Conferences and awaydays

Last week was Staff Conference week. This week, our departmental awayday.

First, our staff conference. Thankfully, unlike every other conference, delegates aren't bombed with lanyards, bags, gimmicks and other rubbish made from materials destined for landfill. No doubt we're helping the planet. Unofficially, I suspect budgets don't extend to such trinkets. Nor should they. I have a cupboard at home, full of promotional guff. I want the space back, though I'm terrified it'll choke guillemots and poison oceans.

Guillemots? Here's our honorary Doc John Hegley, of this parish, to explain:

Anyway. Here are some random nuggets from the day:

• The free lunch packs went down a storm. For some reason, I didn't get one;
• I was, however, happy recipient of two bags of Minstrels and a packet of Twiglets thanks to the excellent efforts of colleagues;
• I also enjoyed, though was slightly perplexed by the debate about "Marmite flavour" Twiglets;
• As if there is any other flavour. I know there was some tampering with a Worcester Sauce variant, but that, surely, was just a try out....

Groucho - they're messing the flavours up again

The sessions - those I attended - were fine. Special mention to John Pitts' gang culture talk, which was excellent. And for Ibraham, last week's blogger and VCO intern, who facilitated some good debate after showing a video TED talk, featuring an American chap with a headset, extolling the virtues of chaos over comfort when it comes to self deveopment.

I'm not sure about TEDs. Condensing intelligence into rhetorical models and arguments is a useful skill, but I like to take my time and see all sides. As I say, Ibraham was excellent. But nothing in the video I saw convinced me. I left with two thoughts; first, that the debate had been great. Second, I'm sure I've been here before, sitting with a comp coffee, in my workplace, being told to embrace jeopardy. I'm not sure I've got time for all that any more.

Me and Jeopardy? Sure. We go back...

Yesterday, we had our MARC awayday. Or MAR awayday. We lost the 'C'. Name change tbc and pending and all that. This awayday was hands on and operational. In some ways, it's a shame the Uni's strategists and TEDs don't get along to these events, though they'd probably get in the way, hogg the biscuits and, err, change the dynamic.

UCAS analysis was aired, though there seemed more value in reflecting, catching breath and pondering the reduction in the size of the team. There are about 30 of us in MARC, from around 60 four or five years ago. The awayday gave us 30 time to reflect, get real and talk about such stuff and not be given a kind of stock response about silos or smarter working.

Departmental awaydays seem more real and visceral somehow. And to the point. By nature, it's bottom up rather than top down. There's no talk about comfort zones or jeopardy; no blue sky thinking or horizon scanning. The flip charts have pictures rather than bullets. They're less jargony and more impactful. Even if impactful isn't really a word.

Then we had a barby, educational activity and bingo. Not exactly work stuff, but an invaluable time to reconnect with each other as humans. With Clearing just round the corner, this 'getting on' and understanding how people might work and react is important.

Anyway, these are my views. Of course, conferences and awaydays are neither the same thing, nor polar opposites. They shouldn't be compared, one versus the other. But then this is my blog. I've leave with an analogy; awaydays feel more like punk rock or free jazz; expressive, bumpy noise, with some heart and creativity, compared to many conferences I've been to, which feel more akin to orchestras  playing nursery rhymes in a great big echo chamber.

A year as an intern

What is it like being an intern at the University of Bedfordshire for a year? You get to travel to Mauritius! How many interns can say that?

It has been an amazingly packed and enlightening year for me. I have learned a lot, got to meet great colleagues that I learned from and shared fun moments with.

I will walk you through my journey.

For The first 3 months, I was settling down, gaining access to finance tools, online platforms and knowing where everything is located. Did you know that the MARC team has promotional material dating back to 2003-2005? I sure did enjoy watching those it was like travelling back in time.

I have mainly worked in 3 main areas Policy, Events and Communications. Along that I have been a team leader for a Go Global trip an initiative at the university whereby our students get to travel to our university partner countries such as China, Mauritius, India and Dubai to prepare them for a global world and to enhance their employability. 

