Job Shadowing HE

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 [email protected]

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.

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.

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.

Krissi Sanft is Managing Director of Portare Solutions, a boutique consultancy firm focused on change and transformation. Portare Solutions has a strategic partnership with Ellucian to accelerate, support and enhance the transformation to Software as a Service (SaaS) student information systems for HEIs. In this episode, Krissi provides an overview of her career path and the work of Portare Solutions, reflects upon the similarities and differences in managing change in HE compared with other sectors, discusses how to keep people front and centre within the transformation process and what steps can be taken to mitigate some of the challenges that accompany change.

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.