RAVENSBOURNE COLLEGE OF DESIGN AND COMMUNICATION

HUMAN RESOURCES STRATEGY 2007 to 2013

October 2007

1
Contents Page

1 Introduction 3

2 College Mission Statement and Strategic Aims & Objectives 4

3 Strategic Operating Context 5

4 Planning Assumptions 6

5 Summary of Key Activities and Outcomes from 2005 to 2007 8

6 Summary of Human Resources Priorities / Objectives for

2007-08 to 2009-10 23

7 Future Challenges and Forward Planning 24

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 Ravensbourne College of Design and Communication

1 Introduction

The updating of this Human Resources Strategy seeks to further build on the
considerable activities, outcomes and achievements of Rounds I and II of the
HEFCE Rewarding and Developing Staff initiative [R&DS]. It also seeks to
combine the College’s vision for Relocation and the continuing challenges set out
in the White Paper, ‘The future of Higher Education’ in 2003, with a realistically
achievable implementation plan over the next 3 academic years.

To briefly recap, the activities arising from the two previous HR Strategies,
accompanying Actions Plans and an Extended Investment Plan1, were developed
using external funding granted by HEFCE in 2001. This funding was granted to all
HE institutions, to help them recruit, retain and develop staff, as well as helping to
modernise internal management processes. Since then, HEFCE has released
annual funding to institutions following the receipt and approval (by HEFCE), of
individual institutional strategies that identify objectives, describe how the funding
will be spent, and set specific targets to include improvements both to outcomes
and to HR management processes.

Since 2001, the Human Resources function has increased its staffing in order to
deliver, with its internal business partners, the range of targets and objectives
described in the College’s previous two Human Resources Strategies
The function employs a total of 5 staff, of which one role is funded from the
annual R&DS funding allocation. In total, this represents an increase of 3
additional staff since July 2002.

Over the last 6 years, one of the central aims of the College has been to build
capability within the HR function to ensure that a broader range of services can
be provided across the organisation to enable the continuity of service provision
throughout the academic year.

A central aim has been to professionalise the function and to reposition HR as a

business partner, working with managers and their faculties / departments to
provide a consultancy based approach to colleagues in the management of their
staff and resources.

The main challenges over the last 6 -7 years in the delivery of the HR Strategy
have been in relation to:
• Changing and embedding a culture of year-round, in-house training; much of
which requires mandatory attendance and, encouraging staff to take
individual responsibility for updating their knowledge in this way

• Changing the culture and attitudes around widening participation and equal
opportunities and working towards embedding it into all institutional activities

• Delivering a new pay and grading structure, together with the development of
new policies and procedures to reward outstanding staff contribution.

1
A) The first full HR Strategy and Action Plan was developed in June 2002
B) An Extended Invest Plan was produced in May 2004
C) The second HR Strategy and Action Plan – developed in October 2005

3
2 College Mission Statement – Strategic Aims & Objectives

Ravensbourne’s Mission Statement is:

“Ravensbourne College of Design and Communication aims to provide

innovative and dynamic educational opportunities through high quality
teaching and student support. We are a national institution with international
perspectives but we attach particular importance to contributing to London’s
social and cultural vibrancy and its economic prosperity. We encourage
creativity and enterprise in our students and staff and champion the creative
exploitation of digital technologies in design and communications.”

The external challenges facing higher education continue to be many and varied
as outlined in the White Paper, ‘Future of Higher Education’ and several key
influences contained in the paper have influenced both the Corporate Plan and
Human Resources Strategy.

Within this national context, the core strategic institutional aims lie in the:

• Implementation of plans to relocate the College to new premises on the

Greenwich Peninsula

• Development of strategic alliances with selected partners and collaborating

actively with regional, national and international partners in support of the
creative industries

• Provision of high quality, specialist education in design and communications

which meets the needs of our students from diverse backgrounds, their
employers and the business sectors we serve

• Development of an inclusive community programme to respond to the

educational and vocational needs of the Greenwich and Thames Gateway
economy

• Development of creative and effective knowledge transfer and business

support services which meet the needs of our client industries

• Maintenance and development of responsible and sensitive arrangements for

management and governance.

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3 Strategic Operating Context

Ravensbourne College is uniquely placed within its Corporate Plan and its
Relocation Strategy, to transform specialist higher education for the creative
industries in London. This will be achieved by challenging the current concepts of
specialism in content, context and delivery and build on its highly respected
foundation of commercial relevance.

