School Support Service
Following the widespread consultation of the working group led by Iain McIntosh in early 2015, Steven Logie has recently led a more detailed exercise to consider the establishment of a new school support service to replace the existing faculty professional service structure. The University Structures Project Board and University Leadership Team have now endorsed the recommendations arising from this work, in particular that a single new unified School Support Service will formally replace the existing faculty professional service structure on 1 August 2015. This School Support Service will provide centrally managed, locally delivered’ service to support the University’s academic communities of staff and students.
An interim leadership role for this service will be appointed shortly, in order to lead the transition and ensure business continuity. More detailed work to define the structures is ongoing, especially in defining key roles within the service.
School Support Service Briefing.
School Support Service
The intent is to create:
'an enterprising and innovative service, which provides flexible, resilient and excellent support locally to all our academic communities; addressing the diverse requirements of their students and staff’.
The purpose is:
‘to operate as a single unified team that is focused solely on delivering excellent, consistent, effective and resilient local support services that are transparent, responsive and accountable to the academic communities we serve. We will work constructively and collaboratively with other university services to ensure coherent and efficient support to all of our service users - releasing academic colleagues to concentrate on delivering their schools’ academic priorities whilst actively supporting an unrivalled student experience’.
The principles with which the service should operate are to:
be accessible, efficient and responsive for the end user
deliver consistency and adherence to regulatory compliance
encourage targeted, proactive engagement with service users
ensure resilience in capacity and capability
be transparent and accountable within the primary academic unit
encourage efficiency and deliver excellent value for money