Procurement Maturity Assessments (PMAs) provide a comprehensive “health check” for institutions' procurement services. SUPC’s Susan Wright explains how over the past five years PMAs have shown how procurement within universities is becoming increasingly sophisticated.
Tony Newjem: adding value at Heriot-Watt
The impact of procurement departments on university's spending is well-known. But as Tony Newjem of Heriot-Watt University explains, as well as saving money they can also add value through their work across the university.
SUPC – supporting sustainability procurement
While sustainable procurement is no easy task, it is becoming increasingly important to higher education institutions in the UK. As a key service provider of collaborative procurement solutions to the higher education sector, SUPC is exploring ways to support members in the procurement of goods and services that provide value for money, benefit society and the economy, while also minimising damage to the environment.
31 March: Getting the most from open access offsetting deals, London
Learn more about Jisc's negotiated deals to help reduce the costs of publishing open access articles. Participants will gain an improved understanding of the six different offsetting deals offered by Jisc and how the burden of managing article processing charges can be reduced.
Smarter procurement in universities
Procurement UK was established to provide high-level leadership and strategic coordination for procurement across the whole United Kingdom. This infographic, commissioned by Procurement UK with the support of the Efficiency Exchange, celebrates some key achievements of the UK Higher Education Procurement community in recent years.
LUPC’s Shared Procurement Service opens for business
LUPC's Shared Procurement Service opens for business
This first-in-sector collaboration offers an in-house procurement resource for smaller institutions, helping them deliver maximum value from their spend. The initial participating members are the Royal College of Music, Royal Academy of Music and Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music .
Making sense of spend
Examining how money is spent is a vital activity for universities and much of this work is carried out on their behalf by the six consortia that make up Procurement England Ltd (PEL). Andy Wojciechowski of PEL explains how this work is helping the sector.
Assessing the efficiency and effectiveness of porters and cleaners
Benchmarking is increasingly used in the quest for efficiency and most universities have used the Procurement Maturity Assessment, developed by SUMS Consulting and the Southern Universities Purchasing Consortia. SUMS has now developed another maturity model that allows easy self assessment and indicates a way forward and has applied it to portering and cleaning services.
