Organisational structures for growth

Our ambitious plans for growth command support from across the University. We now need to ensure that we have the right structures for delivering that growth in the years ahead.

Senate subjected proposals for organisational development to extensive and detailed scrutiny and discussion this week. I am of course pleased that, after due consideration, Senate formally welcomed the proposals and recommended to Council that they should approve the creation of new schools.

What struck me most was the honest and straightforward expression of views in the meeting. We had a mature and considered debate, drawing in views from all parts of the University - academic staff, deans and heads of department, Professional Services and support staff, and students.

I clearly heard in discussion the sense of disenfranchisement from current decision-making that is felt by many of the staff and students who sit outside formal management and representative roles. I believe this to be at the core of many of the issues and concerns being discussed.

We have endeavoured to engage and involve people in this process, and much positive work has happened. But I am committed to ensuring that, in setting up and running our new structures, we fully involve and engage staff and students. Indeed, one of the express goals of the new flatter structures is to involve more people in key strategic decisions.

Not least, this is because the growth and development of the University is not something that is going to be delivered by me or members of my executive alone. As I said to Senate, it will be realised only by all of us working collectively together.

Senate discussions also reinforced the importance of disciplinary identity. I have been clear that maintaining this in any structure is vital, for staff identity and for the student experience. How we achieve this, while giving real autonomy and freedom to the new schools in how they run themselves, will need careful thought.

I also heard clearly the importance of ensuring that our support staff, who have rightly allowed this academic debate to move forward over recent months, have the reassurance that their interests are properly considered in the next phases of work.

There remain important details to be worked through - in terms of governance arrangements, management structures, appointments processes and so on. With support for the principles of academic organisation now in place, we can embark on working through these matters in earnest.

We will be creating robust and professional project-management arrangements for implementation - with oversight from a representative board, as agreed at Senate. We will also want to learn the lessons from the last restructuring and from experience elsewhere in getting this process right for Sussex.

In all of this, the importance of sustaining the student experience as changes are seen through is paramount, as eloquent testimony from students at Senate with experience of change elsewhere bore witness to.

Finally, I believe that Senate started to share a sense of the significant academic opportunities that lie ahead within these new structures. Now that the direction of travel has been set, I am confident that we can start to build that positive future together.