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Advance HE working with Scotland 2023-24

Advance HE membership packages give you access to world-leading services, supporting you reach your institutional goals when working with Scotland.

In Scotland, Advance HE continues to work closely with Scottish universities and colleges, and alongside Universities Scotland, QAA Scotland, sparqs, College Development Network, Colleges Scotland, Scottish Funding Council and other sector partner stakeholders. We have a dedicated Head of Membership for Scotland (Laura Coutts) and our Director for Membership (Nick Skeet).

The team are also supported by the Director EDI, David Bass around national stakeholders and policy context. Members also benefit from a dedicated Scottish Senior Adviser supporting specifically in relation to the Equalities Charters. We also have Scottish and UK based Associates with expertise in Leadership, Governance, Equality, Diversity and Inclusion, Teaching and Learning who understand the Scottish tertiary sector and context.

Contact your Head of Membership

If you would like to speak your dedicated Head of Membership for Scotland Laura Coutts, please click the link below. 

Laura Coutts
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Advance HE Membership in Scotland

Advance HE’s membership offer for Scotland is informed by institutional and sectoral priorities and is structured around our four strands of expertise teaching and learning; leadership and management; equality, diversity and inclusion; and governance. Member institutions in Scotland will have access to the full range of Advance HE member benefits detailed in our Membership 2023-2024 brochure. These benefits include participation in themed programmes, access to our portfolio of resources (including reports, webinars and blogs), and access to our online networking platform, Advance HE Connect.

Explore our Member projects 2023-24
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Scottish Member Benefits

We continue to work closely with the Scottish sector, developing and running Member Benefit projects based on the key issues members flagged to us. This year we focus on a range of areas with a selection of workshops available to Scottish members. 

Please don’t hesitate to contact Laura Coutts, Head of Membership for Scotland, should you have any queries about any of these projects, or you have suggestions for future Member Benefit activity.

In addition to the global member benefits, member institutions in Scotland also have access to a suite of tailored member benefits themed around contemporary challenges facing the Scottish sector including:

  • Tertiary Sector Evolution – continued focus with global perspectives
  • A focus on cross-nations practice sharing and convening
  • Linked events and resources for cascading to operational leads through our networks

Events and workshop

Enabling and empowering yourself and others in times of complexity and uncertainty

Date: Wednesday 6th March 2024

The Sector as a whole is dealing with uncertain times, impacting teams across the board, and this session is designed to help you navigate a positive path.  I hope you can join us for this workshop and the details and sign-up are below.  Please note that sign-ups will be on a first come, first served basis and while the session itself will not be available as a recorded resource, it will be followed up with a written resource. 

Date and time: Wednesday 6th March, 10am – 12pm 

Location: Online via Zoom 

This session takes place on Zoom and signups, on a first-come, first-served basis, can be made here: https://my.advance-he.ac.uk/portal/events/details/?id=93f11866-819e-ee11-be37-002248c6f6b5

Navigating our context of complexity and uncertainty can be challenging, especially when your role is both strategic and operational. 

If you are a Head of Department or Service, an Associate Dean or Director, or an HR or ODI partner, join peers from other Scottish institutions to: 

  • Explore refreshed perspectives on enabling and empowering change 
  • Access new thinking to apply to a change you are leading 
  • Feel connected with renewed energy 
  • Apply 2 potent models to unblock any stuck-ness you may be experiencing 

This interactive session aims to create space to enable meaningful connections and knowledge sharing among colleagues, offering practical takeaways that can be applied to your leadership approach.  Together, we will co-create shared wisdom and practices which will be shared with the sector post session. 

This workshop will be co-facilitated by Sarah Hubbard and Katy Murray.

Sarah is a Senior Consultant in the Leadership, Organisational Development and Research team at Advance HE. Sarah has held different leadership roles and has significant experience enabling and empowering change in several universities in England and Scotland, including in equity and inclusion, delivery of student services and organisational design and development.

Katy Murray is an organisational development consultant, leadership coach, diversity equity and inclusion facilitator, speaker and author. Katy has worked with 1000s of leaders, across 35 countries and over 20+ years across sectors including HE, and specialises in transformational culture change bringing a strong intersectional lens to leadership development and centering leaders’ wellbeing and resilience. Katy has been named one of the top 50 UK D+I (diversity and inclusion) leaders, is the author of Change Makers - a Woman’s Guide to Stepping Up without Burning Out published by Kogan Page in 2022, and her thought leadership is featured in Association of MBAs, Chartered Management Institute, Psychologies Magazine, Grazia, Everywoman, Allbright, Metro and I News.  

Building staff belonging

Date: 29 November 2023, 9.00-12.00

This online workshop looked at building belonging in a hybrid environment and is aimed at all staff who lead teams. This took place on Wednesday 29 November 2023 and provided a valuable space to discuss challenges and focus on the next steps to improve a sense of belonging within your team. This session was designed for at those who support recruitment, induction, and retention activities across the institution.

As well as the opportunity for discussion, we also looked at the following key areas: 

  • How is the institution being ‘sold’ to candidates, what is the USP and how does that fit with the expectations you are setting;
  • How onboarding or staff induction and on-the-job training are handled in a hybrid working environment;
  • The role of peer learning in building belonging;
  • How do you manage retention – are there gaps in knowledge about the real reason people are moving roles?
  • How have managers been supported to manage hybrid teams?  
  • What are teams at a local level doing;
  • What can you do to help others bond with their teams, positively. 

Getting to Grips with Principal Fellowship – for applicants

Date: Wednesday 24 April 2024

Members have the opportunity to send up to 2 delegates to this free full-day workshop designed to support and guide them through PF requirements. This is a fully online workshop and will be held on Wednesday 24 April 2024. Invites will be issued to Learning and Teaching contacts in February 2024.

Strategically embedding Fellowships – for institutions

The 2022/23 member benefit project continues with a series of online workshops exploring institutional progress in embedding fellowships. Updates and any case study material will be shared at the end of this project. 

Further developing anti-racist curriculum projects in the Scottish context

Continuing development during the 2023/24 academic session, more details to follow.

Networks facilitated by Advance HE

  • Athena Swan Scotland network
  • Scottish Principal Fellows network
  • Scottish NTFS and CATE winners network.

Details on upcoming events will be announced in due course.

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The Evolution of Tertiary

National system-level changes are bringing post-compulsory education together in parts of the world. As this new tertiary sector takes shape in Scotland, Ireland and Wales, collaboration is at its core. Leaders in institutions big and small are forging new networks, navigating new systems and building flexible and inclusive learning and teaching models. Tertiary, in all its moving parts, is centred on the learner and their journey – often nonlinear and lifelong.

Advance HE will follow up our work in 2023–24 to bring leaders and practitioners together from across national and international contexts to share experiences and navigate a way forward together. We will use existing networks to convene targeted conversations, and wider member benefit themes to ensure best practice is shared and lessons are learned globally. Woven through our work is a commitment to build collaboration and develop change agency as a core skill in leaders as they work from within teams all the way to nationwide sectors

Explore Member project 2022-23:Tertiary Education - Navigating Complexity
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Head of Membership (Scotland) - Laura Coutts

Laura joined Advance HE in March 2022 as Head of Membership supporting member colleges and Universities in Scotland and Northern Ireland. In her previous role as Senior Director of University Partnerships with CEG Digital, she specialised in the implementation, launch and delivery of online programmes with a host of UK partner universities.

Contact Laura
Laura Coutts Advance HE Membership Team
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