Why I Joined: Ruth Coomber

Contining our team introductions, over to you Ruth....

Hello, I’m Ruth Coomber and am a Research Institute Manager within the School of Medicine in Cardiff University.  I have worked in the higher education sector for seventeen years across a number of research administrative and management roles.  

I have been a member of the AUA since 2013 and just completed the Postgraduate Certificate in Higher Education, Administration, Management and Leadership programme.  Following this, I will be enrolling onto the PgDip commencing in November 2015. 

I welcome this opportunity to participate in the 2015 AUA Study Tour to the Netherlands and Belgium which I consider will provide a great learning experience for me to broaden my knowledge of the international higher education sector.

Why I Joined: John Baker

At an AUA London Region event at UCL in 2009, I was inspired by members of the Study Tour group who reported back on the insights gained from their trip to India, and thought about the benefits of participation each time a call for applicants had been circulated.  But previously either existing personal commitments or work priorities had provided obstacles.

So I was delighted to be able to apply and then selected to be a part of the 2015 Study Tour to Belgium & the Netherlands.

As the pace of change in HE seems to quicken, and the pressures on administrative staff grow, I think the insight and awareness that can be generated from real life connection and appreciation through schemes like this can be invaluable.

My participation in AUA activity enables me to stay in touch with a diverse range of institutions and people in different role functions across the UK, but I am delighted to be able to participate in this tour and to be able to develop an appreciation for a range of Higher Education institutions, and their priorities, elsewhere within Europe.

My recent experience with MOOCs run by institutions in Europe and beyond has expanded my vision when it comes to expertise and practise elsewhere, and I think sometimes institutions can be happier to share the truth and benefit of their experiences with organisations with whom they feel less directly in competition.

My role as Corporate & Business Planning Manager at London South Bank University requires me to interact with all parts of the institution, and liaise directly with colleagues at all levels, and I am confident this experience will enable me to engage effectively with representatives from the institutions hosting our tour in Leiden, Delft, Amsterdam and Antwerp. 

I look forward to tweeting throughout my participation of the tour, and sharing insights and experiences gained on this blog.

Preview of Tour Theme 3: Managing Student Employability

In the Netherlands and Belgium, as developed first world economies and HE systems, the skills and employabilty of graduates is of interest to govemments wishing to support their economies, and students looking for the best outcomes of their studies.

This theme is being led by John Baker and Andrew Tuson. The questions we would like to explore on the study tour are:
 

1. Do you have institutional approaches to ensuring graduates are work-ready, or equipped for the contemporary workplace? 
2. How do you involve external organisations in student employability initiatives, and other partnership activity?
3. To what degree are placements an integral part of learning programmes within your institution, and are there barriers to participation?
4. Are there other forms or models of student work experience?
5. How do you measure the engagement and success of careers services and employability and initiatives with your students? Do you have strategies to prepare students for the international job market?
6. How is the employability agenda embedded within existing assurance cycles and management reviews?
7. Do students of different backgrounds present particular employability challenges (e.g. non EU, low socio-economic groups), and how do you tackle these if so?

As always, comments and poniters to resources are always welcome.

Why I Joined: Beth Beasant

The next post in our series on the team, over to you Beth...

I have been working in higher education for just over 10 years, 9 of which were at the University of Exeter.  Since moving to the University of Surrey, I have been focussed on learning about different institutional cultures, making contacts at my new University and learning about my role.  A year in, I decided it was time to return to some CPD for myself and focus on broadening my knowledge of both UK and international higher education.

 The great draw of the AUA study tour is that whilst you are focussed on learning from your host institutions and the international context within which they operate, you are working with new colleagues from a variety of universities throughout the UK.  I am excited to spend some time with the group, learning about similarities and differences within our own settings, and seeing how these are different again in the Netherlands and Belgium.

I have travelled extensively through Western Europe, but never made it to either of our host countries.  I look forward to experiencing the many cultural differences that I am sure there are, and seeing how these impact on each university’s approach to HE management.  I shall be working with David Law on Tour Theme 1: Internationalisation.  Probably the broadest of the three themes it will give us the chance to look at a wide range of issues affecting institutions across the three countries.

Why I Joined: David Law

In the next of in a series of blogposts introduciing the Study Tour team, over to you David Law...

Compare and contrast: a familiar format for examination questions and one that serves well.  If you want to understand the context in which you work it helps to see things ‘from the outside’.  This is a primary reason why AUA runs study trips to other HE systems.  We need comparison with others.

On this trip I will be interested, in particular, in two questions.  Firstly, how do leading institutions in the Netherlands understand and implement the internationalisation of higher education?  Secondly, what is it like being a British student in Dutch HE?

As the Principal Editor of the AUA’s Perspectives journal, I want also to see whether we can spread our wings a bit.  Perhaps there will be interest from Dutch colleagues in submitting articles? Are there lessons that we can learn from each other’s experience of policy development?
 

Preview of Tour Theme 2: The impact of research and changes in research funding on the HE sector

In common with the UK, many HE systems performance manage the research funding of universities. It therefore is of interest to compare the experiences in the Dutch and Flemish systems, and the strategies their HEIs have adopted in response to this.

This theme is being led by Ruth Coomber and Marion Malcolm. Topics include the following.

1. What is your funding portfolio strategy ie mix of national government, EU, charity, industry, other funders? 
2. How do you seek to collaborate with researchers/institutions in your country, in Europe and internationally? (Or do you compete more?)
3. How do you measure the impact of the research you carry out and how do you define impact?  eg for the UK REF – (Research Excellence Framework) exercise, impact is defined as ‘an effect on, change or benefit to the economy, society, culture, public policy or services, health, the environment or quality of life, beyond academia’. 
4. What is your strategy for building research capacity to develop the research leaders of the future? eg developing your own students and staff internally (through PhD studentships or fellowships) or external appointments.  Who are the main funders for PhD studentships and fellowships?
5. What is your quality assurance process for research? Eg peer reviewing of grant applications internally within your university, research monitoring visits etc
6. What is your strategy on innovation and engagement activities?  eg knowledge exchange projects within communities and innovation and development links with businesses.

As always comments or suggested resources are always welcome.

Why I Joined: Marion Malcolm

Contining the series of posts introducing the Study Tour team, over to you Marion....

I have worked in further and higher education for most of my career in a variety of roles, all of them customer facing.  I currently have two roles within the University of Aberdeen – as a Business Manager in the Health Services Research Unit (www.abdn.ac.uk/hsru) and as a Business Improvement Specialist in the BI team (http://www.abdn.ac.uk/staffnet/governance/business-improvement-1228.php)

Throughout my career I have gained knowledge and expertise via personal research and undertaken skills development and personal development through a variety of formal and informal courses, workshops and seminars.  However my personal development and knowledge of the higher education sector has mostly been UK based and I am looking forward to experiencing a European study tour to give insights into higher education in The Netherlands and Belgium. 

Ruth Coomber and I will be leading Tour Theme 2: The impact of research and changes in research funding on the HE sector.  I am particularly interested in the research strategies and environments of the institutions that we will be visiting and will be hoping to bring back some “best practice” to the UK and my own personal work areas.  I also hope that I can share some of my knowledge and connections with colleagues in The Netherlands and Belgium.