Email sent to all FD staff from Ann Allen, Director of Campus Innovation and Development, on Tuesday 31 October.

It’s been a wonderfully busy start to the academic year. Nothing gives me more pleasure than walking across a campus bustling with students and staff and seeing our work in action! 

Open Day 

October Open Day was one of the busiest we’ve ever had, with 4,536 prospective applicants attending – a huge 42% rise on last year. Overall there were 11,500 visitors on campus – up by 52%. Making these events a success requires a mammoth collaborative effort from teams across the university, including many of our own.

I’m grateful to you all. Recruiting students and providing them with a fantastic experience while they’re here is at the heart of what we do. 

People & Culture progress 

Thank you for contributing to action plans in your teams using results from the Employee Engagement Survey. The FD’s business plan’s first aim details what we want to achieve in terms of People & Culture, aligning with the University’s Equity, Diversity & Inclusion (EDI) strategy. 

I’m really pleased to tell you that – informed by your feedback – our focus for the FD over the next 12 months in terms of staff development will be: 

• Recognition – considering how we communicate and recognise our individual and services achievements.  
• Behaviours – develop and launch a behaviours programme, in partnership with the EDI team, that will address the issues raised around poor behaviours to ensure staff at all levels understand their responsibilities and all staff are supported to be able to raise concerns. 
• Training and Development – develop opportunities to upskill our workforce through an FD training and development programme that will support staff in their current roles and in career development.  

There’s a lot to unpack here and you will be hearing more through your teams. It’s wonderful progress and I’m grateful to everyone for their contributions.  

The Staff Voice group are progressing well with debate about a structure for how they work and can best serve the needs of everyone. I hear that Marketing, Sales & Communications have designed a smart email sign off for the group at their request. I love the sense of pride that this illustrates! 

Net zero meetings 

There has been important work going on behind the scenes too. Colleagues from Estates and Sustainability gave presentations this month to potential external contractors about our net zero work. To achieve our vision of a sustainable and welcoming campus we want to be sure we attract the most innovative suppliers who are as excited as we are about this work. 

As a reminder, as part of its Climate Plan, the University has committed to achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2030. Over the next six years, we are investing £150 million in capital infrastructure to help make this happen, prioritising energy efficiency and renewable energy sources.

As part of our business plan targets for 23/24, the teams have been working on a detailed plan – or business case – for how the work will be delivered, and I’m pleased to say that this has been approved by the University’s senior team and will be published shortly. 

Facilities Management Service Desk 

Some great progress is being made with the Facilities Management Service Desk (FMSD) work (formerly called Planon.) A full analysis of stakeholders has been completed which will really help in mapping outstanding tasks and communications work.

The team is now agreeing on key milestones, working towards a go live date. Thank you to everyone involved. 

And finally…. 

Congratulations to the Conferences & Events team for scooping the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Award at the Meetings Industry Association Awards. They saw off competition from Hilton, Inntel, The Teachers Union and REACH and were also nominated in two other categories.  The award is voted for by industry peers so is particularly valuable. Well done, everyone!