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“the heroes, the winners, will be entire companies that have

developed cultures that instead of fearing

the pace of change, relish it.”

- Jack Welch, CEO of GE

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Turning challenges into opportunities

Geoff GreenDirector of Administration

University of Leicester28 June 2012

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Contents

• My background

• Challenges facing the sector

• Challenges facing the profession

• Creating opportunities

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My story and AUA

• 2000: joined sector as grade 6 Trainee, OU Business School (joined AUA upon instruction from manager, attended ‘Intro to HE’ seminars)

• 2001: re-structured as grade 7 Partnerships Manager into OU Worldwide (AUA conference 2002)

• 2003: secondment as grade 8 Assistant Secretary to OU PVC (Academic) office (AUA career planning workshop)

• 2005: secondment to Oxford as grade 8 Faculty Manager• 2006: appointed as grade 9 Director of Planning, OU

Business School (AUA branch coordinator 2007); promoted grade 10 in 2009

• 2009: appointed as grade 10 Director of Administration, University of Leicester (AUA regional coordinator 2009, AUA PGCert BoS 2011)

• Got an MBA along the way

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Challenges facing the sector

• Strengths• Weaknesses• Opportunities• Threats

Footer

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Challenges facing the sector (1)

• Increasing diversity– Markets: finding a USP and a position– Structures: finding one that works for your sort of

university– Size: loosening of degree awarding power criteria– Business models: entry of the private sector, overseas

providers

• Drive to marketisation– Future of national pay bargaining– Student as ‘customer’– Research for ‘impact’– Mission groups

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Challenges facing the sector (2)

• But regulation remains– HEFCE as ‘lead regulator’– QAA– Enhanced role of OFFA– UKBA legislation

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Sector spend on “administration”

• 1994/95 spend on “administration” was £1.2bn (12% of total); in 2008/09 was £3.7bn (14.8% of total)

• Percentage of academic time spent on “administration” was 11% in 1961/62; by 1994 had plateaued at 33%

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Size of sector “administration”

• In 2008/09: 41,529 managers and non-academic professionals in the sector, of which:– 13,830 in academic departments (33%)– 8,404 in academic services (student/registry

functions) (20%)– 15,942 in administrative and central services

(38%)– 2,026 in premises (5%)– 1,327 in residences and catering (3%)– TOTAL: 41,529

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Why has “administration” grown?

• Regulation and compliance• Self-perpetuating (some functions directly

related to student volumes, etc.)• Transfer of work from academic to

administrative staff• Increasing complexity• Competition and move towards ‘best in

class’ – best practice is rarely cheap practice

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Impact on roles

• Move from ‘docile clerk’ to ‘professional manager’• Move from ‘service’ to ‘partnership’• Specialist and/or generalist• Blurred boundaries between staff groupings,

growth in ‘cross-boundary’, ‘unbounded’ and ‘blended’ professionals

• Career paths less linear• Flexible combinatory approach of collegiality and

managerialism

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So what for professional development• Experience working in:

– Different strategic contexts– Different structures– Different organisational cultures– Projects in different ways

• Develop knowledge about the sector:– Large organisations: depth of knowledge– Smaller organisations: breadth of knowledge– Network outside your comfort zone

• Develop personal skills:– Managing complexity and change– Leadership and decision-making– Improving processes and problem-solving

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So what are the opportunities?

• Marketisation will increase the pace of professionalisation

• Many institutions will have to go “back to basics” with end-to-end strategic reviews

• The sector has been through radical change before and survived (60s - growth, 80s - cuts, 90s – growth, 10s – cuts, 20s - ??) – change leads to opportunity

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Flexible working across traditional boundaries

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Taking advantage of them

• Plan where you want to go and engineer how to get there

• Remember what you learn at each step and write it down: build your portfolio

• Stay a generalist as long as you can to acquire a breadth of experience, then specialise to acquire depth of knowledge

• Constantly question: What is the purpose of my job? How do I know I am doing a good job?

• Move around, look outside, network

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SWAIN

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Courage

“There is no more delicate matter to take in hand, nor more dangerous to conduct, nor more doubtful in its success, than to be a leader in the introduction of changes. For he who innovates will have for enemies all those who are well off under the old order of things, and only lukewarm supporters in those who might be better off under the new.”

- Niccolo Machiavelli

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Thanks for listening

Any questions?

g.j.green@le.ac.uk