Cardiff University announces a further staff shake-up

Martin Shipton

Cardiff University has told its professional services staff of organisational changes affecting some of their jobs, but says there will be no compulsory redundancies.

A spokesperson for the university told Nation.Cymru: “You were already aware there will be changes proposed to Professional Services roles following the academic changes earlier this year.

“Our Chief Operating Officer will be writing to impacted (and all) staff to set out the proposed changes and the consultation process. There will be four areas of Professional Services impacted.

“In terms of key messages it will stress that these proposals are not driven by cost cutting. There are roles for everyone in the new proposed structures and no compulsory redundancies are planned. Many of the impacted staff will see little change, perhaps a change of line management. However, some posts will need to change, and teams will need to adapt into the new proposed structures. They will receive training and support. These detailed discussions will form part of the consultation process.

“Because of this, we are following a formal consultation process to ensure that our employees’ rights are protected, and everyone has a voice throughout the consultation period. If a post changes, support and training will be provided as part of the consultation and implementation process. The proposals are designed to ensure professional services are delivered more effectively and efficiently in keys areas.

“The primary objective is to ensure things are done once, in the right place, by the right people and at the right time, improving both our staff and student experience.”

The announcement comes months after a bruising announcement of job cuts and School closures affecting hundreds of academic staff.

Meanwhile the university has also produced a document for senior academics that sets out organisational changes likely to affect them.

Benefits 

Entitled A New Framework for Academic Purpose, Function and Leadership (APFL), it claims the changes will have six benefits:

* To provide a more standard set of leadership roles that can be appropriately resourced and

for which bespoke training will be developed.

* To bring about a closer, collaborative working culture across and between the three key

levels of academic governance: Thematic Portfolios, Colleges, and Schools.

* To clarify role responsibilities so that each role holder can focus on key strategic activities.

* To signal collaborative relationships with other roles holders, to instantiate a culture of

collective decision-making that demonstrates the principle of One University.

* To enhance the key academic missions as they are articulated in the University strategy –

specifically via assessment against the university success measures (USMs).

* To reduce leadership workloads through enabling a stronger focus on key strategic

priorities.

Later, it states: “There is an expectation that the [new] structures will evolve as other Transformation projects reach conclusions and the newly created Schools become established. As the International portfolio is revised there may be new, or differently constituted, academic leadership roles in that area.

“This framework also makes a commitment to review academic leadership of Scholarship, supporting the important work undertaken by colleagues on Teaching and Scholarship contracts. The structure as a whole must, therefore, be kept under review and should be understood as an ongoing project of continuous improvement through the first years of the implementation of our institutional strategy.

“More immediately there is work to be done to implement the framework. Full role descriptions will be developed for all academic roles, with the focus on clarity of responsibility and accountability at each level. Role responsibilities will include ensuring key risks are identified and mitigated as far as possible, fostering a risk-aware culture with effective controls. Workload tariffs will also be developed. Appointment processes will be confirmed and terms of office set. Training and development opportunities will be developed to support colleagues into academic leadership roles, especially for roles that are new in this framework.

‘Finally, the vital interconnection between academic leadership roles and Professional Services roles will be represented and communicated.”

‘Transformational’

It further states: “There are several transformation projects across the University that may result in changes to processes that presently involve academic leaders. The introduction of Hybiau, the ongoing restructuring of the Research Service, and transformations to Professional Services roles all might impact upon the responsibilities of academic leaders with regard to processes.

“Revisions to the Safety, Health and Wellbeing operating model may see some change to the responsibilities of PVC [Pro Vice Chancellors], Heads of College. However, School-level Health and Safety committees will remain necessary, as will the expertise of academic staff with responsibility for specific health and safety operations. Health, Safety and Wellbeing will also continue to be undertaken through line management structures and Schools will remain responsible for the health, safety and wellbeing of their students and staff.

“Processes that will be inflected by other Transformation projects – for example, extenuating circumstances and research ethics protocols – will be further defined.”

In terms of future developments, the document states: “There is an expectation that the structures presented here will evolve as other Transformation projects reach conclusions and the newly created Schools become established.

“As the International portfolio is revised there may be new, or differently constituted, academic leadership roles in that area. This framework also makes a commitment to review academic leadership of Scholarship, supporting the important work undertaken by colleagues on Teaching and Scholarship contracts. The structure as a whole must, therefore, be kept under review and should be understood as an ongoing project of continuous improvement through the first years of the implementation of our institutional strategy.

“More immediately there is work to be done to implement the framework. Full role descriptions will be developed for all academic roles, with the focus on clarity of responsibility and accountability at each level. Role responsibilities will include ensuring key risks are identified and mitigated as far as possible, fostering a risk-aware culture with effective controls. Workload tariffs will also be developed.

“Appointment processes will be confirmed and terms of office set. Training and development opportunities will be developed to support colleagues into academic leadership roles, especially for roles that are new in this framework. Finally, the vital interconnection between academic leadership roles and Professional Services roles will be represented and communicated.”

An academic who did not want to be identified for fear of repercussions said: “It’s yet more centralisation after the failures that led to the timetabling disaster this year. More power to the colleges over the schools. More jobs at the centre.”