The role of small specialist institutions, in the larger Higher Education Picture, is
under challenge and this has particular impact in London, which has the largest
number of such Colleges in this category. Small specialist colleges have a
number of key characteristics, which allow them to offer a significantly different
educational experience to their students than the large metropolitan universities.
These characteristics manifest themselves in a number of ways and in turn have
a number of different outcomes. The value of such an approach was supported in
the White Paper, ‘The Future of Higher Education’ where small HEI’s have a
distinctive contribution to make in key areas such as widening access for
students and the availability of particular subject specialism. Small HEI’s have
advantages of institutional specialism over those found in large universities, in the
form of institutional coherence, a shared ethos amongst staff and concentrated
resources not subject to sharing with other disciplines.

How well and how widely these characteristics and outcomes are recognised and
valued, outside of the tight circle of the specialised industry which recruits from
these institutions and by those students seeking a specialised education, is the
subject of some conjecture. However, some of these characteristics may be only
measurable using indicators other than those traditionally available to Higher
Education.

This is the context in which Ravenbourne has determined that it should develop,
still within the framework of small and specialist, but looking at specialism that
would differentiate itself from other similar institutions, particularly within London.
The process has already begun with the moving away from the typical Art &
Design College formula by the closure of fine art, the strengthening of design, the
introduction of Broadcasting and the focus on the creative use of digital
technologies within the disciplines. This combination is well embedded into the
ethos of the institution, is a highly successful combination, providing a significant
market differentiation and is attractive to students.

During 2006-07 Ravensbourne’s key priority was to consolidate and strengthen

its core activities of learning, teaching and knowledge transfer in the context of its
relocation to the Greenwich Peninsula.

Ravensbourne successfully completed its recent QAA Audit and the award of
SkillSet Academy status will focus plans for the development of strategic
alliances with institutions and organisations.

In addition to the challenges of collaborative working it recognises the need to

manage the effects of continuing change in the external environment. The
academic year 2006-07 marked the first year of changed tuition fee
arrangements for full-time undergraduate students and student numbers have
remained buoyant. However, the College is aware that it will be important for it to
continue its focus on ensuring continuity and stability in its core operations so that
its students can continue to benefit from the College’s unique environment.

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4 Planning Assumptions

During 2007-08 we anticipate:

• Students’ expectations of high standards of teaching and learning and

positive employment outcomes are likely to increase with the introduction of
variable tuition fees

• Continued emphasis on ensuring that education provision is flexible,

accessible to a more diverse student body and allows for progression to
enable students to become successful lifelong learners

• Continued developments in the review of the method for allocating funds for
teaching

• Increasing emphasis on employer-led (and employer-funded) provision for

higher level skills

• Increasing competition for overseas students

• Increased competition for UK students from overseas institutions

• Increasing emphasis on a research-informed teaching environment

• Increased emphasis on longer term sustainability given the continued

uncertainty arising from the introduction of variable tuition fees and the
possibility that the 2009 review of HE funding may result in the raising of the
£3000 cap and hence intensified competition across the sector

• Increased emphasis on securing corporate sponsorship, the Ravensbourne

Fund, community pilot programmes and development of formal alumni
networks

• Increased emphasis on collaboration as a mechanism to secure longer term

sustainability, including shared services, particularly in Greenwich and the
Thames Gateway

• Increased emphasis on knowledge transfer to enhance economic

development and continued developments in the methods for collecting
quantitative and qualitative information to determine the method for
distributing funds from 2008-09

• Continued emphasis on self-regulation and continuous improvement with

regard to leadership, management and governance

• Continued development of learning and teaching strategies to examine

different methods of delivery

• More emphasis upon mobile learning and student centred delivery

• Emerging transitional management strategy

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The College’s relocation to the Greenwich Peninsula in 2009-10, requires a
review of the HR Strategy and Action Plan, to ensure that staffing and associated
issues are effectively addressed.

The HR Strategy Action Plan is a separate document which [currently under

development] seeks to interpret the key organisational objectives into appropriate
human resource objectives and targets. Also, this completion of the action plan is
dependant upon the completion of various other institutional strategies.

7
5 Summary of Key Activities and Outcomes from 2005 to 2007

Funding Allocation

The College received an annual funding allocation of £174,985 in 2005-06 and also
2006-07.

The Rewarding & Developing Staff Initiative funding has continued to provide the
College with great opportunities to undertake significantly more activities, over and
above what it could hope to have achieved if it were wholly reliant upon the provision
of internal funding. This in turn has contributed to the following key organisational
outcomes over the last 2 years:

• A continuing accelerated pace of change in key areas of the College’s

business, coupled with a sense of a greater organisational focus and the
further introduction and use of new processes and systems

• Human Resources Management activities which continue to be more firmly

embedded into the College planning frameworks of activity

• A continuing sense that the Human Resources function is continuing to

maintain its repositioning to one which is central to the organisation’s
development.

