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Professional services in higher education

Advice on the many functions of a university that fall outside academia or teaching such as HR, finance, communications, department and laboratory management, libraries and student services. Find out how professional services teams in higher education can best ensure the smooth running of an institution, supporting teaching, research and student success – and work effectively with their academic colleagues.

A hiring manager shaking hands with a candidate

Recruitment isn’t an endurance test – universities should stop treating it like one

If we want the best researchers, educators and professional services colleagues to choose our institutions, we need to scrutinise whether the processes designed to recruit them are helping or hindering us, writes Angela Goff

Angela Goff

UCL

Adding an E to an MBA: what an ‘executive’ rebrand costs in real terms

Renaming an MBA an EMBA sounds like a branding tweak. It isn’t. Here’s what we learned about stakeholder buy-in, message sequencing and what a single letter can mean

Ekant Veer, Teresa van Dugteren

University of Canterbury | Te Whare Wānanga o Waitaha

What established academics can learn from technical staff

University research runs on the expertise of technicians, research software engineers, data stewards and core‑facility specialists. Treat them as strategic partners and your group’s quality, speed and compliance will improve

Ian D. Williams

University of Southampton

A peer-led approach to helping university students with information overload

Complex administration tasks and fragmented communication channels can cause students unnecessary stress and prevent them from accessing support. A centralised approach that offers peer guidance can be an answer

Véronique Hédou

Université de Technologie de Compiègne

Five ways academics can protect their annual leave

Organisation and communication will ease the way for university staff to book guilt-free time off and prevent burnout

Emily Nordmann

University of Glasgow

Alain-Bernard Pompilus is associate vice-president for constituent knowledge and insights at the University of Florida

Campus interview: Alain Pompilus of the University of Florida on how to better understand – and connect with – prospective and current students

How can universities develop sophisticated systems for data sharing and analysis that can guide communications and student services? Alain Pompilus was tasked with putting such a system in place and shares lessons from the experience

Alain-Bernard Pompilus

University of Florida

Secondary students solving a maths problem on a whiteboard

Widen access to higher education by improving school attainment

With school attainment a key driver of progression to university, outreach must go beyond traditional interventions to widen access. Matthew Lucas offers five evidence-led ways to design educationally robust programmes

Matthew Lucas

UCL

How we cut daily lab deliveries by 94 per cent

By cutting down deliveries, you can lower your lab’s carbon footprint, reduce clutter and admin and free up researchers to focus on discovering new cures and treatments. Learn how

Kully Sunner, Stephen Shine , Kelly Newman

UCL

What bush turkeys can teach us about adaptability at work

When ‘wildlife relocation’ became an unexpected part of her role, Liisa Partanen found the experience came with insight into workplace resilience and problem-solving

Liisa Partanen

The University of Queensland

Two professionals using stick notes to plan

Building internal change management capability as a future-proofing strategy

University staff have institutional knowledge and understand the organisational practices and interpersonal dynamics that influence decision-making. So it makes sense to develop their change competence, writes Karen Mather

Karen Mather

University of Canterbury | Te Whare Wānanga o Waitaha

Turning student data into student success

Data alone will not ensure effective student support. From careers to well-being and disability services, using it successfully requires collaboration between academic and professional services, training and shared accountability, writes Aleata Alstad-Calkins

Aleata Alstad-Calkins

University of Roehampton

A laptop with a padlocked chain around it

Why AI adoption in universities is really a question of trust

To encourage AI use that aligns with institutional policies, university governance must prioritise transparency, usability and academic autonomy. Learn how

Isabel Fischer , Susanne Beck, Joe Nandhakumar

The University of Warwick

‘Employability is more than getting a job’

Careers services go beyond preparing students for immediate graduate positions. They equip students to navigate their professional lives over time, to progress and adapt through change. Gemma Kenyon explains the nuances of delivering employability at scale

Gemma Kenyon

City St George’s, University of London

A group of students sitting at a table in the library

Build AI and information literacy through targeted library support

How student-centred AI literacy programmmes can build confidence, critical thinking and playful learning

Amy McEwan, Isobel Eddyshaw, Jenny McGarvey

The University of Exeter

The hidden research power of librarians at small research-intensive universities

Early career librarians might not see how proximity to faculty, students and institutional decision-making creates opportunities to contribute meaningfully to research initiatives. Trina Fyfe offers critical reflections

