Heather Walker, Laura Montgomerie and Emeritus Professor Bethan Wood, University of Glasgow consider how a university Learning and Teaching Strategy was made relevant to the work of professional services staff.

A conundrum was identified in the School of Social and Environmental Sustainability, University of Glasgow, when the authors pondered: how can we make the University Strategies relevant to the work of the School’s Professional Services Staff?

The background

“So, where do I fit in?” It’s a question that surfaced repeatedly during personal development reviews with our team of nine professional services staff. Based on a rural campus with a broad remit, we wear many hats – programme support, timetabling, quality assurance, student experience, finance, and more. Yet despite being deeply embedded in the day-to-day life of the University, there was a shared uncertainty about how our work connected to the institution’s learning and teaching strategy.

The review conversations revealed a common theme: colleagues struggled to see how their roles contributed to the bigger strategic picture. The University’s strategy spoke confidently about academic excellence, student experience, and teaching quality – but where did professional services sit within that narrative?

Faced with this challenge, the team reflected on the best approach to ensure that academic colleagues could appreciate professional services’ valuable contribution to the delivery of the University strategy at all levels. It was agreed that an in-person, interactive workshop involving all parties would be the best way forward.

We wanted to frame this challenge within a conceptual model that could make our contribution visible and tangible and identified Porter’s Value Chain as a helpful lens. Although traditionally used in business contexts, it provided a practical way to map how value is created across the institution.

Together, we reframed learning and teaching as the University’s “primary activity,” with professional services—including our own work—as essential support activities that enable excellence. Seeing our work visualised in this way was incredibly affirming. It demonstrated how administrative efficiency directly shapes teaching quality, student wellbeing, and academic integrity.

The workshop

After some research, the team thought that the University’s Learning and Teaching Strategy (2021-25; University of Glasgow, 2025a) would be suitable for a workshop, considering that most of the Professional Services (PS) staff had roles as programme administrators. Luckily, the University had published this Strategy on a single page (University of Glasgow, 2025b) and this could utilised in the workshop as a template for annotating where PS staff had input into the Strategy in their daily work.

Most of the School’s PS staff attended the workshop since it fell on a day and time when they would normally have a PS staff meeting – this is important because the workload of each is high (covering many roles) and even taking an hour or two out of their week means that they then have to catch-up on their normal work. The workshop was introduced by Bethan as hopefully demonstrating to them how the work they undertake is relevant to University Strategy. Each was given a hard copy of the Strategy on a page and Bethan ran through the components of the strategy, i.e., Purpose, Values, Pillars (and Enablers) and Outcomes. Then, using her experience as an academic, she showed how some components were relevant to the work of the School’s academics. Following this, Bethan than chose some content to demonstrate how they were relevant to the work of some of the PS staff in the workshop e.g., the support provided by the programme and course administrators to convening academic staff and the students who are undertaking placements.

Each PS staff then annotated their hard copy of the Strategy on a page and when completed, fed back on some of the work they had identified as relevant to the Strategy. The workshop concluded with staff reflecting on what they had learnt from the workshop.

The reflection

The workshop emphasised how our operational tasks contribute to our strategic goals. It became clear that our policies, procedures, and administrative functions have a broader impact than we initially realised. The importance of accuracy in our roles was highlighted, as the tasks performed by professional services often underpin the overall strategy. By ensuring our procedures are streamlined and effective, and our service delivery is efficient, we can positively influence our strategic outcomes.

Additionally, the workshop fostered a culture of partnership between our academic colleagues and us. It revealed that their engagement and understanding of our processes and procedures are essential, as they directly contribute to them. If they become more involved with us and share our commitment to accuracy and quality, even small improvements can yield significant benefits over time, enhancing our operations and aligning with our strategic objectives.

When tasks within the professional services team require input from academics, it is crucial that they engage appropriately. This collaboration enables us to complete tasks swiftly and accurately, thereby minimising the time academics spend away from their work. If the infrastructure is stable and efficient, it benefits the whole school. By reducing administrative errors, we can improve the student experience, lessen student stress, and help academics manage their workload more effectively.

The workshop helped us identify additional opportunities for collaboration with our academic partners. We can now clearly articulate how our joint efforts impact the overall strategy, ensuring that we are all working towards the same goals.

Final thoughts

Potentially any university strategy can be made appropriate to the work of its staff. By taking elements of the strategy and providing some examples of where there is relevance, we can assist staff in making further connections themselves. If successful, then staff will feel more empowered in their day-to-day activities, because they will recognise, and understand, why they have been asked to undertake this work.

References

Porter, M.E., 1985. Competitive Advantage: Creating and Sustaining Superior Performance. The Free Press.

University of Glasgow, 2025a. About Learning and Teaching Strategy. [Online). Available at: https://www.gla.ac.uk/myglasgow/learningandteaching/about/ . [Accessed 17th September 2025]

University of Glasgow, 2025b. Learning and Teaching Strategy on a page. [Online). Available at: https://www.gla.ac.uk/media/Media_842672_smxx.pdf . [Accessed 17th September 2025]

Heather is a Programme Administrator in the Student and Academic Operations team at the School of Social and Environmental Sustainability, University of Glasgow. She has responsibility for the Education degree portfolio and coordinates the operational aspects of school placements. Heather also supports whole-school student-advising processes, as well as managing interviews for teaching degrees.

Laura is the Student Experience and Operations Manager in the School of Social and Environmental Sustainability, University of Glasgow. She has worked in the Higher Education sector for almost 2 decades, at several sector leading institutions in both academic and professional service roles. Her experience has been focused in the areas of Learning and Teaching, Academic Policy & Quality Assurance and more recently, Student Experience.

Bethan is formerly a Professor of Ecology and Deputy Head of School (Staff and Student Experience) in the School of Social and Environmental Sustainability, University of Glasgow. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Biology and a Chartered Biologist. She is also a Principal Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and a Fellow of the Linnean Society.