An account of the key activities, outcomes and achievements of the last 2 years are
summarised below and in the remainder of this section.

(i) Recruitment and Retention

Over the last 2 years the College’s continuing key recruitment and retention objective
has been to recruit and retain high calibre staff for the business, within the context of
the relocation to Greenwich, especially in those areas where strong linkages are
required.

Some of the key activities and outcomes in this area have been:

• The development of an E-recruitment system. The project is due for

completion and implementation during the course of the impending Autumn
Term. It is anticipated that the system will greatly improve the efficiency and
effectiveness of the recruitment administrative processes by reducing by at
least 50% the manual activities associated with the current system

• The auditing of the College’s recruitment function by the College’s Auditors.

This was a comprehensive audit which examined every aspect of the
recruitment and selection process and the staff leavers process.

The major finding of the assessment audit was that the risk management and
internal control arrangements in the system provided a good basis for
ensuring that the College’s objective for Human Resources is achieved.
Additionally, it was reported that the evidence obtained by the auditors
demonstrated that most key controls are in place, operating fully in practice

8
 and, there are no significant risks to the achievement of the system
objectives.

• Improvements to the range of non-contractual benefits offered to staff. These

include: free on-site eye sight testing, a range of well-being tests provided by
visiting professionals at minimal cost for staff

• The extension of recruitment advertising to cover the Greenwich area in order

to maximise job applicants from the area, in preparation for the relocation to
the Greenwich Peninsula in 2009-10

• The review and implementation of a revised Sickness and Absence Policy /

Procedure in an attempt to drastically reduce the number of days lost to
employee absence. Resulting from these changes, the College has been
able to reduce the sickness absence from an average of 12.8 days lost per
annum, per employee, down to 8.2 for the period 1 April 2006 to 31 March
2007. This has resulted in an approximate annual saving for this period of
£22,896.96.

• Over the last 2 years a total of 22 new roles have been created; specifically,
this represents 10 academic and 12 support in 2005-06 and 2006-07. This
represents a 5% increase in the headcount since 2005. Of these new roles, 5
(23%) are soft-funded roles, i.e. additional external funding that has been
granted to the College.

(ii) Staff Development

The College wishes to ensure that staff are provided with appropriate training and
developmental opportunities to enable them to contribute fully to the achievement of
its aims and objectives. The provision of appropriate levels of funding continues
therefore, to be a key priority for the College in order that staff can participate in
necessary developmental and skills training to achieve future successes both at its
current and new site.

The key activities and achievements in the staff development area over the last two
years have been:

• The achievement of 21% of staff across the College attaining HE

Accreditation compared to the HE sector national average of approximately
10%. Accreditation can be likened to an educational quality kite mark which
indicates that individuals who have achieved it, are recognised by the sector
as having attained a pre-described level of achievement within academia

• The Introduction of an new employee Induction DVD [See also Section 5-viii]

• The introduction of a calendar style Training Calendar which was developed

so that staff could use it both as a calendar, but also as a quick way of
checking the dates of in-house training events

• The development of training evaluation forms for staff to complete following

participation at internal / external training events

9
 • The development of an Employee Well-being programme featuring a small,
but increasing number of initiatives which appear to be popular with staff,
based on feedback received. This included the introduction of a medical
mobile screening service, the services of which were provided on site by an
external provider and included: cholesterol and glucose; prostate specific
antigen; osteoporosis and; cardio-vascular assessments

• The introduction of travel health forms, providing staff with necessary

information for overseas travel on behalf of the College.

(iii) Equality of Opportunity

The College has over the last two years, under the direction of the Chair of the
Diversity Committee, continued to work towards the achievement of a holistic
approach to the progressive achievement of equality of opportunity across all of its
activities.

A great deal of work has been undertaken during this period, notably:

• The preparation and publication in December 2006, of the College’s Disability

Equality Scheme. This is in line with a legal duty placed on all public sector
authorities to actively promote Disability Equality

• The preparation and publication in April 2007, of the College’s Gender

Equality Scheme, again, in line with a legal duty placed on all public sector
authorities to actively promote Gender Equality

• The approval by the local Jobcentre Plus, to display the disability 2-ticks
symbol (√√) on job adverts and other corporate literature

• Progression of the College’s aim to complete equality impact assessments

across the College by December 2007

• Through the Chair of the Diversity Committee, the reporting of progress on

institutional equality and diversity objectives to the Board

• Provision of Equal Opportunities inductions for new staff as part of a

comprehensive week-long Induction programme

• Through an organisation called, the Business Focus Team, the College has
established an external service called the, Disability Recruitment Advice Line.
Amongst other things, the service will enable disabled people to obtain
practical assistance from the Team in respect of completing job applications
for jobs at the College and, provide face-to-face interview feedback if required
in the event that a disabled candidate has been unsuccessful at interview.

