Job Shadowing HE

Dr Monika Nangia: Diversifying Leadership in Professional Services

Dr Monika Nangia is Academic Registrar and Director of Student & Academic Services at Durham University. She is also leading The Power of Storytelling Project as part of the Higher Diversity Coalition. Data shows that ethnic diversity in professional services leadership - especially in student and academic services leadership - is concerningly low.
In this episode. Monika discusses her motivation for gathering stories from senior colleagues from ethnically diverse backgrounds, shares themes arising from their career experiences and discusses her vision for the future.
Please note that some of the stories may be uncomfortable to hear, but are included in this episode to show why sector-wide action is needed. To share your story with Monika, please connect with her via LinkedIn or at monika.nangia@durham.ac.uk
This episode is kindly sponsored by Gatenby Sanderson, the UK’s leadership expert. We partner with universities to find and place exceptional HE leaders and develop their teams – improving leadership performance, inclusivity and accelerating change.

Kelli Wolfe: Addressing Staff Burnout

Kelli Wolfe is Deputy Academic Registrar at the University of Roehampton. In this episode, Kelli talks about her role as Deputy Academic Registrar as well as the career path that led to it. She also shares background to her recent research entitled 'The Impact of High-Performance Work Practices on Employee Burnout Experience in UK Higher Education: A Professional Services Perspective' which was published by Taylor and Francis in August 2024. Kelli additionally offers reflections on solutions to avoiding and addressing work intensity and burnout, and how these can be enacted. 
 

Dr David Gilani: Navigating Student Belonging and Engagement

Dr David Gilani is Head of Student Engagement and Advocacy at Middlesex University. 
In this episode, David shares more about his leadership of, and thoughts on, student engagement and what that means to support student success. He also reflects upon his own career path to date, and how and why the student engagement professional niche has become so much more prominent across the sector in recent years. David also offers insight about the benefits of being part of an institution’s board, and looks forward to where the sector focus on student belonging needs to be in the next 5 years.
 
This episode is kindly sponsored by SEAtS One. SEAtS One is a unified platform that helps universities make data-driven decisions to improve student success, retention, and compliance. From monitoring attendance to streamlining workflows and reducing operational costs, SEAtS offer a single, easy-to-use solution for managing student engagement, wellbeing, and institutional efficiency.

Dr Diana Beech: Leading London Higher

Dr Diana Beech is the Chief Executive of London Higher, the largest representative body of its kind in England. In this episode, Diana shares more about the role of London Higher and the type of work that she and her team lead to support the success of HE. She also delves into her career path to date, including her time at the Higher Education Policy Institute, and at the Government's Department for Education where she supported four different Ministers of State. 
 
This episode is kindly sponsored by Anderson Quigley which builds better leaders for a better society. They are industry experts with decades of experience in public sector executive search, interim management and advisory. 

Akhil Yerneni & Claire Carter: Demystifying Executive Search

Akhil Yerneni and Claire Carter are both partners at the Executive Search firm, Anderson Quigley. In this episode, Akhil and Claire demystify the role of an executive search firm in relation to both permanent and interim roles for HE professional services and academic staff and, amongst other topics, offer advice on how and when to work with firms to maximise engagement. 
 
This episode is kindly sponsored by the Academic Registrars Council (ARC). ARC is the national forum of senior managers responsible for the academic administration of student matters in publicly funded universities and colleges of Higher Education within the UK. 

Andrea Bolshaw: Being An Interim

Andrea Bolshaw is an Interim Registrar and Secretary. She started her Higher Education career as a Graduate Trainee, and subsequently carved out a career path through increasingly senior positions that took her to becoming a Registrar and Secretary in a permanent role. In 2023, she took a major professional decision to leave permanent employment and move into the freelance world. Since that time, she’s been Interim Registrar and Secretary at two institutions, and in this episode she shares her experiences and reflections on life as an interim. 

