Academic excellence for business and the professions
Student and Academic Services Annual Report 2016 www.city.ac.uk
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Introduction
Welcome to the first Student and Academic Services Annual Report. Its purpose is to showcase the work and initiatives managed by colleagues from across our Directorate during 2015/16 and to demonstrate how they contribute to City’s success. During 2015/16, the remit and breadth of work undertaken by Student and Academic Services grew through a combination of organisational developments, responses to the unprecedented change in the higher education sector and, of course, in support of the creation of City’s new Vision and Strategy 2026. The ability of Student and Academic Services to respond to this setting is down to one factor – our staff. Through their expertise, dedication and determination, we collectively made our way through 2015/16 delivering an incredibly successful year and I am very proud to work with such a talented and committed team of people. We are particularly pleased to provide insight into some of the work that happens behind the scenes in the Directorate. Too often it is easy to overlook who manipulated complex data to produce a report for the City Executive, how much time was needed to consult with Schools on a new initiative or who liaised with sector bodies to provide expert advice on a new Government directive. These are just a few examples of the type of work that goes on alongside the more visible work that can be seen in our equally important front-facing activities. This report provides factual information about who we are, how we are organised and the remit of each team. It profiles highlights from the year in relation to supporting our students, working in partnership and activities behind the scenes. It offers a snapshot of approaches we have taken to support a positive working environment and finally provides a summary of our plans for 2016/17 and beyond. I would like to thank all of my colleagues for their work during 2015/16 and for their contributions to this report. I would also like to thank the volunteer group of Helen Brock, Megan Butler, Marlon Gray, Paul Herringshaw, Sharmin Kamaly, Will Power, Ben Robinson, Mona Vadher and Brenda Welch who engaged with teams to generate content for the report, Rowan Lord and Danielle Kirjalainen in Marketing and Communications for making our report look fantastic and to Louise Woodward for project managing the whole initiative. We all hope you enjoy reading our report. Susannah Marsden Director, Student and Academic Services
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Who we are Student and Academic Services
SU CEO not part of S&AS
School Heads of Academic Services
Operations Board
Director Department Administration
Deputy Director
Careers
Quality & Academic Development
Student Experience
Careers Consultant Team
Graduate School
Employer Engagement Team
Transformation Programme
Academic Operations
Student Services
Education & Student Strategy
Examinations
Accommodation
Partnership & Validation
Retention & Success
Student Records
Chaplaincy & Faith Advisory Team
Information Team
Programme Development
Student Development
Student Systems & Data Quality
Financial Support
Unitemps
Quality & Standards
Student Voice
Visa Compliance
International Advice
Widening Participation Outreach
UG Admissions Office
Sports and Leisure Student Advisers
This organisational chart will adjust slightly during 2016/17.
Student Health 1
Academic Operations Business leadership of projects that modernise the student administration
Co-delivery of employability in the curriculum modules with Schools
Partnership with the Students’ Union in delivery of Friday Prayer
Membership of Operations Board and sub-groups
University of London Careers Group relationship
Team coordination of full-time and honorary team
Team leadership and direction
Student records business operations
Employer engagement events, on and off campus
Liaison with Student Loans Company and students
Information provision for students, including social media
Ceremonial, student and awarding parts of Graduation
Destination of Leavers in Higher Education survey
Start of year registration and reregistration
Unitemps branch managing temporary employment opportunities, on and off campus
Quality and Academic Development
Advisory support to the City Executive on employability
Senate academic policy and regulation
Engagement with projects that modernise the student administration
Programme development, approval and review
Support advisors, membership facilitation, bookings and customer relations
National quality assurance requirements and external reporting
Fitness, inductions, safety and supervision of gym floors
Liaison with University of London on quality and standards
Group exercise (including sessions led by 24 freelance staff)
Management of Education and Student Committee
Recreation and quality assurance of sports flooring and equipment
External Examiner appointments and reporting
Collaboration with the Students’ Union on sports activities
The City Graduate School and research degree framework development
Collaboration with other Professional Services on wellbeing initiatives
Visa Compliance including liaison with the Home Office Student data, internal and external reporting, including HESA returns Examinations Advisory support to the City Executive on operational and compliance matters Membership of Operations Board and sub-groups
Membership of Operations Board and sub-groups Team leadership and direction
Team leadership and direction
Chaplaincy and Faith Advisory Careers Service
Provision of multi-faith support for students and staff
Careers and Employability hub of the Education and Student Strategy initiatives
Enabling questions of life, faith and belief to be explored
One-to-one careers advice and skills workshops within and outside the curriculum 2
Student Centre Management of Welcome Week Coordination of customer service initiatives General advice and guidance for City’s students International student advice Student accommodation including partnership with UoL
Module evaluation Assessment feedback turnaround reporting Collaborative provision framework, contracts and validation management
Celebrating the diversity of the City community
Business leadership of projects that modernise the academic administration
Liaison with Students’ Union and faith societies
Advisory support to the City Executive and Senate on quality and standards
Sport and Leisure Services
Financial support and advice
Sport development: oversight of student sports teams/clubs, logistics and safety
Oversight of Friday Prayer logistics and policy
Advisory support to the City Executive on the direction of sport and leisure Team leadership and direction
Business leadership of projects that modernise the student administration Advisory support to the City Executive on student accommodation, faith and financial support Membership of Operations Board and sub-groups Team leadership and direction
Student Experience Coordination of the Education and Student Strategy and hubs
Membership of Operations Board and sub-groups Team leadership and direction
Transformation team
CAS processing
Management of projects that modernise student administration
Advising PG staff on fee queries Liaison with SHS and Cass UG staff on Admissions processes
Management of the CityCommunities and Access and Success hubs
Management of initiatives, risk management, budget control and governance
Coordination of Teaching Excellence Framework activities Key link with the Students’ Union
Design and management of the blueprint for modernising the student administration
Engagement with projects that modernise the student administration
Management of student surveys engagement and reporting
Communications management and stakeholder engagement
Advisory support to the City Executive on admissions
Business analysis, process re-engineering and change management
Membership of Operations Board and sub-groups
Student Health Service
Strategic management of the Access Agreement
Professional advice on fitness to study
Progression Improvement Programme support
Vaccinations, treatment of minor ailments including medication prescribing, health promotion e.g. smoking cessation, drink/drug awareness, dietary advice and meningitis campaign
Leadership of Widening Participation Outreach Professional Mentoring, Volunteering and CityBuddies Management of student appeals, disciplinary cases, complaints and legal cases Coordination of Programme Directors’ and Associate Deans’ Forum and Student Experience Committees Management of the ExperienceCity student communications platform Business leadership of projects that modernise the student administration Advisory support to the City Executive on student experience and progression
Advisory support to City Executive on delivery of initiatives
Business continuity for student matters across City Leadership of Prevent and CMA City line-management of Students’ Union Chief Executive Leadership of Operations Board with Schools Directorate compliance requirements e.g. health and safety Management of Student and Academic Services blog Administration support for working groups and committees Administration support for activities in Student and Academic Services
Team leadership and direction
Administration support for The City Graduate School
Student and Academic Services Leadership and Administration
Safeguarding workshops and policy advice
Team leadership and direction
Team leadership and direction
Membership of Operations Board
Client enquiry, managing student health records, managing appointments, updating website, ordering medical supplies and stocktaking
Advisory support to the City Executive on serious student matters
Assisting recruitment at Higher Education Fairs and City Open Days
Oversight of Directorate professional development and training
Undergraduate Admissions Office Management and handling of UG Admissions enquiries Undergraduate Admissions decision making and processing
Leadership and direction of overall Directorate Member of City Executive Committee and Senate Advisory support to City Executive team
Clearing operations
Overarching Directorate planning and budget management
Management of Fee Assessment and Fees challenges
Oversight of staff engagement and satisfaction
Scholarships Management
Engagement with sector bodies
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Supporting City’s students Supporting City’s future and current students is at the core of what we do – from supporting young people to engage with their futures in our widening participation and admissions activities, right the way through students’ journeys at City and into their future success. Our support is offered through front-facing services, via behind-the-scenes activities that manage underpinning systems, processes, policies and strategy and through activities that support students’ development. Culture of customer service Our Student Centre offers guidance and support on many aspects of student life including accommodation, visas and financial support, complementing the programmespecific support students receive from their Course Offices in Schools. Building upon its Times Higher Leadership and Management Award for Student Services in 2011, we were proud to see the Student Centre being awarded Institute of Customer
Service re-accreditation in 2015/16, this time with distinction. City is only one of two UK universities to hold this national quality standard and the only one to be awarded distinction. In tandem with ICS, City’s engagement with the national WOW! Awards scheme originated in the Student Centre and has been in place across all parts of Student and Academic Services since 2013. The WOW! Awards scheme is publicised on email signatures and nominations are made by applicants and students
or by colleagues from other parts of City. This year 48 colleagues across the Directorate were awarded WOW! Award certificates of excellence. In the last 12 months, Michelle Preston, Head of Student Services has also supported other parts of City to engage with the WOW! Awards, with it now extending to 14 Schools and Professional Services. City has subsequently been shortlisted as a finalist in four separate categories for the national WOW! Awards Gala Ceremony 2016.