I have been involved in the preparation ofthe Annual Staff Conference that has great speakers and professional development for staff. In addition, I mapped out our operational goals to the strategic goals of the university, among a couple of other things.

I will dive deeper into my 3 main areas of work.

Policy is a collection of actions/initiatives that contribute to a goal often long-term with most efficient use of resources. In other words Policy is strategy! In the policy area I assisted with calls for evidence by the government to inform governmental policy, background research on opportunities/challenges and conducted surveys and focus groups.

Events side of things is assisting in the whole process of the event from planning to setting up, running of the event and post evaluation of the event. I enjoy events work, I get to meet new people and get to know what they do when hosting university events.  Events that I have been part of are our Beds Talks series an excellent and informative series of events showcasing and sharing our university research to the community, Vice Chancellor Public Policy Lecture series that discuss current and hot policy matters followed with questions from the audience and of course our Staff Summer and Christmas parties.

As for Communications, I help out with design work, updating website, creating the news week, helping with digital signage, managing the noticeboard inbox, and helping out with staff surveys. I enjoy Communication work it allows us to showcase and communicate the amazing work that colleagues at the University of Bedfordshire do. Projects I have been involved with in this role were Beds Stars awards and the staff benefit page update.

So that’s what it’s like to be an intern for a year at the University of Bedfordshire, a wonderful opportunity that I am grateful I got the chance to have.

Onwards and upwards!

UCAS Exhibitions and Open Days

So last week we hosted the UCAS higher education exhibition at our Bedford campus. For anyone that hasn’t heard of this event before, it’s our biggest recruitment event in the year. Located at our Bedford campus, we host many other universities and higher education institutions on campus, and are visited by approximately 10,000 students from schools and colleges within the region.

This year I was one of the staff working on the University of Bedfordshire stand. Over the course of two days I spoke to many students about the various courses that we offer, provided information about our accommodation and transport links, and was asked by a couple of students what was the best thing about Bedfordshire (to which I replied “Go Global – I wish my university offered something like that when I was a student!).

There were a couple of questions however that have really stuck with me.

What exactly am I meant to be doing here?

Excellent question! Stupidly I assume every year (well, this is the third year I’ve worked at the UCAS exhibition), that students will come into the exhibition with a plan of action, but not all students know exactly what they want to do at this point – I certainly didn’t. So for those students who don’t know what, or where, they want to study, or even if they want to go to university, it’s a chance to attend subject talks, which will give you an insight into what you may learn from a degree in that area, and where it could lead you. It also gives you a chance to speak to universities and find out a little more about them. Even if you’re not sure what you want to study at this point you may be able to find out what universities offer placement years, internships, scholarships, and opportunities to work abroad, to name just a few, which may influence your final decision.

I don’t need to attend an Open Day now do I?

At the exhibition I invited many students to come along to our next Open Day and a couple asked why they needed to, if they’d spoken to us at the fair – another excellent question! Although the UCAS exhibition is a great way to gather information, you will probably end up speaking to many universities and institutions, and you may feel like you have been overloaded with information. I would recommend using the UCAS exhibitions as a starting point – speak to as many universities as possible and, from this, choose your favourite universities and book to attend an Open Day at those institutions.

At an Open Day you’ll be able to take a tour of the campus, which will help you to really get a feel for the university. You’ll also be able to meet current students and hear about their experiences, and find out exactly what that university offers in terms of extra-curricular activities, career support, internship opportunities and facilities etc.

At the exhibitions the stands are typically run by someone from the Recruitment team. At an Open Day you’ll have the opportunity to speak to academics from your chosen department – the people that you’ll be dealing with on a day-to-day basis if you chose to study at that institution – and they’ll be able to talk in detail about your subject and how it is taught at that institution.

And finally, I can't talk about Open Days and UCAS exhibitions without talking about the freebies! Most institutions will at least have some free pens which you can stock up on. And if you do attend our UCAS exhibition next year make sure you grab your friends and visit our photobooth. 

Stands, stares and stairs; UCAS Birmingham Fair 25-26 June 2018

This week, reflections on the Birmingham UCAS Fair at the NEC and the coming together of year 12 students, teachers and reps from most of the country's HE providers.

