[et_pb_section bb_built=”1″ fullwidth=”off” specialty=”on” _builder_version=”3.17.6″][et_pb_column type=”2_3″ specialty_columns=”4″][et_pb_row_inner admin_label=”Row”][et_pb_column_inner type=”4_4″ saved_specialty_column_type=”2_3″][et_pb_post_title _builder_version=”3.17.6″ featured_placement=”above” locked=”on” \/][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.17.6″]<\/p>\n
Few colleagues would claim that we\u2019ve all been on the same journey together over the last few years, so the goal of becoming one university is self-evidently an important and justifiable one. However, it does beg the question: why are we not already one university?\u00a0<\/p>\n
Every University of Manchester staff member would answer this question differently: for some, restructures and other change programmes have made the job more impersonal and less rewarding; others may be concerned that management cultures have grown distant from day-to-day campus activities; and for many, a constant narrative of financial squeeze has eroded collegiality by positioning departments and Schools as rivals with one another, not allies. However, we\u2019d all agree that engagement now is crucial for the kind of future we all want, and that it\u2019s important to remain hopeful and enthusiastic, despite previous frustrations. The three authors of this piece initially met on the university\u2019s PGCert in Higher Education, one of the few spaces in which staff across all professional roles and from all kinds of backgrounds can come together to become better informed about the context in which they work. With the opportunity to learn and reflect outside of their everyday roles, both academic and PS participants soon gain an understanding of \u2013 and often sympathy for \u2013 the myriads of strategic, political and financial pressures that can push an institution and its senior leaders away from a common understanding of the experiences and aspirations of its campus communities. Views are expressed passionately at times, but discussions are almost always collegial with a strong focus on sharing and critiquing potential solutions.\u00a0<\/p>\n
It is in this spirit that the authors are asking whether we can afford to wait till 2035 to become one university? Community advocates recognise the power of small groups working towards common goals, discovering (much like the PGCert participants) that where individuals recognise and value each other, their shared energy can transform anxiety into action. But those of us who have fed into previous visions may wonder whether progress in some areas lived up to the fanfare with which the consultations were launched. The most recent strategic plan, Our People, Our Future promised to \u201csimplify our decision-making processes\u201d (p.6), \u201cdevelop new, consistent approaches to workload management\u201d (p.8) and \u201cempower staff and students to challenge inappropriate or threatening behaviour\u201d (p.10). But without robust evaluation of the extent to which these and other objectives were achieved, the danger is that vision-making processes begin to feel like a cyclic PR exercise.\u00a0<\/p>\n
No one wants to keep looking backwards, but first steps are nearly impossible to take without a sense of the starting point. All colleagues want to feel backed by their university but many feel constrained. Responses to staff surveys in recent years confirm this: working for the University of Manchester is exciting; we love the campus and the people; but why does it have to be run the way it is? Listening to diverse opinions is important, but those who contribute need to feel that their input ultimately matters. Consultations must be more than a performative exercise in collecting feedback on decisions already reached. This sort of approach would mean accepting that sometimes change might be slow, or the future undefined, but a sustained move to genuine, good faith collaboration would itself be a creative learning journey. The workforce could be repositioned as a source of valuable expertise rather than as an impediment to reform, with colleagues\u2019 skills and know-how central to getting the key operational decisions right. The University would look to external consultants less but potentially impact the sector and wider society more. A two-way approach would also generate greater buy-in at source, meaning that managing change would need\u00a0to be talked about less because everyone could see why it was needed and feel they\u2019d had agency to contribute. The PGCert in HE is testament to this: since its launch in 2014, friendships have been made and maintained over many years, through which conversations about how we might improve our practice and take new initiatives have emerged. There is no them and us because academic and PS staff sit side-by-side, working together to help our students get the very most from their time with us.\u00a0<\/p>\n
