Unleashing Change: Transforming Student Experience, One Step at a Time
In the ever-evolving landscape of higher education, the Student Experience Programme (SEP) evaluation has sparked a wave of positive change at our university. Since my last update, the momentum has not only continued but intensified, and I'm thrilled to share the remarkable progress we've made.
A Stronger Approach to Change
We've taken giant strides towards embedding the lessons from SEP into our future change initiatives. Here's a glimpse of our recent achievements:
- Unifying Forces: A dedicated Business Change team, led by new leadership within the Strategic Change Office, has been established to provide flexible support to projects.
- Learning from Success: A comprehensive review of the Canvas implementation has been conducted to replicate the factors that led to its success.
- Strengthening Major Programmes: Operational Delivery Lead (ODL) roles are now recruited from the outset in major programmes, as seen in the Future Foundations initiative.
- Translating Vision into Action: Manchester 2035 has been translated into clear delivery packages, helping us prioritize and manage the overall university workload more effectively.
Key Areas of Progress
Governance and Planning:
In December, we launched the Delivery Handbook, offering a simple and consistent approach to planning and executing change. This empowers colleagues with confidence, clarity, and a shared understanding.
Communication and Engagement:
We've co-created communication and engagement frameworks with academic and PS colleagues. These frameworks enhance our understanding of roles, responsibilities, and the benefits of change initiatives. Moreover, they establish stronger, transparent feedback channels, formally embedded within programme governance, ensuring colleagues' voices are heard and valued.
Leadership and Well-being:
New leadership development support, with a focus on effective change management, colleague well-being, and stress management, is being designed for rollout early in 2026. Additionally, we're piloting a Wellbeing Impact Assessment aligned with HSE standards, alongside regular team sentiment surveys and proactive stress risk assessments. These initiatives aim to identify and address colleague pressures earlier in programme delivery cycles.
Sustainable Workloads:
Programmes now prioritize stronger resource planning and backfill arrangements from the beginning, ensuring better support for teams throughout delivery. We're also strengthening workload management processes, particularly in complex areas like Campus Solutions, to anticipate, share, and address pressures, enabling effective local support from Operational Delivery Leads (ODLs).
Evaluation and Continuous Improvement:
Future programmes will establish clear success measures and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) from the start, supported by structured pilots, stage-gate reviews, and continuous feedback loops. This approach creates a robust foundation for learning, enabling us to identify issues early, adapt swiftly, and build upon successful strategies.
Technology and the Student Experience:
IT Services has completed the technical assessment required to progress a new enquiry handling solution for student support hubs. This initiative aims to enhance the student experience by providing clear and timely support that can be tracked and managed centrally. A full business case is currently under review and subject to funding approval.
Strengthening Academic and PS Collaboration:
Efforts to strengthen the relationship between academic and PS colleagues remain a priority, guided by insights from the Your Voice Matters survey and ongoing conversations about building a more collaborative community.
Empowering Local Decision-Making:
We believe in making decisions closer to the source, empowering teams to act and make timely, effective choices without relying on upward deferral.
Role Clarity and Job Descriptions:
Work is underway to refine job descriptions and align accountabilities across roles, creating clearer, consistent responsibilities and more transparent career pathways. This initiative supports both operational effectiveness and staff development.
Teaching, Learning, and Student Experience (TLSE) Salary Benchmarking:
Salary benchmarking for TLSE roles is progressing smoothly and is on track for completion early in 2026. This process will provide a clearer picture of role positioning within the wider sector, ensuring fairness, transparency, and consistency in colleague recognition and reward.
For a more detailed look at our progress, please refer to the SEP recommendations link provided below.
Thank you to everyone involved in this transformative journey. Your dedication and insights continue to shape our culture, enhance our work delivery, and improve support for both colleagues and students.
Ele Morissey,
Executive Director of People and Organisational Development
