Digital inside and out
Welcome everyone to the special
Manchester 2035 podcast on becoming
digital inside and out I'm joined by a
wonderful panel today I've got Fiona PJ
and Katie and we're going to chat about
the Big Ideas coming out of the Sprints
um I'm going to ask you to introduce
yourself first properly though yes so
I'm Fiona Divine I'm vice president and
Dean of the faculty of humanities PJ hi
good morning um I'm PJ hemway I'm the
University's Chief Information officer
great ktie I'm Kate Jackson I'm the
faculty of humanities officer at the
students union lovely so let's dive
straight in and it's a question about
language um a Sprint what what can
people imagine when they hear a Sprint
what what have you been doing so we've
been working at PACE we've had three
meetings in quick succession where we
have brought together a group of people
from right across the university and
we've been working very intensely on
some propositions that we'll be bringing
forward to you to colleagues and another
term people are going to hear a lot
about in the next kind of coming weeks
and months is is around the leaps so um
PJ maybe you could explain to us what
what's a leap and what is your leap leap
that your Sprint was focusing on so um a
leap from a change in technology
perspective is a um is a major Advance
um rather quickly as well um where we
are as a universities we don't really
want to be waiting um 10 years um to
deliver on our strategy so when we're
actually looking at our leap what we're
going to be looking at is one three and
year one and three year deliverables um
to do that wonderful and um can you tell
us a bit more about how the feedback so
far has shaped what your Sprint group
has been doing yes so certainly so
myself and Patrick hackit LED um two
workshops on one University that was the
theme and I would say that two things
came out of that two very strong
messages from colleagues which included
you know great participation from uh
academic and PS staff um so the first
one was about how many of our uh kind of
processes are really clunky and slow uh
we have a lot of manual interventions
and so on so we we really do need to do
and engage in a digital transformation
of the
University um uh so that was a really
clear theme that came out um from many
colleagues uh and then the second one is
there's a huge appetite to be one
University uh and for many of those new
things that we're all going to be doing
together to be doing uh things
consistently not do them five times so
when we can do them one time and and as
I say have consistent policies and
processes and deliver plans and
implementation um of one kind right
across the university so those kind of
themes have very much fed into the uh
Sprint activity so I know we're going to
go into it in more detail um throughout
this conversation but can you give a
quick summary of you know we've got one
University and digital inside and out so
how do those two link so many of the
digital processes I would hope that we'd
be introducing will take a one
University form so we'll be um and PJ
can say more about this um you know
having uh digital platforms that we'll
be using right across the institution
different applications and so on so as
to say there is that consistency in
terms of of things that we do brilliant
and I guess a key question people will
have is why sleep like what problem are
we trying to solve so Katie could you
could you help us understand that yeah
for sure I mean from a student
perspective it's you know we have so
many students I think we're we're kind
of edging towards 50,000 students at the
moment and you know that means that not
every student can be on campus all the
time talking to a member of Staff we've
just not got the capacity for that so
you know that
digital interaction that students have
is so so important and I think that's
why we you know we have to have this
digital transformation just so that that
user friendly you know student friendly
facing stuff is a lot more kind of up to
scratch so I think that's like a key
thing and you know we've spoke a lot
about like personalization of people's
education and you know I think that
becomes a lot easier when the technology
can support that so I think that that's
like a really key thing for students
kind of seeing you know I can go to this
person and I can literally input you
know what career I want in the future
and then it's going to give me all the
course units that I can take for example
that's just an idea in my brain anyway
but you know that's that's something
that we could look at in the future
towards 2035 and that's something that's
really exciting so yeah I think that's
why the sleap is so important amazing
and PJ I guess from your perspective
both for our staff but also I guess in
The Wider sector you know what what
challenges are we facing so why do we
need to kind of make this leap uh I
think one of the big challenges is we
are now in 2025 um and that brings with
it um AI it brings it brings with it d
but also brings it with it opportunity
um so what I'm starting to see at the
moment is probably one of the most
ambitious digital agendas in higher
education at the moment um from an
opportunity perspective um I think that
seamless experience for for our students
and our research is in order to be able
to do things once for them give them
give them an environment that they're
not bouncing around different um
services or even different buildings um
so if we can actually sort of bring it
back to them and make an make that
experience so much more better for them
um personalize so that way they get to
study or if you're a researcher you get
to research and submit grants and behind
the scenes Professional Services they
get to help you seamlessly so you really
get to do what you need to do yeah so my
next question is around how did we get
here so um you know we had 22 workshops
and a variety of themes we had 5,000
comments fed into you how did you take
that in the Sprint groups um and then
turn it into these big Ideas how did
that work in practice Yeah so Patrick
and myself got together to again lead on
on uh this initiative and we decided to
assemble people right across the
university so one University in practice
already uh and uh we were just thinking
about all the expert that we experts
that we know across each faculty and
sent out invitations to those colleagues
actually people also started
volunteering themselves which was
fantastic as well we just
yes come on down H H and it was very
much a case I'm sure you'd agree
wouldn't you where we felt we had
incredible experts in the room everybody
wanted to share their knowledge uh and
yeah in in the rooms there was just
across the three meetings um a lot of
expertise was brought to the table we
all shared a lot of the activities in
which we're involved in as I say
bringing the feedback as you say um and
and yeah we had a team site we put lots
of material shared everything that we
were doing and we working um in hybrid
mode and and all different things and at
PACE as to say across those three
meetings and in between meetings because
you know they were a short pace of time
and we had to keep keep the momentum up
between the three meetings yeah it was
fun it was fun yeah but maybe a little
bit
stressful fun fun and exhausting fun and
fun and exhausting
and fun yeah and Katie the students
union and students more broadly have
also been involved throughout this