The UCAS Fair is probably the first meaningful chance for sixth form and college students to get up close and inspect a number of universities gathered under the same roof. A chance to form early, concrete opinions. This year, we were given the huge fillip of having our logo featured in the programme. Imagine. The good studes of the Black Country were also treated to me and Pete on the stand. He 'web man'; me 'spreadsheet man'. Pete's taller and more animated than; we probably complemented each other quite well.

Hotel livin'; the Ibis, NEC

Leaving the office also gave me another chance for hotel livin' and some pseudo market research (see my last escapade). And the chance to pinch and repurpose a few stand and prospectus ideas. Here area a few take away points:

• Some of the stands looked tired. Ours included. We didn't stick out, but our roll up banners and materials are more 'Blue Nun' than 'Chateau Neuf'. Still, see point below.
• Cardiff Met, Northampton and others have bust budgets on stands which have more mood lighting, soft furnishing and gizmoic mod cons than my house could ever hope to have. I wonder, however, how much of a lasting impact this splurge will have (see 'corporate' below). I'm not sure I would have been that impressed. Are the year 12's? (Again, see 'corporate' below). And lavish sets might be pleasing on the eye, but you won't catch many of the Russell Group going for these histrionics. Not this year, anyway.
• Everything here is so corporate. Numbers, tickets, brochures, fonts, carpets, pricey catering, gimmicks and giveaways. Polo shirts with embroidered uni logos. Which is as well; no one has the time or would want to drift round yurts, freak zones and hip hang outs. And yes, while attempts to get in with the kids could back fire, might there be mileage in going 'off page'? Could non-corporate stand out? Pete bigged up our arts' degree show - could our A&D folk bring anything which might shake attendees out of the torpor of bags for life and having the living heck scanned out of their barcodes?

Pete in action

• Hertfordshire's stand was bold. An expansive white background, with nothing on it except some black block text encouraging people to 'write their own future'. Something like that. Clever perhaps, but kind of barren looking. Hope they did ok, but not too ok.

The Herts stand is unveiled!

• Otherwise, lots of floor vinyls, boxes and lots of places teaching contemporary music. Whatever that is, and whatever that involves. And Birmingham City Uni all over the place.
• Nursing is always the most popular course. I developed a joke for Midwifery students* which sunk and struck by the popularity of Engineering. I'd recently read about the stuttering pace of the Women in Engineering initiative, although it seems alive and well in the NEC. I respect Engineers. Compasses and calipers make me  giddy - the closest I get to bridge building is bodged DIY and vague recollections of stuff like Swarfega and Engineers' Blue from school. 
• That's right, Engineers' Blue. Let's move on.
• My selling powers are weak. I will engage if there's something I believe in - or at least understand - and people are interested. Art & Design or English Lit courses? No problem. Law? Fine. An LLB is an LLB is an LLB. I guess. But Automotive and Mechanical Engineering? Waving promises of a building opening in 2019 only goes so far. If STEM action groups, steering boards, advisory panels and what not could chuck Marketing a bone, that'd be nice. Of the many established and reputed STEM providers already out there; Herts have got a racing car; Anglia Ruskin their own new Science Centre and, as I say, some of the stands here probably cost more than our library. It's going to take a lot more than a battered UCAS fair stand, the stretched resources in Marketing and Digital Marketing, 'spreadsheet guy' and a few video screens on campus to sell our brand new portfolio. Ta. 

At events like these, it's important to present as strong a picture of the Uni as possible. The most important prompt I gave to students was to visit different universities and see what's going on at different places, regardless of the fluffy marketing and communications and the dry, barely plausible, rarely referenced stats online (not many students are too bothered by the NSS, let alone TEF). I gave this advice somewhat forcibly, with my earnest face; there's still a job to get us even on a list of HEIs for people to consider.

My earnest face

I suspect that UCAS Conferences don't play the starring role in making people's minds up, but they form a very key early impression. After all, where would Luke Skywalker be know if that funny lil' R2D2 robot man hadn't played that video of Princess Leia banging on about Obi Wan Kenobi being "her only hope"?


