Job Shadowing HE

My guest in this episode is Erica Conway, Chief Financial Officer at the University of Birmingham and Chair of the British Universities Finance Directors Group (BUFDG).
 
In this episode, Erica offers insight into the role of Chief Financial Officer, and how she works in partnership with university colleagues and governors to enable the institution to achieve its strategic goals. She also offers her reflections on the financial state of the wider sector, how finance professionals can be supported in fulfilling careers within Higher Education, and the benefits that she draws from her engagement as a trustee and governor with organisations beyond the university.
 
This episode is kindly sponsored by Peridot Partners. Peridot Partners transforms leadership and inspires change across organisations with a social purpose. Their specialist higher education team recruits diverse leaders and governors who are driven by your vision of academic excellence.

Holly Duglan is a Registrar and Secretary who had a leading role in managing the market exit of Writtle University College and its merger with Anglia Ruskin University in February 2024. 
 
In this episode, Holly talks about what led to the decision to exit the market as an autonomous institution, the 'red lines' determined by the Board of Governors to secure the future of its specialist provision and the role she took as Registrar and Secretary in navigating the process. She also reflects upon managing the market exit and merger alongside 'the day job', the pivotal role of legal advice and the more emotional aspects of a merger for staff and students. 
 
This episode is kindly sponsored by Pinsent Masons, a multinational law firm specialising in sectors including the Universities & Higher Education sector. The Universities & Higher Education team includes over 150 lawyers based in offices globally, drawing on the full resources of Pinsent Masons to cover the full range of legal disciplines.

Vivi Friedgut is Founder and CEO of Blackbullion, the learning platform for students who want to gain control of their money. Vivi is recognised nationally as one of the top 10 tech influencers and in this episode she shares more about why she set up Blackbullion, how it has evolved and how she works with numerous institutions across the UK and beyond. She also reflects upon the current financial position of the HE sector and talks about what she would like to see looking better for students in HE by the end of the decade. Blackbullion produces regular reports for the sector and you can sign up here to receive them. 

Reverend Ian Worsfold is Coordinating Chaplain at City St George’s University of London, who, with his team of chaplains from different faiths, play a central role in supporting the pastoral needs of the highly diverse student and staff body.
In this episode, Ian discusses how the role of chaplaincy has evolved at the institution during the past ten years, considers the importance of adapting to the needs of different communities, reflects upon what it means to ‘disagree well’ in a societal era of polarisation and provides insight into the Doctoral research he’s currently undertaking to influence equality, diversity and inclusion policies for students of faith in a secular university.

Dr Monika Nangia is Academic Registrar and Director of Student & Academic Services at Durham University. She is also leading The Power of Storytelling Project as part of the Higher Diversity Coalition. Data shows that ethnic diversity in professional services leadership - especially in student and academic services leadership - is concerningly low.
In this episode. Monika discusses her motivation for gathering stories from senior colleagues from ethnically diverse backgrounds, shares themes arising from their career experiences and discusses her vision for the future.
Please note that some of the stories may be uncomfortable to hear, but are included in this episode to show why sector-wide action is needed. To share your story with Monika, please connect with her via LinkedIn or at monika.nangia@durham.ac.uk
This episode is kindly sponsored by Gatenby Sanderson, the UK’s leadership expert. We partner with universities to find and place exceptional HE leaders and develop their teams – improving leadership performance, inclusivity and accelerating change.

Kelli Wolfe is Deputy Academic Registrar at the University of Roehampton. In this episode, Kelli talks about her role as Deputy Academic Registrar as well as the career path that led to it. She also shares background to her recent research entitled 'The Impact of High-Performance Work Practices on Employee Burnout Experience in UK Higher Education: A Professional Services Perspective' which was published by Taylor and Francis in August 2024. Kelli additionally offers reflections on solutions to avoiding and addressing work intensity and burnout, and how these can be enacted. 
 

Dr David Gilani is Head of Student Engagement and Advocacy at Middlesex University. 
In this episode, David shares more about his leadership of, and thoughts on, student engagement and what that means to support student success. He also reflects upon his own career path to date, and how and why the student engagement professional niche has become so much more prominent across the sector in recent years. David also offers insight about the benefits of being part of an institution’s board, and looks forward to where the sector focus on student belonging needs to be in the next 5 years.
 
This episode is kindly sponsored by SEAtS One. SEAtS One is a unified platform that helps universities make data-driven decisions to improve student success, retention, and compliance. From monitoring attendance to streamlining workflows and reducing operational costs, SEAtS offer a single, easy-to-use solution for managing student engagement, wellbeing, and institutional efficiency.

Dr Diana Beech is the Chief Executive of London Higher, the largest representative body of its kind in England. In this episode, Diana shares more about the role of London Higher and the type of work that she and her team lead to support the success of HE. She also delves into her career path to date, including her time at the Higher Education Policy Institute, and at the Government's Department for Education where she supported four different Ministers of State. 
 
This episode is kindly sponsored by Anderson Quigley which builds better leaders for a better society. They are industry experts with decades of experience in public sector executive search, interim management and advisory. 

Akhil Yerneni and Claire Carter are both partners at the Executive Search firm, Anderson Quigley. In this episode, Akhil and Claire demystify the role of an executive search firm in relation to both permanent and interim roles for HE professional services and academic staff and, amongst other topics, offer advice on how and when to work with firms to maximise engagement. 
 
This episode is kindly sponsored by the Academic Registrars Council (ARC). ARC is the national forum of senior managers responsible for the academic administration of student matters in publicly funded universities and colleges of Higher Education within the UK. 

Andrea Bolshaw is an Interim Registrar and Secretary. She started her Higher Education career as a Graduate Trainee, and subsequently carved out a career path through increasingly senior positions that took her to becoming a Registrar and Secretary in a permanent role. In 2023, she took a major professional decision to leave permanent employment and move into the freelance world. Since that time, she’s been Interim Registrar and Secretary at two institutions, and in this episode she shares her experiences and reflections on life as an interim. 

Professor Susannah Quinsee is Vice-President (Digital and Student Experience) at City, University of London and Ian Anderson is Principal Enterprise Architect at Ellucian. In this episode, Ian and Susannah reflect upon many of the themes that have arisen across the mini-series and consider how institutions are managing change. They draw together thoughts on how this might be done while also providing some sense of stability, consider the critical importance of building human connections, discuss the value of recognising success and milestones and provide some inspiration on why we should keep going and be proud of UK Higher Education.
 
This podcast mini-series is kindly sponsored by Ellucian. Ellucian combines higher education expertise, focused innovation and deep partnership to help institutions navigate transformation. Unlock success with the complete, integrated Ellucian SaaSPlatform connecting people, processes and applications across your institution.

Luke Phillimore is Associate Director of Change at the University of Nottingham and is also the Network Coordinator for the Association of Higher Education Professionals Change Network. In this episode, Luke focuses on why people are at the core of change, the importance of empowering people through the change process and why the most relevant outcome of change is people's acceptance to adopt it. As part of this discussion, Luke also explores the role of the Lean Six Sigma methodology, how to influence people when you don't have authority and the unexpected opportunities that can arise through engaging with external networks. 
 
This podcast mini-series is kindly sponsored by Ellucian. Ellucian combines higher education expertise, focused innovation and deep partnership to help institutions navigate transformation. Unlock success with the complete, integrated Ellucian SaaSPlatform connecting people, processes and applications across your institution.