“I am so glad the Student Centre has achieved distinction level – it is really great to see your service continuing to improve and excel year on year.” Sally Duff Account Director at ICS
“She indeed is a valuable asset to your organisation and despite me getting admission or not, she has made my experience and interaction with the University great. Her professionalism and being the frontline for your University is a fabulous choice.” Applicant nomination for Esha Rupani Admissions Officer. UG Admissions Office
“She was always in a good mood, smiling, happy, energetic, passionate and always in a rush to help as much as she could but 4
always finding time for everyone who needs her. If this is not a WOW person then I do not know who deserved it more. I hope I can work with and meet more people like Thalia! She will be one of the top 3 things I will remember about City and recommend to my friends from abroad.” Student nomination for Thalia Anagnostopoulou Professional Mentoring Leader, Student Experience team
“I feel ever so proud that we have inspirational members of staff such as Waqas who with his support has motivated me to continue my degree and to persevere with getting my life on track. I cannot express my appreciation and thankfulness enough for what he has done for me.” Nomination for Waqas Ali Financial Support Adviser, Student Centre
Supporting students’ engagement, development and futures In addition to providing front-facing support services, we also manage a number of activities that support students’ development. The Professional Mentoring scheme, led by Thalia Anagnostopoulou and accredited by the national Mentoring and Befriending Foundation, offers the opportunity for a student to engage in a developmental relationship with a person in industry across a six-month period. Run within the Student Experience team, the scheme aims to enhance a student’s personal growth and awareness to support their future success. Feedback from mentees illustrates the highly positive impact it has on students’ selfconfidence and future success. This year we were delighted to see the Professional Mentoring team recognised in the Vice-Chancellor’s Awards in the Outstanding Engagement with Business and the Professions category. The broader Student and Academic Services Directorate support their colleagues in the Professional Mentoring team by becoming mentors themselves. This year 18 colleagues voluntarily took up a mentoring role of the 397 mentors that participated in the scheme, providing a further opportunity to work with City students, as well as develop transferable mentoring skills.
Facts and figures for 2015/16 include: • 561 undergraduate students applied, of which 450 were assessed at interview and 340 were paired with a mentor • 261 postgraduate students applied, of which 120 were assessed at interview and 60 were paired with a mentor
• 280 nominations were made for the mentee and mentor awards and the ceremony was attended by 200 delegates • 45 mentors were City alumni • Approximately 4,080 hours were volunteered by our mentors through meetings with their mentees.
• 6 full-time and temporary staff in the Professional Mentoring team managed the programme
“The mentoring scheme has delivered exactly what it promised to - it has been the source of immeasurable professional development. The transformation I have undergone from when I began this scheme is largely due to the support of my mentor…he has always gone beyond what is required to ensure that I can receive the best possible development support based on my individual requirements. This is a unique relationship that has helped me bridge the gap between student and employee at a global professional services firm.” Second year Accounting student, paired with mentor Byron Ovenstone Accounting Consultant at RBS
“My mentor has enabled me to not just develop professionally but also as a person. Before meeting with her I felt lost about everything that orbited employment; it was something that I viewed as unattainable... However, with her support and guidance I have been able to see how much I as an individual have to offer… Now that I am able to see myself and what I have to offer in such a way I feel that I carry myself with more confidence and pride, something which is clearly evident to everyone who had seen me before and after this professional relationship.” Second year Psychology student, paired with mentor Susannah Marsden Director of Student and Academic Services
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Our Sport and Leisure team, led by Bill Thompson, has also progressed initiatives to support students’ development and engagement through a new Direction for Sport. This work was undertaken in collaboration with the Students’ Union, the broader student body, the City Executive and student sports teams to build a new approach to improve the opportunities available through sport.
informal support and guidance. The scheme has expanded continuously in recent years, with 850 pairings this year and up to 1,500 places available in September 2016. The programme was commended in 2016 by the National Education Opportunities Network (NEON) at the Palace of Westminster in the category of Widening Access Initiative (Retention and Success) for its impact on improving student retention.
The outcome now offers activities, events and recognition that are not only aimed at traditionally sporty students but the wider student body. Whether a fun game of slacklining, a back to netball session, supporting City during a Varsity series, or even getting involved in volunteering and workforce development, Sport and Leisure is expanding the programme to engage a greater number of students. This new approach is also designed to recognise that engagement with sport enables students to develop a wide range of attributes sought by employers, for example, team working, communication skills, motivation, competitiveness and resilience.
This year saw the City Careers Service, led by Gemma Kenyon, further develop its employability provision. The team worked closely with Cass to develop a new employability module for first year BSc Banking and International Finance, BSc Investment and Financial Risk Management and BSc Finance students. This has now formed part of the curriculum from 2016/17. The module focuses on supporting students in developing their overall self-awareness and their career options with the aim of forming their career goals. The team also expanded its delivery modes to include webinars that enable access to training on various employability topics when not on campus and recruited Application Advisers from The City Graduate School community to better meet student demand for one-to-one appointments at peak times.
The CityBuddies scheme, run by Will Power within the Student Experience team, matches new students with current students to aid their transition into higher education through
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“Sport and Leisure at City has As a result of this day, I now know helped me and many others to how to learn from lectures and build and develop a community how to use my notes to revise or a family spirt. I don’t play for exams, how to manage my sports just for fun or for fitness, own time and where to go when I I play because I love the sport and need help. I feel really motivated, because over my time at City I’ve empowered and eager to start grown close to my teammates and my course. I was also inspired everyone else involved in sports. to apply to work as a Widening We see each other as a big family Participation Ambassador and rather than just another team. work on similar events.” I spend a lot of my time with my Rachel Preston team mates and other people Speech and Language Therapy, first year from sports. Sports and Leisure is organised and maintained in such a way where you can’t help “It’s difficult for me to get to City in but make new friends and join person and the webinars solved a community from the start. I that problem. feel as though bonding is a very important aspect of sports and When I attended the Careers Sport and Leisure provide great webinars, I’d already researched encouragement, as myself and them. The webinars were so well others feel as though we are a constructed and relevant and part of the Sport and Leisure team always presented me with new and that we are helping them as information on how to approach well as them helping us. In short, my job search in more creative due to Sport and Leisure I’ve been always and make better use of able to join a wonderful family online media. They were also a and my time in university has great way to validate and be more been the best I can ask for.” confident in the information I had already read online through Jan Niyazi other sources. The structure of Students’ Union Sports Officer and the webinars was also very useful President of City Sentinels American because I used it as inspiration to Football Club structure my own thoughts, career planning and course of action.” “I attended the Pre-Induction Day Amelia Silva at City, hosted by the Student Project Management short course Experience team which was a really inspiring day of learning and meeting other students.
