People, place and partnership at Ulster University

“Innovation should be inclusive,” says Andy Jaffrey, head of the office for digital learning. “It can happen at all levels of the organisation if a culture of innovation is embedded – and who better to digitally transform an area than the person who understands the business and workflow?”

It’s a principle that’s been put into practice at Ulster University, one of the most complex large institutions within the UK, with more than 30,000 students from over 66 countries on campuses across Northern Ireland, plus branches in London and Birmingham. The university successfully maintains a dual focus on research and teaching while actively driving social mobility and civic engagement. And running through all its work is a strong emphasis on people.

Professor Paul Bartholomew, vice-chancellor at Ulster University, explains:

“We have a real commitment that learning is a social activity, and that part of being in a university is being part of a learning community, a research community. It’s about bringing people together – and our strategy and practices reflect that. The strategy was built within the context of people, place and working in partnership together, both internally and externally. Our use of technology is complementary to that, to augment and enhance our focus on bringing people together. So, for example, how can we use classroom-based technologies to promote social aspects of learning? How can we use hybridisation in a way that isn't seen to replace the classroom?”

Transforming Ulster

Ulster’s digital transformation is being built on the back of a multi-million pound core infrastructure enhancement programme, initiated at the start of the pandemic to modernise and strengthen the backbone of all its digital infrastructure.

For example, ‘citizen developers’ at Ulster have been working on business process automation, using low and no code approaches to address gaps or inefficiencies in legacy virtual learning environments and digital learning technologies.

Andy said:

“When we're innovating at that human workflow level, I think there's more appetite to experiment and try things out.”

Other areas of transformation include work using Microsoft’s Power BI to support academic planning and reporting tools, which is introducing more self-service to streamline the process and allow decisions to be made using real-time data. Data Futures work has required a fundamental review of Ulster’s dataset and data governance models and structures, resulting in improved data points and quality. Another large project is addressing the people, processes and systems involved in transforming student admin. Already, new workflows around how students change their course details have turned what was a cumbersome multi-day process for students into something that can be done in minutes. Along the way it’s freed up staff time for more engagement with students and value-added activities.

For Professor Paul Bartholomew, more effective use of data to inform what the university does is clearly tied in with Ulster’s commitment to bringing people together in physical places for critical discourse.

“We want to understand how populations congregate within our spaces,” he says. “Where are they and when are they? What can we do around our services and infrastructure to ensure that people have a good time when they're there? We really believe in the notion of the sticky campus and wanting to keep people on campus. So, we've done a lot with technology to be able to look at our data and have a better understanding of what we do and how successfully we're doing it.”

Digital as an enabler

Elaine Hartin, Ulster’s chief strategy and finance officer, agrees that digital transformation is most successful when it is used to enable strategy: being business driven, understanding what users need and allowing articulated needs to be met. She is also adamant that digital must always be used appropriately.

“There has to be an understanding that there are times when digital is the right way to go and other times it's not. We need more human interaction and engagement and we should be using digital as an enabler rather than a solution in its own right.”

At a strategic level, she points out the importance of recognising that digital transformation is a large complex journey that needs a clear plan and milestones with regular review points.

“Academia – and the world! – are pretty dynamic. Things change, new and emerging technologies appear all the time. So we have to have a good understanding of where we're trying to get to and make sure we take the opportunity to pause, reflect and pivot if and when we need to.”

Elaine Hartin also believes it is essential to recognise the fundamental and often hidden aspects of digital transformation. She refers to these as the ‘iceberg’ – the critical activity that goes on under the surface. This includes the robust technical infrastructure and well-defined business processes and datasets that enable digital transformation to move forward at pace but in a controlled way.

Another key enabler to digital transformation at Ulster is the clear route to finance that emphasises partnership. For example, a dedicated fund, the Strategy for Learning and Teaching Enhancement, is open for academic staff to submit applications for funding and get connected with professional services staff they can work with on the projects. The fund’s power lies in its flexibility and scalability, argues Andy Jaffrey.

People, in partnership

That fund, in particular, highlights again that the most fundamental enabler to digital transformation at Ulster is its people, working in partnership. It focuses on projects that bring people together, breaking down traditional silos and encouraging a model of academic staff and professional services staff having a role in shaping and developing the new initiatives at Ulster.

Elaine says:

“Key to it all is having great people who are well motivated, understand what they do, why they're doing it, how it links to the overall business strategy and who they need to work with to make things happen. That’s really critical, along with listening to understand where the pain points are and how, together, we can develop solutions to tackle them."

Andy Jaffrey agrees:

“Innovation can only happen in a trusted place where there's authentic relationships. The foundation for digital transformation is understanding the people you're working with and not just the problem they come to you with. Academia evolves and you need to be embedded in that culture to understand it and innovate and digitally transform in that space. And to recognise that digital may not always be the right option.”

Innovation for everyone

However, people can also be the greatest challenge as well as enabler to digital transformation, at least in terms of recruiting and retaining the right people with the right digital skills. One of Ulster’s solutions to this challenge is to expand its student placements and graduate programme to develop people within the digital space. It’s an exciting initiative, says Elaine Hartin.

“Being able to provide opportunities for our students and graduates to support and feedback into the university is just incredible. It also gives us a complete perspective on what it looks and feels like to be a student in Ulster, and it means we get the student voice built into our solutions as we move forward.”

For Andy Jaffrey, it’s all part of the wider project to make the innovation and transformation programme at Ulster University as inclusive as possible. It recognises a cultural shift in conversations around digital transformation, becoming everyone’s responsibility to look for opportunities to do things differently – from the bottom up and the top down.

‘We have to be confident that we're in this together and that senior leaders like myself are also in it and we all have a common purpose,” agrees Professor Paul Bartholomew. “That's been the most important thing for me about the Jisc groups I've been involved in over the years. Jisc has been absolutely fundamental to me and my career because it's facilitated a community that underpins learning and emphasises that, while technology is an important adjunct, it’s actually all about people.”