Nous Group University COO Survey - Building the plane plan while flying it: the challenges of a contemporary university COO
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Nous Group University COO Survey Building the plane plan while flying it: the challenges of a contemporary university COO 28 April 2022
About the survey
CONTENTS
This report was made possible thanks
to over 70 university COOs from across
Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, ► Introduction 5
and the UK. We are extremely grateful
for the time and expertise that was so
► The evolving COO 6
willingly provided.
Administrator to Chief Risk Manager to Strategic Partner
The inaugural Nous Group University
COO Survey ran from December
2021 – January 2022 via an online ► Data-led decisions 10
questionnaire that was sent to Chief
A new pace and style for COOs
Operating Officers and equivalents
at universities and post-secondary
institutions across Australia, Canada, ► Financial fortunes 12
Ireland, New Zealand, and the UK.
Establishing long-term sustainability
Survey results were supplemented by
additional in-depth interviews with
COOs throughout the same period, and ► The digital challenge 16
additional commentary and insight from The great step change
Nous Group consultants.
As this annual survey evolves, we look
► Tomorrow’s campus, today 18
forward to broadening its reach, and
exploring the insights over time, as they The estate challenge
emerge.
A note on terminology ► Talent attraction 22
Terminology for people, roles and institutions varies Fierce competition for strategic and digital skills
across the world. For the sake of consistency, we
have referred to the institutions as “universities”,
but this should be read to include other post-
► Market intelligence 24
secondary educational institutions as well as the
faculties within institutions. We have referred Proving its worth
to the operations leader as the Chief Operating
Officer, although we are mindful some institutions
use other titles. We have referred to “professional
► Concluding remarks 26
services” when referring to the operational arm
of universities, which in some jurisdictions is also
called administrative services or operations.
► Contact 28
2 2 Nous Group University COO Survey 3
Introduction Our findings are distilled
into seven key themes:
University Chief Operating Officers It is often said that good leaders never The evolving COO. Whereas once the
(COOs) in Australia, Canada, waste a good crisis. The emergence COO was the lead administrator and
Ireland, New Zealand and the UK from the pandemic offers a once-in-a- then later risk manager, now they are
are emerging from two years of lifetime opportunity for COOs to make required to also play the role of strategic
operational hypervigilance. These major changes and embed them for the partner to the executive.
two years were a time of financial future. As part of university leadership
Data-led decisions. A trend toward
shocks, staff restructures, accelerated teams, every COO is thinking carefully
‘informed decisiveness’ is helping COOs
shifts to virtual learning, eerily quiet about the changes that are right for
cut through the paradox of choice and
campuses, and students and staff their institution.
exhaustive strategic processes.
seeking wellbeing support en masse.
To help with this bold thinking,
The challenge of rapidly This presented immense challenges
Nous Group surveyed more than
Financial fortunes. The speed at which
but also interesting lessons and institutions return to financial surplus
changing a system opportunities.
70 university operational leaders
depends on where those institutions
from across Australia, Canada, New
are but there is much COOs can do to
while it is in operation In this time, universities and their Zealand and the UK to understand
establish long-term sustainability.
COOs were forced to make faster their priorities and their sense of the
is often described as decisions but then experienced opportunity ahead. From this, we have The digital challenge. The pandemic
internal barriers to change and distilled priorities, role developments necessitated rapid digital change and
“building the plane agility more acutely than ever before. and strategic aspirations that we think now COOs have an opportunity to
use the momentum to push through
while flying it”. However, COOs had the opportunity to rapidly will characterise what great university
efficiency and quality gains across the
transform their operations on multiple COOs and senior leadership teams will
as we uncovered, for fronts in parallel and, through this, find do next. institution.
new ways to partner with - and at times Tomorrow’s campus, today. While the
university COOs the lead - their executive peers. COOs also traditional university campus is having
learnt how to drive performance, but
challenge goes further often with less resources.
an identity crisis, it is still central to the
student and staff experience, which
– they are seeking to means there are plenty of challenges to
work through.
design the structures
Talent attraction. Competition for
of a system while it “There’s a tension being strategic and digital skills is driving
the person who controls the creative responses and encouraging
continues to meet the regulation, stability, good order but universities to invest more in their
human resources approach.
needs of users. They also the senior manager driving
innovation and transformation.” Market intelligence. Given universities
are, indeed, building often under invest in the area, there is
an edge to be gained by universities that
the plan while flying it. achieve the nexus of market intelligence
and student recruitment approaches.