CityBuddies
Other developments this year include:
Spotlight on other developments Collaboration with the Victorious volunteering University of London Housing In June 2016, Ben Robinson, Community Volunteering Officer in and Property Service The Accommodation team, comprising Amanda Weedon, Geoffrey Harrison and Kamrul Hussain in the Student Centre worked in collaboration with the University of London to create a new approach for City students to the Private Housing Service. Previously, dedicated private housing advice was only available to students during the summer months to support activity in the lead up to the next academic year. The collaboration with UoL has meant that since May 2016, City students have access to an online database of 20,000 bed spaces throughout the year and a much larger range of private accommodation with offers of flats, houses and rooms from registered landlords, letting agents and private halls. Additionally, the team is now engaging with UoL for access to spaces in UoL residences from 2017/18 and students can also now apply for the family housing at International House, another UoL residence.
the Student Experience team, made an appearance in the Islington Gazette profiling his work on attracting 751 volunteers who have taken part in volunteering activities. The Senior Citizens’ Venture is one of many schemes overseen by Ben that offer students opportunities to engage with the local community and broaden their outlook and skills. “Students feel empowered because they make a difference in the community and to people’s lives through volunteering” says Ben. His work was recognised in June 2016 in the Vice-Chancellor’s Awards in the category Outstanding Personal Achievement.
Students’ wellbeing In response to student feedback, the Student Health Service began a new service to enable students registered with the nearby Clerkenwell Medical Practice to receive prescriptions via City. The change, led by Chris Barnes, Student Nurse, also means that Chris can access medical records, add to medical notes, arrange laboratory tests and arrange referral appointments. She also works in partnership with the Clerkenwell GPs on more complex cases. This new service has been welcomed by students and, not surprisingly, has seen a substantial increase in the number of students seeking nurse consultations.
Helping students navigate the regulations Alison Edridge, Helen Fitch and Abdullah Rahman from the Quality and Academic Development team, alongside Nerida Booth from the Student Experience team led work to transfer City’s Assessment Regulations into plain English.
City’s Assessment Regulations underpin the academic standards of the degrees we offer our students and in discussion with the Students’ Union and Associate Deans (Education), we considered that work was required to improve accessibility and understanding. The work was undertaken in close partnership with the Education and Student Committee and in consultation with School Boards of Studies. The final regulations were approved by Senate in July 2016. “We consistently had students coming to us with unusual or challenging circumstances who found the regulations overwhelming and difficult to interact with…We then worked in consultation with students and in partnership with the Students’ Union to update the regulations to be fair, transparent and easy for students to understand. It is incredibly important that City assessment regulations and policy are accessible, particularly considering the potential impact for students and it is great to see City adapting to the needs of our current and future students.”
• City Careers Service introduced Skype appointments with Careers Consultants • The Chaplaincy and Faith Advisory team led a new student tour of major places of worship in Central London • Sport and Leisure introduced free yoga and pilates classes for members • Academic Operations pre-loaded student’s details to ensure they received correct graduation robes • Student Health Service offered the new Men ACYW vaccination for new students • Student Centre and Admissions created an online approach for scholarship applications • Academic Operations improved the start of year registration process for students • Student Centre opened a consultation room in response to student demand.
Issy Cooke Students’ Union President 2015/16
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Working in partnership The work of Student and Academic Services is delivered in partnership with others and this involves us taking roles ranging from co-creator, advisor, leader, trainer, coordinator, analyst, consultant, mentor, expert, learner, manager, listener or support function. In all that we do, we aim to work collaboratively with each other, with City’s diverse student/staff community and with external partners to make things happen.
“The Students’ Union greatly values our partnership with the Student and Academic Services Directorate. Our working relationships within the Directorate are invaluable to our successes and the lives of students at City.” Yousuf Joondan Interim Chief Executive, Students’ Union
“Working within the Student and Academic Services team has been an invaluable experience. Everyone has been so friendly and willing to help out. An interest in SU projects has allowed us to work effectively together on items such as the Segmentation project and reforming assessment regulations with SU input. We hope to continue enhancing the student experience together for years to come.” Yusuf Ahmad SU President, 2016/17
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Student and Academic Services and the Students’ Union – Working together We are particularly proud of the partnership between Student and Academic Services and the Students’ Union that provides a lynchpin in City’s success to better understand our students’ needs. One of the most visible achievements this year was supporting the Students’ Union in re-establishing Friday Prayer on campus. This was a major campaign success for the Students’ Union in June 2015 and in April 2016, members of Student Services, the Chaplaincy and Faith Advisory team and the Student Experience team worked in collaboration with the Students’ Union to pilot a first event prior to full launch from the start of the 2016/17 academic year. We were also pleased to work with the Students’ Union on its initiative to commission research to support the City community in better understanding our students’ preferences. The outcome of this work has provided a greater insight to our student body with the
findings challenging preconceptions and enabling us to collectively take informed new approaches. The dissemination of this research will follow during 2016/17, led by the Students’ Union and will inform the goals of City’s and the Students’ Union’s respective strategic plans in relation to satisfaction, progression and employability. Behind the scenes, the Director of Student and Academic Services also supported the Students’ Union in reviewing its formal governance arrangements and legal status. In collaboration with Governance, HR and Finance this work has been exploring constitutional models and arrangements that might better suit the Students’ Union’s charitable status and align with practice in other parts of the sector. Activity will continue into 2016/17 with the new Students’ Union Officers and a proposal is due to be submitted to ExCo and Council later in the year. We were honoured that the Students’ Union recognised the contributions of 11 members of Student and Academic Services at their Carrot Award Ceremonies.
Working across organisational boundaries A major success of the year was the creation of the new Operations Board. This brought together senior professional staff in Schools and Student and Academic Services to offer a more joined-up approach to overseeing the student journey. Teams involved with the Schools in the Operations Board and sub-groups include Academic Operations, UG Admissions, Quality and Academic Development, Student Services, Student Experience, Transformation team and Careers. A first and important task of the group was to collaborate to identify the potential range of projects that should form part of the business case to the City Finance Committee and Executive to modernise the student and academic administration over the coming years. Following only a few months of work, the Operations Board has enabled colleagues to gain a better understanding of each other’s work, has started to develop a framework for improved customer service across the institution-wide student and academic administration and is undertaking focused work to support staff with professional development. We were incredibly proud to see our collaborative model with Schools shortlisted for a Times Higher Leadership and Management Award 2016.
