Campus News

UoN student awarded Undergraduate of the Year award

May 15th, 2019

University of Nottingham student, Bella Scanio, has been awarded The Management Undergraduate of the Year Award at the Undergraduate of the Year Awards.

Reaching the final is a huge achievement for the 133 student finalists. Out of the 4,500 students who applied for an award, Bella has shown her skill and drive and was announced as The Management Undergraduate of the Year Award with Enterprise Rent A Car.

Now in its tenth year, the TARGETjobs Undergraduate of the Year Awards brought together prominent employers and talented undergraduates for a prestigious awards ceremony presented by Rachel Riley at the East Wintergarden in Canary Wharf on Friday 26 April.

There were more awards than previous years, with 14 awards partnered by leading employers and professional bodies including ACCA, Allen & Overy, Clifford Chance, National Student Pride, Deutsche Bank, E.ON, Enterprise Rent-A-Car, IQ-EQ, Laing O’Rourke, L’Oréal, Rolls-Royce, #iwill, Teach First and Visa.

Prizes for the students involved, included paid internships, trips abroad, meetings with senior executives and a graduate job. To celebrate the tenth anniversary of the awards, ten previous award winners were also invited to talk to the finalists about how the awards helped them to progress in their careers and where they are now.

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New application window for AXA voluntary private medical insurance scheme

May 15th, 2019

All detail on the AXA Voluntary Private Medical Insurance scheme is published onto the Employee Hub. This is a company scheme where payments are taken direct from salary. This allows the University to secure discounted rates for members of staff who wish to sign up to the scheme. Partner and family cover is also available.

A new application window will be open during May 2019, with cover commencing on 1 June 2019. Further details are available through the Employee Hub.

Please be aware of the following key points:

  • All plans are based on Full Medical Underwriting (FMU). This means that medical history, including any pre-existing conditions, is declared in advance. FMU cover offers additional assurance in relation to future claims/cover
  • Monthly premiums will be deducted direct from salary
  • Cover will cease if an employee leaves the University
  • The level of cover, or adding/removing family members can only occur at the University annual renewal date for the policy (currently December each year)

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HR staff consultation hub — have your say

May 15th, 2019

Following the 2017 Staff Engagement Survey, feedback indicated that staff would like further opportunities to provide input into changes proposed within the University.

We are pleased to confirm that a dedicated HR Staff Consultation Hub has been created, intended to provide a facility to share information about up and coming key areas of work and provide links to consultation/focus group activity taking place.

The purpose of the site is to improve accessibility for staff wishing to participate in HR led consultation/focus groups by having information and booking links in one place for staff to access should they wish to.

The website will be regularly updated to include forthcoming focus group/consultation sessions and other relevant updates.

The website currently signposts staff to areas of work where they have the opportunity to get involved/share their feedback;

  • Race Equality Chartermark:
    Staff survey, running Tuesday 7 May – Friday 31 May 2019
  • Wellbeing Strategic Delivery Plan:
    Opportunity to feedback on the draft delivery plan via online consultation, running until Wednesday 29 May 2019
  • Employee Hub (Phase 2):
    Opportunity to feedback on the proposed phase 2 developments of the Employee Hub, dates coming soon

The website is available to all staff and managers and can be accessed via the following link: https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/hr/services/hr-staff-consultation-hub.aspx.

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Information Services News update — May 2019

May 14th, 2019

Information Services are pleased to share the following updates and news taking place over the next couple of months:

Windows 10 Self Service now available

As you are likely aware, we have been upgrading Windows 7 laptops and desktops to Windows 10 over the past 18 months and considerable progress has been made in this activity, with all “public access” PCs in Computer Rooms and Lecterns having received an upgrade, as well as significant number of staff computers.

We are now at the stage where all remaining University of Nottingham computers used by Staff and Postgraduates need to be upgraded over the coming months to maintain support with Microsoft beyond January 2020 and we are therefore asking for your assistance.

