How can we tackle procurement skills shortages in higher education?
The higher education sector is facing difficulties in finding and recruiting procurement professionals with the right skills. NEUPC’s CEO Frank Rowell talks about how the consortium is addressing the issue.
How to create a lean team
Institutions implementing a lean strategy need to think carefully about who will support it. The University of Sheffield’s Rachel McAssey explains some of the elements that make up a successful lean team.
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.
Operational efficiency or ‘how I became a Bollywood stuntwoman’
Operational efficiency or Bollywood stunts? In this post on the AHUA blog you will get more of the former than the latter from University of York's David Duncan who shares his advice on maintaining an efficient and effective administration.
Sandra Heidinger: Measuring up at Strathclyde
With a clutch of awards for its business process improvement work, the University of Strathclyde’s achievements are getting UK-wide recognition. The university’s HR director Sandra Heidinger talks to Rosie Niven about how empowering staff is the key to organisational success.
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.
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.
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.
Donna Kendall: striving for success, the Coventry way
Coventry University has been one of the star performers in recent university ranking tables. The university’s pro vice chancellor for strategic development, Donna Kendall, tells Rosie Niven the role she plays in building on this success for the future.
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