“The Operations Board has been an innovative and effective way of bringing various teams across the University and its Schools together in order to tackle one of the most complex areas of activity for any higher education institution.” Professor Andrew Jones Former Dean of School of Arts and Social Sciences
“Following the creation of the Operations Board and the registration School-wide subgroup, we have created an enhanced reporting schedule with reports going to nominated individuals who manage this area within their School. I had an agreed set of improvements to the online and in-person registration process ready to be implemented for 2016/17. More collaborative working in this area has really helped me and my team.” Emma Boylan Assistant Director Academic Operations, Student and Academic Services
Beyond the City environment Our partnership working extends beyond the internal City environment. The Widening Participation Outreach team led by Sarah Wood in Student Experience, is focused on collaborative working that allows us to reach young people in groups currently underrepresented in higher education. Working with 115 target schools and collaborating with 11 different community groups and charities, the team has trained City students to tutor and mentor young people, delivering over 600 one-to-one careers guidance interviews and provide the opportunities to gain realistic insights into higher education through a wide range of visit days, subject focused Masterclasses and taster weeks. The Maths and English tutoring at City of London Academy Islington (the City sponsored Academy) has helped support another year of excellent GCSE results for the school. The Quality and Academic Development team led by Alison Edridge, includes management of City’s collaborative provision framework for all awardbearing programmes. During the year, in collaboration with the Dean of Validation, Professor Steve Stanton,
the team supported Trinity Laban Conservatoire for Music and Dance to gain their own Taught Degree-Awarding Powers. This included working with the institution in its written submission to the Quality Assurance Agency and meeting the TDAP panel in a rigorous questioning process. Professor Anthony Bowne, Principal of Trinity Laban said “I can’t thank you enough for your support and encouragement throughout this process.” A primary role of the Employer Engagement team, led by Mona Vadher, in Careers is partnerships with external organisations. Amongst other activity, the team ran several sectorspecific panels and workshops with employers to engage with City students. The team has also been involved in several initiatives with colleges of the University of London including running a global series in collaboration with Kings College London, UCL, SOAS and Goldsmiths. More broadly their work has been disseminated externally through the Association of Graduate Recruiters Student Recruitment Conference in Manchester and more recently, the annual Association of Graduate Careers Advisory Services conference held at the University of Chester.
“I really enjoyed being a UniMentor as it gave me the opportunity to play a direct part in informing sixth formers about their university options. It also allowed me to share my personal experiences of applying and now attending university. It benefited me as I felt I gained valuable communication skills through meeting with students regularly and I felt I was making an impact by helping them.” Lucy Amaladoss Mentor for year 12 students 9
Spotlight on other developments Working together in scale The Academic Operations team, led this year by Emma Boylan and Sarah Gardner, undertakes largescale work that supports various stakeholders across City. During the year the team oversaw: • 65,379 exam candidatures – a 5% increase on 2014/15 • 4,164 students registered in September 2015 • 4,189 students graduating – an 8% increase on 2014/15 • 13,139 students’ data prepared for the National Student Survey and the Postgraduate Taught Experience Survey as well as for City’s own Your Voice 1 and 2 surveys • 1,151 change of circumstances submitted to SLC to support students continued enrolment and uninterrupted maintenance loan payment schedule and to ensure the timely release of tuition fee income to City • 1,456 replacement or duplicate certificates issued to graduated students • 43,670 HESA errors fixed, a reduction on 66,391 errors in 2014/15 • 6,207 reference requests that enabled graduates to secure offers of permanent employment, starting their careers as City graduates 10
• Trained 103 exam invigilators • 2,000 biometric residence permit (BRP) cards were allocated during 2015 Registration • 42 regular reports run by the Visa Compliance team, including statutory Home Office reports and internal compliance reports.
National profile for City’s Your Voice, Our Action initiative
Shereen Sally, Deputy Head of Student Experience, was selected to present at the national Association of University Administrators Annual (AUA) Conference in April 2016 on “Student Surveys – New Ways of The Undergraduate Admissions Improving Response Rates”. This team, led by Richard Broom, also reflected the hugely successful works in close partnership with Your Voice, Our Action initiative Schools and applicants to assess that Shereen has led at City in applications and turnaround offers partnership with the Students’ to support recruitment. This year the Union, Schools and other team dealt with 13,821 applicants, Professional Services to increase our a 5.4% increase on 2014/15 students’ participation in surveys to (when looking back this was a 53% a level consistently higher than the increase on 2012). Although 2015 national average. Feedback from saw the fastest overall turnaround conference participants included of decisions, 2016 was not far “this was the best presentation of behind with 40% of decisions being the conference.” made within a week. The activity in Clearing generated 877 offers – At the same time that Shereen was a 29% increase on the 682 offers presenting at the AUA Conference; in 2015. City’s participation rate for 2015/16 reached a record high of 5,536 responses, including an 80.6% response rate for the NSS.
Micro-Placement collaboration with The City Law School for LLB1 and LLB2 students City’s Micro-Placement Programme was a pilot initiative to demonstrate the value of career exploration in the challenging and rapidly changing legal sector. Sponsored by the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW), it aimed to enhance student employability by giving LLB students exposure to non-legal sectors through consultancy and work experience. The City Careers Service worked in partnership with the The City Law School in the design phase, the promotion of the scheme to students and the recruitment and selection process of students. 60% of the final 32 students selected were from Widening Participation backgrounds, supporting social mobility. Overall, the scheme has not only supported the students but also increased the reputation of the City Careers Service with external employers, as it aimed to dovetail with employers’ Corporate Social Responsibility agendas. City Careers were inundated, receiving over 1,000 expressions of interest from local entrepreneurs and external stakeholders. The initiative also
won the Vice-Chancellor’s Award for Best Collaborative Project between a School and a Professional Service.
Sport and Leisure’s Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) Plus Programme In February 2016, the Sport and Leisure Service worked with City’s LGBT society and the Students’ Union, linking to a National Programme that promotes equality. Students and staff wore rainbow laces to add their support to this important campaign, raising awareness of inclusivity. Collaborative work will continue with the LGBT society and the Students’ Union in 2016/17.
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Behind the scenes A large amount of work undertaken by Student and Academic Services takes place behind the scenes. This activity provides the bedrock of systems and processes that underpin the services we offer, the quality and operation of our degrees, our statutory and compliance obligations, our liaison with sector bodies, the strategic development of the student experience and the effective operation of the Directorate overall. Supporting strategic change As City’s new Vision and Strategy developed throughout the year, colleagues worked closely with the City Executive and the Strategic Performance and Planning Unit on the implications for the Education and Student Strategy and how this would need to adapt. Primarily through Maggie Cunningham, Head of Student Experience and her team, the Directorate takes a coordinating role for the Education and Student Strategy on behalf of the Deputy President and Provost, Professor David Bolton, working closely with Schools, the Students’ Union and other Professional Services such as Learning Enhancement and Development (LEaD). Much of the work undertaken this year was groundwork for initiatives that will follow during the new Vision and Strategy implementation, including:
Committee, the first time there has been strategic oversight of this work at City • Working in partnership with the Students’ Union on the Segmentation Project mentioned earlier • Creating plans for a Progression Improvement Programme • Establishing a review of City’s Widening Participation and Outreach activities • Creating closer partnerships with the Students’ Union • Initial research on student engagement with a view to creating a new approach for City • Reviewing the approach to Annual Programme Evaluation to ensure strategic alignment, working closely with Associate Deans and Programme Directors
• A revamp of the Education and Student Strategy infrastructure
• Ensuring clear links between the Education and Student Strategy and the Transformation team to modernise the student administration
• The creation of the new Career Development and Employability Hub of Education and Student
• Working in collaboration with the Students’ Union on the CityCommunities Hub.
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Responding to the changing higher education environment City’s strategic approach is, of course, informed by the external environment and this year has seen unprecedented change in Government demands, particularly its focus on students as consumers. Student and Academic Services has provided professional support to City’s Executive in responding to the numerous sector consultations and started to manage the implications for City, most notably the Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF) and the new HEFCE model for national quality assurance arrangements. The Directorate also took on new work in response to Government legislation, led by Lisa L’homme, Deputy Director to support City being compliant with requirements in response to Prevent. In addition, Mark Smith, previously of the Student Experience team, managed much of City’s initial work in response to the new requirements of the Competition and Markets Authority to establish new Terms and Conditions for applicants and students.
