W:
www.universitybusiness.co.uk | T: @UB_UK
information set (KIS), Shenstone believes the private sector can help universities address the issues they face. “We can help universities demonstrate the value they offer to students. But we can also increase the quality of their offering and their competitiveness, both domestically and globally,” he said. “Many of the UK’s higher education institutions operate globally, delivering education and research both domestically and overseas.” This wider scope and role heightens
the need for universities to engage with the private sector, but many students and university staff remain wary of the potential impact of these types of partnerships, particularly on local employment. Universities are often the major employer in a city or region and bring significant economic benefits, both directly and indirectly; Shenstone says universities can use their relationships with external companies to actually enhance these benefits. “Our university clients are looking for opportunities to sustain and enhance their impact on the local community. A lot of what we discuss with a university is around how that can be secured,” he outlined. This wider societal role also opens up a lot of opportunities for universities to establish partnerships and strong relationships with local businesses. “Universities take their impact on the local community and society very seriously, and the same goes for their relationships with local employers,” said Shenstone. “We're a large business with a presence
across the UK – it's not unusual for us to find that we have a large employee base ourselves co-located with universities in major cities, so we can establish strong partnerships with different universities.”
Student opposition Many university services have historically been run in-house though, and the idea of them being outsourced to a third party is fiercely opposed by some students and lecturing unions. By taking advantage of the private sector's commercial expertise, Shenstone argues that universities can improve the services they offer. “We typically find that universities are interested in creating strategic partnerships with businesses that can bring particular skills and competencies to bear, which they see value in,” he outlined. Shenstone points to the company's
work with the University of Strathclyde as an example. “We have been working
Andy Shenstone
"STUDENTS ARE INCREASINGLY QUESTIONING THE VALUE FOR MONEY OF SPECIFIC COURSES"
ANDY SHENSTONE, GROUP MARKET DIRECTOR FOR EDUCATION AT CAPITA GROUP
with the university to ensure it gets the maximum value from a very significant programme of investment it's making in its IT infrastructure,” he continued. “We are delivering substantial value to the university by procuring its requirements at a much beter price than it could have otherwise secured.” This trend is set to continue, with
many universities still keen to reduce costs in the face of ongoing financial pressures. Many institutions recognise that they have to transform what they do and how they operate to ensure their financial resilience, sustainability and atractiveness to students in the future. “We're not talking about a sector that faces overriding challenges that threatens its continued profile and importance to the community and society at large,” said Shenstone. “However, what we do see is a sector that's facing quite a turbulent period and is looking for partners that can help it and support it in continuing to be successful and punching above its weight in future. That's where our focus lies.” UB
Illustration: © Skypixel |
Dreamstime.com
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82