The Group Project works consists of:
Group Project – four territories to explore
1. Best Practices
Who are the exemplars within Higher Education, and beyond, and how have you engaged with them?
2. Institutional Application
What have you introduced or applied to your HEIs and what has been the impact so far?
3. Personal Learning
What have you learned from being part of this experience and what are you doing with these insights?
4. AUDE Recommendations
Based on your Group’s work, what are your recommendations and suggested actions for fellow AUDE colleagues?
This year AUDE are giving the groups a choice from two projects which are detailed below:
PROJECT ONE
Current and future generation of students expect Universities to have a commitment to societal and environmental issues, and to be doing the right thing for people, communities, and the planet – both directly on their campuses, within the towns and cities they operate from and, more widely, nationally, and internationally.
Climate change has become one of the most significant concerns of our time, as evidenced by recent disruption caused by the weather across the globe. Therefore, designing, retrofitting, and properly maintaining our buildings to be more resilient is going to be increasingly important, particularly as many weather patterns continue to change. More extreme climate events are increasingly becoming the norm rather than the exception.
The health of the built environment and infrastructure is an environmental issue, but the well-being of university buildings and infrastructure directly impacts the well-being of staff and students too. In this way, maintaining the built environment is crucial.
This isn’t ‘just’ and Estates issue – consider who the key stakeholders are in this project and explore why and how the sector is combating climate change as the UK strives for net-zero emissions by 2050. You may seek to identify current best practice both from within the HE Sector and in other sectors of the economy both in the UK and overseas. You should consider what the biggest priorities are, the challenges in tackling them and identify replicable solutions to them. You might consider using tools and techniques to clarify your thinking, such as PEST or SWOT analyses.
PROJECT TWO
There wasn’t such a labour shortage crisis like this actual one since both World Wars. It is somehow the perfect storm — a rapid ageing of the Western population, COVID-19 popularizing remote work and early retirement, and emergent trends such as the quiet quitting brought the labour market to its knees.
According to a Global Data report, the labour shortage is costing companies a good amount of money in increased wages and salaries, as well as supply chain disruptions. More companies than ever are worried about the issue and mentioning it in surveys and leaders’ conferences.
The Estates and Facilities Operations in UK Higher Education have not been immune to this challenge. This project should explore what the biggest priorities are, the challenges in tackling them and identify replicable solutions to them. The project could extend to identifying best practice in other sectors that may be transferrable to the HE Sector.
Group Project Work - Deliverables and Deadlines
