Campus News
Professional Services Roadmap for Hybrid Working
April 19th, 2021
A message from Registrar, Dr Paul Greatrix, Director of Human Resources, Jaspal Kaur and Chief Financial Officer, Margaret Monckton.
As we move beyond the one-year anniversary of lockdown, we are mindful that many colleagues from Professional Services have now been working at home for an extended period due to national restrictions and that this has brought challenges on both a personal and professional level.
Earlier this year, in his blog University of Nottingham Roadmap, Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Professor Andy Long, wrote about new ways of working and advised that School and Departmental working groups were starting to plan for a wider return of our staff to campuses – beyond those already on site – during the summer term in alignment with the government ‘roadmap’ and national restrictions.
The university Return to Campus Principles have now been updated to provide additional guidance regarding a phased and safe return to working at the university, where we can begin to enable colleagues to start spending some time on campus, as well as some time working at home in a hybrid manner when restrictions allow (expected to be after 21 June 2021).
Professional Services Roadmap for Returning to Campus
We appreciate returning to campus will evoke mixed emotions for colleagues, with some eager to return and some feeling anxious. We understand that the primary concern of all staff is the safe return to campus and this is foremost in our thinking.
We’d like to share some of our initial thoughts and early plans regarding returning to campus for Professional Services and what this might mean for individuals, teams and departments.
Opportunities to work differently
When we surveyed Professional Services staff in Autumn 2020 about experiences of working at home, there was an overwhelming desire from the majority of staff to capitalise upon positive experiences and to grasp the opportunity to do things differently in the future. This will be integral to our thinking and future ways of working.
We expect this to be a journey where we transition initially from ‘working at home where possible’ to a period of ‘hybrid working’ with an increased campus presence. Hybrid working describes the way that Professional Services teams will work as we return to campus following national lockdowns, where staff will be expected to spend some time working on campus and some time working remotely, whilst still observing levels of social distancing that uphold safety and minimise the spread of Covid-19.
Benefits of Hybrid Working for Professional Services
For Professional Services staff, hybrid working can present many benefits and opportunities, including a move away from ‘presenteeism’ to providing more flexibility and a choice of environments where teams and individuals can conduct their work most effectively.
By providing greater flexibility of working practices and access to a network of shared spaces, we are confident this will encourage greater cross-departmental collaboration and promote a shared ‘one team’ culture across Professional Services. For the university, benefits will be gained from energy savings via better space optimisation, bulk procurement and a reduction in the carbon footprint from reduced travel.
For individuals, the benefits that have been enjoyed during remote working, such as flexibility, improved work/life balance and a greater focus on wellbeing will be able to continue and become embedded as new ways of working. The changes that we are proposing here are mirroring national trends and practices within and outside the HE sector and we are fully committed to supporting colleagues to introduce these changes successfully and collaboratively.
Professional Services Hubs
Whilst many staff will be able to return to their offices in Covid-secure buildings once they are re-opened in the summer term, we are also developing Professional Services Hubs at each of our UK campuses.
The Hubs will be a mix of desk and collaborative spaces where staff can book space and spend some time working on campus with their colleagues and teams. Access to Hubs will initially be prioritised for staff whose office buildings remain closed or are no longer available for use. This will be extended as capacity increases due to provision of additional hubs and the relaxing of social distancing.
We are pleased to announce that the locations of the initial Professional Services Hubs have now largely been confirmed and the following spaces have been approved for re-development. The B50 Hub at KMC has been operational since October 2021 and remains open to any Professional Services staff who have been approved to work on campus to undertake business critical activities or to support more efficient working or wellbeing.
We will be equipping each Hub with standard equipment, furniture and a mix of bookable ‘focus’ spaces and ‘collaboration’ spaces.
To help us inform equipment requirements, we have already distributed an equipment survey to Professional Services staff and we would ask that all colleagues complete and return the survey to help inform planning before 23 April 2021.
For colleagues returning to their existing places of work, we will also be asking that clean-up activities are undertaken to move to ‘clean desk’ environments – more guidance will follow.
