Two university representatives shared their views on universities’ challenges in this transformative year 2020.
In recent CMI’s Better Managers Event, two university representatives shared their views on universities’ challenges in this transformative year 2020.
Steve Galliford, director of postgraduate studies at Coventry University, and Jane Turner, pro-vice-chancellor at Teesside University, looked at the institutions’ experience with online learning, the importance of collaboration, and reflecting on what the institutions learnt.
Both universities have focused on online learning to work for students and support their staff working remotely. Simultaneously, the health and safety of the whole university community and following the directions from the government has been a priority.
The positive power of connections and partnership has become a valuable tool when working on issues, implementing new learning methods and guidelines given by the government. The collaboration with other universities, city councils, or regional bodies was mutually beneficial but there has been less clarity and consistency in some areas from the government when the guidance had been confusing or at very short notice.
Retaining the student experience
Both of these HE leaders agree that maintaining the best student experience must be a prime concern for the education sector institutions. He reported that all of the university’s students have continued to study and this was also thanks to the investment in technology. The value of more interactive styles of learning has been an opportunity to introduce new ways of learning, to use new innovations and adopt new approaches in delivering the lessons. The blended learning will continue to be used for the long term by the university and has not been just a temporary emergency path. The situation gave the educators a chance to be creative in engaging the students in their learning experience.
The new way of teaching has also impacted the remote working for all the staff. Therefore the support to all employees was essential, from a simple communication through sharing the experience to technical support.
The increased demand of students of both universities for counseling and mental health support has resulted in placing emphasis on mental health. Coventry university used technology for this too and offers support for mental health and general wellbeing issues via its platform called Connections Matter.
The pressure has been put on the staff at all levels. The quality of leadership has been very transparent during the crisis, but the trust and showing the human side have brought the people together in management and leadership.
The pandemic has uncovered a sometimes overlooked fact of different backgrounds of different students. Many students have had no physical space to study at home, or they had to share the technology with other members of the family.
As the trends of blended forms of learning and online delivery of lessons are continuing, the institutions need to address the digital divide of students.
Jane from Teesside stressed that the pandemic’s impact on young people is unequal and particularly women aged under 25 are out of the job market. Due to this concern, she worked with partners to create a platform to support the disadvantaged young women in the region.
Leadership lessons
You may have all the technological solutions in the world, but don’t underestimate the importance of being visible and making time to speak to people, Steve urges. “As a leader and a senior manager, it’s made me realise that informal time is really valuable and keeps productivity and morale high. Time spent chatting to people is rarely wasted – that’s the key for me.”
Despite the challenges of the pandemic at the universities and higher education, these two academics’ message is to remain optimistic for the future.
