RAVENSBOURNE COLLEGE OF DESIGN AND COMMUNICATION

HUMAN RESOURCES STRATEGY

October 2005

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1 Introduction

2 College Mission Statement and Strategic Aims & Objectives

3 Strategic Operating Context

4 Summary of Human Resources Priorities / Objectives for 2005-08 to

Support the College’s Strategic Objectives

5 Summary of Key Activities and Outcomes from 2001-05

6 Future Challenges and Forward Planning

7 Action Plan [separately attached document]

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Ravensbourne College of Design and Communication

1 Introduction

The submission of this Human Resources Strategy seeks to build on the

considerable activities, outcomes and achievements of Round One of the Rewarding
and Developing Staff initiative. It also seeks to combine the College’s vision for
responding to the challenges set out in the White Paper, ‘The Future of Higher
Education’, with a realistically achievable implementation plan over the next 3 years.

Over the past 4 years the College has dramatically changed the way in which its
Human Resources Strategy is formulated and it now plays an important central role
in the organisation’s overall strategy.

Since 2001, the Human Resources function has increased its staffing in order to
deliver, with its organisational partners, the range of targets and objectives described
in the College’s first Human Resources Strategy (June 2002) and the 2-year
Extended Investment Plan (May 2004).

The function now employs a total of 5 staff, of which one role is funded from the
R&DS annual allocation. Over the last 4 years, one of the central aims of the College
has been to build capability within the function to ensure that a broader range of
services can be provided across the organisation to ensure the continuity of service
provision throughout the academic year.

Another central aim has been to professionalize the function and to reposition the
Human Resources team as a business partner, working with line managers and their
faculties / departments to provide more of a consultancy service to individuals in the
management of their staff and resources. In practical terms, line mangers are more
empowered to manage their own staff to a greater extent, using the policies and
guidelines that have been put in place. This decentralization of operation appears to
be working well, as managers are for the most part, effectively handling a range of
people management issues, seeking advice from HR when necessary, and keeping
HR informed of developments and issues.

This second HR Strategy covers all aspects of human resources activity, and central
to its implementation is the adoption of the National Framework Agreement which will
be in place by August 2006.

The Human Resources Strategy incorporates a detailed action plan [See Section 7]
that includes targets, an expected timeline for their achievement and quality
indicators. Although the strategy is set for a 3-year period, it is reassessed and
updated annually.

The main challenges over the last 4 years in the delivery of the HR Strategy have
been in relation to:

• Changing and embedding a culture of year-round, in-house training; much of

which requiring mandatory attendance and, encouraging staff to take
individual responsibility for updating their knowledge in this way

• Changing the culture and attitudes around widening participation and equal
opportunities and working towards embedding it into all institutional activities

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 One of the main learning points that has emerged from RDS One, has been the
underestimation of the extent of time needed to effect change and introduce new
systems as part of the change management of the College.

2 Mission Statement - Strategic Aims & Objectives

Ravensbourne’s Mission Statement is:

‘To provide innovative and dynamic educational opportunities through high quality
teaching and student support. We are a national institution with international
perspectives but we attach particular importance to contributing to London’s social
and cultural vibrancy and its economic prosperity. We encourage creativity and
enterprise in our students and staff and champion the creative exploitation of digital
technologies in design and communication.’

The external challenges facing higher education are many and varied as outlined in
the recent White Paper, ‘Future of Higher Education’ and several key influences
contained in the Paper, have influenced both the Corporate Plan and Human
Resources Strategy.

With this national context in mind, the core strategic aims of Ravensbourne lie in the:

• Implementation of plans to relocate the College to new premises on the

Greenwich Peninsula

• Development of strategic alliances with selected partners and collaborating

actively with regional, national and international partners in support of the
creative industries

• Provision of high quality, specialist education in design and communications,

which meets the needs of our students, their employers and the business
sectors we serve

• Development of creative and effective knowledge transfer and business

support services which meets the needs of our client industries

• Maintenance and development of responsible and sensitive arrangements for

management and governance

• Provision of a diverse community

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3 Strategic Operating Context

The strategic drivers listed above are set within the context summarised below.

Development of strategic alliances with selected partners and collaborating

actively with regional, national and international partners in support of the
creative industries and to implementation of plans to relocate the College to
new premises on the Greenwich Peninsula

Collaboration is essential to the continued richness of the College’s academic

provision, as well as for its longer term sustainability and that of the London provision
of HE generally. The development of detailed proposals began during 2004-05 with
the following institutions; the University of Greenwich, Rose Bruford College, and
Trinity Laban, with Goldsmith College being involved in some of these discussions.
However, discussions with Goldsmiths College, are presently at an advanced stage
in respect of academic collaboration in the field of creative technologies as well as
“back-office” functions.