Trina Fyfe

University of Northern British Columbia

A team of professionals brainstorming in an office

Making a university people strategy real

A university-wide plan to improve working culture works best when team leaders take ownership of it. Donna Dalrymple offers guidance on translating strategy into meaningful change

Donna Dalrymple

UCL

A researcher being interviewed for a podcast

From research to reach: working with marketing and comms teams

If research is to shape public debate, support students and inform society, academics must learn how to collaborate with marketing and communications teams to extend its reach beyond the journal page, says Bertha Martínez

Bertha Martínez

CETYS Universidad

Three colleagues having tea and biscuits

Beyond bureaucracy: how to work with faculty professional services staff

How better communication, collaboration and mutual understanding can transform relationships between academics and the colleagues who support them

Charlotte Price

The University of East Anglia

Why universities should rethink line management before they rethink learning

Strong line management leads to higher staff engagement and retention, supports healthier research environments, reduces conflict and enables smoother adoption of change, writes Annie Owen. Here are ways universities can foster it

Annie Owen

University of Southampton

Help your students develop their own career compass

In an age when the job market is rapidly changing, equip students with the skill to understand how their personality can shape their career

Natalie Feng, Randford Joseph Tay

Singapore Institute of Technology

Campus Talks: How to maximise relationships between university academic and professional services staff

An expert educator embedded in teaching development explains what universities gain when they celebrate professional services expertise and provide clear, meaningful career pathways

Eleanor Hodgson , Eliza Compton

The University of Exeter

Connecting the dots between academic and professional services staff

Advice for working with the essential – and often unsung – professional services teams who enable universities to deliver effective teaching, research and student success

Campus contributors, Eliza Compton

Campus

How employability teams can strengthen academic programmes

Working like recruitment partners, rather than just career advisers, can help align teaching with industry needs, writes Hanene Duprat

Hanene Duprat

Al Akhawayn University

Across the divide: reimagining faculty-staff collaboration in higher education

Academic units do best when they harness different viewpoints – from field scientists and curriculum designers to extension professionals – to drive innovation and relevance. Saskia van de Gevel offers proactive advice

Saskia van de Gevel

Virginia Tech

What it means to be a university social media director

Social media director is an often-misunderstood role. From the outside, the job can seem as if it revolves around sports highlights, trending sounds and campus beauty shots but those moments represent only a fraction of the work

Riley Phillips

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Segmenting academic audiences for effective internal communication

The diversity of university academics and the complexity of their roles make effective internal communication difficult. Here, David Brown and Katie Trachtenberg explore ways in which communications professionals can segment messaging to reach different audiences

David M. Brown , Katie Trachtenberg

Heriot-Watt University

A team of professional services staff haveing a discussion

Professional services staff, you’re educators, too

Professional services educators play an important role in supporting student and staff learning at universities. Here are ways to help them to recognise and evidence their teaching practice through Advance HE Fellowship

Eleanor Hodgson

The University of Exeter

A team brainstorming around a large table

Learn from product development to design HE courses

How a design thinking approach can support agile, innovative new course development

Theresa Mercer , Ron Corstanje

Cranfield University

An iceburg seen from below the water line

Under the waterline: making skills visible to students

Students often develop valuable transferable skills during their studies but struggle to recognise and articulate them to employers. Here’s how academics can work with careers professionals to support

Lorna Devlin

The University of Edinburgh

An unseen laptop user with a flow-chart visualisation superimposed

Why process mapping matters in higher education

A technique to help universities improve collaboration, reduce inefficiencies and build shared understanding across teams to support more effective working – and a framework for successful implementation

Helen Jones

University of Chester

Beat GenAI ‘stranger danger’ with staff training

Higher education staff are apprehensive about the new stranger in the room: GenAI. But personalisation and staff development can help alleviate anxiety

Katie Steen

WorkSmart-AI

Publishing as connection: lessons from developing a university press

By listening to researchers, staying flexible, embracing criticism and collaborating widely, those developing an institutional publishing ecosystem can reflect the values of the communities they serve

Emily Carter

University of Southampton

Colleagues looking at sticky notes on glass wall

A lean approach to university technology transfer

Universities can leverage selective outsourcing to build a lean, adaptive technology transfer office that enhances collaboration and responds to external funding cycles

Gavin Clark

University of the Arts London

Office workers discuss around a meeting table

Don’t forget HR when building a student-centred university

HR staff can be invaluable in shaping the student experience. Here’s how to keep them in the loop

Igor Kim

Nazarbayev University

Graduate ambassadors can support student employability

Alumna, alumnus, alumni: how can graduates influence current and future students?

