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Planning across the University

Planning comprises a wide spectrum of activities that take place across the University involving many colleagues and ranging from student number planning within individual programmes, resource planning at School and Faculty level, through to the development of the University’s long term vision and strategic plan.  

The Directorate of Planning works closely with the President’s Office, SLT and colleagues across the Faculties and Professional Services to champion integrated planning at the University level, with a particular focus on:

  • Facilitating the creation of the University vision and strategic plan
  • Monitoring the progress of the University towards our strategic plan
  • Governing, and supporting the delivery of, the portfolio of key projects that underpin the delivery of our strategic plan
  • Providing assurance to the Office for Students, in particular with regard to the provision of statutory data 

There are four teams within the Directorate Planning, which work together to safeguard the delivery of the Strategic Plan.

Integrated planning team

The integrated planning team is responsible for:

  • Supporting the development, implementation and review of the University’s vision, strategic plan, and financial budgeting
  • Managing the annual University-level integrated planning process and activities
  • Co-ordinating the University-level accountability review, including deep dives on the core goals and Annual Performance Reviews (APRs)
  • Supporting the development of the milestone plans for Faculties and Professional Services
  • Facilitating University-level strategic decisions through the Strategic Planning Group meetings and fact-based student number planning
  • Delivering a range of support to SLT, including policy exploration, sector benchmarking and scenario planning

Business intelligence team

The business intelligence (BI) team is responsible for:

  • The definition and production of a University-level performance dashboard for the Board and PRC, including 5 year targets 
  • Championing new ways of working including communities of practice for analysts across the University; staging key data in dashboards; data mapping and modelling to reduce operational risk and vulnerability across our fragmented data landscape 
  • A range of specialist analyses driven from student data (for example regarding access and participation) to inform strategic and operational plans and policy
  • A range of benchmarking including the UniForum exercise that assesses efficiency and effectiveness of professional services activities

Statutory reporting team

The statutory reporting team is responsible for:

  • Submitting the University’s student HESA, HESES and related returns, that define our student population for the Office for Students, our regulator, and inform the teaching funding we receive from the government
  • Raising awareness of statutory data considerations as we renovate technology and operations across the University, including the sector Data Futures agenda  
  • A range of specialist University level analyses, driven from the most accurate and complete definition of our student population available to the University (student profile, SSRs, non-continuation, tariff et al)
  • Specialist knowledge of University league tables

Strategic change team

The Strategic Change Office (SCO) is responsible for:

  • Facilitating the creation of, and governing, the University strategic change (project) portfolio
  • Introducing best practice methods to strengthen the University approach to change delivery
  • Holding projects to account through the gateway review process, and Strategic Change Sub-Committee
  • Providing delivery support for projects within the purview of the SCO