“The inclusion in 2015 of all universities within Consumer Protection Legislation under the watchful eye of the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) represents a very significant change, giving as it does enhanced rights to the student and imposing extended and deeper obligations on universities. We had relatively little time to respond and much work to do to ensure compliance across three key areas: legal terms and conditions, accurate information and complaints processes. The CMA Working Group, facilitated and supported by Mark Smith (above), has made remarkable progress in the past 12 months and this is in no small part due to Mark’s commitment and hard work. This has involved extensive liaison with colleagues in Schools and across City and much back and forth with our legal advisers. City is as a result in a much stronger position in terms of compliance with the legislation but moreover Mark has at all times shown a personal and professional concern to ensure that we do the right thing by our students at all times.” Tim Longden Director of Marketing and Communications
Modernising the student and academic administration In May 2016, the University Executive team and Deans committed to the principles of work to modernise the student and academic administration that will create more effective technologically-enabled systems and processes for students and staff, as well as supporting parts of the Education and Student Strategy. Melanie Sanderson was subsequently appointed to head the Transformation team and a Programme Board, reporting to City’s Executive Committee. The Board is comprised of representatives from across City and will now oversee the development of specific projects with associated prioritisation over the next three to four years. Many institutions across the sector are undertaking similar modernisation work in response to specific student and institutional needs.
The role of the Programme Board will be as follows: • Support the Senior Responsible Owner to deliver the programme’s vision ensuring the effective management of resources, risks and the stakeholders required to implement business change • Manage progress against the plan and ensure the programme benefits are being realised • Oversee and approve all investment decisions required by the programme • Manage any exceptions that arise against this plan and intervene as required, escalating major issues as necessary • Support ties with existing boards and committees that will act in an advisory capacity • Ensure the creation and implementation of an effective institution-wide communications plan to support engagement with change • Ensuring engagement with key committees and bodies which have a significant interest in the Programme, for example, Operations Board and Education and Student Committee.
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Spotlight on other developments • Developed the methodology for managing the HESA return and associated data quality, receiving The Data Quality team led by Greg positive feedback from HEFCE Wellington is probably one of the • Compiled City’s Key Information most hidden teams within City, Set public information profile never mind Student and Academic including incorporating new Services and yet the outputs it programmes and significant generates underpin significant amendments parts of decision-making and • Offered Excel and HESA-related operations. The team’s role is training to other parts of the to oversee the frameworks that City student and academic manage data quality, generate administration community institutional reports through data • Managed the data exchange extraction, including those for the between SITS and Scientia on City Executive and to enable specific behalf of the Examinations actions to support the effective use team to allow them to schedule of SITS. The team is also responsible approximately 70,000 for City’s statutory reporting, candidatures including to HEFCE and the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) • Engaged in new Operations Board Data Quality sub-group to create on student data that determines a more joined-up and focused funding, coordinating City’s Key approach with Schools. Information Set data, working in collaboration with the Student Experience team in generating populations for NSS and related student surveys and creating weekly update reports during survey season.
A delve into the Data Quality team
This year the team managed a number of developments to support City’s approach to, and management of, student data, including:
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Taking a new approach to clearing This year the Undergraduate Admissions Office planed a new approach to Clearing. To create additional capacity in leading this work, Kieran Brookes, Course Operations Manager from the School of Arts and Social Sciences was seconded as project manager. The improvements delivered included, changing location of the activity, devising a new webform, expanding the scale of the operation by 20% in terms of people available to respond to applicants, devising new reporting formats to support Executive decision-making and having dedicated project management allocated to the activity. Overall, this work enabled City to meet its undergraduate student numbers and financial targets for 2016/17.
Managing Module Evaluation and assessment feedback turnaround As part of City’s commitment to providing a high-quality learning experience and improving student satisfaction, Helen Fitch and Roma Khatun from the Quality and Academic Development (QUAD) team continued to provide support to the City Executive in managing its requirements for Module Evaluation. This year QUAD was asked to create survey packs for almost 3,000 modules (around 50,000 individual questionnaires) to align with the paper-based policy set out by the City Executive and Senate. The team will be managing a review of module evaluation during 2016/17. The team also manages the reporting requirements of the City Executive on assessment feedback turnaround, led by Abdullah Rahman.
Access Agreement developments City’s Access Agreement is managed by Michael Bennett, Retention and Success Manager in the Student Experience team. For the first time student progression onto employment or further study was identified as a specific area for targeted investment within the Access Agreement. The expenditure on financial support was rebalanced, providing further resource to access, success and progression activity, with the majority of existing and new activity being delivered by our Widening Participation Outreach and Student Development teams and the Careers Service. New or enhanced initiatives included long-term sustained work with City of London Academy Islington (our partner academy), development of the Year 12 Snapshot Scheme and a pre-induction introduction event for students from disadvantaged backgrounds.
Other developments this year include: Unitemps compliance recognition The Unitemps team at City, led by Damian Mullins, won the Best Compliance Award at the Unitemps Annual Conference 2016 for its outstanding compliance record. It is essential that eligibility to work checks are carried out before a temporary worker can begin an assignment at City. This means that each new worker meets with the Unitemps team and provides their right to work, visa and payroll details in person at the Careers office. Compliance reports are run on a daily basis outlining any visa status changes, working hour records, minimum wage increases and unspent criminal convictions.
e:Vision developments As part of the work to modernise the student administration, the Academic Operations team, led by Emma Boylan, is progressing work to migrate a number of processes from SITS Client to SITS e:Vision to improve student data quality and deliver a more intuitive platform to perform administrative tasks for both staff and students. Delivered in three phases over a period of three years, the migration will seek to reduce manual and repetitive processes, thereby enabling professional staff to focus on delivering an enhanced frontline service and improve student satisfaction. This year the project, supported by Ben Draper from the Transformation team, continued to add and enhance Student Record Navigation screens, enabling professional staff to enter and agree marks, enrol students on modules and check for Student Awards, all via e:Vision. Work continues on the migration of all progression screens and award letters to e:Vision. The project has also delivered an online Extenuating Circumstances process for staff and students and requirements gathering for an online student appeals process has begun.
• Visa Compliance team and the Student Centre responding to requirements from the UKVI for students to have biometric residence permits • Partnership working with the Students’ Union on City’s Freedom of Speech policy and associated approval of external speakers • New support created by the Chaplaincy and Faith Advisory team to assist staff with bereavement • Sport and Leisure Services submitting a response to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport for a new national sport strategy • Collaborative working between the Chaplaincy and Faith Advisory team, the Exams team, Schools and the Students’ Union to support Muslim students through the concurrent exams period and Ramadan • Widening Participation Outreach team responding to changes in the 13-19 year old curriculum to support work in our partner schools and colleges
“Thank you so much for your rest room service. I would not have been able to get this far without it. I will not forget it.” Student that used the rest room to express and store milk August 2016
“The most typical description of a Chaplain’s activity is ‘loitering with intent’ Leaving aside its sinister connotations, in practice it means that Chaplains offer an available presence to anyone who wants to speak to us for any reason. Our activities are varied and we can be found: • Offering a listening ear to staff and students regardless of belief, usually over coffee and cake • Offering space for reflection such as on Remembrance Day or in response to global events • In various meetings offering a different perspective on aspects of the University’s life • Dressing up in academic gowns and proudly clapping the achievements of our students • Offering meeting points between students and staff of different faiths and cultures • Offering prayer and worship opportunities such as Friday Prayer, Communion Services and Carol Singing. Where possible we try to work with a variety of teams and departments across the University to foster a sense of community. We welcome anyone to be part of our story and would love to feature in your story.” Revd Ian Worsfold Chaplaincy Co-ordinator
• Student Centre running new induction sessions for international students to help them understand the UK’s visa regulations in relation to studying at university • Student Health Service offering rest rooms for City staff and students who are working parents.