Are universities mobilising one of their most impactful tools to boost student recruitment, improve graduate employability and strengthen the student experience: the alumni community?

Nicole Chapman, Jessica Boxall

University of Southampton

Using design sprints to reimagine university learning experiences

With a human-centred approach and the incentive of a short time frame, design sprints can bring multiple perspectives together to reimagine modules and curricula

James Forde, Iria Lopez

University of Leeds, Independent consultant

Participants in a seminar raise their hands

How to integrate development pathways for higher education professionals

Getting the best out of all employees means taking an intentional approach to staff development. This guide outlines four CPD categories and how to scaffold them

Steve Briggs

University of Bedfordshire

Happy multiracial group of college students

Reimagining the student experience using tips from start-up culture

Start-up principles such as rapid iteration, co-creation and agile teamwork can be used to transform the student experience, enabling faster, more effective responses to evolving student needs

Melissa Padfield, Sarah Wolgemuth

University of Alberta

Why university leaders must listen differently in one-to-ones

Talk less and listen more should be a mantra for leaders and managers. When they acknowledge diverse perspectives, avoid dominating discussions and reflect what they have heard, it sets the tone for more inclusive, respectful dialogue

Annie Owen

University of Southampton

THE Awards 2025: lessons from the stars of UK and Irish higher education

Learn from leading voices, innovative teams and individuals across the university sector, whose work has been recognised in the shortlist for this year’s Times Higher Education Awards

Campus contributors, Eliza Compton

Campus

A community-university partnership is a relationship, not an affair

Long-term, mutual benefits of civic engagement emerge slowly, which can be at odds with university timelines. A ‘new’ 10-year project shows how trust and commitment need persistence to pay off

Mhairi McVicar, Ali Abdi, Corey Smith

Cardiff University

Technical knowledge and expertise is more valuable than you think

Involving technical staff in decision-making committees can lead to more efficient practices and remove siloed thinking or practices, which benefits individual technicians, institutions and the sector

Jiteen Ahmed

Aston University

Mapping employability skills across curricula

A mandatory university-wide initiative shows how mapping professional skills against all programmes can tailor students’ work readiness no matter their career path

Katy Gordon

University of Southampton

From library-focused project to campus-wide collaboration

A heritage trail to mark an anniversary event began life in the library, but how to extend its reach to the rest of the university? Here’s what one library team learned when they collaborated across their institution

Rachael Jones, Neal Buchanan, Carol Stewart

University of Strathclyde

Funding bid for research illustration concept

How research technical professionals can enhance research infrastructure funding bids

When technicians are empowered and supported, they don’t just contribute to best practice and equipment sustainability, they can boost bids for investment in infrastructure

Alex Laude

Newcastle University

Compassion cuts through polarisation

Compassion, not empathy, is the emotion that will cut through group polarisation and motivate constructive intergroup dialogue in higher education. Training in mindfulness-based compassion meditation can be scaled at a relatively low barrier to entry

Rayne Bozeman

Georgia Tech’s Center for 21st Century Universities

AI as an access tool for neurodiverse and international staff

Used transparently and ethically, GenAI can level the playing field and lower the cognitive load of repetitive tasks for admin staff, student support and teachers

Vanessa Mar-Molinero

University of Southampton

Connecting and empowering technical staff: lessons for universities

Technicians themselves will have many of the answers to the challenges they face and can bridge staff groups, but their roles are often siloed or isolated. These suggestions build networks and communication

John Nicolson

University of Cambridge

Investing in futures: maximising legacy gifts in higher education

Legacy giving provides a valuable and sustainable source of income for charities but it’s still relatively untapped in the higher education sector. With universities and students under increasing financial pressure, now is a good time to make it a priority. Here’s how to get started

Carolyn Jones

University of Liverpool

Conversations that drive grassroots innovation in higher education

When university resources are limited, innovation doesn’t always begin with boardroom decisions or major funding. Sometimes it starts with one conversation and a willingness to act on it. Here’s how university staff can drive change through grassroots leadership initiatives

Penny Triantafillou

The University of Warwick

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