Introduction
Capita FHE’s 2010 National Conference was held at the Chesford Grange Hotel in Kenilworth at the end of April. The Conference coincided with some major events, not only in the world of education, but also political and economically.
- With just one week to go before the General Election, civil servants were thin on the ground due to a particularly strict pre-election purdah. However, a strong line-up of independent speakers gave an insight into how the political climate may affect further and higher education sectors.
- Just one month on from the Learning and Skills Council closing its doors, and with the first payments being made by the new Young People’s Learning Agency (YPLA) and the Skills Funding Agency, a number of sessions looked at how the Machinery of Government changes would impact of college MIS systems.
- Gripped by the biggest global economic downturn since the 1930s, minds are certainly turning to the possible approaches to recovery; not only in terms of how technology can help organisations reduce the cost of administration, but also how systems can help increase retention and ensure the workforce of the future remain on course.
It was with this background then that the Conference’s topic Solutions for the future: managing information in a changing environment seemed very appropriate. It would consider how colleges and universities might exploit new and established solutions for an ever-changing education sector.
Day one
The former head of funding policy implementation at the LSC, and now senior manager at KPMG, John Bolt provided the first keynote of the day. John started with a review of the political party policies, focussing on the similarities such as apprenticeships and vocational 14-19 study, and differences such as the Train to Gain and diplomas. John went on to look at the savage cuts that have been made to adult education funding and the implications of a funding ‘winter’, the challenge of a simple yet fair system and how efficient administration might be achieved.
Prior to heading up the new Pearson Think Tank, Nick Linford spent six years as director of planning and performance for Lewisham College, so he certainly knows his stuff when it comes to further education funding. The author of The Hands-on Guide to Post-16 Funding (www.fundingguide.co.uk) and The Hands-on Guide to Post-16 Performance and Data (www.dataguide.co.uk), Nick provided an informative keynote. His session looked at how the two new government departments could lead to a divergence in priorities, the impact of reduction in adult funding and how ‘earned autonomy’ might provide educational organisations with greater flexibility to manage their adult-funding budgets
Appointed a CBE for services to local government in the 2009 New Year’s Honours List John Freeman has a wealth of experience in the local authority education arena, and with the move back of 14-19 contract-commissioning John headed the Raising Expectations Action Programme (REACT) created to aid smooth handover back the local control. John’s presentation provided a run through of the objectives of the programme, the political drivers and some of the strategic decisions authorities and the YPLA still have to make.
Day two
Evan Dickerson, HE in FE adviser for JISC, provided the first keynote of the day looking at the higher education strategies that all FE colleges have had to produce. With pledges from all political parties committing to additional places for foundation degrees and possible changes to HE funding models, the critical role that colleges play in HE provision is set to gain a higher profile. This will clearly impact on all systems within colleges, obviously including the MIS.
With so many policy drivers and financial challenges occupying our minds it can be very difficult to lift our heads from the grindstone and take the long view: this is where marketing manager for Microsoft UK, Ray Flemming’s contribution to the Conference is always welcome. This year’s presentation took a look at how instant translation, natural input devices, radical presentation techniques and augmented realities will transform the world we live in and have profound impacts on how education is delivered and administered.
Vici Cadwallader-Webb leads Tenon's Funding and Performance Team and is a member of the Learning and Skills Council's Funding Group, assisting in designing the new funding methodology and setting the funding rates for the Sector. The depth of her knowledge of the methodology is remarkable and as her keynote presentation demonstrated, the information the MIS systems provide can be complex. However, with clear interpretation they can help educational organisations set clear strategic and operational objectives.
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Conference highlights
This year’s conference saw the launch of UNIT-e Business Manager – a new suite of software that eases the burden of the complex business planning process. It by provides modelling and analysis tools enabling organisations to plan effectively and react to in-year change in a timely manner. Adrian Kilburn presented the launch, which was followed by an in-depth workshop later in the day.
The Conference’s wide-ranging programme of breakout sessions featured presentations from Tenon on pre-inspection and KPMG on Funding and Efficiency
From an HE perspective, there was a presentation by UCAS that explained recent changes in their operational methods. Thames Valley University provided an overview of recent developments for academic advice and graduation administration
As always at the Capita FHE National Conference, there were a number of important contributions from educational organisations throughout the UK.
There was also a look at how Capita FHE’s consultancy services had been employed to carry out business process reviews and develop bespoke solutions for UCAS entry submissions.
A number of workshops run by members of the Capita FHE team looked at current developments around timetabling and organisation enquiries, as well as the research and development being undertaken into school and local authority interoperability, the imminent SharePoint 2010 release and, of course, future technologies.
Conclusion
Within the world of further and higher education, the one thing that you can always be sure will remain constant is change and once again the Capita FHE Conference brought together some of the leading lights in the world of data and funding management to ensure, that through working closely, we and our systems will be fit now and for the future.