Next Steps
This marks the beginning of what we believe will be a really positive time for Professional Services where we have the opportunity to work together better as a team in ways we have not been able to previously. The development of Professional Services Hubs also presents an important opportunity for us to begin to collaborate in a more integrated way and to embrace the lessons learned from the pandemic and define new ways of working for our future.
As we embark on this journey, we will continue to consult and discuss plans and ideas with staff and seek regular input to help shape and confirm our future ways of working as a Professional Services team. We see hybrid working as a stepping stone to a transition to ‘Agile’ working where we will focus more upon the most effective ways of working for Professional Services in the longer term. Throughout this journey, we will be using a mixture of communication methods including blogs, direct messages and a dedicated PS Roadmap SharePoint (accessed via the Staying Connected site) to keep colleagues involved and informed.
At this stage, restrictions permitting, the earliest we would be planning to start transitioning staff back to campus in a hybrid manner would be after the 21 June. This will vary across departments and more specific details will follow in the next few weeks.
We look forward to embarking on this journey with you and beginning to make a positive difference to future ways of working for Professional Services teams.
Dr Paul Greatrix – Registrar
Jaspal Kaur – Director of Human Resources
Margaret Monckton – Chief Financial Officer
Tags: covid-19 recovery, covid-19 roadmap, flexible working, home working, hybrid working, professional services, professional services hubs, roadmap
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Government announcement on student returns – what this means for staff
April 14th, 2021
Professor Andy Long recently wrote to staff to outline what the latest Government announcement on student returns means for them.
Dear colleagues,
Last night the Department for Education updated guidance for university students, on ‘non-practical’ courses that do not yet have a date for the resumption of face-to-face teaching.
It confirmed that there would be no further return until at least 17 May 2021. This was not the news we were hoping for and I wanted to set out as much detail as possible for you about the weeks ahead.
I have also written to all students today and you can read a copy of this communication here.
In-person teaching
Students who are on courses that have already resumed in-person teaching, either in January such as Medicine and Education, or those with practical elements which require specialist equipment that returned in March, or have return dates confirmed for April, are permitted to continue with their current arrangements. Students on practical courses with return dates in April will receive confirmation emails from their School or Department.
All remaining students will resume in-person teaching no earlier than Monday 17 May 2021. Professor Sarah Speight, Pro-Vice Chancellor for Education and Student Experience, will write to Heads of Schools and Departments with advice on contacting their students to confirm the detailed arrangements for their return, prior to this date.
I fully understand that the wait to resume in-person teaching is frustrating. In the meantime we will continue to do everything we can to keep our students engaged with their studies and with the university.
Government advice remains that students should stay where they are currently until shortly before resuming in-person studies, unless they meet the exceptional circumstances listed in Department for Education guidance. This includes where students are unable to study from home, need to sit in-person exams, do not have alternative accommodation, or for mental or physical health reasons.
Staff and Postgraduate Research access to campus
The university remains open and there is no change to the advice for staff and postgraduate researchers who need to attend campus, for example to deliver or prepare in-person teaching, to support students, provide other campus services or undertake research.
As outlined in my message last month we will support a safe, gradual expansion of the number of staff working in Covid-secure environments over the coming weeks and months. This work is unaltered by the latest announcement.
Covid-19 testing
Returning students are asked to book a Covid-19 test from the University Testing Service here to confirm that they are not carrying the virus so that we can keep our community and those around us safe. Thereafter, we expect all students to take our asymptomatic Covid-19 test at least once a week.
The University will continue to offer all staff asymptomatic Covid-19 testing on demand and we expect those staff working on campus to take these tests each week. These measures will help identify and isolate any positive cases early and help to reduce onward transmission of the virus. Staff do not need to book tests and can take these during work time.
Mental health and welfare
Please do continue to support your physical and mental wellbeing during these challenging times. If you need any sort of support or advice, please do ask for help from your line manager in the first instance and they can direct you to more specialist services if required.
A dedicated set of activities and services to support staff mental health and wellbeing, ranging from self-help, counselling and mental health services to the free and confidential employee assistance programme are listed at staff wellbeing.
Additional measures
We have taken significant steps to provide a Covid-secure environment on our campuses and the wellbeing of our community remains our priority.
