InQuire The University of Kent’s student publication
www.inquiremedia.org
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EXCLUSIVE: INQUIRE SITS DOWN WITH VICE-Chancellor cox
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nQuire sat down with ViceChancellor Karen Cox to discuss her policies, routines and some controversies surrounding her time in the role. When asked what a typical day looks like as Vice-Chancellor, Professor Cox said “There's quite a bit of internal work. I meet with other colleagues across the university, I might be meeting with students, I might be meeting with members of the governing bodies. There's also quite a lot of external activity as well. And that could be anything from meetings with other ViceChancellors, meetings with Universities UK, which is the representative body for universities, regional meetings of universities in the region, schools and colleges, local authority, NHS Trusts, local businesses.” KentVision has been the subject of a great deal of controversy at Kent over the past few months. InQuire asked what guided senior management’s decision to move from SDS to KentVision. According to Professor Cox, the decision wasn’t hers, but was made in 2012 when it was decided that SDS was “no longer going to be fit for purpose.” Delving into more detail into the production process of the system, Professor Cox had the following to say: “It's been a really difficult project to get implemented because of the length of time that it's taken. And over that time, people have become fed up, a bit disenchanted with it, [with] the bits not working. So yeah, I think it's one of those IT projects where it started a long time ago and cost more time and more money than anybody ever imagined. So if you think of 2012 to April 2021. That's a long time. And we wouldn't wish to be in that situation again. So yes, it was launched. Yes, it has caused problems. We've had a new project manager in now and I know the team are really focused on making sure that
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compulsory redundancies, they would always be our last resort, but I haven't got a crystal ball." as the academic year unfolds, that we're making sure that it's functional and working. And actually, the ultimate aim is to have a joined-up system that works for staff and students, but I absolutely recognise that it's been really difficult for everybody. “From April, it became clear that there were elements of functionality that just were not working. That’s where we've had to get a new approach, new people and really think: we're going to have to apologise for what's happened, we're gonna have to really focus on what do we need to do right now and get a
roadmap out there, and reengage with staff over how it needs to be working? What needs to happen? Yeah, so you know, if you were starting again, you wouldn't start from where you were in 2012. Yeah. Work-in-progress.” Later, KentVision was brought back into the conversation. Professor Cox, while Deputy Vice-Chancellor at Nottingham University, was a project sponsor for Project Transform, a digital infrastructure undertaking that ultimately had to be apologised for by Nottingham’s Vice-Chancellor. We questioned Professor Cox on whether it was fair to draw parallels between Project Transform and KentVision. “So, they're completely different projects. And big IT installations across what Nottingham was, a
Photo from University of Kent
global university including China and Malaysia, was really challenging and difficult. And yes, there were issues about how that was rolled out and implemented. But there were also lots of things that were really positive about it as well. So, I think there’s more than one side to that, but – and, you know, University of Nottingham can speak for itself – it does have a functioning system that is working for it that will continue to need to be developed. But that was really challenging. And I think when I speak to people across different sectors, they all have war stories about big IT implementation. I'm not saying that makes it right. But it makes me think that actually one of the biggest challenges facing organisations is when they want to put big IT systems in, because so often, it takes longer, costs more, and it's more challenging than anybody ever imagined. And you have to be really thoughtful about the lessons learned. So yes, I was involved in that project. And yes, it was difficult. And yes, I came to Kent and it was like, oh, no, this is the same project here but with completely different scale, completely different cost. And, similar issues in terms of some of the implementation and rollout. And, again, I think individual institutions have to then say, well, in the context we were in, what do we need to do if we're ever going to do anything like this again, but really, what do we need to do now to make sure that we fix it?” KentVision purportedly cost £4 million and was a subject of the recent UCU industrial action, where staff questioned the use of money on a system they identified as ineffective as opposed to using it for better pay for teaching staff. In regards to senior management’s continuing negotiations with the UCU...
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