* The Midwifery joke? Well, alright.
Convention attendee - 'Excuse me, do you do Midwifery?'
Spreadsheet man - 'Yes; that's a course we ... deliver.'

I should maybe have gone for 'yes, that's a course which really delivers,' but I struggle with my own job, let alone any aspirations in the field of comedy

Escaping the Atrium

A write up of a recent trip, pushing out and exploring a world beyond conditional formatting on Excel and poorly executed SQL queries....

The Atrium's a funny place. It's home for those bits and pieces of "Professional Services" which most people avoid. HR, IT, Finance, Facilities, Marketing, Admissions and the UK Recruitment team. Those sorts of people. And, more recently, a group of academics who "must have said something" and have been banished to the south east corner of the building. Listen carefully, and you can hear them, powering up SPSS and trying to tap distress signals through the malfunctioning heating system.....

While the wheels of power turn, shiny buildings take shape and teaching and learning goes on across Park St, life in The Atrium can feel disembodied and not very university-like. The place where crates hang out, looking menacing, and mismatched furniture comes to die.

The Atrium - 'come see us sometime'

It's nice to get out and about every now and again. Some time earlier this year, I was asked to facilitate a forum at the University's recent Teachers and Advisers Conference. This took place last Wednesday and was a treat, even if I missed most of the catering. My own fault; I was getting this fantastic picture taken by a proper photographer:

"Do you want fries with that?"

The session - where such diverse institutions as Vandyke Upper to Central Beds College to Hitchin Boys School were represented - enabled me to perform a covert piece of market research and to listen into the thoughts and concerns of those present. Given that everyone had signed up for a "forum", and, therefore, a meeting of minds and exchange of ideas, I saw my role very much in terms of just nudging things along and throwing in the odd question bomb or two. Such as:

"What pressures do young people face if/when they're thinking about university?"

- and -

"How can schools and universities help?"

After a series of breakouts, the first issue to generate heat was finance:

• debt aversion - potential students need to understand repayment terms;
• more communication around bursaries is needed;
• maintenance - some won't attend if none available, creating another 'squeezed middle'; i.e. households with incomes more than £25k pa, but who don't have the level of income which would support their kids through unis;
• party people - those along for a ride and who don't see themselves as ever earning enough to start paying back.

There was some discussion and one or two points of departure for people in the group. Certainly, year on year, the Save our Student quantitative survey gives some graphic stats. For the 2017 results from more than 2300 students, click here.

A more pronounced and unified response was given to unconditional offers, which were picked up on throughout the day. They're not popular with schools, let me tell you. I've blogged about unconditional offers before and explained why I think U offers aren't great.

Still, I don't have to deal with the fallout. Teachers and advisers do. We were told how unconditional offers lead in a proportion of students dropping attendance and grades. The group recognised universities' needed to maximise income, but those who have been more profligate at dishing out offers came in for heavy scorn. Nottingham Trent and Lincoln were mentioned in despatches.

The third main area of concern was mental health. No surprise, although very sobering to hear about anxiety, self-harming and communication issues among people at a key, challenging moment in their personal developments. Again, recently published statistics, this time from the Institute for Public Policy Research, quantify some of the issues (for example a six-fold increase in cases of declared mental health conditions in 2015 vs 2006 and record numbers of student suicides and a 20% increase in the number of students dropping out and suffering mental health conditions. For more detail,see the IPPR website).

All in all, a valuable day spent out of the office. I've just had and will have very different excursions this week, to the London School of Commerce. By which time, I'll probably be gagging for the reassuring comfort of my two screens, Microsoft Powerpoint and my tea/soup drawer.

Market research; back to "business as usual"

Putting yourself back together when the black dog comes knocking...

Last week was Mental Health Awareness Week, which inspired me to revisit the below blog. I actually wrote it a few weeks ago but I questioned whether I should publish it.

Last week saw thousands of people open up about their experiences with mental health, and it’s really good to see how things have changed over the years and that people feel more comfortable being more open and honest.  So here’s my two cents worth…

A few months ago, I was really struggling with my mental health but thanks to the support of friends, family and colleagues, things are looking up.