The major area of professional services
not covered in this report is student
services. We are running a more
detailed survey and report on student
services trends to explore this critical
area in more detail later in 2022.
Operating through a pandemic not
only solidified the COO’s critical role in
large, complex organisations but also
showcased their increasing strategic
value. But challenges remain. As one
operational leader noted, “There’s a
tension in being the person who controls
regulation, stability and good order
but also the senior manager driving
innovation and transformation.”
4 Nous Group University COO Survey 5
The evolution to service effectiveness
THEME 1
Before the pandemic, COOs were shifting With the broader economy now open, the
The evolving COO from a focus on regulatory compliance strategic leadership role of COOs is re-
and institutional risk management to a emerging with a clearer focus on service
| Administrator focus on strategic leadership. But the effectiveness. In fact, more than three-
to Chief Risk pandemic was a time of extreme stress
for university leaders so many COOs
in-four COOs in our global survey noted
that improving service effectiveness was
Manager to focused intensely on operations. in their top three priorities.
Strategic Partner
Improving service 77%
effectiveness
Historically COOs oversaw
Developing the
administration and compliance, capability of staff
60% More than three quarters of
Rated by COO as a top three priority (%)
then they began to manage COOs rank improving service
enterprise risk. Now, they are Improving service
53%
effectiveness as a priority for
efficiency the coming five years
also the Strategic Partner
to the Executive with a focus
Digitising processes 47%
on service effectiveness.
This represents a two-step
change in the COO role where Automating processes 30%
each new state builds on (not
replaces) the prior one. Developing campuses 16%
Redesigning roles 14%
Centralising services 4%
“We just didn’t have time
This focus is not a surprise, as the move to digitally enabled service models has triggered
demand for a more service-oriented culture from students, academics and professional to breathe over the past
staff alike. For students, the introduction and/or increase in student fees, their two years. If I wasn’t
experience in other industries, and the wider perception of universities as providers and opening the campus,
themselves as customers makes them particularly sensitive to service quality. COOs are I was closing it down.”
often responsible for institutional services from HR and IT through to student services
and marketing and are, therefore, acutely aware of the impact poor student and/or staff COO of an Australian Go8
experience has on the institution.
6 Nous Group University COO Survey 7
Stepping up as institutional
change leaders
The challenge noted by COOs is that
ineffective services are often caused by dated People leadership was the skill development priority most commonly identified by COOs
or poorly designed digital systems and an
unwillingness of staff to adopt new systems
and process. Universities often say their
‘digital deficit’ is a contributing factor. People leadership 75%
Therefore, COOs recognise people leadership,
rather than just service improvement, as the
Business analytics 42%
key to unlocking service effectiveness. As
one COO noted, “The higher education sector
Skill development priority in professional services teams (% agree)
is more change resistant than other sectors Service improvement expertise 42%
including government.” Pushed further, the
compliance role of operational functions can
hinder a better user experience for staff and Cross-portfolio collaboration 39%
students and is an underlying driver for this
change resistance.
Agile development / management 35%
Strategic change management is becoming
a crucial string to a COO’s bow. Universities
must invest to support their people to Vision setting and dealing with ambiguity 32%
adapt to new ways of working and COOs are
accountable for those changes.
Data literacy 11%
Efficiency improvement expertise 11%
Stakeholder engagement 9%
Financial analysis 5%
“There’s a tension being the person
who controls the regulation,
stability, good order but also the
senior manager driving innovation,
transformation.”
8 Nous Group University COO Survey 9
IN PRACTICE 1
THEME 2 A leading New Zealand university and founding member of the UniForum program,
successfully navigated the significant restrictions imposed by the New Zealand
Government in response to COVID-19. The response was enabled by clear
Data-led decisions | A new pace and style for COOs Leadership and strategic communication, data-informed decision-making using information that had wide
communication enabled staff support and the ability to rapidly redeploy resources between academic divisions
to meet rapidly changing demands. This agility came from their use of common
to maintain pace of change roles across the academic divisions.
