FASS Strategy 2010-2015

Tony McEnery

The Principal Challenge

ASS, DELC, E&CW, Educational Research, History, IAS, Law, LICA, Linguistics, MFCS, Philosophy, Politics, Public Arts, Religious Studies, Ruskin

Centre, Sociology (16 Operating Units)

Small Central Admin

Finance, UG admissions, PG admissions

Centre

Validation

Problems

• Getting processes right n times rather than once

• Enormous data collection and management overhead

• Unproductive boundary disputes/overlaps

The Changing Face of FASS

ASS, DELC, E&CW, Educational Research, History, IAS, Law, LICA, Linguistics, MFCS, Philosophy, Politics, Public Arts, Religious Studies, Ruskin

Centre, PPR, Sociology (11 Operating Units)

Larger Central Admin

Finance, PG admissions

Centre

UG admissions

Validation

A Possible Major Obstacle – Departmental Strategies

• Our overall approach – matrix based delivery

• But what if Departments do not wish to follow the plan?

• We undertook a compatibility check.

• Departments asked for their strategy in light of the University SP.

• Our goal in doing this, either to i.) identify gaps to close or ii.) gain a certain degree of comfort!

   

Total Depts Sum

1 INTERNATIONAL  

a We will continue to develop an international mindset as the cultural norm at Lancaster. 1

15

b We will continue to develop research partnerships with top-ranked global institutions. 3

c We will continue to develop teaching partnerships. 1

d We will develop closer partnerships with government and business both at home and overseas. 2

e We will enhance the international intellectual environment of Lancaster. 4

fWe will, drawing on our expertise, enhance our contribution to the discussion and resolution of global issues. 4

2 RESEARCH AND IMPACT  

a We will ensure that our research portfolio is world class and sustainable across all our disciplines. 12

58

b We will maximize the impact of the research. 12

c We will encourage interdisciplinary approaches to major global issues. 8

d We aim to be a University of choice for early career staff and postgraduate research students. 10

e We will provide a world class research environment. 8

fWe aim to be productive partners in research for other universities, research based institutions and business. 8

3 TEACHING  

a We will recruit students with increasingly higher levels of entry qualifications. 7

47

b We will provide innovative and challenging programmes. 12

c We will provide our students with highly enthusiastic and knowledgeable staff. 4

d We will continue to develop an outstanding learning environment. 8

e We will broaden the horizons of our students. 8

fWe will produce graduates whose skills and knowledge are sought after in the national and international job markets. 8

4 PEOPLE  

a We will enhance the employability of our students. 8

31

b We will promote personal and professional development of our staff. 6

c We will create a performance-based culture. 3

d We will provide an ethical environment. 8

e We will sustain a healthy and safe place to study or work. 4

f We will support a life-long association with the University for graduates and staff. 2

5 LANCASTER EXPERIENCE  

a We will develop our attractive, open, green and sustainable campus. 1

18

b We will provide highly appealing and sociable living and working spaces. 2

c We will maintain and promote a strong sense of community. 5

d We will promote multi-culturalism and internationalism. 1

e We will foster an innovative culture. 5

f We aim to provide a stimulating and challenging intellectual environment. 4

6 INCOME GENERATION, PRODUCTIVITY AND FINANCIAL SUSTAINABILITY  

a We will continue to deliver income growth ahead of inflation. 10

18

b We will ensure that growth is sustainable. 5

c We will deliver greater productivity gains. 3

d We will integrate financial and non-financial objectives. 0

e We will generate the cash required to support our growth plans and our capital expenditure programme. 0

f We will improve our underlying credit strength. 0

7 RESPONSIVE SERVICES AND INTEGRATED PROCESSES  

a We will ensure that we have a good understanding of the needs of both staff and students. 3

17

b We will establish clear priorities for improvements to services and processes. 3

c We will implement integrated, effective and efficient services that meet the needs of staff and students. 2

d We will ensure that processes are supported by effective deployment of technology. 2

eWe will continue to develop organisational structures that help promote joined up thinking in delivery of services and processes. 3

f We will establish clear service standards and monitor our progress against them. 4

What Issues did this Process Raise That Needed Action above the Departmental Level?

• International – a general problem• Research – uneven distribution of expertise in grant capture• PG – uneven distribution of expertise in the recruitment of

PGs• Employability – uneven distribution of expertise in

encouraging the development of graduates well prepared for the job market

• Marketing – while some of the hopes for marketing may be ill-founded, there are certainly some issues that need resolving, but the resolution is unlikely to be cheap

• These have informed the new faculty strategic plan which comes into effect this month and will run until the end of 2014/15

Faculty Cross-Cutting Supporting Actions

• Internationalisation – to develop an international strategy that enhances the role that FASS has to play in the University’s internationalisation strategy and to progressively increase international activities at all levels in the Faculty.

