1. Delivering a professional administration: a case study in fieldwork
management
Speaker: Rosie Williams, Teaching and Learning Administrator, School of
Environment and Development, University of Manchester
Co-Speaker: Emma Casey, External Relations, Recruitment and Admissions
Administrator, School of Environment and Development, University of Manchester
This session looks at the how the School of Environment and
Development created a discrete role to review and improve the
administration of student field courses. The School is a multi-
discipline department coordinating approximately twenty
international student field courses per year, with a high proportion of
international student participants. Field courses in the School give
rise to complex issues around accessibility, immigration, budget
management, student pastoral care and health and safety.

2. Aims & Objectives
•To communicate our experience, in managing the professional administration of a
discrete function
•To demonstrate a practical example of aligning operational activity with strategy
and how to bridge the vision and the reality
•To communicate some strategies for improving operational performance in
administration through re-organisation
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3. Background to the
School of Environment and
Development,
University of Manchester
•School formed in September 2004 following merger
•Four disciplines Architecture, Planning, Geography and International Development
•Fully co-located and merged administration teams in July 2007
• Fieldwork administration sits within the Teaching and Learning team
• 12 staff within Teaching & Learning Team (further 7 staff in Recruitment & Admissions
Team)
•c.1000 undergraduate students
•c.450 postgraduate taught students
•c.200 postgraduate research students
• 60% of PGT students are International (non UK/EU)

4. Background to UGT/PGT fieldwork in the School
•Around 20 overseas fieldtrips each •Mix of Urban and Rural Fieldwork
year • Some practical fieldwork (Physical Geog)
•Around 30 day fieldtrips each year
•c.£450,000 spend per academic year
(c.50% recouped from students)

5. Recognising the need for change
•Mix of individuals organising fieldwork trips (academic staff, technical staff, admin
staff)
•Fieldtrip planning/organisation impacted on staff in Programme Teams at key
times in student life cycle so was generally done in haste, inefficiently or last
minute
•No standard practice in the organisation of trips across the School (H&S/payment
practices/budgeting)
•No central hub of information about fieldwork trips (timetables, costings)
•Student numbers growing, so fieldtrips grew larger, or increased in number
adding to the complexity
•Higher numbers of international PGT, led to increased issues with visas, financial
problems
•No senior experienced administrator with the capacity for the development of new
processes and practices

6. Challenges to implementing the change
•Used period of major University change to restructure
•Challenge of changing way PSS staff worked
•Challenge of changing way academic staff worked
•Dealing with increased level of expectation from staff
•Handling student needs
•Rationalising different ways of working across disciplines
•Forming new relationships with central University services

7. How change was implemented
Stages of implementation
1. Preparation/ Review 1 month
Extensive discussion with administrators and academics
SWOT analysis of existing processes
2. Strategy Formulation 2 years
Use of external agencies / guidelines to formulate School-level policy,
forming liaisons with central services, documentation of policy -
dissemination across the University AND
3. Centralisation of responsibility and approval 2 years
Supplier review / contractor appointment, budgetary monitoring, consistency
of health and safety and supervisory procedures
4. Try, try and try again
5. Re-dissemination at 4 years

8. Benefit analysis of introducing the change
•Effective management of unforeseen events
•Oversight of Budgets
•Ability to forward plan
•Health and Safety and Risk
•Standardisation of Practice
•Ability to find synergies with other areas of the School
•Signalling to academic colleagues the benefits that PSS staff can bring to
key tasks
•Improving the Student Experience

9. Ongoing Development
•Widening of hands-on experience
•Identification of training opportunities
•Role analysis identifying strategical responsibility to be retained and
administrative tasks to be disseminated
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10. 10

11. 11

12. 12

13. Closing Statement/Questions
Summary:
•Identifying the need for change
•Challenges
•Implementation
•Timeline
•Role analysis for re-dissemination
Lessons Learned
•Faster dissemination
Use:
•An example of benefit to Schools and departments with similar
characteristics and needs:
•Disparate disciplines / sub-divisions
•Disparate working practices
•Duplication of resource across common activities