A new pace and style of decision making – ‘informed decisiveness’ – was established during the
pandemic. This was enabled by clear and consistent communication of strategic objectives, a
willingness to champion change and co-sponsorship with academic leaders. COOs said change Our global COO survey found the core
management and better use of data analytics are essential to maintaining this new model of ingredients of rapid and successful
change are clear and consistent
decision making.
communication of strategic objectives, a People leadership is a persistent priority for professional services,
willingness to champion change and for while internal stakeholder engagement will give way to evidence-based
co-sponsorship with academic leaders. decision-making over the next five years.
The need for quick and difficult choices
has brought challenges for some
universities, such as staff burnout and
84%
leadership losing the trust of their People leadership
79%
people.
67%
Strategic
65%
Important leadership attribute in
professional services teams (% agree) 40%
Infrastructure leadership
44%
COVID-19 proved universities can rapidly adapt Cross-portfolio 37%
collaboration
how they work Clear and consistent 37%
Communication of
strategic objectives was
70% communication of key
strategic objectives Internal stakeholder 35%
most frequently ranked as engagement -24%
Universities’ responses to COVID-19 service technology platforms. 11%
an important attribute
proved the power of coordinated and of university leaders Evidence-based 25%
These rapid responses, delivered 9% +17%
faster-moving strategy and the ability decision-making
through ‘informed decisiveness’, have 42%
of COOs to enable significant change.
not always been perfect but have Willingness to visibly
Notwithstanding the hyper-operational
allowed universities to iterate on 49% champion big decisions External stakeholder 12%
focus of many operational functions, once taken engagement
19%
changes to continuously improve and
COOs’ old ways of working simply
swiftly transform what they offer. This
could not continue. Many universities
demonstrates the potential to build Top three priority in professional At present
established a change momentum
momentum for strategic change. It also services teams (% agree) Across next five years
otherwise thought impossible. For
contrasts with the traditional approach
example, over the past two years, Active co-leadership of
universities have rapidly digitised
to university strategy: methodically
engaging through committee structures
44% big change initiatives Data analytics is the next big step
courses, reorganised student support “We are in a period of
to socialise and execute strategy and
services and channels, implemented political uncertainty, with
organisational change over several years.
many online forms and created self- the outcome unclear but Data analytics is an emerging tool to support the decision making. As a COO of
ongoing transformation an Australian Group of Eight university put it, “data drives everything”. But data is
Recognition of the not currently driving strategic decision making across all universities. From our
is non-negotiable. This
will require a more agile 21% resources required to survey, just one-in-four COOs (25 per cent) said evidence-based decision-making
deliver was currently a high priority. However, 42 per cent rate it as a high priority over
and adaptable workforce the coming three to five years.
and focus on key drivers From Nous’ work with universities on large strategic initiatives and operational
and evidence to ensure improvements, universities that have invested in data analytics experienced a
that change is meeting its step change in their speed and confidence of their with strategic decision making.
Permission to take
objectives.” 16% appropriate decisions
The challenge for COOs is to establish good data governance and clear data
independently ownership, and to ensure data is shared appropriately across the institution and
COO of a mid-sized UK not held too tightly and with too few people. COOs will also need to develop the
university skills to use data to support change initiatives throughout implementation.
1
James Catts, How smart transformation has enabled a flexible and effective response to COVID-19-19, UniForum,
24/06/2021, https://insights.uniforum.co/uniforum-insights/how-smart-transformation-has-enabled-a-
10 flexible-and-effective-response-to-COVID-19/ Nous Group University COO Survey 11
THEME 3
Northern Hemisphere institutions are upbeat about financial
performance but Southern Hemisphere institutions are more gloomy
Financial fortunes |
Attitude to financial performance (% agree)
Establishing long-term We are projecting much better financial
15% 9%
performance compared to previous years
sustainability 8% 45%
We are projecting better financial
performance compared to previous years
COVID-19’s timing has led to a geographic 31% 27%
We are projecting similar financial
bifurcation of the financial fortunes of performance to previous years
universities: the Northern Hemisphere expects
46% 16%
to rebound quickly while Australia and New We are projecting worse financial
performance compared to previous years
Zealand will take longer. Most COOs see a
return to financial sustainability within three 2%
We are projecting much worse financial
years. COOs have several levers available performance compared to previous years
to improve financials, but the challenge is Australia and NZ
UK, Canada and Ireland
to ensure financial restructuring genuinely
establishes long-term sustainability.
