Principal’s Update
Welcome to a sunny but if rather cold new week colleagues.
Graduation day on Friday was fabulous and I’d like to extend my thanks again to all colleagues that volunteered, to the events team, and University College Jersey colleagues, who were pivotal in making the event run so smoothly. It is always an occasion of great joy with friends, family and carers celebrating the wonderful achievement of our University College student graduates. The parish of Saint Helier is very supportive by providing the venue, but also by closing public roads and allowing us to take up space throughout town during the procession and taking of professional photographs. So many people in town come out of the shops and the cafes to clap and wave and take photographs so it really is a whole community celebration.
This week at Senior Leadership Team we will be taking a deep dive into Finance and the College’s is progress on Sustainability. On Thursday I will be flying to Liverpool to meet with the principals of University College Isle of Man and The Guernsey Institute. We will be signing a new memorandum of understanding which will strengthen our partnership working across the islands. We also have a packed agenda for work planned during the academic year 2024 to 2025, including the piloting of immersive technology in higher education.
There will be a whole Governing Body meeting on October the 17th. A key focus will be the condition of the College Estate and the impact this is having on our ability to keep site users safe and healthy. You will note that the heating is still off in Turner building; one boiler has failed, and the second boiler needs repair. This has been raised since the summer term (the backup boiler failure for several years 😊) and we are still awaiting parts. I sincerely hope it doesn’t get much colder or we may need to shut the building down and move students to online activity. Jersey Property Holdings are aware of the issue and hopeful that the part will be on island soon, but as the boilers are well beyond their life expectancy, it’s difficult to source replacements. Also, the lift in UC has been out of action for several weeks which means classes have been moved – disability access is seriously impaired. I apologise to staff and students for this, but we are tenants in this respect and are in a long queue of repairs across GoJ.
Here is a summary list of current college projects. More detail surrounding these in our staff meetings.
- New HC Strategy 2025 to 2029
- Website development
- Funding gaps for inclusion and maintenance
- Immersive technology to support development of higher education
- Jersey Progression qualification redesign
- Level 3 qualification redevelopment linked to changes in UK landscape
- Teaching learning assessment strategy – foregrounding of inclusion – 5 aspects
- College networks, UK and further afield
- Recruitment to the governing body
- Data security an integration of systems
- Professional standards
- Modern apprenticeship schemes
- Professional Centre strategic development
- Full integration of UCJ recruitment process into Tribal
- Piloting mark books via EBS
We have various mechanisms to enable staff voice and engagement, wellbeing champions, secret buddies, staff governors, surveys, staff meetings and union consultations. I have eight staff reps who have volunteered to meet with me this term for feedback on ‘what is working well’ and ‘even better if’. This is an informal process and is open to any willing volunteers. When we are 100 plus staff set up in two sittings at staff meetings, it doesn’t allow time for more exploration. We have used teams before and drop-ins, but the recent staff survey demonstrated that support staff would welcome more opportunities to get involved.
I met a young mother and her two children at the Graduation; she’d had two children whilst studying with us and earnt a 1st Class honours degree. There was another student who had left care and started here on foundation level – she won a special award for achievement. They are inspirational people supported by dedicated staff.
Have a great week.
Jo