The College will also receive a range of statistical information which will be
used for reporting purposes to the Diversity Committee and future
improvements to its recruitment and selection literature and processes.

• Steady progress towards the achievement of the College’s disability, ethnicity

and gender targets as indicated in the charts overleaf.

10
Please refer to Appendix One for more detailed analysis of the College’s workforce
profiling statistics.

Disability

Chart to Illustrate the Number of Disabled Staff 2002-

2007

2006-07

2005 - 06

Not Known to be disabled

Year

2004 - 05
Declared Disabled

2003 - 04

2002 -03

0 50 100 150
Number of Staff

The number of staff with a declared disability has increased from all previous years
where the total was 0, to a total of 10 [7%] staff who have declared their disability in
2006/07. This is a significant increase and highlights a response to the continued
efforts the College is making to attract disabled candidates and encourage existing
disabled staff to declare their disability. An example of the efforts made by the
College is the Disability Equality Questionnaire carried out by HR in April 2006,
where employees were encouraged to complete and return a questionnaire in
relation to their disability. As a result of this questionnaire 5 people [3.5%] were
happy to provide their names and declare an existing disability. In relation to the
above chart, the other 5 [3.5%] people that have declared their disability have joined
the College through recruitment in the 2006-07 period. This illustrates excellent
progression, and can be partly attributed to the College’s successful acquisition of
the disability two ticks symbol in April 2007.

Ethnicity

11
 Chart to Illustrate Ethnicity of Employees 2006/07

14

12

Other Ethnic Background

10
Other Mixed Background
Other Black Background
8
Black or Black British - Caribbean

6
Black or Black British - African
Other Asian Background
4 Chinese
Asian or Asian British - Indian
2 Asian or Asian British - Bangladeshi

0
2002 - 03 2003 - 04 2004 - 05 2005 -06 2006 - 07
Year

Statistics in relation to ethnicity at the College sharply increased in the 2004-05

period and have since levelled off to a steady ratio. This academic year 2006-07, the
number of BME staff employed at the College has decreased slightly. In 2005-06 the
College employed 13 BME staff members, equating to a total of 10%, and in 2006-
07, the College employs 12 staff members from BME backgrounds, which equates to
8%. In comparison to the average BME statistics for the London Borough of Bromley,
which was calculated at 7% in the last census of 2002, the College is above average.

Gender

Chart to Show the Gender Balance from 1997 - 2007

80
70
60
50
Number

Male
40
Female
30
20
10
0
1997 - 1998 - 1999 - 2000 - 2001 - 2002 - 2003 - 2004 - 2005 - 2006 -
98 99 2000 01 02 03 04 05 06 07

12
 Chart Illustrating Gender Split in Percentage Terms
1997 - 2007

70

60

50
Percentage

40 Male
30 Fem

20

10

0
1997 - 1998 - 1999 - 2000 - 2001 - 2002 - 2003 - 2004 - 2005 - 2006 -
98 99 2000 01 02 03 04 05 06 07

13
Since 2002-03 the College has, through its HR Strategy, set challenging targets to
increase the number of female staff employed, with particular relevance to academic
staffing. The data contained in the charts suggests that the College has been making
steady progress to achieve the increase in the overall totals. The proportion of
women in academic roles is currently at 31%, which is an increase of 1% in
comparison to 2005-06. [See additional charts in Appendix 1 for more charts and
further clarification].

Age

Chart to Illustrate the Age Range of Employees 1997 - 2007

60

50
18 - 30
40
31 - 40
30 41 - 50
51 - 60
20
61 +
10

0
1997 - 98 1998 - 99 1999 - 2000 - 01 2001 - 02 2002 - 03 2003 - 04 2004 - 05 2005 - 06 2006 - 07
2000

The chart above illustrates the steady increase in headcount within the College, and
the changes in headcount within the different age brackets. The notable increase has
been in staff numbers in the 31 – 40 age range from 1997 – 2007. From 2005-06 to
2006-07 the number of staff in this age bracket has risen by 5% [see below tables for
more information]. Overall, the numbers of staff in all five age brackets is at a steady
ratio.