37% Already there
Universities’ current financial health 4% 0-2 years
depends on geography 37% 2-3 years
16% 3-5 years
7% 5+ years
The financial performance of universities is a two-speed
story. In the UK, Canada and Ireland, 81 per cent of Time Most institutions
universities expect similar or better performance compared to position of expect to be financially
to the initial pandemic years. In Australia and New Zealand, stable financial sustainable within
it is only 54 per cent. This result aligns with the timing of sustainability three years
COVID-19 and governments’ responses. In the Southern (% agree)
Hemisphere, the pandemic hit just as international students
were due to come to campus and the government instituted
tighter border controls than almost anywhere in the world.
Importantly, four-out-of-five institutions said they would be
in a stable financial position within three years. This speaks
to higher education’s ability to find solutions to the financial
challenges of the past two years.
12 Nous Group University COO Survey 13
The levers for financial recovery are diverse
Throughout the pandemic, COOs This is likely due in part to the point in “We are undertaking a
have pursued a range of strategies to time when the survey was conducted – at careful review of all spend
maintain target surpluses. Expanding a time when Europe and North America (pay and non-pay) across
international student intake, the most had already re-opened their boarders,
the institution to make
popular approach, was cited by two-in- and when Australia and New Zealand still
five COOs. As borders open, in-person had no firm date for the re-opening of
sure we are investing in
international study again becomes a theirs. the most important things
reality. But the sector has become more to deliver our strategy.”
In all regions, outsourcing - once
sophisticated in its attraction strategies,
considered a quick fix to reduce cost and
so many universities will find it more COO of a Russell Group
complexity - is not popular as a path to
difficult to fill their places.
short-term cost savings. Some COOs
university in the UK Sustainment mechanisms hard
Finding efficiency in professional found that outsourcing even increased to implement but essential
services was also popular as universities costs (for example, if they outsource
sought to retain their academics. catering they must subsidise meals). But “We are mindful of a general
Rationalisation of programmes to outsourcing can: COOs will need to monitor the sustainability reduction of expenditure
increase financial returns is on the radar of cost reduction approaches because some
• Reduce capital expenditure (for and tight controls, but it
of some COOs, with complex discussions costs are easy to cut initially but create
required with academic leaders and staff
example, allow developers to build
larger, unavoidable costs later. Estates are
can result in damage. For
student accommodation) example: impact on long term
to see such efforts through. “How we manage our estate the most common example – reducing the
• Increase the quality of outcomes (for and what we outsource is long-term maintenance budget is simple maintenance costs.”
It is worth noting the difference in
example, get expert businesses to but often leads to a backlog of long-term
priorities cited by COOs in Australia an opportunity. Universities COO of a Russell Group university
offer services rather than use thin maintenance and increased institutional risk.
and New Zealand compared to those in
university resources) need to recognise they are in the UK
the UK, Canada and Ireland. There is a not builders or developers The higher education sector is familiar with
markedly greater focus from the former • Reduce risk (for example, use a cost fallouts. Even before the pandemic,
– we need to get really good
on efficiencies and fees, while their managed service provider for several universities took cost out only for
colleagues in the Northern Hemisphere infrastructure maintenance). at partnering. The flow it to return within a few years. To build
looked to international student intake of capital coming into the back better, universities need to not only
and rethinking how they use their estate. sector is a big opportunity.” lower their cost base strategically but also
to implement sustainment mechanisms,
COO of a STEM-focused including budget model improvements,
university in the UK hiring or position controls, and end-to-end
service model redesign.
38% 61%
Expanding international enrolment
54% 39%
Improving efficiency of support services
15% 32%
Improving utilisation of estates/buildings
46% 18%
Removing low margin courses
23% 20%
Increasing course fees
0% 2% Expanding international
Outsourcing enrolment has been the most
23% 27% common strategy to maintain
Other target surpluses
% respondents in affirmation Australia and New Zealand UK, Canada and Ireland
14 Nous Group University COO Survey 15
THEME 4 Automation is the next significant digital priority
The digital challenge |
Against a backdrop of the need to efficiency gains of 40 per cent to 70 per “Digital transformation
The great step change modernise service delivery and cent in functions such as HR, finance in student acquisition
improve service effectiveness, process and admissions. With roughly half of
“IT must develop and service delivery will
digitisation and automation has emerged professional services in a university
The pandemic forced a great step change for digital investment in and keep pace with as a clear priority for many COOs. One being transactional, the potential is
enhance the financial
universities to improve IT systems and infrastructure. COOs see new expectations of respondent COO asked, “If you can do significant. performance of the
process automation beginning to emerge but scaled efficiency generations who have it with mortgage applications, why not university, allowing greater
Automation is necessary to allow
gains are yet be realised. Universities continue to struggle with grown up with different admissions?” COOs see automation as
professional services to take on more
investment in academic
capabilities.” not only a mechanism to support the activity and improvement in
change management. strategic activities. The time saved
service experience but also to reduce
from manual and transactional work rankings and recognition,
repetitive transactional work and cost.
