Transcript Slide 1

Northern Regional College
ESCalate - JISC Conference
Wednesday 26 May 2010
Dr Catherine O’Mullan
Deputy Director Support and Development
and
Mrs Suzanne Kennedy
Head of Quality Improvement
FE Sector NI
NORTHERN REGIONAL COLLEGE – September 2007
Main Heading
• Bullet Point 1
• Bullet Point 2
• Bullet Point 3
• Bullet Point 4
• Bullet Point 5
DEL Key Strategies of
FE Sector NI
FE Means Business
• A key driver of local, sub-regional and
regional economic and workforce
development – The Primary Strategic
Objective
• An active agent of social cohesion
• A major promoter of lifelong learning
• Skills Agenda/14-19 Agenda
• Success through Excellence
Magherafelt
Ballymena
Farm Lodge
Centre of Excellence
Construction
and
Engineering
Toyota Academy
Ballymena
Trostan Avenue
Ballymena
Café Lamont
Newtownabbey
Transport
Skills Centre
Coleraine
The Aspiration
4 Campus Model
Estates Rationale
• Quality of student experience
• Optimum number of Campuses
• Strategically positioned within our
region
• Quality accommodation:
fit-for-purpose
• Concentration of investment in
specialist equipment
• Maximise the use of available
resources
NRC Characteristics
• 9 campuses
• £32 million turnover
• 1200 staff
• @ 24,550 enrolments:
• 4500 full-time 20000 part-time
09/10
Further Education
13,572
Higher Education
1,062
Training
2,048
Entitlement Framework
2,803
Essential Skills
5,072
Total
24,557
Types of provision at NRC
• ApprenticeshipsNI/Training for Success
Training Contract @ £4.5 m
• Further & Higher Education/Essential Skills
FLU funded
• Entitlement Framework @ 1.5m
• Cost recovery
Specialist provision for employers to meet their needs –
bespoke training/externally funded projects @ £0.5m-£1.5m
Restructuring Process
Executive Management Team
Director
Deputy
Director
Curriculum
Deputy
Director
Support and
Development
Deputy Director
Planning and
Resources
Director of
Finance
Support and Development
Deputy Director
Student
Services &
Marketing
Economic
Engagement
Quality
Improvement
HE within NRC
Historical Overview
• Full-time and part-time provision in a range of
vocational areas
• HE - Level 4 and above
• Full-time HE provision within FE from @ 1990
• HND Programmes/Awarding Bodies
• Associate Status of University of Ulster
• DEL funding MaSN allocation of f/t funded
places across sector
HE within NRC 2009/10
•
•
Enrolments
Year
F/t
07/08
257
08/09
194
09/10
260
NRC MaSN = 249
P/t
781
802
802
Total
1038
996
1062
HE within NRC 2009/10
• HNDs - Business, Manufacturing/Electronic
Engineering, Building Studies, Health & Social Care,
Advanced Practice in Work with Children and
Families, Computing with Multi Media
• Level 4 Higher Professional Diploma in Early Years
• Foundation Degree in Building Technology and
Management
• Foundation Degree in Sport Exercise & Fitness
• Campus location/specialist resources
• Planning process
HE within NRC 2009/10
•
•
•
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•
•
•
Part-time
HND (p/t)
HNCs, Counselling provision (UU), ILM,
IATA, C&G courses, Degree (UU)
FD in Retail (p/t) – employer focus/UU
FD – L&M development
Local access; increased participation
HE Graduations
FE does not have Degree awarding powers
Quality Improvement Unit [QIU]~
Head
of
Quality Improvement.
Continuous
Professional
Development
Manager.
Quality
Assurance
Manager.
Overarching Aims of the QIU~
•
•
•
to lead the college as it strives for
excellence
to guide the college as it strives for an
ethos and culture where, the central
focus for all staff is the learner
to assist build capacity within all staff so
that they have the knowledge, skills and
understanding to effectively contribute to
the total student learning experience
Guiding Principle for the QIU ~
• Holistic approach to quality
[Develop and support the continuous
improvement of the quality of the entire student
experience.]