• Research – to enhance our research performance and improve our grant capture performance.

• Postgraduate – to develop structures and policies that will lead to a significant and sustained uplift in Faculty PG numbers.

• Employability – to ensure that graduate employability in the institution as a whole and in FASS in particular is improved by the services provided by and the policies pursued by the Faculty.

• Marketing – to ensure that the external promotion of the Faculty and its activities ensure that the supporting actions above are enabled.

Rest of Talk

• Focus on main objectives 1 – 4

• Within each show the action arising from the Faculty Strategic Plan

• Focus in on one of those actions and discuss its associated KPIs

• Focus in further on one KPI and explore the background to it and the issues associated with it in some detail

• I will finish with three wishes

University Objectives: InternationalWe will increase the number of overseas students to the Faculty by:

– Continuing to develop innovative course and degree scheme delivery to ensure that we access as wide a pool of potential postgraduates as possible.

– Enhancing the employment prospects of FASS postgraduates (see objectives 4a i and ii for details).

We will develop a sustainable number of strategic teaching and research partnerships with selected international institutions by:

– Developing funded research collaborations with comparable excellent institutions.

– Maintaining a research strategy that emphasises the engagement of international teams of researchers with globally significant issues.

We will continue to provide an international experience for our students by:

– Providing more students with innovative modes of delivery, e.g. short-stay study-abroad visits.

– Enhancing the international ambience of the Lancaster campus by inviting and hosting foreign scholars and students.

– Providing extra-mural language training across campus.

KPIs

• Key Performance Indicator 1: Increase in the number of study-abroad placements for undergraduate and postgraduate students (Measures progress against i).

• Key Performance Indicator2: Increase the number of academic visitors to the Faculty from partner institutions (Measures progress against ii).

• Key Performance Indicator 3: A 400% increase in the annual number of students enrolled on extra-mural language courses by the end of the plan, measured relative to the last year in which ‘Languages for All’ ran.

Where do we start from?

TotalIn

Out

2006-07

2007-08

2008-09

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

2006-07

2007-08

2008-09

How do we Improve?

• Deputy VC chairing a group to consider this

• Flexible offers

• Short courses

• Courses with relevance to degree scheme

• Low cost/reasonable cost offers

Issues

• Our students

• The likelihood that students will have to pay for this

• The likelihood that doing this may interfere with students taking jobs

• Our main overseas partners that we work with

University Objectives: Research and Impact

We will continue to produce published work of the highest academic standards and maximum impact by:

• Increasing the proportion of our research that is of the highest level of excellence.• Seeking to ensure that research-active staff have sufficient time to effectively pursue their research goals.• Achieving the highest-possible profile with stakeholder groups not only through publication but also through, for

example, working within learned societies, media appearances, increased web-presence, engagement with policy makers as well as engagement with the local business community.

• Maximising the impact of our research through the transfer of knowledge to relevant academic and non-academic stakeholders.

We will continue to pursue opportunities for external research grant funding by:

• Working closely with all Faculties, the University and external partners to identify new opportunities for research funding.

• Identifying and encouraging new mechanisms of research activity across FASS which will help us respond quickly to funding initiatives.

• Supporting and facilitating academic staff to submit carefully prepared and peer-reviewed research proposals for funding from as wide a range of sources as possible.

• Encouraging applications for research council funded research projects.

We will maximise the number of postgraduate research students of the highest quality and supervise their studies through to prompt submission and completion by:

• Attracting larger numbers of high-quality PGR students.• Encouraging and supporting participation in the Faculty’s Research Training Programme by all PGR students. • A relative increase in opportunities to undertake part or wholly funded postgraduate research.• Developing a timely completion culture across the Faculty.

KPIs

• Key Performance Indicator 1: To increase the number of cross-disciplinary and cross-institutional external grant bids (Measures progress against i).

• Key Performance Indicator 2: improvement in University ranking in ESRC and AHRC award tables (Measures progress against ii and iv).

• Key Performance Indicator3: Increase in the number of external grant applications by department as shown from pFACT (Measures progress against iii).

Where do we Start From?