can be converted into analysis, planning thus producing a virtuous
Universities are at the start of their and implementation of programmes of cycle of growth.”
automation journey. Studies on change and improvement that improve
automation have found process enhance performance and reduce cost. COO of an Australian Go8
Digital investment is high The majority of institutions have ramped up
The human side of digital is the Achilles heel
and will remain so digital investment in the past year
Changes to digital investment in the past
Legacy systems can drain efficiency and whom has overseen big IT infrastructure IN PRACTICE
We have ramped up investment
Institutions worked intensively during the 19% preclude universities from mining their projects, said they struggled to bring
to a significant extent Nous partnered with a UK university
pandemic to build digital infrastructure data for insight. But universities that university staff along on the ‘change
We have ramped up investment 40% to develop a five-year Digital Strategy.
that would support student and academic attempt system renewal often find it journey’. The prospects for success can The strategy needed a solid digital
year (%)
life. Examples range from providing expensive and slow, and too often it fails be improved by working through job
We are continuing much as before 23% foundation, given it required a new
platforms to enable online learning and to deliver the promised improvements. A redesign and rethinking core processes culture, new ways of working, new
teaching, to converting paper forms We have reduced investment to digital skills and capabilities for
16% critical challenge in this is the prevailing rather than building the technology
some extent supporting staff and students.
in accounts receivable to automated resistance to adopting service models around established practices.
We have reduced investment to
processes. Survey responses confirmed 2% that modern workflow systems are built We then worked with the university
a significant extent Ultimately, successful digital changes
this, finding most COOs increased digital to support, resulting in legacy ways of to develop a detailed implementation
require a complex set of instruments plan, which included change
investment over the past 12 months. working and of resourcing services that
– and people - to work together. For management, engagement with staff
The challenge for COOs is to sustain this use only a fraction of the capabilities of and students, benefits realisation,
example:
digital investment and the value provided. the new systems being implemented. To and initiative prioritisation. The
IT infrastructure and systems were most often ranked as
As one COO said, “An institution can look important professional administrative services to support overcome this, the CIO must find ways • the implementation approach must plan and ongoing work showed the
very old fashioned very quickly if it does teaching and learning to work in concert with the COO, other properly identify the root problem; benefit the digital strategy will deliver
not embrace some of the digital/mobile- to the university’s community in
functional leaders and with the academic
• leaders must procure a cost-effective order to generate buy-in and deliver
first approaches adopted across society.” division leadership. sustainable change.
IT solution that will work alongside the
IT infrastructure and systems 65%
Important professional administrative services to
Correspondingly, UniForum, a Additional challenges benefiting from IT rest of the university’s digital estate;
collaborative university benchmarking and
support teaching and learning (% agree)
Student support investments include poor procurement,
54%
program delivered by Cubane (a Nous lack of project accountability, scope
• finance must allocate sufficient
Group company) has been monitoring the Student recruitment 46% shift, and simply scale and complexity.
investment for software configuration
‘As a Service’ spend among its members A Russell Group COO described
Learning and teaching support
and proper people change
for the past five years. Unsurprisingly, 44% these IT systems implementations as
management.
it has been growing rapidly. What is Recruitment and retention “simultaneously a project and forever”.
35%
surprising is that it is not as a substitute of specialist staff Plus, after all this, leaders must foster
Across all markets – and as with other
for in-house spend on supporting and a culture of continuous improvement
Market intelligence 30% industries - the major barriers to success
maintaining in-house IT services and and adaptation once implementation is
often relate to behaviour and culture.
applications. A key plank in the CIO’s Training and development 16% complete.