Case Study ~ My personal journey
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Timeline
Initial challenges
Way forward
Keys to Success
Ongoing Challenges
Timeline ~
April 2008: Appointed as Head of Quality
Improvement
September 2008: QIU team in place
May 2009: 1st QAA Developmental Review
May 2010: QAA Follow-up to Developmental
Review
Initial Challenges ~
• Before quality improvement and
enhancement we first had to develop
robust quality assurance processes
• Legacy Colleges all had different
approaches to quality assurance
• Due to range of provision [14 to 16; FE;
Training; HE ~ full and part time] it was
important to develop quality processes
that were common across the provision
Initial Challenges ~
• Developing processes that would meet the
requirements of a wide range of Awarding
Bodies that the College works with
• Developing processes that would fulfill the
requirements of the Education and
Training Inspectorate [Eti]
• Meeting the requirements of the Quality
Assurance Agency [QAA]
The Way Forward ~
• Development of clear strategies, e.g.
– Quality Improvement Strategy
– Retention Strategy
– HE Strategy
• Robust quality assurance policies and
procedures, e.g.
– Assessment
– Appeals
The Way Forward ~
• Ensuring that the quality of learning and
teaching is a key aspect of the work of the QIU
– CPD focus on learning and teaching
– ‘modeling’ good learning and teaching
• Making use of the knowledge and expertise of
other staff within the College
• Building on previous experiences and
relationships e.g.
– Local university
The Way Forward ~
• Development of college wide Planning
Cycle linked to;
– Team based Self Evaluation Reports [SERs]
• Curriculum and Support Services
– Departmental Operational Plans
– Overall College Development Plan and Whole
College Quality Improvement Plan, Corporate
Targets and KPIs
The Way Forward ~
• Quality Improvement Unit is a small unit
only three staff hence it is really important
to;
– Establish ownership for ‘quality’ in all staff /
teams across the College
• Director and Executive Management
Team totally committed to quality
improvement;
– They allow the QIU the freedom to develop!
The Way Forward ~
• Putting the learner at the centre of our
service
– Range of mechanisms to support the ‘student
voice’
• Continuous Professional Development as
part of QIU
– Can have a real focus on the total student
experience
– Real focus on quality learning and teaching
Keys to Success~
• Building relationships
– At individual and team level
• being approachable, responsive, supportive
• listening to ‘teams’
• Interacting with staff ~ ‘getting out and about’
• Being proactive
– When asked a question, giving an answer
– Teams now approach QIU for advice and help
in problem solving
Keys to Success~
• Being happy with ‘small steps’
• Culture of being learner focused
• Staff Intranet as the central repository for
all documentation
• Multidisciplinary teams
– HE Committee
• Remit sharing of good practice
• Saying thank you
Keys to Success~
• Leading by example
– Quality of documentation produced
– Central role of the QIU in external inspections
with Eti and QAA
– Timely response to issues raised
• Being creative and innovative
• Viewing ‘areas for improvement’ in a
positive light
Keys to Success~
• Interaction with curriculum managers
• Interaction with support services
– Student support, Admissions, Finance,
Marketing etc
• Being ‘passionate’ about improving quality
• Asking for feedback
Ongoing Challenges ~
• Getting ‘buy in’ from all staff
– Every little helps !!
• Embedding of quality policies, procedures
and processes
– Takes a lot of time to ‘filter down’
• Acceptance of a standardised approach
– QCF and QAA are really helping
Ongoing Challenges ~
• Moving from quality assurance to quality
improvement and enhancement
• Action planning resulting from external
inspections
– Making ‘action planning’, success and target
focused
– Instilling ownership for the ‘actions’
Ongoing Challenges ~
• Ensuring that processes within the College
comply with the QAA Academic
Infrastructure
– In particular the 10 Codes of Practice
• Developing an HE ethos
• Closing the loop
Questions
Thank you