Please remember to Isolate, Notify, Test if you do start to experience Covid-19 symptoms and let the University know so that we can support you. Within our university we have had no active cases of Covid-19 for the last 10 days. Our measures are most effective when we work together and follow the rules to keep everyone safe.
Thank you for your continued hard work and patience and I look forward to seeing more of us on campus more often in the months ahead.
Best wishes,
Andy
Professor Andy Long, FREng
Provost & Deputy Vice-Chancellor
University of Nottingham
Tags: COVID-19 update, Professor Andy Long, recovery, return to campus, student returns, University Testing Service
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Education & Student Experience Strategic Delivery Plan launched
April 13th, 2021
The Strategic Delivery Plan (SDP) for Education & Student Experience has been launched.
Pro-Vice Chancellor for Education & Student Experience Professor Sarah Speight writes about the new SDP and what the strategy means to her.
Read the blog or visit the university’s Strategy pages for more.
Tags: Education and Student Experience, Professor Sarah Speight, SDP, Strategic Delivery Plan
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Research strategy consultation: more time to respond
April 12th, 2021
A message from Professor Shearer West, President and Vice-Chancellor
The deadline for responses to our university-wide consultation on a new research strategy is extended to 5pm, Tuesday 4 May. We are encouraging all staff to respond to a simple set of questions on the future of research at the University of Nottingham.
Your support is invaluable. Giving colleagues more time to take part in the survey allows for Easter holiday commitments and a well-earned break from work.
We have had a good response so far, with colleagues in research and teaching roles leading the way. We hope colleagues from all job families across our campuses in the UK, China, and Malaysia will continue to support the consultation.
We look forward to your insights, and to joining you in further engagement activities to support the consultation over the coming months.
Please discover more about our research consultation, and do encourage colleagues to take part.
Your responses will help us work together to create a new strategy for research, driving our progress towards a fairer and more resilient society and strengthening the bedrock of our teaching and learning. By engaging our whole community in this consultation, we will be better prepared for new opportunities and challenges ahead.
Following our consultation, the University of Nottingham Research Strategy 2022-27 will be launched in December 2021.
Thank you once again for your support.
Professor Shearer West
Vice-Chancellor
Tags: consultation, research consultation, Research Strategy, research strategy consultation
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2022 Student recruitment campaign commences
April 12th, 2021
A new global recruitment campaign to help us attract and select the very best students for study and research at the University of Nottingham commences today.
Normal never changed the world takes a different approach to the sector stereotype for recruitment campaigns, using a consciously challenging message which reflects on the legacy of Covid-19 and its disruption.
The campaign aligns the university’s values with the attitudes of our prospective student audiences and aims to attract students who want to create the ‘new normal’ of the post-pandemic world with us here at Nottingham – studying, researching and belonging to our community.
It is informed by robust insight from prospective students and an awareness of our current position in the competitive global higher education market.
The campaign will be global, with colleagues in China and Malaysia developing the campaign for their domestic and international audiences. In the UK, it will start in digital spaces but as increasing numbers of students, staff and visitors return to our campuses, it will also be reflected across our physical estate, with new photography planned for later in spring as the campuses start to bloom.
It will be spearheaded by a new-look homepage on the university website, designed for mobile access, ensuring that course, application, and submission information is front and centre for both UK and international students – improving the student journey overall and ensuring that all our visitors can find the information they need.
The campaign also includes a video with powerful narrative to appeal to prospective students, new photography which better reflects the diversity of our community, and offers a different take on traditional campus imagery.
It will use a targeted advertising, television and social media campaign to reach prospective students more directly than any previous campaign.
Tags: Normal never changed the world, student recruitment, student recruitment campaign
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Teaching and Learning Conference: Wednesday 14 April 2021
April 12th, 2021
The university would like to invite you to its annual Teaching and Learning Conference, to be held on University Park on Wednesday 14 April 2021.
If you are involved in Teaching and Learning from anywhere in the university, this is the conference for you.
Sign up for the Teaching and Learning Conference on April 14th here.