2005-06

Age Number of Percentage

Bracket Employees
18 – 30 26 19.5%
31 – 40 43 32%
41 – 50 33 24.5%
51 – 60 26 19.5%
61+ 6 4.5%

2006-07

Age Number of Percentage

Bracket Employees
18 – 30 21 15%
31 – 40 52 37%
41 – 50 34 24%
51 – 60 29 20.5%
61+ 5 3.5%

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Full Time / Fractional

Chart IllustratingTotal Numbers of All Full-Time and

Fractional Staff 1997 - 2007

120

100

80
Full-time
60
Fractional
40

20

0
1997 - 1998 - 1999 - 2000 - 2001 - 2002 - 2003 - 2004 - 2005 - 2006 -
98 99 2000 01 02 03 04 05 06 07

The above chart illustrates that overall the numbers of both full-time and fractional
employees has steadily increased over the ten year period. Of particular relevance is
the relationship between full-time and fractional academic staff [see chart below]

Breakdown of Fractional and Full Time Academic Staff

2006/07

43%
Fractional
Full Time
57%

During the 2006-07 period we employed a total of 21 [43%] full-time and 28 [57%]
fractional academic staff members, making a total of 49 permanent academic
members of staff. As part of the upcoming HR Strategy Action Plan, the College aims
to reduce the numbers of fractional members of academic staff in order to bolster the
numbers of full-time academic staff.

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Turnover / New Starters / Leavers

Chart Illustrating the Relationship Between Total Staff, New Starters,

Leavers and Turnover 1997 - 2007

160
140
120
Total Staff
100
Leavers
80
Starters
60
Turnover (%)
40
20
0
1997 - 1998 - 1999 - 2000 - 2001 - 2002 - 2003 - 2004 - 2005 - 2006 -
08 09 2000 01 02 03 04 05 06 07

The chart illustrates that turnover within the College over the ten year period of 1997
– 2007 has been steady, showing little fluctuation in response to new starters and
leavers. The number of total staff was at an almost constant level until 2002/03, when
the number of employees increased almost two-fold over a three year period from 76
– 131 employees [an increase of 42%]. This continued until 2005/06, when the
numbers, although still rising, began to level off to the current total of 141 permanent
staff members.

(iv) QAA Audit 2007

The College’s targets here were:

• To achieve sign-off of ‘limited confidence’ following the QAA institutional Audit

judgement by November 2006 and;

• To achieve’ broad confidence’ in the QAA Institutional Audit by Autumn Term

2007.

In the QAA Audit which occurred in March of this year, the College was rewarded with
a positive outcome in that the audit team confirmed that confidence could be placed
in the soundness of the College’s current and future management of the academic
standards of the awards delivered on behalf of the University of Sussex and also the
quality of the learning opportunities available to students.

The Audit Team’s draft report highlighted amongst of things, 5 notable instances of
institutional good practices that it considered made a particularly positive contribution
to the management of academic standards and/or the quality of learning
opportunities. Amongst 5, included a reference to, ‘the provision of clear, informative
induction material for new staff..’, which is both complimentary and useful to the HR
team, as the new staff Induction material is due for revision during the next academic
year. The College’s investment in staffing and staff training contributed to the
successful decision of the QAA.

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(v) Annual Performance Review

The College recognises the importance of achieving maximum productivity across its
workforce and that a key tool by which this can be achieved, is through the annual
staff appraisal process.

The appraisal process has been established for some 12 years now and participation
is compulsory for all permanent full and part-time staff.

The appraisal process, amongst other things, serves as a useful means by which
individual staff development and training needs can be extracted by HR in order to
prepare the organisational training needs analysis. The information, together with the
College’s strategic development and training priorities is then subsequently used to
establish the in-house programme of activities for the following academic year.

The appraisal documentation is currently under review and is due to be finalised at

the start of the new academic year, ready for use thereafter. The College, through a
series of pilots, is keen to move away from the notion of a single appraisal meeting
each year, to a system whereby the substantive appraisal meeting is supplemented
by a termly update meeting at which progress towards to the achievement of
objectives can be formally monitored on a regular basis. It is intended for there to be
a link between termly appraisal update meetings and the Corporate Plan, in so far as
progression of departmental / faculty objectives are measured against the Plan on a
regular basis and in a systematic way.

Under Phase II of the National Framework Agreement the existing arrangements for
rewarding staff contribution were reviewed and new policies / procedures were
developed during the course of 2006-07 to recognise outstanding individual or team-
based contributions across the College. [see also (vii) below – ‘Framework for the
Modernisation of the College’s Pay and Reward Structures’]

(vi) Poor Performance

The College introduced a Performance Management Policy and Procedure in

December 2004, and has since then offered annual training in the use of it, as part of
a 1-day training session on performance management.

