01 May 2019 Corinne Merriman, Events Manager
SUMS Consulting has launched its survey on Horizon Scanning in HE. This survey seeks to understand how Universities inform long-term decision making.
How do we complete the survey?
You can access the survey here: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/B9TFFBZ
When by?
The survey will be open until the 24th of May. It will take approximately 30 minutes to complete.
What is it about?
The survey focuses on the process of horizon scanning, what's done and when, what works well and what doesn't, rather than what was found. I have attached a PDF of the survey which participants can use to prepare for online completion.
Who should complete the survey?
Each institution can complete the survey from a number of different perspectives, representing the wide range of horizon scanning activities across organisations. Here are a list of the different perspectives and those who might be interesting in submitting a response. We would like a corporate return from as many different universities as possible, then any number of different perspectives from those using horizon scanning to inform long-term decision making.
Corporate - we expect leaders in planning or policy to complete the survey from the University's perspective, taking a whole university view
Academic - Deans or Heads of Faculty or School can complete the survey from their academic unit perspective
Future Student - PVCs Teaching & Learning on how horizon scanning influences new delivery models and pedagogy, leaders in recruitment on how horizon scanning is used to understand new markets, develop new products and improve recruitment
Research - PVCs Research, Innovation/Enterprise can give an insight how they use horizon scanning
Future workforce - Leaders in human resources or organisation development can give an insight into use of horizon scanning in organisation design, development and culture
Future campus - Leaders in IT or Estates can give an insight into the use of horizon scanning in development physical and digital infrastructure to meet future demands
Internationalisation - Those with a specific international or global brief can complete the survey focusing on the use of horizon scanning to understand impact of global trends or influential international policies
Finance - CFOs or Finance Directors can complete the survey, focusing on the use of horizon scanning to understand future funding models and financial risks.
What should I do now?
Please forward this email to those colleagues at your institution who would hold the briefs mentioned above, to invite them to participate in the study. We would welcome returns from other perspectives - the survey has a option to add perspectives - so if you have senior colleagues who are involved in horizon scanning or receiving the outputs from horizon scanning for other perspectives, please forward them this invitation as well.
What will the project produce?
The main output of this project will be a briefing paper on Horizon Scanning in HE. The paper will contain the findings and conclusions from this survey, a number of case studies of good practice from inside and outside the sector and a maturity model which organisations can use to understand their own maturity and how they can improve their horizon scanning processes. All those who take part in the survey will receive the full briefing paper as well as an institution level summary of findings. A high level summary of the briefing paper will be made available to other organisations.
What is the background to this project and who is involved?
SUMS was asked to conduct a benchmarking study on the use of horizon scanning in the sector by the University of Reading. Interest in participation was sought at our annual conference and due to the high level of interest, a collaborative project was initiated to explore a wider range of institutions and perspectives. SUMS has been working with a steering group made up of colleagues from Reading, Solent, Warwick, Keele, Leicester and Newcastle leading on areas such as planning, market research, teaching & learning development, strategic business development, research and student services. They have identified focus areas, tested the survey and made suggestions for improvement. The steering group will be involved in ensuring wide distribution of the survey and then challenging the findings and conclusions.
What is the time-frame for the project?
We will collate and code the findings from the survey in early June. Interviews with case study organisations will take place in May (good practice from outside the sector) and June (good practice from inside the sector). The briefing paper will be written in June and early July with the intention to publish by the end of the academic year.
Who are SUMS Consulting?
SUMS Consulting is a not-for-profit management consultancy, owned and run by 27 universities, focusing on helping its members and the wider sector improve performance. In addition to consulting projects for specific organisations, we run a number of collaborative projects each year involving our members and the wider sector. Participants in those collaborative projects benefit from the outputs. More information about us can be found on our website: www.sums.org.uk. The project is being lead by Principal Consultant, Claire Taylor, who worked with HESPA members previously on a benchmarking study looking at Strategy, Strategic Planning and Change.
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact Claire at s.c.taylor@reading.ac.uk.