Student Experience Programme's (SEP) 'people and structures' evaluation
11 Mar 2024
Professor Allan Pacey, Deputy Dean and Deputy Vice-President, FBMH and Dr Sandra Crosbie, Senior Business Change Manager, will lead an evaluation of the delivery of the ‘people and structures’ element of SEP to review how the changes were planned and implemented.
About SEP
Beginning in 2015, SEP was the first large-scale change programme undertaken by the University. It focused primarily on providing the infrastructure through processes, technology, people and structures to support continuous improvement and consistency in the experience of our students.
What is the purpose of the evaluation
This type of project evaluation is common as part of the University’s standard change management process. However, the implementation of the ‘people and structures’ element of SEP has involved a considerable amount of change. As is often the case with significant change programmes, this took place in parallel with the need to support business-as-usual activity. A more detailed approach to the evaluation is being taken to reflect the scale and impact of the changes.
The principal aim is to learn from the implementation and to apply this to current or future similar programmes as part of our commitment to continuous improvement in change management. A critical part of this is listening to our colleagues and our students about what worked well and what didn’t work so well. The evaluation will suggest realistic actions to achieve improvements in processes, relationships or outcomes.
What will be in the evaluation
The evaluation will focus on project governance, scoping, planning, delivery and implementation of structures, embedding those structures and the impacts on colleagues and students. It will cover changes that took place between 2019 and 2023 in three cohorts across these areas as well as the ‘New Leadership Model’.
It will consider:
• The impact of processes and ways of working on students and colleagues.
• Team ways of working, culture and relationships.
• Wellbeing (including workload volume).
• Implementation of the changes, including training and communications.
• Governance and quality assurance.
• Good practice identified through SEP or transformation programmes in other institutions.
• Embedding of changes in the long term.
The evaluation will not assess the performance of any individual colleagues or teams. Many colleagues across our university have worked incredibly hard to deliver improvements to our student and staff experience, and we recognise and appreciate their hard work.
How the evaluation will be done
Through interviews, workshops and surveys, the evaluation team will seek feedback from students and colleagues across the University, including those who work in these areas, on the seven themes listed above. The team will then compile a report with recommendations, actions and learnings. This will be available to all colleagues and students before the next academic year.
The evaluation team is independent of those directly involved in the design and delivery of SEP. Membership includes colleagues from all three faculties (academic and PS), Senate, P&OD, Wellbeing, Students’ Union, Communications, and Governance. A list of members can be found here: SEP evaluation committee members.
Find out more
We have a dedicated SEP evaluation SharePoint site with some further information and FAQs available. This site will be updated as the evaluation progresses so please check back regularly.
Your questions, comments or feedback are very much welcomed so please do reach out to SEPEvaluation@manchester.ac.uk and the evaluation team will do their best to help.