Over the last 2 years the College has addressed 2 individual cases of under
performance. In one case, the matter was handled informally, although the individual
decided to seek alternative employment outside the College and was successful in
doing so. The second case has yet to be resolved to the satisfaction of the College
and is therefore on-going.

(vii) Framework for the Modernisation of the College’s Pay and Reward
Structures

The College, in line with most HE institutions decided to adopt a two-phased

approach to the implementation of the National Framework Agreement for the
Modernisation of Pay Structures. This is a sector-wide initiative that has dominated
much of HR’s activity over the last 2 years and is principally concerned with:

17
 • The provision of equal pay for work of equal value, underpinned by the
implementation of a robust job evaluation system [Phase I]

• The construction of institutionally tailored pay bands within what is referred to

as the ‘National Pay Spine’ [Phase I]

• The establishment and provision of, as appropriate, salary and career

opportunities in order to attract, retain, motivate and reward staff for their
skills, knowledge experience and contribution [Phase II].

The work undertaken in this area has been developed within the context of the
College’s Total Reward Strategy and over the last 2 years, the key activities arising
from this sector-wide initiative have been:

• The development of a Total Reward Strategy

• The development and implementation of a new pay and grading structure

within the boundaries of what is nationally referred to as the ’51-point single
spine’

• The development and implementation of new policies and procedures for the
pay progression and promotion

• The development of a new policy and procedure to reward outstanding staff

contribution, whether individually or team-based.

(viii) Part-time and Hourly-paid Fixed-term Sessional Staff

A continuing key priority of the College is the maintenance and enhancement of

quality standards across the academic provision.

In common with many small specialist institutions which offer similar subject
specialisms, the College makes substantial use of hourly-paid sessional staff. These
individuals are often practising professionals, who integrate the latest thinking and
practices from industry into the academic curriculum. Sessional staff are a key
component of the student learning experience at Ravensbourne and have a key role
to play by enhancing the academic provision.

Over the last 2 years the College has continued to review the employment
relationship with sessional staff and the key developments have been:

• To introduce a new type of contract, called a variable-hours contract

(responsive to legislative requirements) for hourly-paid lecturers who have
attained 4 years of continuous employment with the College. This type of
contract recognises the legal position, which is that after 4 years of
continuous employment with the organisation, the employee is deemed to be
permanent in the eyes of the law.

The College has 36 sessional staff in this category and it is unlikely that there
will any substantial increase in the future. This is because the College wishes
to continue with its strategy to reduce its over-reliance on the use of hourly-

18
 paid sessional staff by progressively reducing the numbers employed in
favour of allocating, where appropriate, sessional teaching budgets to
increase the numbers of full-time academic staff. [See Appendix One – chart
F, for details of the relationship between student number, full-time academic
and sessional staff]. Currently, the academic headcount comprises 21 full-
time and 28 fractional staff. The major benefit is that it will provide a greater
sense of organisational coherence across academic course teams.

• To extend the principle of staff appraisal to permanent hourly-paid lecturers,

i.e. those with 4 years continuous service. The appraisal document is
currently under review and will be implemented during the Autumn Term 2008

• To enhance the Induction arrangements for new sessional staff by providing

them with an Induction DVD containing a greater range of information about
the organisation and which can be viewed at their own convenience.

• To continue to achieve a reduction in the sessional staffing numbers and

associated costs. Over the last 2 academic years the College has achieved a
38% reduction in 2005-06 and 40% reduction in 2006-07 in the sessional
staffing FTE. The subsequent savings have been reinvested in the
employment of full-time academic staff to bolster the full-time academic
provision across the College.

(ix) Professionalisation of the College’s Support Staff

In common with all organisations, whether operating in the public or private sectors, a
key continuing objective for the College is to provide an effective and efficient support
service to both its internal and external customers. A key enabler for this to happen is
the provision of appropriate opportunities for staff to attend training and
developmental activities. The key activities and outcomes arising from this objective,
and which have been achieved over the last 2 years are:

• The allocation of appropriate budget to the College’s training and staff

development budgets to enable staff to keep themselves abreast of training
and developments in knowledge affecting the way in which they discharge
their professional responsibilities

• The continuing provision of targeted in-house training to meet the

requirements of legislative and other organisational priorities, such as QAA

• The continuance of a good participation rates in both internal and external

training as indicated in the charts in the following two pages. [For a further
breakdown of information, see Appendix One at the end of the document].