Submissions by month 2007-08 Submissions by month 2008-09

Variance2007-08 No. submissions Amount requested 2008-09 No. submissions Amount requested

August 8  £        382,999.00  August 6  £   1,161,452.00   £        778,453.00 

September 6  £        602,701.00  September 13  £   2,299,482.00   £    1,696,781.00 

October 13  £        757,724.00  October 20  £       347,522.00   £       410,202.00 

November 10  £    1,517,859.00  November 16  £   2,750,235.00   £    1,232,376.00 

December 7  £        363,799.00  December 15  £   1,933,274.00   £    1,569,475.00 

January 13  £        990,953.00  January 14  £   2,919,121.00   £    1,928,168.00 

February 12  £    1,271,940.00  February 12  £   2,175,443.00   £        903,503.00 

March^ 13  £    1,540,169.00  March 23  £   3,814,340.00   £    2,274,171.00 

April~ 27  £    1,991,302.00  April 13  £   1,383,162.00  -£       608,140.00 

May 12  £    2,068,049.00  May 12  £       956,665.00  -£    1,111,384.00 

June 9  £    2,623,470.00  June 13  £   1,518,096.00  -£    1,105,374.00 

July 9  £        977,806.00  July 11  £       900,067.00  -£          77,739.00 

FASS Total 139 £ 15,088,771.00 FASS Total 168 £ 22,158,859.00  £    7,070,088.00 

How do we Improve?

• Grant writing training

• Internal peer review

• Better information dissemination

• Removing disincentives to applying

Issues

• Research council budgets

• The arms race – we have played catch up to this point, we need to shift into playing get ahead

• This will be a long haul

University Objectives: Teaching

We will increase the quality of the undergraduate intake within the Faculty by:

• Continuously improving the quality of the UG intake.

We will continue to provide innovative and intellectually stimulating teaching programmes at the undergraduate and postgraduate level by:

• The recruitment of excellent teachers and world-class researchers.• Ensuring that all modules are attractive and taught to the highest standard.• Continuing to support the close association between current research interests and curriculum design, so

that learning and teaching remain innovative, topical and exciting for both students and staff.

We will continue to develop an outstanding learning environment by:

• Maximising the appropriate use of up-to-date IT resources to encourage students’ independent learning.• Making use of a range of different teaching and learning methods drawing on group work, evaluation of

students' own practice, self-directed study units and variety in assessment practices.

We will further enhance the promotion of postgraduate taught programmes and attract increasing numbers of postgraduate taught students by:

• Undertaking reviews of postgraduate taught programmes in all FASS departments to ensure that our postgraduate taught courses are attracting as wide a range of high quality candidates as possible.

• Producing effective marketing materials.• Working to access and provide scholarship and studentship opportunities for PGT students.

KPIs

• Key Performance Indicator: year on year increase in Faculty mean A-level Score/UCAS Tariff score to 2015 when final goals should be met, by the end of this strategic plan, of i.) 80%+ of FASS students being recruited at ABB+; ii.) 60%+ of FASS students being recruited at AAB+ and iii.) 30%+ of FASS students being recruited at AAA+ (Measures progress against i).

Where do we Start From?

Rank DepartmentAverage A level points

1 Management Science 28.672 Accounting and Finance 26.683 Management School UG Office 26.614 English and Creative Writing 26.555 Marketing 26.396 Law 26.237 Psychology 26.228 Mathematics and Statistics 26.059 Economics 25.85

10 Organisation, Work and Technology 25.5011 Linguistics and English Language 25.4212 History 25.0813 Geography 24.88

University 24.88

Rank DepartmentAverage A level points

1 (+3) English and Creative Writing 27.732 (+6) Mathematics and Statistics 26.943 (+6) Economics 26.244 (+7) Linguistics and English Language 26.165 (--) Marketing 26.146 (-3) Management School UG Office 26.117 (+9) Physics 25.948 (-1) Psychology 25.839 (-3) Law 25.30

10 (+2) History 25.2911 (+4) European Languages and Cultures 25.11

University 25.18

Departmental distribution of 2009-10 full time undergraduate entrants with AAA –AAB

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

2007 2008 2009

FASS

FAST

LUMS

Issues

• A long haul – stability in planning a key

• Departments need reassurance that they will not be penalised irrationally for taking risks

• Shifting up the A-level score table takes time, commitment and planning

• We need to be realistic about who can recruit at what levels, both in terms of volume and quality

Three Wishes

• Fee Waivers – let’s set up a system to licence and regulate forgoing income. Paying ourselves is a self defeating action.

• The free market in UG courses – is it the best idea?

• Cross University research initiatives – why don’t we plan and fund these?