Strategic plan 2012–2015
Chapter 4: Sustainable practices
32
SUSTAINABLE PRACTICES
How the University of Brighton works
Sustainability is a core value of the university. It is critical to our ways of working and will inform our thinking about all aspects of activity including learning, research and partnerships. As well as being sustainable, the ways in which we deliver our core objectives will be efficient, timely, consistent and of high quality. Key to everything is our investment in our staff. Staffing
This strategic plan has at its heart a vision of the university as a series of learning communities. It is critical that all staff are part of this ethos and are given the support necessary to deliver the university’s strategic priorities. To this end the headline staffing indicator for this planning period is for a positive staff experience of learning, development and support. There will be an early impact analysis of the current Staff Development Review scheme to understand its effectiveness and fitness for purpose in supporting the delivery of this plan. The university will establish a process of personal development planning for all staff with the intention to invest further in support and development with a clear focus on university priorities (see Digital/ICT section on page 34). This will be a phased process, with the initial focus on academic staff in relation to both teaching and research. By 2015 all academic staff will have, or be working towards, a university teaching qualification or institutionally recognised equivalent. The university will develop its own award: an internally developed and accredited scheme with agreed equivalences, to take forward professional qualifications and CPD with recognition from the Higher Education Academy’s Professional Standards Framework. It will include requirements in relation to digital literacy as part of the initial qualification and in relation to professional updating and standards. Development and support for research and scholarship will be part of the core offer to academic staff. The effective delivery of this plan in the timescales necessary will also require different ways of working together across the university – greater consistency, greater collaboration across our school and departmental boundaries and the ability to make, communicate and deliver decisions to tight deadlines.
To achieve this, we will require a new communication and change strategy that engages all staff and clarifies expectations and changes in process. A process of performance review will be developed for all staff, alongside a consistent and transparent process for workload planning to ensure an effective balance of activity and responsibility across academic and professional units. Chapter 2 Developing wealth; promoting welfare identified some changes necessary in setting workload and performance expectations for academic staff. In addition our professional services staff will be asked to work to KPIs relating to the quality and efficiency of service delivery and customer feedback, and to provide regular reporting on these. The university has a high regard for staff wellbeing, health and safety, and will work with staff and their recognised trades unions to agree changes in practice, to optimise recognition and reward, and to sustain our culture of mutual respect. We will continue to work to promote equality and support for diversity. We will continue to run regular staff satisfaction surveys with the intention that we retain the already high levels of pride in working at the university and in our shared values. • The university will establish a process of personal development planning for all staff with the intention to invest further in support and development with a clear focus on university priorities. • By 2015 all academic staff will have, or be working towards, a university teaching qualification or institutionally recognised equivalent. • A process of performance review will be developed for all staff, alongside a consistent and transparent process for workload planning to ensure an effective balance of activity and responsibility across academic and professional units.