All this is seen against the emerging interest in the South East Cluster of small
specialist institutions currently under discussion with local partners and the Funding
Council, to determine how this might move forward, to the mutual benefit of all its
partners. Ravensbourne intends to play a positive role in this linkage, but the full
potential of this partnership will only be realised when the College relocates.

Provision of high quality, specialist education in design and communications

which meets the needs of our students, their employers and the business
sectors we serve

Since the establishment of a new Quality Team, new systems and processes for
ensuring quality have been put in place and implemented following the disappointing
outcome of the QAA in December 2003. Since then, the College has strived to
strengthen its quality assurance systems and was latterly rewarded by a positive
outcome following a QAA review of selected Foundation Degree provision. In addition
to this, the QAA have decided not to visit the College in December 2005, but to
accept a self assessment exercise to be submitted within the same timescale.
Moving forward, the College will continue to prioritise quality and standards
throughout its academic and support activities.

The College is developing new approaches to delivering learning and teaching in

readiness for its relocation. The E-studio club proposal to JISC, is an indication of the
new approaches to the delivery of HE within practitioner-based specialist institutions.
The submission addresses the problem of the traditional creative studio and pilots a
new pedagogy based on mobile connectivity (both internal and external) and on
flexible learning space, as is required for individual, small group and whole cohort
activities and informed by self-managed learning. The key outputs of the project will
be available for the wider community, (the SE Cluster) by a particular methodology or
toolkit for setting up technology-enabled learning spaces, including approaches to
managing the technology, empowering self-organised learners, and enabling staff.

The College has continued to meet its student target numbers over the last 10 years,
suggesting that it has little difficulty in consistently attracting students to its courses.
Clearly, the introduction of student fees from 2006 and the uncertainty about whether
institutions will be able to continue to meet their recruitment targets, will present

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challenges for all. The College will need to maintain its high quality academic
provision and reputation within the industries it serves, in order to continue to attract
increasing numbers of students from a range of diverse backgrounds. Widening and
increasing participation will, therefore, continue to be an important and permanent
aim for the College as will the improvement of opportunities for its students for
lifelong learning.

Development of creative and effective knowledge transfer and business

support services which meets the needs of our client industries

Ravensbourne is characterised by its close links with industry and the supply of
highly skilled graduates to the creative industries. This constitutes a powerful
expression of its success, track record and commitment to knowledge transfer. The
Human Resources Strategy will need to ensure that its employment arrangements
contribute to the progress the College wishes to make in this area.

Maintenance and development of responsible and sensitive arrangements for

management and governance

The development of responsible and sensitive arrangements for the management

and governance of the College is underpinned by the broadening of skills on the
Board, due to an increase in its constituency, and the provision of regular training and
review opportunities to improve effectiveness in a range of areas. These activities
help to increase the Board’s capacity in governance, leadership and management
and better equip the Board to respond to the future challenges.

Specialist opportunity exists for development of Senior and Middle Mangers within
the “in-house” training facility provided by the College and also with the HE Academy.

Provision of a diverse community

The College has made considerable progress in this area over the last 3 years under
the leadership of the Director of Diversity and Progression. This role was created to
strengthen and develop new links with a range of organisations including schools, to
widen access and encourage and attract non-traditional learners to the College’s
programme of activities.

Activities have been geared towards working with schools, colleges and community
groups, with the objective of raising young peoples’ aspirations, attainment and
encouraging those from under-represented groups within society, to apply to the
College for further and higher education courses as appropriate.

The number of initiatives in this area has expanded greatly over the last three years
and has included events such as taster days, student ambassador led workshops,
attainment and enrichment activities, summer schools, professional staff
development for teachers visiting the College with their pupils, and students careers
events.

In respect of staffing initiatives, the College has worked hard to implement a top-
down approach to the progression of equality of opportunity, and in the achievement
of a cultural shift in dealing with equality issues and embedding equal opportunities

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and race equality into the College’s activities. A summary of key activities in this area
can be found in Section 5 (iii) starting on page 10.

