Transition to new TLSE and PGR PS management structures to begin
01 Mar 2022
Transition to our new organisational model will begin on 7 March 2022
The Student Experience Programme is a major change initiative for our University, introducing upgraded technology and processes, consistent organisational structures, and a new way of working together across the institution. These changes are the building blocks that will enable us to deliver enhanced, more visible services to students: through School-managed Student Hubs, Faculty-managed PGR Hubs and a significantly improved online platform.
Changes from 7 March 2022
From 7 March 2022, a new, consistent Professional Services management structure will start to be implemented across the following areas:
- Teaching, Learning and Student Experience (TLSE) teams in Schools and Faculties
- Postgraduate research (PGR) staff within Schools, Faculties and the central Directorate for Research and Business Engagement
- Directorate for the Student Experience (DSE) Divisions of Campus Life, Teaching, Learning and Student Development (TLSD) and Student Admissions, Administration and Business Improvement (SAABI)
- Widening Participation (Access) staff, who will move from the Directorate for Communications, Marketing and Student Recruitment to the Directorate for the Student Experience
- The Timetabling team, which will move from Estates and Facilities to the Directorate for the Student Experience
If you work with one of the PS teams listed, leaders and managers in your local area will be communicating with you to confirm what the changes mean for you, and who your new contacts are if these have changed.
Overarching principles of new model
School and Faculty TLSE teams
- School TLSE teams will move to more consistent structures and move away from departmental or divisional structures where these still exist.
- School teams will be structured based on function, working as a cohesive team to support students and academic staff across all taught programmes. This is a shift, for some Schools, from programme-focused administration. The new management structures are the first step in this transition.
- Faculty teams are structured to ensure clearer vertical alignment through the organisation and will form an integrated part of wider matrix working and communities of practise.
- Faculty teams will include a dedicated scheduling team in support of the move of timetabling to a Faculty-DSE model.
- Non-standard roles to manage specialist requirements have been identified in some Schools/Faculties.
PGR Teams
- Dedicated PGR teams will sit at Faculty level, reporting to Faculty Heads of Research and Business Engagement
- Faculty teams will oversee the full PGR lifecycle from recruitment and admission through to graduation, giving researchers the specialist services and support they require in one place.
- The new teams will work in close partnership with the central Research and Business Engagement team, also reconfigured to better align with the two strands of core activity, PGR, and Researcher Development.
Directorate for the Student Experience Teams
A new Division of Student and Academic Services (SAS) will be organised into five teams, aligning with reconfigured Faculty and School Teams. These teams will be responsible for the following activities across the organisation:
- Access, Student Employability, Success and Development: bringing together student access, success, development, and progression under a single point of strategic oversight, and embedding strategies supporting inclusiveness across all activities. Access and Success (formerly known as Widening Participation) moves from the Directorate of Communications and Marketing to this team;
- Education Development: overseeing flexible teaching and learning initiatives and operations. Responsible for online blended teaching operations;
- Teaching and Learning Delivery: responsible for quality assurance framework including student voice and surveys, policy and degree apprenticeships, appeals, complaints, and academic malpractice and timetabling and assessment schedules;
- Business Improvement Support and Delivery: including student systems, data, analysis and records (out of scope of SEP)
- Student Admissions and Administration: overseeing student admissions, immigration, student finance, central student administration including registration, ‘start of year’, graduation and transcripts.
Read more about the Division for Student and Academic Services.
The overall structure of the Division of Campus Life (which includes Disability Services, Occupational Health, Counselling and Mental Health, Advice and Response) will remain the same. Whilst the overall structure of the Campus Life team remains unchanged, individual roles and business partnerships have been reviewed to make it easier for staff to intervene when support is needed and created clearer routes of referral from other teams.
Next steps for SEP
The next stage of the Student Experience Programme (‘Cohort 3’) will introduce changes to Professional Services structures and job descriptions at grades 2 to 5 across Teaching, Learning and Student Experience (TLSE) and Postgraduate Research (PGR). Changes will also be introduced across grades 2 to 7 in the International Programmes Office (IPO). We anticipate proposed changes being announced at the end of April 2022, with implementation following later in the year. A series of staged technology and process releases will also take place over the next 24 months.