A self-service upgrade option has been made available for users on Windows 7 which will allow you to upgrade your device at your own convenience. Guidance documentation and Frequently-Asked-Questions for self-service are available here and we highly recommend you read this carefully and back up your data before starting your upgrade.

We will be approaching any individuals still on Windows 7 directly in a few months’ time with a follow up towards the end of this year.

Sophos upgrade on all University devices

From Monday 20 May, Information Services will be upgrading Sophos on all Professional Services managed laptop and desktop computers. Sophos will be upgraded to Sophos Central, which utilises cloud based technology to improve detection rates and has a modernised interface. The core functionality of Sophos Anti-Virus will remain the same.

The installation of the new version will take place automatically in the background if no restarts are pending. Once installed, you will be required to restart your computer and there will be a prompt to restart within 24 hours. You can continue working for up to 24 hours but you cannot hide or close the prompt.

Professional Services includes the following: VCO, Estates Office, Finance, Human Resources, Libraries, Multi Professional Deanery, Nottingham Hospitality, Registrars and Student Services. Schools and departments within faculties will be upgraded in June, for more information, see the Digital Network blog.

Restricted access to Secure Shell (SSH) coming soon

We will soon be implementing a change to restrict access via Secure Shell (SSH) to University resources from outside the network. SSH is a protocol which currently allows remote access to certain servers/computers.

On 24 June, default access for SSH will be disable on the firewall. Please note, you will lose access to resources such as Granby, Unix or Linux Servers, Linux Desktops and Raspberry Pis from off campus if you were previously connecting via SSH.

Access to campus resources via SSH will still be available off site if you connect to the University’s Virtual Private Network (VPN). Alternatively, if there is sufficient justification, you can raise a firewall change request via Self Service portal for your specific use. On campus access to resources via SSH will be unaffected by this change.

Agresso upgrade to Business World

There will be a delay to the Agresso upgrade and downtime will not take place from 15 May as previously planned. We hope the delay will not be significant and will provide further information on our new go-live date as soon as possible. For more information about the project, see the Digital Network blog.

The upgrade to Business World is intended to be “like-for-like” so users will not need to be fully re-trained. A series of guides and eLearning materials will be made available from Thursday 16 May to accompany the upgrade. We will communicate further information to Agresso users on where to view guidance materials.

To support these guides, there will be an information sharing session in Lecture Theatre 3, Exchange Building, Jubilee Campus on Friday 17 May 1.30pm–2.30pm. This will give you the opportunity to ask any questions you might have. No need to book, just turn up.

For all the latest news from Information Services, see our Digital Network blog, Office 365 news or follow us on Twitter.

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Recruitment and selection support — new role profile template and resources

May 13th, 2019

The University is introducing a new role profile form and resources to support recruitment and selection.

In 2017, the University introduced ‘Building a Culture for Success’, which defines the core behaviours that we expect of all our staff at work, across all job families and at all job levels. If you are unfamiliar with ‘Building a Culture for Success’, you can download and review a copy using the following link: https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/hr/guidesandsupport/performanceatwork/pdpr/documents/building-a-culture-for-success.pdf.

Last year, we engaged a cross-section of recruiting managers to participate in a pilot project that looked at how the expectations and behaviours could be considered and assessed in recruitment and selection activities. As a result, we are introducing a new recruitment role profile form, which will include the expectations and behaviours relevant to every job role. This will replace the current role profile form, which will be taken offline and phased out by October 2019. Please note, it will not be necessary for you to update the role profiles for current employees, this only applies to new recruitment activity.

We are also introducing a number of resources that will be available to support managers to assess the expectations and behaviours in recruitment and selection, including:

  • Guidance on how to identify the expectations and behaviours for a role and how to attract, assess and select candidates who meet them
  • A new recruitment & selection workshop focused on behavioural interviewing skills
  • An online resource hub

We will be launching the new role profile and resources in June 2019 and members of the Recruitment Team will be running a number of hour-long roadshows which will cover:

  • Why recruiting and selecting for behaviours is important to the University
  • An introduction to the new role profile form
  • Demonstrate how the University’s expectations and behaviours can be considered throughout the recruitment and selection process
  • Hear from members of staff who have adopted a behaviour focus, and how it benefitted their recruitment and their team or department
  • Provide details of tools and resources that will be available
  • An opportunity to ask questions and seek clarification

If you are interested in attending one of the roadshows, please access the following link to view the details and book a place: https://training.nottingham.ac.uk/Guests/GuestCourse.aspx?CourseRef=BCSRSR&dates.

