Broadcast: News items

PS Essentials - March 2024

Posted on behalf of: Internal Communications

Last updated: Monday, 11 March 2024

PS Essentials highlights the key priorities for Professional Services colleagues and recent news which you and your teams may find useful. Please take five minutes to read the full PS Essentials below.

If there is information you would like included in a future edition of PS Essentials, please email the Internal Comms team at: internalcomms@sussex.ac.uk.

Quick links

About you

Listening to staff between surveys – share your views by Monday 11 March

Dozens of academic and Professional Services colleagues joined online focus groups recently to explore the best ways for staff views to be shared and heard in between the staff surveys that will be running every two years. Many ideas and comments were shared and you can read what participants had to say and add your own views to our online Padlet board until the end of the day on Monday 11 March. Find out more about actions underway as a result of the staff survey in our recent case studies from IT Services (ITS) and Sussex Projects and the HR Division.

Stay safe on the move with travel safety e-learning

The Health and Safety Team have introduced a new Corporate Travel Risk eLearning course which gives advice on how to stay safe when travelling domestically or internationally. The 30-minute training, which can be applied to both business and personal travel, helps you consider and plan for the risks associated with travel to help you maintain your personal safety. It is useful for all types of travel in the UK or abroad, whether you are travelling for a day to a meeting or conference, or for longer periods such as training or research off-campus.

If you travel on University business it is strongly recommended that you complete this course. If you travel to hazardous or remote areas, you must also complete hazardous environment and remote areas training. To access either course, please email: healthsafety@sussex.ac.uk. The inbox is monitored throughout the day and you will receive a prompt response.

For staff that are travelling to higher risk locations which are remote or where the Foreign & Commonwealth Office advise against all but essential travel, further specialist training is available. Please visit ‘Travel, Field Trips and Field Work’ section on the Health and Safety training page for more information.

Travel insurance is a mandatory requirement for all University business travel that involves either an overseas trip, or an overnight stay if in the UK. Members of staff or students must arrange travel insurance through the University - the University will not fund privately arranged travel insurance. This ensures a standard level of cover and essential services to travellers in an emergency (including location record, and emergency response, support and repatriation) and allows us to meet our duty of care obligations to staff and students.

About Professional Services

Leadership programme launches for current and future leaders

On 21 February we launched our Professional Services and Academic Leadership Programme at Sussex. We know that to deliver the University’s aims, it is critical to have effective and exceptional leadership across our community. Building leadership capacity and capability is vital, both to the experience of students and staff here and now, and to our future success. We have 40 current and future Sussex leaders from across the University undertaking the programme which will finish in June 2024. For more information on development support for Sussex managers visit our leadership and management webpage which includes:

a calendar of all development workshops and events
information about Management Essentials sessions running throughout the year
resources within the Manager’s Toolkit.

Further leadership and management online training is available on our online learning page which offers courses on LearnUpon and LinkedIn Learning.

Collection of tuition fee debt

The Finance team has been continuing with the regular cycle of collecting tuition fee debt from our students. Following our standard University process some students had access to IT and Library services withdrawn last week. This has now been reinstated temporarily to allow them to continue their studies whilst making arrangements to settle their outstanding balances. Students were notified of the reinstatement at the beginning of the week and should contact the IT Service Desk if they are experiencing issues.

Students are also being reassured that IT and Library access will continue to be available whilst they make arrangements to pay and there will be a clear communication in advance of any withdrawal of these services should they not take action.

Owing to the unprecedented number of students with outstanding balances there may be some delays in responding to the students affected; they have been assured that we will not withdraw any students where there are outstanding queries to resolve.

Staff involved in supporting and working with our students will receive a full briefing on the debt collection cycle before the Easter break. Staff are asked to avoid making contact with the Finance division on behalf of individual students as the student information is confidential and cannot be discussed with staff. Please refer to this information if you receive any questions from colleagues or students.

PS Places Programme update

In mid-February, news that the PS Places Programme will not continue at the current time was shared through a cascade by the PS Leadership Team. The decision about the programme was made following a review by the Capital Strategic Investment Board, which noted the need to focus resources on projects and programmes already in the delivery phase.

During the project’s early stages lots of work was undertaken to understand people’s needs and wants, and some teams made changes to their areas in preparation for any work that might take place. There have been some really important things learned and these won’t be lost. The Better Sussex team will shortly be updating the PS Places webpage with information, tips, ideas and case studies of changes to the way some teams are using their space.

Latest updates on improvement projects in the Transforming Sussex newsletter

Our monthly Transforming Sussex newsletter highlights key updates from the projects that are improving our University. Covering the four portfolio areas - Better Campus, Better Education, Better Working, and Better Research - this issue focuses on the launch of a new carbon labelling initiative in the ACCA Café, the project to deliver a new website, and new bitesize training as part of our Cyber Security campaign, to name just a few.

Stay informed and connected with the transformative initiatives shaping our University - sign up to receive the next issue of Transforming Sussex directly to your inbox.

Coming up

PS Bigger Picture: 18 March

Register now to attend PS Bigger Picture in person on Monday 18 March from 12 noon to 1pm where Emma Potts and members of the PS Leadership Team will share the latest updates on budgeting and financial planning. Submit any questions or issues for discussion in advance via the booking link or by emailing us at internalcomms@sussex.ac.uk. A livestream will also be available.

PS Bigger Picture aims to keep PS colleagues up to date with important developments, and the session can be regarded as part of your working day. Therefore, please do allow the time in your diary, if you can, to join either in person or online.

A reminder

Education Awards nominations close today, Friday 8 March

The Education Awards are an annual celebration of Sussex staff who truly embody the spirit and values of the University. Award nominations are open to both academics and Professional Services staff. Nominations are closing at the end of the day today, Friday 8 March, so make sure you submit your nominations to say thank you to any fellow members of staff who have made a real difference at Sussex.

Help promote the National Student Survey

Whatever your role, your support is crucial to the success of our campaign to engage students in the National Student Survey (NSS). Professional Services and academic staff across the University are helping to promote the NSS to eligible students and you can find a briefing document and folder of shared resources on Box to support activity in your area.

Open until 30 April, the NSS is an important way for final-year undergraduates to tell the world about Sussex. Thank you for your collaboration on this high-priority campaign.

Please contact internalcomms@sussex.ac.uk if you have any issues accessing the NSS resources.

Development workshops now bookable through LearnUpon

Staff development workshops run by Organisational Development are now bookable through our central learning management system, LearnUpon. This means that your staff development record will show your e-learning and your live learning all in one place. It also means that you can book onto workshops with ease and cancel your place on a workshop if you need to. The booking process is very simple; read how to do it or watch our short video tutorial. Summer term workshops can be found in the Organisational Development events calendar and in the LearnUpon catalogue.