The University’s three-year Savings & Efficiency (S&E) initiative has achieved its first-year savings target of £10m.

This success is in no small part down to all those who have submitted ideas, implemented efficiencies within their teams and departments and helped drive the initiative forward.

The University moves into the second year of the initiative in a strong financial position. As the Vice- Chancellor Professor David Greenaway explained in his recent statement, we are in a time of unprecedented uncertainty, navigating our way through the implications of the Browne Review on student contributions and the impact of the Coalition Government’s Comprehensive Spending Review. Maintaining a strong financial position is vital in steering the University through these times – particularly if it is to continue its investment in world-class teaching and research.

During years two and three, the University will seek to identify further ways to achieve its £17m and £25m saving targets. The foundations for this work are already in place, with a strong focus on procurementrelated activity.

In phase one of its project, the Procurement Working Group has delivered recommendations for future procurement strategy, identifying a potential £6.7m savings opportunity between 2010/11 and 2013/14.

Shaping and managing the project to deliver these potential savings will be a pivotal role for the Director of Procurement, who joins the University in the New Year. Work has started on a significant new ‘Lean’ initiative, examining University processes to remove inefficiency and waste, creating ways to do more with less. A pilot will allow the scheme to be evaluated before deciding whether further projects will be developed in academic and non-academic areas.

Meanwhile, The University is developing its S&E strategy for 2011/12.

“The S&E Task Force is hugely grateful for your participation and support of our projects and I hope that you will continue to embrace this work as enthusiastically as you have so far,” said Professor Saul Tendler, Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Teaching and Learning.

Further information, including presentations, policy and communications, can be found on the S&E workspace: http://workspace.nottingham.ac.uk.