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 Internal Training Attended

100% 89%
90% 79% 76%
80%
70%
Percentage

60%
48% Support
50%
Academic
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
2005/6 2006/7
Year

Internal Training 2005/6

The above charts show a 10% difference between academic and support staff
attendance, which is due to that fact that 40% of the 32 training events held were
mandatory for academic staff only, with only 25% of the total 32 events being
mandatory for support staff.

The trend is similar to that in 2004/5, with a 14% difference in attendance figures
between academic and support staff, again due to the fact that more events held
were aimed at academics.

28% of the 32 events held in 2005/6 were not mandatory if they had been attended
the previous year and included Health and Safety training events such as Fire Safety
Awareness, attended by staff every 2 years.

Internal Training 2006/7

There has been an increase of 18% in the number of academics attending internal
training events, compared to a 10% difference in 2005/6, with a 31% reduction in the
number of support staff attending events and a 13% reduction overall for academic
attendance.

Although the programme for 2006/7 included 5 more events than the previous year,
only 37% were mandatory for academic staff to attend, this shows a decrease of 3%,
with 30% of the events only mandatory if they had not been attended in the past two
years, this is an increase of 28% from 2005/6.

In conclusion there were fewer mandatory events for both support and academic
staff, to enable staff to concentrate on the Quality Audit.

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 External Training Attended

90% 81%
80%
70% 61%
60% 53%
Percentage

50% Support
39%
40% Academic
30%
20%
10%
0%
2005/6 2006/7
Year

External Training - 2005/6

There was an increase in the number of support staff attending external events in
2005/6, compared to the previous academic year 2004-5. This was mainly due to
increased publicising of the opportunities available to staff, by HR.

The academic figure of 81% is 28% higher than the support figure of 53%, as it
includes attendance by academic staff on CPD courses, required as part of their
qualifications.

External Training 2006/7

There has been a reduction in the number of external training that both academic
and support staff have attended this year, compared to 53% attendance for support
staff and 81% for academic staff in 2005/6. This is due to two main reasons. Firstly
a large number of both academic and support staff had to commit a lot of time to the
College’s Quality Audit this year. Secondly, the staff development budget only funds
one member of staff to attend a particular external event and staff are now
encouraged to feedback via meetings or a presentation to their colleagues who also
wanted to attend.

21
 (x) Development and extension of the quality of the college’s learning
and teaching across the full range of the College’s academic provision

The College set itself a number of targets in relation to the development and
extension of the quality of the College’s learning and teaching activities and has
achieved those over the last 2 years; these are in relation to:

• Supporting the strong link between teaching and professional practice,

through the continued provision of an appropriate level of developmental and
learning and teaching activities in the in-house annual staff development
programme

• The continued strengthening of the College’s internal framework for the

assurance of the quality of the academic provision

• The provision of appropriate development opportunities for the provision of

Resourced Based Learning. All courses now provide all basic course
documents on the VLE. At the time of writing, the VLE offers 130 (last year
46) learning experiences across 18 (last year 11) courses from both faculties,
the MA, and the FE departments.

(xi) The development of approaches enabling the flexible delivery of

learning opportunities, facilitating the participation of non-traditional learner
and under-represented groups

The following activities and outcomes have been achieved in this area over the last 2
years:

• The inclusion of an identifiable Widening Participation agenda into all

validated programmes [New validated documents November 2005, places
made available through LLN partner college activities 2006/7]

• The integration of staff development and student support planning, through

validation, thereby ensuring that the College’s academic portfolio facilitates
the participation required [New validated course documents 2005.
Effectiveness reviewed as part of Annual Course Monitoring – Sep 2006]

• The provision of appropriate development activities within the in-house

Training and Development Brochure for staff, enabling colleagues to develop
skills to teach students with diverse learning needs

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6 Summary of Human Resources Priorities and Objectives for 2007-08 to
2009-10

The key HR priorities and objectives for the next years relate those activities which
support the development of the business during its organisational transition and
physical relocation to the Greenwich Peninsula in 2009-10. These are:
• The retention of high calibre staff at the current site and at the Greenwich
Peninsula

• The continued achievement of organisation aims and objectives through the

development of robust; corporate, departmental / faculty and individual
appraisal plans, which are monitored as appropriate

• To engage with, and support as appropriate, fundraising initiatives requiring

HR input

• To deliver timely, accurate and reliable communications to staff in relation to

the College’s relocation

• The development of collaborative HR activities and benchmarking within the

SE Cluster of Trinity Laban, Rose Bruford and Goldsmith colleges

• The continued allocation of appropriate funding to support the progression of

strategic, local and individual staff development and training priorities, in order
that staff have the required skills to deliver organisational objectives pre and
post the relocation