This horrible dark shadow infected every part of my life – my family, my relationships and my work. As someone who always strives to work hard and be the best press officer I can be, seeing my work slip was devastating. So I got medical assistance and told my boss – two of the hardest things I’ve ever done.

Mental health will affect one in four of us at some point in their lives, so I’ve jotted down a few points to consider if you‘re a PR professional (or indeed anyone) struggling with your mental well-being in the workplace.

This is entirely based on my own experience and I’m not a medical professional of any sort – this is meant to offer food for thought and a bit of support to anyone who may need it.

Tell your colleagues
When I told my colleagues what was going on, I was surprised to discover how many of them had had similar issues themselves. Initially I was terrified they would think less of me, but everyone was very supportive and together we looked at ways to make my working life easier.

Shout if you’re struggling
For me, the worst thing about mental ill-health is that there are no physical symptoms, unless you count uncontrollable weeping for no reason. There’s no limbs hanging off, no horrible cough, no nasty rash - you look just as you always did. This can make it hard for colleagues to know if you are struggling, unless you tell them. The hardest thing for me was opening up about what I was feeling and whether I needed to work from home for a day or two, but once it was out in the open, it all started to feel OK.  

When someone tells you they are struggling, don't be the person on the right!

Talk to your GP – when YOU’RE ready

This is a tricky one. I didn’t ask for medical help for a long time, but something clicked one day and I went – I’m so glad I did. This is probably something anyone dealing with a mental health issue should do, but it’s something you have to be ready for. No-one can force you to go until you’re ready. If you’re not ready, don’t worry, but when you are, just go – it can be the first step to getting better.

Be kind to yourself
I found this very difficult. Not only did I feel like I had no right to feel the way I did, I also felt I had let everyone down by letting it get as far as it did before I sought help. Hindsight is a beautiful thing, but you can’t spend your time wishing you had done anything differently. Imagine if your friend told you they were depressed or anxious, you would immediately rally around to support them and offer kind words of encouragement and hope. Try and do the same for yourself. Don’t beat yourself up – you’re only human.

And finally, always remember....

Supernatural Dean Winchester GIF from Supernatural GIFs

Review of Post-18 Education and Funding

As Part of my role as Events and Policy Assistant, I get to work on policy matters regarding Higher Education sector with our Policy Advisor. About 3 months ago the government launched a review of Post-18 Education and Funding. Subsequently, an independent panel has been formed to inform the review's work and the panel has issued a call for evidence to inform its work.

The review was launched on 21/03 and closed last week 2/05.

I enjoy policy work, a democratic evidence backed way of influencing rules and regulations of the government. The interesting thing is that everyone can provide evidence to the regular call for evidence by various departments of the government.

For instance, at the moment the Department of Education has issued a call for evidence for "evidence on issues connected with elective home education". I wonder how would I have turned out to be if I was homeschooled? Perhaps the next Stephen Hawking, haha.

Nonetheless, going back to the subject of the review, the University and Student Union have collaborated on this submission and jointly worked on it. The key take away are the below 5 recommendations:

1. Do not fundamentally overhaul the university funding system by cutting university income or introducing differential fees. Policy should continue to be driven by the objective of expanding high-quality post-18 education that meets the country’s skills needs and offers students the best possible experience. This requires sustainable funding.

2. Our students make clear that the greatest challenge for them is the cost of living. There should be a fundamental reform of the student maintenance system, which should include the introduction of a “living loan” sufficient to cover the cost of living and the restoration of non-repayable maintenance grants for students from disadvantaged backgrounds.

3. The student loan system must be fair, and therefore should be designed so students incur no real rate of interest on their student loan.

4. There has been a significant decline in mature, part-time and nursing students, and intervention is needed to address this. The review panel must fully review the needs of these students in particular, and the University would be happy to support this process.

5. Prospective students must have a choice and be able to access all the information they need to make informed decisions about their post-18 education. Both the Government and Universities have an important role to play in achieving this.

Now, we wait and see what will the outcome of the review be, a trim around the edges or a complete overhaul as promised?