In order to gather insight and feedback from students and staff during the preparations for the academic restructure, a reference group has been created and focus groups have been held.
A reference group was created to discuss how best to provide administrative support to the six new schools. Membership was open to every Head of Department and Department Manager, as well as to a representative of the Students’ Union. The group looked at a different theme each time, ranging from the underlying principles of where and how services should be delivered to you, to practical questions like the ideal layout of your school office. The reference group has met four times and contributed numerous insights and suggestions for the future shape of school administration. It will reconvene later in the spring.
With the help of the Students’ Union, we have also held three student focus groups, two with undergraduate and postgraduate taught students and one with postgraduate research students. These groups provided invaluable information about the way you interact with departmental administration teams today. Students provided lots of insight into how we can maintain and improve the services that you will receive when we begin working within the new structure in September 2019.