Should you have any questions regarding this email then please contact either Emma Fowler or Megan Garner.

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Staff Room — new internal communications channel now live

May 13th, 2019

A new channel highlighting news, information and key links and services for staff has been launched.

Staff Room replaces In the Loop as the landing page for staff, highlighting key news and events, colleague and student successes, and updates to systems and services affecting our UK campuses.

The page, which was developed following staff consultation, also brings together links to commonly used systems and services – including HR services, IS systems, Campus Solutions, the Research Information System, policy documents and email.

Colleagues took part in surveys, focus groups and testing to help develop the site, which is now the default launch page in staff browsers. If you’ve set your own homepage, Staff Room won’t replace it, but you can add the page with this link: www.nottingham.ac.uk/staffroom.

Now that Staff Room is live, In the Loop has been retired. Feedback from staff told us that the pop-up format was not popular, and the format wasn’t clear. The way we work and technology has changed since In the Loop was introduced, and many staff didn’t see the platform every time they started work. Staff Room is designed to be an improvement to this experience, and to be more accessible.

To share your news and events on Staff Room, or our other internal communications channels for staff and students, contact the Internal Communications Team.

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The VC’s blog — the covenant, assessing progress

May 13th, 2019

As we approach the first anniversary of the covenant proposed by the Vice-Chancellor, in her latest blog Professor Shearer West assesses progress on work to improve trust, transparency, engagement and support for our staff community across the University.

Read the blog: https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/about/vice-chancellor/blog/blog-020.aspx.

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Academic Promotions 2018/19

May 13th, 2019

The University has today confirmed the results of the 2018/19 promotions round for our academic community. More than 150 colleagues have secured promotion to Professor, Associate Professor, Principal Research Fellow, Assistant Professor and Senior Research Fellow.

The Vice-Chancellor and University Executive Board members extend their warmest congratulations to colleagues across the University. View the full list of promotions here.

Vice-Chancellor Professor Shearer West congratulated everyone who has secured promotion this year:

“I am delighted that the extremely high quality of our University’s academic community is recognised in this way and offer my warmest congratulations to every colleague who has secured promotion.

“While promotions have been secured on merit across a wide range of disciplines, schools and faculties, I am particularly pleased to note significant increases in the proportion of women and colleagues from minority ethnic backgrounds who have been promoted.

“This will support our continued drive to ensure that our University recognises, supports and benefits from the contribution of our talent wherever it is found.”

Analysis of this year’s promotion round shows that the proportion of women securing academic promotion increased by 10 percentage points to 47.4% of all promotions – from 46 individuals in 2017/18 to 74 in 2018/19.

This places the University comfortably on track to meet its Global Strategy 2020 target to ensure at least 35% of senior grades (APM6/7) are held by women, and will support further reductions in the University’s gender pay gap.

The number of colleagues from minority ethnic backgrounds securing promotion increased by 2.5 percentage points to 12.2% of all promotions – from 12 individuals in 2017/18 to 19 in 2018/19.

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Robin Dollery — former Head of Student Services

May 10th, 2019

We are very sorry to inform that Robin Dollery — former Head of Student Services at the University of Nottingham — passed away in April.

Robin worked at the University of Nottingham for 15 years until his retirement in June 2014.

His role at the University saw him lead transformational change in the way in which day-to-day support for students in University accommodation and academic schools connected appropriately and effectively with central counselling and other wellbeing services.

In a career spanning 30 years he made an outstanding contribution to the development of student counselling and related support services – from the early days of its introduction to the significant role it plays in Higher Education (HE) today.

His services to higher education and student counselling led him to be presented with an MBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours in 2015.

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