The Canadian COOs we spoke to, each of
strategy needs to be how to turn off
legacy systems. Programme pricing and economics 11%
16 Nous Group University COO Survey 17
THEME 5
Tomorrow’s Campus investment fell during the pandemic
campus, today |
For the same reasons digital investment one-in-five has increased it. During the
The estate challenge pandemic, campus (or estate) investment declined. Nearly half of all COOs surveyed
have reduced spending on estates and only one-in-five have increased. Universities
have also spent less on maintenance during the pandemic, an unsustainable trend.
The traditional university cam-
pus is having an identity crisis.
9%
Investment is down. Students
don’t want to go to large lecture
theatres. Staff don’t want to 4% 35% 16%
commute five days a week. Many
questions remain but COOs know
the post-pandemic campus will
not be the same as the pre-pan-
demic campus. We have ramped up We have ramped up We are continuing much
investment to a investment to some as before
significant extent extent
Investment in building and estates has gently reduced over the past year
29% 16%
We have reduced We have reduced
investment to some investment to a significant
extent extent
Changes to major capital (building/estates) investment in the past year (%)
18 Nous Group University COO Survey 19Campus experience is a core Universities are rethinking the office
value proposition for students proposition for staff
Nearly four-in-five surveyed COOs said The use of space also impacts culture change initiatives to boost
that improving the on-campus experience the university’s workforce. Like productivity, agility and collaboration.
for students was a major enabler of their all organisations, universities are An Australian COO said, “If we claim to
institutional strategy. Following reduced rethinking office space. Employers are be aligned to industry, we need to look
investment during the pandemic, COOs responding to two years of isolation more like industry.” “A big shift is required
are grappling with significant questions with more flexible working, reliance to build an engaging on-
New ways of working must tie in with
about their estate: on digital communication and even campus experience for
a university’s strategy to improve
experimentation with the length of staff and students. This will
• What is the campus’ role in providing campus experience for students.
the working week. University staff are
students with the structures they need Academic staff may still be required require new capabilities for
reticent to accept going back to how
to succeed in their studies? to spend much of their time on staff; new enablers such
things were pre-pandemic..
campus for in-person teaching and as different physical and
• What is the role of large auditoriums or
Re-opening provides an opportunity informal learning opportunities while
seminar rooms as well as spaces with digital spaces; new roles and
for COOs to use their campuses operational services staff may be more
technology for blended learning and processes to support student,
in innovative ways. For example, able to work remotely. COOs must think
collaborative research?
instituting home-office policies and carefully about how flexible options for academics and co-curricular
• What are the right priorities for capital shared workspaces can free up more staff, which improve staff experience experiences; and support
expenditure? space for teaching and reduce pressure and help attract talent, will impact for academic staff to deliver
on estates. Redesign and upgrade of providing a great student experience on changed value propositions.”
Aligning campuses and teaching spaces
office space or moving to a four-day the campus of tomorrow.
to post-pandemic student expectations
work week could be coupled with COO of New Zealand university
will take years to realise. Many universities
will implement smart campus solutions
to create a seamless digital and physical
estate. But more immediate returns may
be reaped by more cosmetic changes
such as getting the right composition
of food and retail on campus, creating
more opportunities for community use of
campus facilities, and investing in green
spaces. These relatively small changes
can help create a ‘sticky’ campus where
students spend more time, enabling
stronger communities that attract
prospective students.
20 Nous Group University COO Survey 21THEME 6
Talent attraction | Fierce competition for strategic and
digital skills
Sourcing talent is a growing challenge for COOs and their leadership teams. Competition for strategic
and digital skills is fierce, both within the sector and across the economy. While more can be done to
recruit and onboard external talent, the greatest untapped source is graduating students from their
own organisations.
People with technical skills Sector outsiders encounter barriers when entering Universities must upgrade their capability and embrace
are hard to recruit higher education creative solutions to talent development
COOs are facing into the headwinds of To address talent gaps, COOs are looking outside the higher education sector. Competition with other sectors means finding and developing talent is crucial to filling
the global talent shortage. More than Universities can present a compelling value proposition to potential out-of-sector skill gaps. COOs identified both difficult and creative options to find and nurture talent:
half the COOs surveyed (54 per cent) recruits. However, there are barriers to transition effectively into administrative roles.