There are ways in which all universities can benefit from uniting behind a shared strategy. But it needs remembering that campuses are driven by relationships between human beings \u2013 whether between students and staff, academics and PS colleagues, or managers and teams \u2013 rather than operational visions. We\u2019d suggest that not all changes implemented in recent years have benefitted those professional relationships, and some have made those relationships more difficult, despite the remarkable dedication, optimism and persistence of University of Manchester colleagues. We think the first step to becoming one university \u2013 one where staff are proud to work and students thrilled to learn \u2013 is to unite behind new cultures of co-operation and openness.\u00a0<\/p>\n
If you would like to continue the conversation, come along to Manchester 2035: Are we on the right track?<\/a> with Professor Duncan Ivison and strategy experts Ken Mcphail, Head of Alliance Manchester Business School, Mark Healey Professor of Strategic Management, Alliance Manchester Business School and Dr\u00a0Mabel Sanchez Barrioluengo,\u00a0Senior Lecturer in Science Policy and Innovation,\u00a0Alliance Manchester Business School.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_post_nav _builder_version=”3.17.6″ prev_text=”Previous” next_text=”Next” in_same_term=”off” locked=”on” \/][et_pb_comments _builder_version=”3.17.6″ custom_button=”on” button_text_color=”#ffffff” locked=”on” \/][et_pb_text admin_label=”Related posts” _builder_version=”3.17.6″ locked=”on”]<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column_inner][\/et_pb_row_inner][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_3″][et_pb_sidebar admin_label=”Subscribe” _builder_version=”3.17.6″ area=”et_pb_widget_area_3″ locked=”on” \/][et_pb_sidebar _builder_version=”3.17.6″ area=”sidebar-1″ show_border=”off” locked=”on” \/][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_section]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Few colleagues would claim that we\u2019ve all been on the same journey together over the last few years, so the goal of becoming one university is self-evidently an important and justifiable one. However, it does beg the question: why are we not already one university?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":521,"featured_media":4053,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":" [et_pb_section bb_built=\"1\" fullwidth=\"off\" specialty=\"on\" _builder_version=\"3.17.6\"][et_pb_column type=\"2_3\" specialty_columns=\"4\"][et_pb_row_inner admin_label=\"Row\"][et_pb_column_inner type=\"4_4\" saved_specialty_column_type=\"2_3\"][et_pb_post_title _builder_version=\"3.17.6\" featured_placement=\"above\" locked=\"on\" \/][et_pb_text _builder_version=\"3.17.6\"]<\/p> When I\u2019m out and about meeting staff I hear much debate about the why, what, when and how of change in our University. I wanted to share my thoughts on this often contentious topic \u2013 and hear your views too.<\/p> Early in 2020 we will launch our University\u2019s new vision and strategic plan \u2013 Our future. In order to fulfil Our future we need to ensure that we are in a financially sustainable position so that we have the funds to invest in the new staff, facilities and infrastructure which will be needed to bring our plans to life.<\/p> Our Financial Statements<\/a> for 2018\/19, which have been published following approval by the Board of Governors, confirm that more than 95% of our \u00a31.1bn income is spent on our core goals - on our staff and our students - to deliver research, education and social responsibility; with the remainder invested in the long term sustainability of our University. You can find a summary<\/a> of the Financial Statements on StaffNet.<\/p> However, this is a testing time for UK universities, due to the many external factors that have an impact on us - current home tuition fees are falling in real terms, whilst our costs (not just pay but non-pay too) are increasing. There are further and even greater tuition fee funding risks outlined in General Election manifestos as well as a range of Brexit-related risks that could affect our operations. The Office for Students (OfS) demands that we demonstrate both value for money for our students and our financial sustainability (in the sense of being able to invest to deliver our ambitious strategy, rather than survival). There are, of course, also ongoing unresolved national issues around pay and the continuing challenges around funding pensions in the higher education sector.<\/p> Our Financial Statements show an improved operating surplus (3.7% of income compared to \u00a324.7m (2.3%) in 2017\/18), with a rise in income from tuition fees, education contracts and research. As I mentioned earlier, we re-invest the surplus we achieve each year in activity in line with our strategy. Recently our funds have been used to create some new academic and Professional Services posts; to invest in key infrastructure including IT; to invest in some new buildings like our student accommodation at Unsworth Park; to improve the student experience by funding more full-time Residential Life staff and to upgrade a range of buildings and research and teaching spaces and resources. Increasingly it is also invested in environmental sustainability and meeting our ambitious carbon targets. So even when we are making difficult decisions in some parts of the University we continue to invest our surplus.