Dear all,

As I write this, we are having a spell of glorious weather, just in time for Graduation. It is wonderful to see campus full of celebrating students and their parents and supporters.

It is 20 years almost to the day that I graduated with my undergraduate degree in the Bath Abbey. It is also 20 years since I was one of the first cohort of students to complete the NSS! We have just had this year’s NSS results, and I’d like to add my thanks to those shared by Fiona Smyth and Fiona Devine last week for the huge effort and hard work of academic, Professional Services (PS) and technical services colleagues across the Faculty which has gone into delivering the major increases in student satisfaction in many areas. I hope as I did when I graduated that our students look back at their undergraduate studies with a huge sense of privilege and gratitude for the experience they have had.

In my message today I am sharing some information about the ‘Let’s Talk Disability’ podcast series and sharing a small sample of service improvements delivered across the PS teams in the Faculty during this academic year.

‘Let’s Talk Disability’ podcast series

Earlier this year I was invited to participate in the wonderful and enlightening ‘Let’s Talk Disability’ series. Run by award-winning Professor Jackie Carter, it is a series of in-conversation pieces that encourages members of our diverse University community to have an open and honest discussion about topics right across equality, diversity and inclusion. At the end of each episode each guest commits to actions – in Jackie’s words: “It helps us move from words to deeds”.

Not all disabilities are visible – conditions such as autism, chronic pain, mental health conditions, hearing loss, or mobility issues may be hidden. The episode I took part in featured a Humanities colleague, Will Stone, one of our Communications and Content managers in the Faculty team. Will shared his story of living with a hidden disability as a result of a kidney transplant. After 18 years of chronic renal failure, he had his current transplant aged 25. I’m really grateful to Will for sharing his story.

Our conversation focussed on hidden or non-visible disabilities and long-term health conditions and the support that the University can give to people living with these around being able to take sick leave, inclusive travel policies and training managers. As someone who lives with rheumatoid arthritis, a long-term chronic illness, this is a topic close to my heart. There have been a whole host of amazing colleagues on previous podcasts and I’d encourage everyone to take a listen.

Service improvements across Professional Services

As we come to the end of the academic year, I have been reflecting on some of the achievements across PS. A major focus across PS teams has been work to drive operational improvements and service excellence, and I’d like to share a small selection of examples of this work:

• The Humanities Marketing and Student Recruitment team has introduced visitor-scanning at our undergraduate open days, allowing attendance data capture and enhancing the application experience. Scanning reassures visitors and we can use the student's name in conversations to create a better rapport. Visitors are now coming back to the welcome desks because they feel more connected to the University.
• Members of the Humanities Research Development and Impact team have worked with research councils and other funding organisations to shape new research agendas and provide high-quality advice for our researchers. This includes supporting the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) with its new team research model and securing British Academy funding to develop a toolkit for equitable partnerships with Global South universities.
• The Humanities Technical team has set up a new central equipment store in the basement of Humanities Bridgeford Street, fully operational from September. Staff and students can borrow items such as AV, photography and video gear, and surveying, coring and geotechnical equipment. The store will be regularly staffed so that we can maximise usage of equipment to support teaching and research.
• The SoSS Information, Advice and Guidance team has introduced initiatives to enhance student voice, engagement and community building. A standout example was a successful Sports Day, and the team has continued to deliver a wide range of other student experience and social responsibility events, including a CPR session with the British Heart Foundation and an international fair.
• In SEED, the PS Operations team has digitised the Senior Leadership Team finance approvals process, reducing email traffic and freeing up staff time. The move from a paper to an online system has upskilled team members in Excel and SharePoint, improved document management and supports financial audit requirements.
• The Faculty Teaching, Learning and Student Experience team has introduced a transparent taught timetables review process before publication to students. Senior academic colleagues can now oversee all requested amendments for their programmes and subject areas and the Scheduling team can report on engagement levels to help target support where it is needed. Email traffic to the Scheduling team has reduced significantly and a ‘confidence in the timetable’ percentage can now be calculated by the Faculty, School or department, allowing the Scheduling team to better plan for the start of teaching.
• The SALC University Centre for Academic English (UCAE) team of PS colleagues and tutors is an early adopter of Canvas, the new central learning environment (CLE), integrating it into University pre-sessional courses. The programmes began at the beginning of April and run until early September, and the enhanced experience has been successfully rolled out to 2000+ students (1,650 online).
• The AMBS Operations team has improved Hyatt hotel booking management, including running a user feedback survey, changes to booking platforms and the inclusive element of booking rooms, and a focus on the use of a QR code, to be displayed in all catering outlets across the University, to link visitors with the transient booking page. Automation has reduced duplication and errors, streamlining the room booking process.

Finally, I’d like to encourage all PS colleagues (and any academic colleagues who are interested) to visit the Professional Services Hub, where we host service excellence journey information. The PS Hub is a central platform designed to showcase the incredible efforts of our teams, highlight best practice, and offer inspiration for embedding service excellence in your own areas.

By engaging with the PS Hub, you can stay informed about ongoing initiatives, learn from the experiences of your peers, and contribute to our collective progress towards a culture of exceptional service at The University of Manchester.

Best wishes,

Hannah