4 Summary of Human Resources Priorities / Objectives for 2005-08 to

Support the College’s Strategic Objectives

The strategic aims, objectives and operating context summarised above, translate
into the following objectives and priorities for the Human Resources function over the
next 3 years:

• The development of collaborative HR activities and benchmarking within the

SE Cluster of Trinity-Laban, Rose Bruford College and Goldsmiths College

• The development of Human Resources objectives and targets in relation to

the planned relocation of the College to new premises

• Assessment of current employment arrangements to determine how they

support the key objective of the development of effective knowledge transfer,
and business support services which meet the needs of the College’s client
industries

• The retention of high quality staff at the College’s current site and within the
context of a planned relocation to Greenwich, especially in those areas where
strong linkages with industry are required

• Maintenance of a developmental culture by continued opportunities for staff

training, appraisal and the maintenance of job-related skills, with the required
flexibility for the delivery of corporate / departmental and individual objectives

• The necessity for staff to contribute to the evolving technological environment

through a high level of ITC skill and ability

• The continued development of management skills for managers

• The continued progression of developments in Equal Opportunities and

Diversity, to enable the College to continue to achieve a workforce that
mirrors the community it currently serves

• To adapt and implement the National Framework Agreement for the

modernisation of the College’s pay structure and reward system

• To review and monitor the phased implementation of performance

management systems and processes across the hourly-paid sessional
lecturing staffing

• To provide an effective and efficient support staff service to both internal and
external customers

• To continue to develop and extend the quality of the College’s learning and
teaching across the full range of its activities

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 • The continued development of approaches which enable the flexible delivery
of learning opportunities, facilitating the participation of non-traditional
learners and under-represented groups.

A detailed account of the objectives and associated targets and outcomes is provided
in the Action Plan [see Section 7 – separately attached document].

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5 Summary of Key Activities and Outcomes 2001-05

Funding Allocation

Ravensbourne received a total funding allocation of £282,198 under Round One of

the R&DS initiative for the period 2001-02 to 2003-04 inclusive and £80,596 for 2004-
05 under Round Two.

The R&DS funding provided an important platform to enable the College to achieve
targeted activities resulting in the following key organisational outcomes:

• An accelerated pace of change in key areas of the College’s business,

coupled with a sense of a greater organisational focus, for introduction of new
processes and systems

• Human Resource Management activities which are more firmly embedded

into the College’s planning frameworks

• Greater profile for the Human Resources function

The key activities, outcomes and achievements are summarised below under each of
the priority headings, as submitted to HEFCE in the College’s extended Investment
Plan of May 2004.

(i) Recruitment and Retention

The College’s key recruitment and retention objective is to recruit and retain high
calibre staff for the business, within the context of the planned relocation to
Greenwich in 2008-09, especially in those areas where strong linkages are required.

Some of the key activities and outcomes in this area have been:

• To increase levels of performance related-pay for senior and middle staff to

reduce risk of poaching

• The procurement and phased implementation of the Info Support Human

Resources data base system and associated modules for managing absence,
on-line recruitment and training. Prior to the introduction of the database most
HR records were held manually

• Individual interviews with all staff to ascertain their views in relation to the
planned relocation to the Greenwich Peninsula

• Review of the College’s remuneration package against data received from SE

Cluster members. This has resulted in both additional and improved data on
pay and benefits

• The development of an enhanced staff induction programme based on the

production and introduction of an Induction DVD [See Action Plan, sub-
objective 1.3 and also 8.3]

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(ii) Staff Development

The College aims to ensure that staff are provided with appropriate training and
developmental opportunities to enable them for make the fullest contribution to the
organisation. The provision of training and staff development opportunities is,
therefore, a key priority for the College in order to ensure that staff posses the skills
required in order for the College to achieve future success both at its current location
and the planned site at Greenwich. The key activities and achievements in this area
are as follows:

• The establishment of an annual Training and Staff Development booklet

began at the start of the 2002/03 academic year. The in-house provision
includes training in the areas of diversity, legislation, internal regulatory
frameworks; health and safety; quality frameworks and management
development

• The continued embedding of training and staff development into the College’s
culture

• The Introduction of a training website, housing training presentation materials

on-line, and details of future in-house training and development opportunities.
The website also provides a forum for feedback and discussion on training
events

• The development of generic competencies amongst junior and middle

managers through the provision of management development training

• The Introduction of Induction meetings for new hourly-paid staff

• The Introduction of regular staff breakfast meetings hosted by the Director

• Progress towards the attainment of HE Academy Accreditation by academic

staff

• Comprehensive recording and monitoring of training budgets.