process and and also been engaged on
this topic so could you say a little bit
more about that yeah absolutely I think
so like the staff workshops we had
student workshops you know and a lot of
them were run by Lexi the the union
Affairs officer and you know they were
really really key in kind of getting
that student perspective of what's
important to them digitally because I
think a lot of people you know see it
and they're like oh yeah Blackboard this
that you know but there's so more to it
than that that they don't see so it was
really good for having that like because
the student workshops were open staff as
well so they were getting to speak to
staff about kind of what their
perspective was and it was really key
for just helping them to understand more
and like really think big as well
because I think that we can sometimes be
Our Own Worst Enemy and like creating
barriers for ourselves in our heads but
that was really good for students to be
like yeah this is something that I want
and it's definitely something that we
can think about when it comes to the
strategy so yeah that's really great to
hear so just to say the ideas we're
about to hear they are hot off the press
so I think
I I think you you're still writing up
some of the ideas coming out of the
Sprints but can you start to give us a
first indication of those big ideas that
are going to help us make the leap to
becoming digital inside and out yeah so
um as I said before it's uh it is what I
see as one of the most ambitious
programs coming out um for the next 1
three five and 10 years um so it's
fantastic to beet the University of
Manchester right now um so just in terms
of some of the core ideas that are
coming out are again based on the
feedback that we've had I look at those
5,000 comments that coming into a funnel
it's made its way to the Sprint groups
that Patrick and Fiona um are leading
with um but at the moment um as I say
we're still sort of writing this up um
what we're really seeing is um a
connected campus um and that's a
seamless digital physical experience um
we're looking at an intelligent Network
which is data driven um with a real
sense of belonging um and that's to be
underpinned by connected communities
bringing our cohorts of students
together um also um a um leading with
intelligence um as I mentioned before
talking about Ai and data how we're
going to lead into that um and then
finally and this is this has been really
quite important to all of members of the
Sprint group it's an equitable digital
University a mod um a model for
inclusive Excellence um and that's
something that's really underpinned
where we're looking at so PJ the title
of your Sprint was digital inside and
out sounds great great but what's what's
inside what's outside it's a great
question and that means different things
to different people um for me digital
inside and out is and the digital
services that we're going to provide to
our colleagues and our students um but
in addition in terms of how we come
across to the world um how we come
across to um uh other countries but also
the region in terms of our Innovation
Partners if I start to dig a little bit
more into digital inside it's how we
actually partner with the Estates so
it's how it and Estates co-author and
co-creates Services um in terms of our
classrooms our research spaces our
student residential areas um into 2035
so it means many different things to
many different people and that's
important and I don't know who wants to
take this question but um maybe to all
three of you why why do you think these
ideas are going to make a difference you
don't have to kind of speak on all of
them but if you kind of pick out one and
you know just describe why why that will
make our University Stand Out by 2035
well one of the things that underpins
all the points that PJ has just
mentioned there is um you know the
Technologies the digital processes will
be an enabler in terms of reaching our
strategic goals you know the university
has high Ambitions and we've got to
create the infrastructure the
foundations you know all the environment
so that people can realize you know the
being great teachers great researchers
so that's something that we've also
spent a bit of time on as well isn't it
it is um but if I could also come in on
that as well we've got some amazing
Partners um outside of the University um
specifically that are now moving to the
Northwest um and you know they they are
looking for us to essentially train and
teach our students of tomorrow um they
want to work with us um in terms of
innovation um and you know I think that
value add in terms of Manchester in the
Northwest just sort second and on so
we've got a really um ambitious digital
agenda um but also it's about our
students our researchers and where we're
getting to for 20 35 Katie from a
student perspective is there anything
that kind of really stands out yeah I
was just about to say because I think
what you were saying about this one
University approach to like the digital
um transformation I think you know
there's there's this thing about you
know if we did want more distance
Learners if that's something that we'd
be looking towards in in 2035 like the
Student Union is then going to have to
become somewhat digital as well and I
think we've spoken about this a lot is
like how do we make sure that that sense
of belong in because I think you
mentioned that earlier I think that's
really key because
when you are a distance learner you you
are going to have a different experience
but it's like how do we make sure that
you still get the the Student Union
offer but when when it's digital so I
think this stuff that we you know we're
working really closely in Partnership
and that's that's something that I think
would be really key um so yeah I think
that's what I'd say from the student
perspective I think what's so
interesting about this is hearing the
ideas coming out of all of the different
Sprints um you know there's some real
crosscutting ideas there and themes that
you know you've mentioned around
belonging um you know personalization
for digital Learners that you know is
also coming up in in the kind of
teaching and learning Sprint so I think
that's really great to see how those
ideas can kind of work together in terms
of I guess um what's next for our staff
students and our wider Community um what
are going to be the next steps in terms
of how they can engage with the
proposals that are coming out of the
Sprints so this is very much part of the
conversation um and we're in the second
stage of of the strategic planning
process aren't we in terms of building
up on those propositions and it is very
much a case now of once we complete the
Sprint work that we are going to go back
out to The Wider Community H and to get
feedback on the ideas and help us to
refine those ideas from the 31st of
March we are going to be in Nancy
Rothwell building with a popup
exhibition where people can discover all
the Big Ideas coming out of the Sprint
groups and also see how they kind of
work together and how they're cross
cutting we're also going to have a
really great digital platform that
people can use to feed in so they can't
make it in person though ideally we want
them to do both there will be a digital
feedback mechanism as well so we're
really Keen that as many people as
possible come along whether that's staff
students or a wider community members
