Academic Services All-Staff Meeting 12 th January 2010
Agenda Michele Shoebridge News update Shaun Curtis International update Speed updates: Jess Gardner Research Commons Matt Newcombe VLE project Nick Johnson Supercomputing strategy Welcoming new staff Any questions?
University Update
Battling the elements
A successful 2009!
A challenging environment in 2010 • Lord Mandelson’s grant letter – £6.6% decrease in HEFCE grant – Additional cuts of £135 million • UUK view: ‘a reduction in the public funding per student could seriously threaten our ability to offer the high-quality experience our students deserve and expect’ Steve Smith, UUK President • Impact on Academic Services? – Things will be tight – we need to deliver 5% savings this year – Could be 1% savings next year
Managing our finances • Already started 2010/11 planning cycle • Finance training for many Academic Services staff across January and February • Planning and Resource team working hard to ensure we deliver 5% savings required
Update from the divisions
Academic Policy and Student Administration • New Online room booking system – going live today! – Confirmed bookings can be made directly and immediately – Improved service, allowing staff to handle complex bookings • Winter exams – First semester exams taking place from 11 th January – Nearly 20,000 exam places (over 250 exams) • NSS 2010 – This years survey opens on 1 st February – Academic Services is addressing any concerns raised in 2009 • 2009/10 student registration – Nearly 16,000 students registered online (10% increase) – Good teamwork between a number of Academic Services teams
Academic Support Unit • Plans for ESI and Shared Services – Business plans ready to be submitted to SWRDA on 14 th January – ESI building design ready for submission to planning with interviews held to select an architect for Shared Services project last Friday – Successful designer for Exchange to be announced today – Exchange will be an extension to the current LRC and will house additional library and teaching space • Employability Officer appointed – Welcoming Antonia Coppen, starting today, as Employability Officer. – Joining us from Cardiff University, Antonia will take forward the employability agenda and manage the Exeter Award in Cornwall
Business Improvement & Systems Support • Innovation – Innovation Showcase provisionally arranged for 26 th March to demonstrate range of new web technologies – blogs, wiki service & 3D campus on Google Earth • Projects – Process review of academic timetable – Business Intelligence project - business planning process & University KPI’s – PG applicant portal ongoing • Forum software – 5 major strands of software development – Booking system; customer identification and tracking; virtual advisor; digital signage and queue management
Careers & Employment • Matrix – Careers and Employment service awarded Matrix accreditation • DLHE – Collection and processing of destination information for 2009 leavers underway – Two work placement coordinators appointed to work in Schools to find work experience opportunities • Widen Your Options – 22 nd Feb to 5 th March – Series of events to enable students access to information on a wide range of career areas
Library & Research Support • Capital library investments: 'It's heaven to study here' – Spent £3m across ‘Research Commons’ and St. Luke’s libraries – All service back to normal, and users very satisfied • Main Library meeting new demand – 20,000 more people through Main Library doors in Autumn 2009 compared to 2008 (233,000 in Autumn term 2009) – One of the only HE libraries to open on Boxing Day – Maintained full service across all 5 Exeter site libraries during snow • Going Digital – Launch of Exeter's JISC-funded Digital Collections Online - making Victorian culture treasures available at the desk-top – Library twitter has been launched to keep news up to date as we enter critical Forum period
Education Enhancement • Promoting our work beyond the University – Staff have presented papers on Student as Change Agents, Open Educational Resources project, and the Audio Feedback project to countries including The UK, USA, Australia, New Zealand and Italy – External promotion visits have been made to USA and China. • Open Exeter and the Exeter Learning Environment – JISC funded project making Exeter resources available externally (Open Exeter) on target to release 360 credits of material by April. • Academic Development – 335 staff and research students attended the LTHE programme 2009-10.
Education Enhancement Reminder: International Exeter: The Student Experience The University of Exeter Learning and Teaching Conference, 5th May 2010 Workshops contributed by AS staff would be welcome. Contact Sue Burkill.
Information & Computing Systems • Renewed the non-research data storage system. – Storage Area Network holds all University data – Cost of £800k, and will save £23k in power over 5 years. – System built and installed in weeks, with no disruption to users • Move of IT systems to new network – Following months of planning, this move took place on 5 th January – Hundreds of IT services switched to new network – Considerable step towards new, high-speed data network • Unprecedented call volume – Between September and December 2009, received 19,000 calls via the IT Help Desk – growth of over 40% on previous year – Customer satisfaction results strengthened, with over 90% of users receiving ‘Excellent’ or ‘Good’ Service
Student Experience • One World event – Week of events held for students, staff and community in conjunction with Emma Thompson and her son, Tindy (alumnus) – 500 students participated over 15 events – Increase in students coming forward to participate in consultation groups • Community Relations – Produced Community Engagement Strategy – Strategy compiled using information from recent Community Survey, student steering groups, Resident Liaison Groups & StreetWise answer phone service • International Student Support – Record breaking numbers of international students – International Student Barometer Summer results – many divisions classed as excellent – New monthly Cultural Awareness Training – Chinese New Year celebrations – Saturday 13 th February
Student Recruitment and Marketing • Post offer Open Days – Key ‘conversion events’ taking place across February and March – Anticipate 1,500 prospective students attending these 8 events • Applications continue to increase across the board Undergraduate Postgraduate Taught Home / EU +9% +39% International +64% +130% • PhD studentships marketing campaign – A marketing campaign to promote more than 100 PhD studentships across all Schools has begun – The Marketing team has been working closely with colleagues in Schools and Research and Knowledge Transfer to implement the campaign which involves print advertising ( THE, Nature, Guardian, Independent ); external websites and the University website
Shaun Curtis
Speed Updates
Jess Gardner
Research Commons A centrally supported space the research community holds in common
From Old Library • Pre-2007 Old Library – A very tired ‘store’ – ‘Hidden’ Special Collections 2007 MoveCorp recommends – Remodel as high quality research space – Create new research seminar facilities – Optimise treasures through exhibition – Improve visibility of Special Collections
To Research Commons £2million investment 2009 • New reception • New exhibition hall • New café-style break-out
‘It’s heaven to study here’ • New large WIFI Reading Room for quiet study • New terrace area • New Special Collections suite • New multi-media seminar room • 10k shelving installation for research collection growth
Rethinking our libraries • 2009 St Luke’s Library refurbishment – refreshed campus library with ‘home’ for linked Academic Services (£1 million) • 2009 Research Commons launched – flagship research library with opportunity for expansion post INTO; ‘sister’ to learning -focused Main Library (£2 million) • 2012 Main Library refurb complete – integrated student-focused Forum library space, adjacent to student centre (£5.8 million)
Matt Newcombe
VLE migration project
VLE replacement project • One year project • Why replace WebCT? • WebCT will be replaced at the start of the 2010 / 11 • Funded from Strategic Development Fund and Infrastructure funds • Integration with University systems is underway • Externally hosted and supported by ULCC • The new system will be know as….
Exeter Learning Environment
The migration team
Timescales Project is currently on target for completion in September 1. WebCT content migration starts in February 2. Academic and support staff training will follow migration 3. Integration with SITS and the Portal completed in phases 4. WebCT will be turned off in September
Nick Johnson
Supercomputing Nick Johnson Advanced Systems, Infrastructure, ICSD
Supercomputing – what is it?
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