(iii) Equality of Opportunity

The College has, over the last few years, sought to achieve a holistic approach to the
progressive achievement of equality of opportunity across all of its activities. The
College has been largely successful in developing and refining its activities, as
evidenced by the achievement of the activities below:

• Strengthening the representation of equality issues at the Board of

Governors, having appointed a Race Equality and Equal Opportunities
champion to its membership in 2004. There is now a visible top-down
approach to equal opportunities and race equality

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 • Establishment of a directorial role to represent equality issues at the senior
Management Committee. This has, over the last 3 years, ensured that equal
opportunities and race relations issues are embedded into the strategic
planning process

• Redefining the composition and terms of reference of the Diversity

Committee, chaired by a member of the Board of Governors

• Annual revision of the Equal Opportunities Policy and Race Equality Policy
and associated Action Plans, to ensure continuing relevance to the College,
its students, staff and visitors

• The introduction of mandatory equalities training for all staff; to date over 80%
of staff have participated in equal opportunities, race equality and other such
training

• The achievement of a cultural shift in dealing with equality issues and the
embedding of equal opportunities and race equality into the College’s
activities

• Production and analysis of statistical data from which annual monitoring,

reporting and publication of statistical information informs the review and
development of policies, actions plans and practice

• Completion of an Equal Opportunities and Race Equality audit from which

recommendations were incorporated into the respective action plans and
subsequently progressed

• The piloting of Equality Impact Assessments in various areas of the College

• Positive feedback from the Equality Challenge Unit in July 2004 and October
2005, regarding continued institutional developments in the progression of
race relations

• The commissioning of external research entitled, ‘Women Working in the

Broadcasting Industries’. The report has enabled the College to set
achievable gender targets to enable a gender realignment in certain areas of
the College’s academic provision

• Review of staffing policies to ensure that policies are not operating to the
detriment of women, ethnic minorities and disabled people

• Significantly increased racial composition (currently 8% BEM staff) which

currently exceeds the benchmarking census 2001 for the London Borough of
Bromley (the borough within which the College is situated).

(iv) Reviews of Staffing Needs

The College’s key objective here has been to ensure that staff have the relevant skills
and required flexibility to deliver organisational objectives as set out in the Corporate
Plan.

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The College set itself two objectives. The first objective is to ensure that the
workforce incorporates the appropriate skills mix to meet the Institution’s current and
future needs. The second objective is to increase the College’s reputation and
competitiveness across both academic and private sectors.

Substantial progress has been made in both areas, although a significant amount of
activity remains to be undertaken before both objectives are fully achieved, within the
given timescales over 2006 and 2007. To date the following key activities and
outcomes have been achieved:

• Completion of a staff skills audit in Broadcasting from which skills shortages

and surpluses were identified

• Restructuring of the Broadcasting staffing

• Establishment of a Quality Team

• Provision of training to support the College’s quality assurance processes and

to increase staff engagement with the national academic infrastructure
generally.

(v) Annual Performance Review

The College has, for the last 10 years, operated a mandatory staff appraisal system
for both academic and support staff, with compulsory training for appraisers and
optional training for appraisees. The process has, therefore, been firmly embedded
into the College’s management process for some time. Within this context the
College took the opportunity to progress and achieve the following:

• Greater productivity across the College as evidenced by the annual staff

appraisal reports which are kept centrally by Human Resources

• Revision of the staff appraisal scheme into a single document applicable to

both academic and support staff

• Extension of the staff appraisal scheme to cover fractional staff

• Introduction of an annual Governors Award to recognise and reward

outstanding individual or team-based contributions.

(vi) Poor Performance

Historically, the College has had very few incidences of under performance.
Nevertheless, it was recognised that documented processes should be established to
handle any future eventualities that may arise. Key activities in this area have
therefore been to:

• Introduce a Capability Policy

• Train managers in the use of the policy

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The Impact of these activities has been to raise awareness of capability issues and to
provide the framework for ensuring a consistent approach to addressing cases of
under performance where they arise.

(vii) Framework for the modernisation of the College’s Pay and Reward
structures

Good progress has been made toward implementation of the Framework Agreement.
The College has adopted a 2-phased approach to implementation. Phase One will
see the completion of job evaluation by August 2006 and Phase Two, the introduction
of contribution-related pay with associated criteria by March 2007.

Key activities in this area have been:

• The preparation of a draft Total Reward Strategy for approval by the Finance
and General Purposes Committee and Board of Governors

• Review and implementation of Salary Review and Promotions Policy

• Progression with job evaluation against a prepared timetable of activities to

enable completion by August 2006

• Review and adjustment of the College remuneration package based on

various comparative external benchmarking data.