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Student and Academic Services facts and figures from behind the scenes 1:1 3,375 one-to-one student appointments with Careers Consultants
? 77,290 student enquiries in the Student Centre
507 pupils in local schools mentored by City students
2,753 hours of fitness classes offered
3,016 accommodation applications
371 employers on campus
369 hardship fund applications managed
5,939 confirmation of status letters issued to students
169 stakeholders talked to in relation to modernising the student administration
6,092 graduates surveyed for the Destination of Leavers of Higher Education survey
50,499 module evaluation forms administered
5000 198,849km run on treadmills at CitySport 16
713 Nurse Advisor appointments
2 vigils in response to world events
5,291 temporary roles filled at City via Unitemps
Engagement with over 5,000 widening participation pupils/students
299 External Examiner appointments managed
250 programme amendments processed
1,405 offers made via the new Clearing web form
ÂŁ1.2m earned by students employed by Unitemps
36 programme approval and review meetings managed
1,073 City students employed by Unitemps
137 letters of award issued to Doctoral students
1,067 shuttlecocks used in CitySport
501 meetings with the Director of Student and Academic Services
74 posts uploaded to our internal blog since its launch in August 2016
45 762 applications assessed for students to be allocated a Professional Mentor
12 Christian Fellowship sessions led and 4 services of Mass/Holy Communion
5,536 student surveys completed
603 guidance interviews with young people from WP backgrounds
8 Operations Board meetings managed
45 other universities talked to about modernising the student administration
355 CityBuddies mentors trained for 1,100 mentees
355 Professional Mentors trained
288 applications reports run for the City Executive and Schools
206 careers events 17
Liaison with external bodies Insight into the range of external organisations and bodies involved in the work of Student and Academic Services: Professional associations, bodies or groups
Careers Group, University of London
Academic Registrars Council
Career Development Institute (CDI)
Access Higher Education
Clerkenwell Medical Practice
Association of Graduate Careers Advisory Services
Council of Validating Universities
Association of Graduate Recruiters
Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS)
Money Advisers (NASMA)
Compliance bodies
Other
National Education Opportunity Network (NEON)
Competition and Markets Authority (CMA)
Afghanistan and Central Asian Association
Newman House Catholic Chaplaincy in the Catholic Archdiocese of Westminster
Department of Business Innovation and Skills (BIS)
Camden Council
Radical Registrars (University of London group)
General Medical Council (GMC)
Doorstep Library
Higher Education Funding Council
INTO University
Higher Education Statistics Agency
Islington Council
Home Office
Mentoring and Befriending Foundation
Association of Heads of University Administration
England Hockey
Association of International Student Advisers (AISA)
European Network of Academic Sports Services (ENAS)
Association of Managers of Student Services in Higher Education (AMOSSHE)
England Squash
Sport England
European Universities Sports Association (EUSA)
Society for Research into Higher Education
Higher Education Liaison Officers Associate (HELOA)
Student Record Officers’ Conference (SROC)
Host UK
Student Volunteering Network (SVN)
Association of Research Managers and Administrators Association of Student Residential Accommodation (ASRA) Association of University Administrators (AUA) British American Football Association British Cycling British Cheerleading Association Badminton England Basketball England British Fencing British Mountaineering CouncilBritish Universities and Colleges Sport 18
England Netball
Islington Cycling Club Institute of Customer Service International Student’s House
Rugby Football Union S10 Regional University Group Senate House
Office of the Independent Adjudicator Quality Assurance Agency Research Council UK
The Student Health Association
Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS)
Leadership Foundation for Higher Education Aurora Programme
UK Council for International Student Affairs (UKCISA)
London District of the Methodist Church
United Kingdom Athletics
National Association of Student
Office for Fair Access
Student Loans Company
University and Colleges Information Systems Association (UCISA)
Lawn Tennis Association
Nursing Midwifery Council (NMC)
The Higher Education Academy
Islington Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG)
London Football Association
Islington Safeguarding Children’s Board (ISCB)
Universities UK University of London World Cheerleading Coalition
UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI)
Centra Support
National Education Opportunities Network Office for Fair Access Agreement Reference Group St. Luke’s Community Centre Validation partners
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Service development Student and Academic Services is now a very broad-based Directorate with colleagues from a wide variety of professional backgrounds including: sports and fitness, health, faith, customer service, business analysts, programme and project managers, data specialists, recruitment, outreach and widening participation professionals, careers consultants, policy officers, academic administration professionals and leadership and management. This year the Directorate broadened its scope through a merger with what was previously the Careers, Skills Development and Outreach Service. This followed a few months after the creation of a larger Sport and Leisure team when CitySport opened. The Service is now located across six sites and comprises over 125 staff, including many part-time staff. Working with Organisational Development Student and Academic Services were supported by Organisational Development in work to establish a bigger and broader service with particular focus on the merger between the previous Student and Academic Services and Careers, Skills Development and Outreach. While there were clear strategic reasons to merge the services, the implications of further organisational change following City’s Professional Services Review was challenging for many colleagues to contemplate. The partnership with Organisational Development helped design approaches to support the merger in becoming a success and in working with colleagues, including managers, who were most affected by the changes. What was really important within this work was that colleagues 20
had the opportunity to be heard, that wherever possible concerns were responded to and that an approach was developed where colleagues felt valued and had a sense of belonging. In March 2016, six months after the merger, managers came together to review the benefits and on-going challenges. It was very clear that tangible progress had been made and that the Service was moving in the right direction but that it also remained on a journey.
Change is all around us Organisational change is just one aspect of a wider changing environment that Student and Academic Services works in every day and this year has started to see significant changing times for City and higher education in general. For Student and Academic Services this environment means that we are adapting parts of our activities almost
constantly to ensure we can continue on-going service delivery whilst, in tandem, responding to internal and external change. Wherever possible, change is used to create opportunities for colleagues to lead or be involved in new initiatives because these skills are not only relevant to the City environment but also transferrable into the future.
Location, location, location In December 2015 several Student and Academic Services teams moved from temporary accommodation into refurbished space in Drysdale. Anita Machnicka and Curtly Mejias, our Administration team at the time, coordinated the design of the space with PaF and the teams on the move. The refurbishment also provided colleagues with a much needed social space which they did not previously have and which has received really positive feedback.
Sense of belonging and community Full Directorate meetings are held five times a year which aim to be as inclusive and interactive as possible.
October 2015 ‘Strictly Student and Academic Services’ where each team presented their operational plan to the rest of the Directorate, hosted by the Director and Deputy Director in the style of Strictly Come Dancing. Teams were asked to be as creative as possible and this resulted in their creation of videos, Countdown-style interactive presentations and other innovative work. Four guest judges from the academic and professional services areas of City had the opportunity to see more of the work of our teams.
December 2015 The Head of Careers at SOAS was invited to facilitate a session on happiness at work. This was designed to support colleagues in thinking about those actions they could undertake to support their well-being in the workplace. Each team then developed an action plan of things they would change or initiate.
March 2016 A session on the Education and Student Strategy and the work undertaken by the Transformation team which provided more information about both initiatives as well as the opportunity for colleagues to consider where their work would fit.
April 2016 A briefing session on health and safety.
July 2016 Preparation for our first Student and Academic Services Annual Report. This was run by colleagues from across the Directorate: Helen Brock, Megan Butler, Marlon Gray, Paul Herringshaw, Sharmin Kamaly, Will Power, Ben Robinson, Mona Vadher and Brenda Welch. The session provided an opportunity for interaction across the Service and for colleagues to identify what achievements we wanted to present to our stakeholders and the rest of City.