• The necessity for staff to contribute to the evolving technological environment

through an appropriate level of ITC skill and ability

• To continue to develop and extend the quality of the College’s learning and
teaching across the full range of its activities

• To streamline, as far as possible, the administrative functions both in practical

and managerial terms

• To continue the development of approaches which enable the flexible delivery

of learning opportunities, and facilitate the participation of non-traditional
learners and under-represented groups

• To continue to review and monitor the phased implementation of performance

management system and processes in respect of hourly-paid sessional
lecturers

• To provide an effective and efficient support service to both internal and

external customers

• The assessment of current employment arrangements to determine how they

support the key objectives of the development of effective knowledge transfer,
and business support services that meet the needs of the College’s client
industries

23
A detailed account of the objectives and associated targets and outcomes will be
provided in the Action Plan [currently under development].

24
7 Future Challenges and Forward Planning

The challenges faced by the College over the next 3 years are many and varied as
evidenced by its aims, objectives and operating contexts. In order to rise to those
challenges the College will need to maintain the momentum of the last 6 years of the
HEFCE Rewarding & Developing Staff Initiative. The Action Plan, must, therefore,
continue to hold the interest of colleagues who will, in conjunction with the Human
Resources team, deliver the targets and achieve the desired outcomes.

The College has produced a comprehensive 3-year Action Plan [see attachment] of
targeted activities and outcomes, the achievement of which are key to many of the
College’s strategic goals over the next 3 years.

The content of the Action Plan overleaf is closely aligned with the various key
organisational strategies and plans. In this respect the Human Resources Strategy
and Action Plan continues to shape, and be shaped by the College’s business
objectives, which in turn, continues to integrate with the College’s business planning
generally.

The targets, outcomes and objectives contained in the Strategy tables are therefore
aligned with:

• The Corporate Plan

• Learning and Teaching Strategy (incorporating the former Staff Development
Committee)
• Equal Opportunities and Gender, Disability and Race Equality Policies and
Action Plans
• Widening Participation Strategy
• Commercial Strategy
• Finance Strategy
• Total Reward Strategy
• Estates Strategy

25
APPENDIX 1

Gender Balance

Chart A

Chart Illustrating the Gender Balance within Academic Staff

1997 - 2007

40
35
30
25 Male
20 Female
15
10
5
0
1997 - 1998 - 1999 - 2000 - 2001 - 2002 - 2003 - 2004 - 2005 - 2006 -
98 99 2000 01 02 03 04 05 06 07

Chart B

Chart Illustrating the Gender Balance within Support Staff

1997 - 2007

60

50

40
Male
30
Female
20

10

0
1997 - 1998 - 1999 - 2000 - 2001 - 2002 - 2003 - 2004 - 2005 - 2006 -
98 99 2000 01 02 03 04 05 06 07

26
Age Range

Chart C

Chart to show Age Range of Staff 2006/07

4%
15%
21%

18 - 30
31 - 40
41 - 50
51 - 60
61 +
36%
24%

Academic staff composition

Chart D

Chart Illustrating Total Numbers of Full-Time and Fractional

Academic Staff 1997 - 2007

30

25

20

15 Full-time
Fractional
10

0
1997 - 1998 - 1999 - 2000 - 2001 - 2002 - 2003 - 2004 - 2005 - 2006 -
98 99 2000 01 02 03 04 05 06 07

27
Support staff composition

Chart E

Chart Illustrating the Total Number of Full-Time and

Fractional Support Staff 1997 - 2007

90
80
70
60
50 Full-time
40 Fractional
30
20
10
0
1997 - 1998 - 1999 - 2000 - 2001 - 2002 - 2003 - 2004 - 2005 - 2006 -
98 99 2000 01 02 03 04 05 06 07

Relationship between student numbers, full-time and sessional staff

percentages

Chart F

Graph Illustrating the Relationship Between Student Numbers, Full-Time Academic

and Sessional Staff

0.6

0.4

0.2
Student Numbers
Percentage

0.0 Academic Staff

1997/98 1998/99 1999/00 2000/01 2001/02 2002/03 2003/04 2004/05 2005/06 2006/07 Sessional Staff
-0.2

-0.4

-0.6
Year

The College has since 2002-03 sought to reduce its over-reliance on hourly-paid
sessional staff by converting sessional teaching hours to bolster its full-time teaching
component. The graph illustrates that the college has been largely successful in
achieving this strategy.

28