The University has been regularly sharing information with staff on the individual projects which make up the Size and Shape programme: Budget Planning Process, Central Cost Savings, Pay Bill Cost Savings, One Professional Service (or 1PS), and the Portfolio Review. Collectively these will ensure that we can be a university with the best possible environment for research and scholarship and that we have an outstanding educational offering that meets the needs of our current and future students.
These workstreams will also ensure that we generate sufficient resources to invest in our physical and digital infrastructures, which in turn will enhance our ability to deliver our strategic goals.
Many staff have asked for more information on what One Professional Service is aiming to achieve, so in this update we’re providing more detail on this project.
What is 1PS (One Professional Service)?
1PS is a project which first launched in the autumn of 2019 but was put on hold as a result of the lockdown early in 2020. The project aims to make it easier for Professional Services staff and academic faculty to work together in a collaborative and efficient way to provide services to support teaching, learning and research across the University.
We need to do this in order to deliver the University’s strategic framework, Sussex 2025, as well as the individual School and Divisional strategies that underpin it. This will be achieved by having a more resilient, effective and efficient Professional Service structure, with consistency in job grading and workload and with clear career pathways for staff.
It has recently been revived as part of a programme of activity called Size and Shape. Building on all the good work already completed, the 1PS project kicked off again just before Christmas, led by Emma Potts, Interim Deputy Chief Operating Officer.
Work is now underway with a number of people who were involved in the original project to ensure we include and learn from that earlier phase.
All of us play a critical role in delivering School and Divisional strategies, by working together as one team.
How do Professional Services support teaching, learning and research?
In order to understand 1PS, it’s important to know where and how academic faculty and Professional Services staff work together to give students the best possible education and wider student experience while they study with us, as well as to support research, knowledge exchange, and impact activities. We know that the quality of our student experience plays a major role in prospective students’ choices when they are applying for university courses and of course it’s at the heart of the NSS and other measures of student satisfaction.
Whilst our academic colleagues deliver the core education and research content of our student experience, there are many ways in which Professional Services support academics and provide services directly to students, in order to achieve the best results possible. Some Professional Services are delivered from the central ‘PS’ functions, while others are better situated and coordinated within Schools where local knowledge, planning and oversight are vital.
Professional Services spans a wide range of functions, supporting the student journey from enquiry and recruitment throughout the study years, graduation and beyond. They create the infrastructure to support students and staff in Estates, Student Experience, Student Recruitment and International Development (SRAID) and External Relations (which have recently merged), Finance, HR, Library, and IT, whilst our research ambitions are led through the teams in Research & Enterprise, but supported by many other PS functions.
Professional Services teams adopt different delivery models depending on the function: General Counsel, Governance and Compliance (GCGC), Estates, ITS and the Library operate as standalone subject matter experts and service providers; Finance and HR operate a business partnering model in which dedicated resource is provided to different areas of the institution; and other areas such as Student Experience, Research & Enterprise, Communications and Marketing, and SRAID have roles to play both at central and School levels.
You can read more about how Professional Services supports teaching and learning.
Why 1PS is important to us all
We want to improve and streamline some of these services, making them more accessible, efficient, and effective in supporting the delivery of School and Divisional strategies. Based on feedback we know that some things do not currently work well for students or academic colleagues, so 1PS encompasses a number of key goals:
- To ensure Schools have the most effective professional services structures and local oversight in place to deliver on strategic plans
- To provide effective and efficient services to support the student journey and research
- To create the opportunity for more strategic procurement
- To provide more flexible and resilient support
And what will it achieve?
- Ability to deliver School and Divisional strategies
- A unified and resilient Professional Services structure
- Greater economies in procurement
- Consistency in job grading
- Clearer career pathways for colleagues
How can I find out more about 1PS?
- The Vice Chancellor will be holding another VC Open Forum on Monday, March 1st where staff can ask questions about the Size and Shape programme.
- Tim Westlake will be holding a PS: Bigger Picture session on March 4th for Professional Services staff to hear about 1PS in more detail. You will be able to ask any questions you may have about this.
- Read our 1PS and Size and Shape Programme webpages.
- We aim to hold a number of additional sessions in which colleagues can contribute ideas and opinions.