“The directorate is large and undertakes a wide variety of duties and functions for City. I have thoroughly enjoyed attending your meetings and seeing at first hand the work going on to ensure that all staff have the opportunity to be creative, get support and to pursue a healthy and happy time at work and beyond. And of course you get to know each other and what all the teams do. This helps me to signal and explain the importance of your work to my colleagues in the Executive Team and of course to the wider City community. I am already looking forward to next year’s events.” David Bolton Deputy President and Provost
Having recently joined the Student Records team at City, I am very impressed with the lovely kitchen and seating space that we have. The kitchen has been refurbished recently and it offers very modern facilities and a place where staff can keep breakfast and lunch goods. The seating area offers a nice and clean space for staff to relax away from their workstations. I feel that I work for a university that does look after its staff and their wellbeing.” Conchi Vera-Valderrama Student Records Administrator
“Over the past year it has been great to see the Directorate come together for meetings on a range of issues and areas. The Student and Academic Services Senior Leadership Team has designed all the sessions with a focus on interaction and engagement and this has really helped with our cohesion. All in all they have really helped bring the Directorate together, encouraged different teams to mix and created an improved sense of community.” Chris Clements and Shereen Sally Co-chairs of the Working Environment Committee
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Spotlight on other developments
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Student and Academic Services Blog
Working Environment Committee
During the second half of the year the Student and Academic Services Blog was created to provide a place where colleagues could share core information and, more importantly, for anybody in Student and Academic Services to provide information and news in an up-to-date way. This means a mode of working has been implemented where current news and information is shared as opposed to the reflective newsletters that used to be produced every month. It has also provided a forum to share non-urgent information on a nonemail platform, thereby reducing inboxes. Managed by Louise Woodward, Executive Assistant, this initiative has proved incredibly positive with staff and colleagues able to either receive updates as news is published, or through a weekly email digest.
The Working Environment Committee was set up to create a forum for collaborative effort in developing the Student and Academic Services working environment and is co-chaired by Chris Clements and Shereen Sally. It has representatives from each team and enables colleagues to influence the culture, values and working practices of the Directorate as well as lead on Directorate-wide initiatives. In response to staff feedback, the Working Environment Committee oversaw team action plans in response to our full Directorate session on happiness at work, developed a Directoratewide approach to staff induction, informed the development and implementation of the Student and Academic Services Blog and acted as champions for a positive working environment.
Social Committee The Social Committee has built upon its foundations from 2014 and led the Directorate-wide social events that support staff in downtime and help develop relationships outside the work setting. Comprising of representatives from across teams, it is co-chaired by Thalia Anagnostopoulou and Megan Butler who succeeded Shereen Sally in February 2016. The Committee particularly focused on the diversity of the Directorate to create inclusive events that took into account different personalities and interests as well as the wide-ranging working patterns, such as CitySport shift work. The Committee coordinated four events throughout the year, the autumn social `Singo’ a night of karaoke and bingo, the End of Term Festive Party, with live piano music, `Around the World in 80 Plates’ an event to raise cultural awareness and the summer Picnic in the Park.
Professional Development Committee The Professional Development Committee, chaired by Gemma Kenyon, was established in response to staff feedback for a greater need for focus on professional development. The Committee has representation from all teams and co-opted the Organisational Development Manager from HR to enable a joined-up approach with City-wide activity. Its purpose is to better enable Student and Academic Services staff to contribute towards the achievement of City’s strategic ambition, support staff in developing the attributes to keep pace with rapid internal and external change and to benefit the career development of individual staff and succession planning. The Committee works closely with the Professional Development Group of the Operations Board.
Visibility and Value Survey In June 2016 a Value and Visibility Survey was initiated to gain a better understanding of how colleagues considered their work to be visible and valued by different stakeholders. This was in response to staff feedback that suggested there were gaps within the City community in how they considered their contributions to be received. The survey received a very high response rate and has helped find out more about what these gaps are and how they can be addressed and will inform planning into 2016/17. Plans will include us raising the visibility of our work across City to provide greater clarity about our remit, building relationships with academic staff and engaging further with members of the City Executive. Our plans will also be informed by City’s staff survey 2016.
Other developments this year include: • The Deputy President and Provost (previously Deputy Vice-Chancellor) was invited to the five full meetings of the Directorate to enable visibility and regular engagement with a representative of the City Executive team • The Director of Student and Academic Services circulates full notes from every fortnightly Senior Leadership team (SLT) meeting to the whole Directorate to support transparency • Notes from team meetings are published on the Student and Academic Services Blog for colleagues to have clear information on what each other are discussing • The Director and Deputy Director have an open door policy where any member of Student and Academic Services can come and discuss issues • A Student and Academic Services Guide was developed and issued to every member of staff, setting out how the Service operates • Compulsory Dignity at Work training is provided for all members of the Directorate so they know how to recognise and deal with issues around bullying and harassment in the unlikely event of them occurring within the workplace.
”I joined City as part of Quality and Academic Development and my team was very supportive and welcoming. I was astonished to find that most of the induction ‘heavy lifting’, metaphorically speaking, had been done before I arrived. Many of my introductory meetings had already been arranged and this not only made me feel welcome, but very reassured that City was committed to properly inducting me. It felt like a lot of thought and effort had gone into how I would be introduced to City and to my role, and as a person new to City, this was lovely.” Lucy Dawkins Academic Development and Quality Officer
“We are delighted to have come across the Student and Academic Services’ Working Environment Committee’s wide range of activities. The Induction checklist is an instrument they have developed and has caught our attention, at a time when we are overhauling the induction process as a whole. We are planning to use this as an inspiration to develop a checklist for all City staff.” Adina Uritescu Organisational Development Adviser, Human Resources
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Our staff
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Our staff It is the people in Student and Academic Services who make things happen and who work together to create the best we can for City. Below are listed all those colleagues who were part of the Directorate between 1st August 2015 and 31st July 2016 including full-time, part-time, shift-work (Sport and Leisure team) temporary or, honorary (Chaplaincy and Faith Advisory team) staff. This also includes staff who have left, are currently on maternity leave or are on secondment in another directorate. Musa Admani
Richard Broom
Monalisa Dhar
Geoffrey Harrison
Natalie Lam
Rashida Ahmad
Laura Brown
Pritha Dhir
Paul Herringshaw
Agata Lambrechts
Rahilah Ahmed
Virginia Brown
Ozer Direncay
Andrea Howden
Katherine Lapinid
Waqas Ali
Beverley Bryan
Laurent Dodangoda
Lizzie Huckle
Michael Law
David Allen
Ben Butler
Ben Draper
Jennifer Hughes
Nickolas Lee-Moore
Ewart Thompson
Megan Butler
Joshua Du Sautoy
Ashfaq Hussain
Lisa L’homme
Nana Amoako
Courtney Bygrave
Jeffrey Duru
Kamrul Hussain
Maria Loukou
Thalia Anagnostopoulou
Hayley Casanovas
Alison Edridge
Catherine Ireland
Anita Machnicka
Stevland Angus
Natasha Cassone
George Efstathiou
Alison Jacobs
David Mallo-Ferrer
Maria Arcos
Annabel Church
Alice Esposito
Agnieszka Jakubas
Constance Marcell
Tyrell Austin
Antonia Clark
Taryn Ferris
Zohra Jeraj
Susannah Marsden
Chris Barnes
Chris Clements
Helen Fitch
Katherine Johnston
Laura Marshallsay
Grace Barry-Tait
Anthony Climpson-Stewart
Shey Forbes-Taylor
Inderpreet Kalsi
Eva Matiaskova
Andrew Baughen
Maria Coelho
Sarah Gardner
Sharmin Kamaly
Lortoria McDonald
Michael Bennett
Eleanor Cornfield
Alan Gelfer
Rebecca Kelly
Curtly Mejias
Emma Bey-Asenguah
Daniel Cox
Megan Gerrie
Stephanie Kenward
Zohra Moledina
Anika Bloomfield
Julie Crofts
David Gilchrist
Gemma Kenyon
Abi Moran
Jordon Bolessa
Chris Cullen
Matias Gilles
Roma Khatun
Chrissie Mullings-Lewis
Nerida Booth
Jelena Culum
Marlon Gray
Kamand Kojouri-Haraj
Damian Mullins
Estanislao Bouza-Ortin
Maggie Cunningham
Julie Haggar
Aimilia Kolia-Vasilli
David Murphy
Emma Boylan
Karolina Czarnecka
Naomi Hammond
Ksenija Kotova
Styliani Ntoukaki
Helen Brock
Matthew Dale
Sharmin Haque
Goran Kovanovic
Jess Nye
Gavin Broder
Alwyn Davis Jr
Sam Harris-Jones
Rupa Lakhani
Sharon Page
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In addition, we also worked particularly closely with some professional colleagues in Schools and IT.