This year’s conference is the first time the Teaching and Learning Conference has been hosted online, using Microsoft Teams. Many of you will have already attempted to join the Teaching and Learning Conference 2021 Team.
By the end of Monday 12 April we will approve your access to the teamsite. If you haven’t already, click the link to join the team. All of the sessions for the conference will be hosted on the team site.
We are pleased to announce that in addition to fantastic papers and posters from across the University, for the keynote session we will be joined by Professor Ian Kinchin from the University of Surrey. He will be presenting his keynote ‘Pedagogic Health: Opportunities for engaging in the Scholarship of Teaching’ at 14.00-15.00.
For more information, please consult the following links;
- The full programme – this contains the schedule, details on the keynote, abstracts for each paper and poster.
- Joining Instructions – this gives instructions on how to navigate the team site.
- Mini programme – this is a barebones summary of the schedule, with easy links to take you straight to the channel for the sessions
All sessions will be recorded, and after the event the recordings will be available via the same links you use to join the sessions in the programme/mini programme.
We look forward to seeing you at 10AM (UK Time) on Wednesday 14 April, for the welcome talk.
Tags: annual teaching and learning conference, teaching and learning, Teaching and Learning Conference
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Universitas 21: Annual Network Meeting & AGM
April 12th, 2021
Registration for the 2021 Annual Network Meeting and AGM is now open.
Due to the virtual nature of the event in 2021, the event is open to more members.
The event will be held virtually on a dedicated events platform, and will run from Wednesday 5 – Friday 7 May 2021 (dates of the event depend on where in the world you will be joining from).
To register for the event, just click the link below to complete your details and generate your login.
You can also view the agenda, speaker profiles and timings of the event once you have logged in. There is also a version of the timetable included at the bottom of this article.
Throughout the event, alongside the scheduled sessions, there will be the opportunity to network with colleagues, take part in discussion groups, browse selected entries from our image competition, and view the collaboration posters submitted by members.
Tags: AGM, Annual Network Meeting, U21, Universitas 21, Universitas 21 AGM
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Student recruitment open days 2021
April 12th, 2021
Director of Student Recruitment, Rachel Atkin, invites colleagues to support and attend this year’s blended open days to recruit the next generation of students.
In line with our new student recruitment campaign, open days at Nottingham will be a little different this year to help us attract and select the very best students for study and research at the university. While national restrictions are easing, many remain in place at the present time and so we cannot resume our full programme of open day activities, talks and lectures just yet.
Instead, we have reviewed and reshaped the open day experience for staff as well as prospective students – whilst continuing to follow all national guidelines to ensure the health and safety of our staff, students and visitors.
Summer open days
We are already agreeing plans for our summer open days in late June and July to reflect Schools’ and Departments’ requirements, initially offering prospective students online tasters of our teaching and virtual tours of our campuses.
Anticipating the full easing of national restrictions from 21 June, we will also offer bookable half-day visits for managed groups to explore our campuses and speak with staff and students about life at Nottingham. I am very grateful to colleagues who have volunteered to join us for these events.
Autumn open days
Looking ahead to the autumn term, where we hope national restrictions will continue to be eased, we are planning a further round of campus open days in September and October that we anticipate will be closer to the way we have run open days previously.
Teams across Schools, Departments and External Relations will ensure that prospective students experience first-hand our world-class campuses, teaching facilities and accommodation, as well as opportunities to meet and speak with staff and students about their experiences at Nottingham.
We will of course continue to follow any national guidelines to ensure the health and safety of our staff, students and visitors and adjust our plans as necessary were there to be any changes nationally.