(viii) Part-time and hourly-paid fixed-term sessional staff

Due to the vocational nature of the College’s courses, the employment of hourly-paid
sessional lecturers plays an important role in the teaching provision. Historically,
large numbers of sessional lecturers have been employed to provide cutting edge
professional industry knowledge to the courses, and this has been a key component
of the student learning experience at Ravensbourne. In view of this the College
wishes to assure the quality of its sessional teaching across the academic provision.
Pursuant to this, the College has, over the last 2 years, sought to review the
relationship with its sessional staffing.

The following key activities and outcomes have stemmed from this review:

• The introduction of transparent sessional staff recruitment and selection

criteria from which appropriate rates of pay are awarded

• A review of the training and staff development provision for sessional lecturers

• The introduction of an induction DVD for new sessional staff appointments

[Action Plan, sub-objective 8.3]

• A review and extension of some existing management processes to cover

sessional staff with more than 1-year’s continuous service. These extended
activities will be phased in over a 2-year period and include processes such

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 as; staff appraisal, peer observation of teaching and probationary meetings
for new sessional lecturers

• A significant reduction in sessional costs and the College’s over reliance on

hourly-paid sessional lecturers has been achieved by reducing the sessional
FTE by 30% over the last 2 years. The subsequent savings have been
reinvested in the employment of full-time academic staff, to bolster the full-
time teaching provision across the College.

(xi) Professionalisation of the College Support Staff

The College’s key objective here is to provide an effective and efficient support
service to both internal and external customers. The key activities and outcomes
arising from this objective have been:

• To continue to provide appropriate training and developmental opportunities

for support staff, through the annual in-house training and development
provision

• The revision of the Staff Development Policy to ensure inclusiveness and

continuing relevance to the College’s objectives

• The maintenance of the amount of the Staff Development budget in order to

finance professional exams and qualifications. [The College has 3 separate
training and development budgets. The first budget is the Training budget
which funds self-initiated training that has been identified during the annual
staff appraisal meeting. The second budget is the Computer training budget
and this funds all aspects of IT training. The third budget is the Staff
Development budget which funds activities in line with strategically identified
priorities such as HE Academy Accreditation, higher degrees and professional
qualifications

• The achievement of a 100% participation rate of support staff in at least one

internal training event during 2004-05, thereby providing strong evidence of
the inclusive nature of the in-house training provision.

(x) Development and Extension of the quality of the College’s learning and
teaching across the full range of the College’s academic provision

The establishment of a Quality Team in May 2004 has provided a platform for
significant activity and development in the area of quality assurance. Of the key
outcomes achieved, the College has:

• Significantly strengthened internal frameworks for assuring the quality of the

academic provision, through the establishment of robust systems and
procedures

• Provided mandatory training on the internal and external quality frameworks

and regulations

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 • Made good progress towards embedding peer observation across academic
activities

• Made demonstrable progress towards the development of opportunities for

Resource Based Learning

• Achieved a demonstrably stronger linkage between teaching and professional

practice, through the expansion of the Learning and Teaching Staff
Development programme by 75% during 2004-05.

(xi) The Development of approaches enabling the flexible delivery of

learning opportunities, facilitating the participation of non-traditional learners
and under-represented groups

The following activities and outcomes have been achieved in this area:

• The inclusion of an identifiable Widening Participation agenda into all

validated programmes

• The integration of staff development and student support planning, through

validation, thereby ensuring that the College’s academic portfolio facilitates
the participation required

• The provision of appropriate development activities in the in-house Training

and Development Brochure for staff, enabling staff to develop skills to teach
students with diverse learning needs.

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6 Future Challenges and Forward Planning

The challenges faced by the College over the next 3 years are many and varied as
evidenced by its aims, objectives and operating contexts. In order to rise to those
challenges the College will need to maintain the momentum of R&DS One. The
Action Plan, therefore, must continue to hold the interest of managers and
appropriate staff who will, in conjunction with Human Resources, deliver the targets
and achieve the desired outcomes.

The College has produced a comprehensive Action Plan [see attachment] of targeted
activities and outcomes, the achievement of which are key to many of the College’s
strategic goals over the next 3 years.

The content of the Action Plan overleaf is closely aligned with the various key
organisational strategies and plans. In this respect the Human Resources Strategy
and Action Plan continues to shape, and be shaped by the College’s business
objectives, which in turn, continues to integrate with the College’s business planning
generally.

The targets, outcomes and objectives contained in the Strategy tables are therefore
aligned with:

• The Corporate Plan

• Learning and Teaching Strategy (incorporating the former Staff Development
Committee)
• Equal Opportunities and Race Equality Policies and Action Plans
• Widening Participation Strategy
• Commercial Strategy
• Finance Strategy
• Total Reward Strategy
• Estates Strategy

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