In November 2017, Professor Sir Christopher Snowden outlined plans to re-shape the University and move to a five-faculty structure from 1 August 2018.
We are posting regular updates on SUSSED, and a copy of this information is also being sent to senior managers, our Unions and our colleagues at the Students’ Union so that they can facilitate sharing within their own departments and networks.
Less than a month to go
There’s less than a month to go until our new faculty structure launches and we’re making good progress with preparations for the change. You can find a list of the completed and ongoing work here, and an update on some key areas of the restructure below.
Faculty leadership teams
We’re pleased to confirm that Professor Sarah Stevenage has been appointed as Associate Dean (Education) in the new Faculty of Environmental and Life Sciences.
To date, five Deans, 18 Associate Deans and 19 Heads of Schools have been appointed or aligned to the new structure, and all Heads of Department are expected to be in post for 1 August.
You can find organisational charts for each new faculty here. We will be updating these charts in the lead up to 1 August as more individuals are confirmed.
Professional Services alignment
Working across the university, HR Business Partners (HRBPs) provide strategic, people-related support to faculties, professional services and their leadership teams. HR has considered how its Business Partnering staff will be aligned to our five new faculties after 1 August. You can find a diagram showing the alignment of these staff here.
The alignment of Faculty Finance Managers, iSolutions Business Relationship Managers and Estates and Facilities Faculty Team Leaders have been agreed, with interim solutions in place for Marketing Managers and Faculty Academic Registrars. Faculty Operating Service colleagues have been informed of their interim arrangements, and SAA staff will be hearing more about their alignment to faculties later this month. Interviews for the Director of Faculty Operations and Faculty Manager roles will take place this month.
Systems updates
In May, we updated you on the changes that are required to ensure that our systems reflect our five-faculty structure from 1 August.
To minimise disruption during the busy period of confirmation, clearing and admissions, it’s been decided that Banner – our main system for managing student data – will remain in its current configuration until the beginning of November 2018.
ResourceLink (our HR system) will be updated to reflect the new faculty structure by 1 August. Agresso (our Finance system) will change in September 2018, to avoid a clash with the end of our financial year.
Colleagues from iSolutions, together with system users, will be conducting an extensive programme of testing to ensure that these changes can take place with minimal impact on students and staff.
Users who will be impacted by the changes will receive further advice and guidance in the lead up to the launch of the new faculties.
Academic student journey update
The working group reviewing how educational governance and responsibilities should be aligned to the new five-faculty structure has completed the initial phase of its work.
Academic Quality and Standards Committee (AQSC) and Senate approved the group’s proposals in June. We will provide a further update later in the summer as this work progresses.
For more information
You can find our previous restructure SUSSED updates here.
During this change programme, some information that is sensitive for external audiences or considered commercial in confidence will be posted on SharePoint and require a staff log-in. To meet our commitment to transparency with our student community, wherever possible this information will be shared with the Students’ Union President and sabbatical officers.
If you have questions about the Faculty restructure, please email: [email protected] (colleagues in the Change Portfolio Office manage this mailbox).
If you would like to contact a member of the executive team about the restructure, you can email either Professor Mandy Fader ([email protected]) or Ian Dunn ([email protected]).