Professor Susannah Quinsee & Ian Anderson: 'Remembering Our Why' – Reflecting on Change

Professor Susannah Quinsee is Vice-President (Digital and Student Experience) at City, University of London and Ian Anderson is Principal Enterprise Architect at Ellucian. In this episode, Ian and Susannah reflect upon many of the themes that have arisen across the mini-series and consider how institutions are managing change. They draw together thoughts on how this might be done while also providing some sense of stability, consider the critical importance of building human connections, discuss the value of recognising success and milestones and provide some inspiration on why we should keep going and be proud of UK Higher Education.
 
This podcast mini-series is kindly sponsored by Ellucian. Ellucian combines higher education expertise, focused innovation and deep partnership to help institutions navigate transformation. Unlock success with the complete, integrated Ellucian SaaSPlatform connecting people, processes and applications across your institution.

Luke Phillimore: Change is all about the people

Luke Phillimore is Associate Director of Change at the University of Nottingham and is also the Network Coordinator for the Association of Higher Education Professionals Change Network. In this episode, Luke focuses on why people are at the core of change, the importance of empowering people through the change process and why the most relevant outcome of change is people's acceptance to adopt it. As part of this discussion, Luke also explores the role of the Lean Six Sigma methodology, how to influence people when you don't have authority and the unexpected opportunities that can arise through engaging with external networks. 
 
This podcast mini-series is kindly sponsored by Ellucian. Ellucian combines higher education expertise, focused innovation and deep partnership to help institutions navigate transformation. Unlock success with the complete, integrated Ellucian SaaSPlatform connecting people, processes and applications across your institution.

Krissi Sanft: Together We Can Achieve Extraordinary Outcomes

Krissi Sanft is Managing Director of Portare Solutions, a boutique consultancy firm focused on change and transformation. Portare Solutions has a strategic partnership with Ellucian to accelerate, support and enhance the transformation to Software as a Service (SaaS) student information systems for HEIs. In this episode, Krissi provides an overview of her career path and the work of Portare Solutions, reflects upon the similarities and differences in managing change in HE compared with other sectors, discusses how to keep people front and centre within the transformation process and what steps can be taken to mitigate some of the challenges that accompany change.
 
This podcast mini-series is kindly sponsored by Ellucian. Ellucian combines higher education expertise, focused innovation and deep partnership to help institutions navigate transformation. Unlock success with the complete, integrated Ellucian SaaSPlatform connecting people, processes and applications across your institution.

Greg Sheridan: Responding to a Cyber Attack

Greg Sheridan is Senior Registry Digital Manager at the University of the West of Scotland. In this episode, Greg shares his experience of the cyber attack on his institution in July 2023. He explores both the rapid and longer-term change that he needed to progress to build back better the student record system, and how that process was as much about people, mindsets and decision-making, as it was about the system.
 
This podcast mini-series is kindly sponsored by Ellucian. Ellucian combines higher education expertise, focused innovation and deep partnership to help institutions navigate transformation. Unlock success with the complete, integrated Ellucian SaaSPlatform connecting people, processes and applications across your institution.

Louise Savage: The School Perspective on University Change

Louise Savage is Head of School Operations in the School of Education at the University of Nottingham. In this episode, Louise talks about her experience of engaging with change from a school perspective including in her roles as both a stakeholder and a leader. She explores navigating that often delicate balance of local and institutional needs, discusses how effective consultation, engagement and networks can create better outcomes and delves into why retaining the art of conversation is so important.
This podcast mini-series is kindly sponsored by Ellucian. Ellucian combines higher education expertise, focused innovation and deep partnership to help institutions navigate transformation. Unlock success with the complete, integrated Ellucian SaaSPlatform connecting people, processes and applications across your institution.

Helen Langley: The Pivotal Role of the Project Manager

Helen Langley is Project Manager in the Change Support Unit at City, University of London. In this episode, Helen provides an overview of the projects she has and is managing at City to enhance the student experience. She also shares more about how she got into project management, offers insight into the project framework used by City and reflects upon the downs and ups of being a project manager in a fast-paced and changing environment. 
 
This podcast mini-series is kindly sponsored by Ellucian. Ellucian combines higher education expertise, focused innovation and deep partnership to help institutions navigate transformation. Unlock success with the complete, integrated Ellucian SaaSPlatform connecting people, processes and applications across your institution.