• The difficult. Investing more in the talent attraction and retention capabilities
reported only being able to fill priority
In some instances, universities oversell a position or underestimate the work required “People coming from within in human resources teams and addressing performance management will help
positions half the time. This is caused
to induct non-sector recruits. This can apply to more than just operational roles. In an universities make more of their professional services people. This investment will
by a range of factors, including negative the sector don’t seem to
anecdote shared by a COO of a large UK university, the job advertisement for the head also help to develop and retain future managers and senior leaders. An underlying
perceptions of higher education as an have a ‘commercial’
of a new medical school failed to indicate that 65 per cent of the role was effectively challenge, as noted in the example overleaf, is the transactional nature of many
industry to work within. understanding of how to
fundraising, leading to a mismatch between the recruit’s expectations and skillset and human resources activities in universities. Creating HR service delivery models
Most COOs identified IT experts, data the position’s actual responsibilities. run an institution. However, that more clearly distinguish between the transactional HR activities (e.g., recruiting
analysts and business analysts as the those who come from process support) versus the strategic HR activities (e.g., providing staffing advice)
The out-of-sector recruitment challenges will persist, but universities can do more
hardest to find. Similarly, people with outside struggle to is key.
to make themselves attractive and effective at onboarding talent. This starts with
strategic skills and agile experience
modernising human resource departments, many of which continue to be highly understand the lie of the • The creative. Graduating students from the institution are a largely untapped source
continue to be in high demand.
transactional. Other changes include: land within the sector, of future professional services talent, as most universities are yet to implement
graduate recruitment programmes of the scale and sophistication of similar sized
• Streamline recruitment process to reduce delays and candidate leakage, given which can lead to
organisations in analogous industries (such as Government or Professional Services).
long recruitment times have caused some universities to repeatedly lose strong frustration.” With universities having unparalleled access to students there are countless
candidates
opportunities to creatively identify and recruit undergraduate and postgraduate
COO of a UK university
• Invest in induction and onboarding processes to include pre-boarding support, buddy students into the university workforce.
systems and coordinated joint planning
• Ensure that roles are designed with clear career pathways within the university, so
the path to career progression is evident
• Modernise workplace spaces to create a more collaborative and less hierarchical
office culture.
“We face shortages in
all skills and capabilities
in our professional staff
(current and those we
IN PRACTICE
recruit) due to a complete
One UniForum member found they had created highly fragmented roles. Without
lack of parity of esteem
clear career development pathways, there was little investment in training and
in the HE sector in this no natural communities of practice. To address this, the university instigated a
region.” wholesale role redesign process to create common roles with well-defined career
development pathways. As a result, communities of practice formed around common
interests and staff retention increased.
COO of an Australian Go8
22 Nous Group University COO Survey 23Driving competitive advantage in student recruitment
THEME 7
Market intelligence | Nous has found that the appetite for
market intelligence is particularly strong
Sophisticated market intelligence on
target prospective students and major
investigate the universities that they
are most interested in. Innovators in
Proving its worth when universities have either struggled
with domestic student recruitment or are
country markets will help universities
invest more intelligently in recruitment
this space are already creating ways to
significantly speed up the application
focused on their international strategies. to attract the desired quality and process and give students confidence
Competition for students will reach new levels In the case of international student quantity of students. As a result, the in what recognised prior learning they
recruitment, universities are often reliant ability to integrate the market effort will receive. They are also creating novel
as universities seek to repair budgets. Market
on historical market information about with the student acquisition process ways using social media to maintain
intelligence, particularly when integrated major country markets like China, India will become even more critical. This will engagement with students as they
into the student recruitment process, has the and South-East Asia. Where real-time require close collaboration between consider their university options.
potential to provide competitive advantage market intelligence is collected, such the CIO, CMO, COO and academic
for universities. This requires a high level of as from in-country agents, it is not leaders to not only generate real-
collaboration and trust between marketing, necessarily shared across the relevant time market intelligence but also to
university decision makers as well as it create digital assets that enhance the
academics and other functional units across
might be. student’s experience as they respond
the institution. to the marketing effort and start to
Better market intelligence is an emerging
focus area
More than 50 per cent of the COOs surveyed noted that
international student recruitment and course pricing were the
key drivers for generating historical target surpluses in their
institutions. With COVID-19 hitting the system hard, COOs MARKET INTELLIGENCE
also know that competition for students will reach new levels
as universities seek to repair budgets. This is particularly the
case in Australia, where COOs ranked market intelligence as
45% Nearly half of all COOs in Australia and New Zealand ranked market
intelligence as an important administrative service for evolving their
the third most important administrative service for evolving
teaching and learning approach.
their teaching and learning approach (45 per cent), compared
to the rest of the countries surveyed, where COOs ranked it
the sixth highest priority (26 per cent).