Lynsey Parkins
Chris Sciueref
Ina Wang
Andrew Pearce
Bindu Shah
Phillipa Weaver-Smith
Keith Pearson
Natalie Shepherd
Amanda Weedon
Operations Board
Polly Penter
Joanna Short
Brenda Welch
Anthony Copeland
Clearing Project Management
Maxwell Plotnek
Andy Smith
Gregory Wellington
Lloyd Diwell
Kieran Brookes
William Power
Mark Smith
Natalie White
Cat Edera
Michelle Preston
Sheridan Stephens
Fiona Whitehead
Mary Flynn
Becky Price
Inez Sterling
Sara Wilkie
Kristen Goodrich
Emma Price
Chris Stone
Sarah Wood
Sam Kearsley
Kaisa Proos
Jennifer Tait
Louise Woodward
Kiri Lee
Tariq Qaddoumi
Elif Tarakci
Ian Worsfold
Alison Sands
Abdullah Rahman
Claire Taverner
Christine Rajah
Bill Thompson
Taimaz Ranjbaran
Ewart Thompson
Ateeq Rashid
Mansoor Tipu
Chloe Reid
Lucy Tomaka
Nicky Riley
Amy Townsend
Dale Robertson
Michael Tran
Ben Robinson
Eleanor Trezise
Elvio Ruggeri
Laura Tull
Esha Rupani
Mansoor Ulhassantipu
Shereen Sally
Mona Vadher
Melanie Sanderson
Margareta Wallen
Damian Williams
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Lisa L’homme, Deputy Director In May 2016, we experienced great shock and sadness when, completely unexpectedly, we received news that Lisa L’homme, our Deputy Director had died very suddenly. Lisa had only been at City for 14 months but during that time she made a significant impact and contribution to Student and Academic Services and to City more broadly. Lisa’s career in higher education prior to City included senior posts at Cardiff University and the University of Bristol. She was also an active member of the Association of University Administrators and in April 2016 had presented at its annual conference to much acclaim on the creation of City’s Operations Board, an activity she led and developed since its inception. Colleagues’ fond memories of Lisa were recorded in a book of condolence that was shared with her family and reflected not only her professional drive and success, but the kind, funny and smiling person she was. Susannah and Lisa jointly hosted a ‘Strictly Student and Academic Services' Directorate meeting in October 2015 as the presenters of Strictly Come Dancing and her sense of fun combined with her professionalism and ambition is what we will always remember.
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Moving into 2016/17 and beyond Towards the end of the year, the work Student and Academic Services would need to progress into 2016/17 and beyond was assessed, taking into account City’s new Vision and Strategy, School plans and the changing external environment. In September 2016 the full high-level operating plan was submitted to the City Executive Committee and is summarised below. In our annual report for 2016/17, we anticipate that we will be reporting on progressing initiatives that support the new KPIs in student satisfaction, employability and progression; developments with modernising the student administration; greater collaboration with the University of London; further engagement with Government-initiated change such as the Teaching Excellence Framework; and on-going commitment to high quality service to applicants, students, staff and external partners.
Overview: Student and Academic Services plan About us: Student and Academic Services provides professional leadership for front-facing and behindthe-scenes strategic and operational activities that enable the student journey - from supporting young people to engage with their futures to engaging with them to support their future success.
Our approach: In all that we do, we work collaboratively with each other, within City’s diverse student/staff community and with partners to make things happen – we are ambitious and self-confident in making our individual, team and Directorate service a success.
Team and individual planning areas
Our service role
Overall City context
...deliver the best quality service and operational development in: Day-to-day operational effectiveness of systems and services for applicants, students, staff, partners; Transformation Programme projects; Operations Board and sub-groups; work with other student-facing services; policy, regulation, committee oversight and management; data developments.
Theme 1: Enabling the applicant and student and academic administration to…
…work with Schools, the SU, other Professional Services and external partners to support students’ success in: Student satisfaction, employability or progression initiatives; outreach; Transformation Programme; strategic partnership with the SU; equality and diversity; further use of data and analyses to inform developments.
Theme 2: Developing the broader student experience and engagement to…
…contribute to the strategic intention to be consistently best NSS in London, top 20% in the UK by 2021; 15th (Times and Sunday Times) for employability; above 85-90% on all UG programmes for student completion. Drivers: Student Satisfaction, employability and completion KPIs, Education and Student Strategy, Internationalisation Strategy.
…support Schools in plans for growth, new modes of delivery and institution-wide quality in: New programme development; employability in the curriculum; student progression; student satisfaction; programme redesign, joint courses; Internationalisation Strategy impact; further use of data and evidence to inform developmental work; policy & process to support developments.
Theme 3: Supporting educational quality and growth to…
…contribute to the strategic intention to be consistently best NSS in London, top 20% in the UK by 2021; 15th (Times and Sunday Times) for employability; above 85-90% on all UG programmes for student completion. Drivers: Student Satisfaction, employability and completion KPIs, Education & Student Strategy, Internationalisation Strategy, UoL
…advise the University Executive and support institution-wide operations: New: Educational and regulatory implications of the White Paper; TEF, HEFCE QA framework; UCAS operations; secondary education qualification reform; UCAS tariffs; harassment/ violence on campus; HEDIIP (data); HESA change; Tier 4 elements; UoL: DLHE; NSS changes and Unistats and KIS – embedding all this into work in other themes.
Theme 4: Responding to the changing regulatory environment to…
…continue to make our local working environments work well through: Capacity building; managing change effectively; embedding Working Environment, Social and Professional Development Committees; improving visibility; creating service measures; ensuring clear procedures; working with HR and Schools on professional development and career path activities.
Theme 5: Empowering our professional community and operating effectively to...
…contribute to the strategic intention to be consistently best NSS in London, top 20% in the UK by 2021; student recruitment targets set annually and sector/government requirements. Drivers: Vision & Strategy (student satisfaction KPI); Education & Student Strategy; Corporate Compliance.
…contribute to the overall strategic intention in the Vision and Strategy by 2021 (White Paper, TEF); Government/sector compliance (HEFCE/OfS, CMA, Prevent, Tier 4, equality legislation); quality of students (UCAS). Drivers: Corporate Compliance, maintain quality trajectory, Education and Student Strategy.
…contribute to overall achievement of Vision and Strategy and corporate compliance; staff satisfaction, institutional reputation, equality and diversity. Drivers: Institutional values, People Strategy, Education and Student Strategy.
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