If any colleagues would like to be involved in our autumn open days to meet the next generation of prospective students, do contact Wenonah Barton and team at SREvents@nottingham.ac.uk
A full summary of our open day schedule is as follows:
- Saturday 19 June: a student-led, student experience day of live-streamed content and chat on social channels
- Monday 21 June – Friday 2 July: live, online subject sessions with Q&A for students to hear from and interact with academic colleagues and student ambassadors
- Saturdays 26 June, 3 July and 10 July: bookable half-day campus experience visits for small groups, providing an opportunity to explore our campuses, chat with students, view accommodation and facilities and get a sense for studying at Nottingham
- Friday 10 – Saturday 11 September, and Saturday 9 October: bookable full-day campus experience visits, providing an opportunity to explore our campuses, meet and interact with academic colleagues, chat with students, view accommodation and facilities and get a sense for studying at Nottingham
- Monday 20 – Friday 1 October: live, online subject and general sessions with Q&A for students to hear from and interact with academic colleagues and student ambassadors
- On demand throughout: taster lecture content, welcome video, facilities tours, student and city life videos
Tags: autumn open days, open days, Rachel Atkin, student experience, student recruitment, summer open days
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Reintroduction of the 903 Derby road hopper service
April 8th, 2021
With effect from Monday 12 April, the university will be reintroducing the 903 Derby Road hopper service.
This service will run from late afternoon into the evening to provide connectivity for students at times when the local networks are at their highest capacity. This service has also been extended to operate on a Saturday also.
All our hopper buses are Covid-19-secure and safe to travel on, however you are encouraged to use active travel for short journeys where appropriate.
Services are running at reduced capacity to support social distancing with one person per row of two seats and face coverings must be worn, exceptions apply.
For more information, visit the hopper bus website.
Tags: 903, Derby Road, hopper bus, Hopper bus service
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Changes to parking across all campuses
April 8th, 2021
To meet our obligations under the city’s Workplace Parking Levy (WPL), car parking enforcement will recommence from Monday 12 April. Importantly however, car parking will continue to remain free of charge for university staff during this period.
At present the university is not enforcing our parking regulations, however, this is leading to increased numbers of visitors and non-permit holders parking on campus which could make us liable for increased costs under the WPL, which would lead to increased charges for staff in the medium term.
Therefore, we are recommencing enforcement to ensure that only authorised parking permit holders can use these facilities free of charge in line with the University Traffic Regulations.
To park without charge on campus, all staff or students need to do is display a valid car parking permit, voucher or pay and display ticket between the hours of 9:15am to 4:00pm on weekdays.
- Staff or students can display their current parking permit or a voucher permit, but please do not scratch off the voucher until the reintroduction of charging.
- Staff who wish to park on campus and do not currently have a permit can contact the parking team on parking@nottingham.ac.uk and will be issued a temporary event parking voucher. Gatehouse staff will also be able to provide advice and parking vouchers.
- Students who wish to park on campus and do not currently have a permit may apply for one via the parking team on parking@nottingham.ac.uk
- Pay and display machines will be in use for visitors and a 30-minute free ticket is available for those who need to pay a short visit to campus for example to collect equipment or take a Covid-19 test.
Security staff will be enforcing the traffic regulations from 12 April and anyone parking without a valid permit or pay and display ticket may be subject to a Parking Charge Notice
This will be kept under review by the transport planning group in line with operational needs and government guidance.
Renewing your permit – a reminder
Recognising that colleagues will have differing campus return dates and to reflect more flexible patterns of working on-campus and home-working, the university has introduced much greater flexibility in how you can pay to park on campus for the 2020/21 permit year.
- Full Permits: staff or students are now able to apply for a parking permit at any point in the year and only pay for the months remaining in that permit year. For example, if you apply in December, you only pay nine months of charges (December 2020 – August 2021).
- Occasional Use Vouchers: should you wish to use occasional use vouchers to park on campus for a few days each week, for example to accommodate flexible working or until public transport is fully restored, the cost of any unused vouchers will be refunded once you revert to your usual mode of transport. If you wish to upgrade to a full parking permit, the cost of it will be reduced to account for the amount you have already spent on vouchers.
Students are entitled to full permits only. Staff are entitled to full permits or occasional use vouchers.
For any members of staff typically needing to park on campus for fewer than four days each week, the occasional use voucher scheme offers the more cost-effective solution.
These can be ordered through the online permit system, by selecting ‘Occasional Driver’ under the Driver Scheme.
PGR students teaching on campus are eligible for the same parking vouchers currently on offer to staff. PGR students can obtain the vouchers by visiting the Gatehouses on campus between 8am-4pm OR by emailing parking@nottingham.ac.uk to arrange collection.
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