<\/p> Whilst we have reported an operating surplus, our Board of Governors expects us to deliver a much larger surplus than this (at least 5%) if we are to be sustainable in the long-term. Our strategic change programme (including IT Modernisation<\/a>, the Student Experience Programme<\/a>, and the Research Lifecycle Programme<\/a>), alongside our continuous improvement plans, will ensure that we create the financial headroom to invest in people and facilities. The strategic change programme will also enable us to embrace new technologies and new ways of doing things that better support all our staff and students to be the best that they can be.<\/p> Yes, this means that some individual roles will change. New roles (some that we haven\u2019t yet identified) will be created and some roles will no longer be required. I appreciate that this will cause some uncertainty and where that is the case we will do everything we can to support staff, but the alternative is that we never change anything. If we fail to take advantage of advances in technology and develop more joined-up ways of working we will ultimately find ourselves outdated in the eyes of future students, funders and other stakeholders. Staff want to work for a progressive and successful institution, of which they can be proud. This means we cannot stand still.<\/p> When I talk to staff and students I often hear their frustrations about how difficult it be can be to get some straightforward things done, grappling with paper-based, manual and repetitive processes, on outdated systems and infrastructure, all of which serves to increase staff workloads. Everyone wants to do a good job, but regularly feel that our world-class status is earned in spite of our internal systems and processes, not because of them.<\/p> To deliver our new vision and strategic plan we will need to embrace new opportunities and face challenges with courage and determination. That will sometimes mean we have to make tough decisions and no-one is claiming it will be easy or that mistakes will not be made along the way. But where we do have tough choices to make we will commit to implementing changes fairly and with compassion to support the wellbeing of all our colleagues.<\/p> [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_post_nav _builder_version=\"3.17.6\" prev_text=\"Previous\" next_text=\"Next\" in_same_term=\"off\" locked=\"on\" \/][et_pb_comments _builder_version=\"3.17.6\" custom_button=\"on\" button_text_color=\"#ffffff\" locked=\"on\" \/][et_pb_text admin_label=\"Related posts\" _builder_version=\"3.17.6\" locked=\"on\"]<\/p> [related-posts-thumbnails]<\/p> [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column_inner][\/et_pb_row_inner][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=\"1_3\"][et_pb_sidebar admin_label=\"Subscribe\" _builder_version=\"3.17.6\" area=\"et_pb_widget_area_3\" locked=\"on\" \/][et_pb_sidebar _builder_version=\"3.17.6\" area=\"sidebar-1\" show_border=\"off\" locked=\"on\" \/][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_section]<\/p>","_et_gb_content_width":"","_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4009","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-manchester-2035"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.manchester.ac.uk\/viewpoint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4009","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.manchester.ac.uk\/viewpoint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.manchester.ac.uk\/viewpoint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.manchester.ac.uk\/viewpoint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/521"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.manchester.ac.uk\/viewpoint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4009"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.manchester.ac.uk\/viewpoint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4009\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4055,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.manchester.ac.uk\/viewpoint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4009\/revisions\/4055"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.manchester.ac.uk\/viewpoint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4053"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.manchester.ac.uk\/viewpoint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4009"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.manchester.ac.uk\/viewpoint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4009"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.manchester.ac.uk\/viewpoint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4009"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Related<\/h1>\n
Related posts:<\/h3>
Making the leap: Digital Inside and Out<\/h2><\/div><\/div><\/a>
Manchester 2035: Phase 1 complete \u2013 what comes next?<\/h2><\/div><\/div><\/a>
From Manchester, For the World: turning our international ambition into action<\/h2><\/div><\/div><\/a><\/div>
Improving our financial performance will help to deliver our ambitious future plans, but we must also increase our capacity to create the funds and time to invest in our core goals. One of the ways we can do this is by changing what we do and how we do things.<\/p>Related<\/h1>