Catch up from Friday

I sit on the University Human Resource Management Committee - this is an important University Committee - it reports to the Council and is where all important policies are approved and decisions taken about HR matters. I enjoy getting involved with another area of the university, and because this is a committee of the Council, it consists of a mixture of University staff and lay members - people from outside of the University, usually with important roles in the city. Its always interesting to get a perspective on things from outside. Last week the committee met and as well as the normal business looking at various items including career pathways for staff who predominantly teach, we had an interactive session on "Performing for Excellence". This was where it was really beneficial to be on a table with two people from the private sector when discussing reward strategies. Lots of different models to think about.

Also last week we had another strategic liaison meeting, this time with a faculty who plans to grow its student numbers so we looked at some of the issues this would raise for example with timetabling, and some of the developments we might need to put in place to help them including increasing the wifi capacity in labs, and facilitating the live streaming of practical classes.  We also talked with them about their data storage requirements in the light of some fairly large bioinformatics research grants they have been awarded.

And finally, to end the week, a catch up on where we are with our review of our student system.  An in-house system live since 1996 it has served us well, but now we have to decide whether we install a package solution, or whether we redesign our existing one. Whatever the decision, it will be part of a large transformational change programme. Exciting times ahead!