24 Nous Group University COO Survey 25Concluding remarks
COOs and their functional areas of responsibility are an engine As the decade evolves and higher education institutions “It is clear to us that while the
room for a university. As they build on their historical roles of progress, it will be essential for COOs and their functional
role of the COO has only recently
compliance and risk and move more into that of a strategic leaders to build on their strategic partner role with the
partner, COOs are indeed building the plan whilst flying it. university. Considering this, COOs should be planning and evolved to include that of a
budgeting for the design and implementation of: strategic partner, by the end of
Working closely with COOs and their management teams, Nous
the decade it will be more fully
is acutely aware of the tenor and mission-driven nature of • Administration and professional service operating models
universities and the academics and professional staff that lead that drive the interests of the whole university realised provided COOs can action
them. This both influences how we work with universities and these significant and strategic
• Talent management plans driven by new specialist roles
what advice we provide to ensure changes are implemented. organisational changes.”
and address at a more fundamental level issues with equity,
From our global experience, we find that the critical success
diversity and inclusion
factors in our work are strong and clear project sponsorship,
carefully crafted stakeholder engagement, depth of sector • Digital agendas that result in a single source of truth
knowledge and sharp analytical analysis and insights. for student information, highly automated, end-to-end
transactional administrative and professional services, and
Additionally, the collaborative UniForum program, delivered by
Cubane (a Nous Group company), has seen member universities
significantly more intuitive service interfaces Authors
and their leaders actively using insights from benchmarking • Onmichannel service hubs for staff and students with
data, along with unique access to best practice from peers, to curated triage and a service culture ethos
tackle head-on many of the challenges described in this report,
• Designing and implementing integrated planning and budget Zac Ashkanasy
and achieve truly transformational change. For example:
processes that drive intended behaviours aligned to the PRINCIPAL, NOUS GROUP
strategic objectives of the whole institution GLOBAL HEAD OF HIGHER EDUCATION
• Taking a whole institution view of capacity available for
zac.ashkanasy@nousgroup.com
every service, providing the foundation for truly end-to-end
• New master plans for campuses that better respond to the
delivery and outcomes
changes in staff and student preferences post COVID-19
• Ensuring that maximum capacity is available for specialist
• Fully integrated marketing, recruitment and admission
strategic activities, whether in HR, Finance, Student
processes, to enable more effective competition for high
Services or Research Support, by maximising efficiencies
quality students in key markets.
elsewhere, including through automation and role redesign
We are proud to already be strategic advisors to many of the Phil Copestake
• Designing and delivering new operating models that
COOs that were engaged in this research, and we are often MANAGING DIRECTOR,
emphasise cross-functional collaboration and user-centred CUBANE U.K AND EUROPE
asked to support them in addressing the significant questions
delivery, whether in the form of shared service hubs, new phil.copestake@cubaneconsulting.com
and challenges highlighted in the report.
management arrangements or communities of practice.
Additional contributions provided by Joe Bartlett-
Marques, Stuart Revnell and Oliver Whitton.
26 Nous Group University COO Survey 27Nous Group: a leader Tim Orton Edward Curry-Hyde Davina McArthur
MANAGING PRINCIPAL AND CEO CEO, CUBANE PRINCIPAL
in higher education tim.orton@nousgroup.com edward.curry-hyde@cubaneconsulting.com davina.mcarthur@nousgroup.com
with global expertise
Nous Group is an international
management consultancy with over
500 people working across Australia,
New Zealand, the United Kingdom,
Ireland and Canada. With our broad
consulting capability, we can solve your Hamish Ride Haseeb Kamal James Catts
PRINCIPAL MANAGING DIRECTOR, MANAGING DIRECTOR, CUBANE
most complex strategic challenges
hamish.ride@nousgroup.com CUBANE CANADA & USA AUSTRALIA & NEW ZEALAND
and partner with you through
haseeb.kamal@cubaneconsulting.com james.catts@cubaneconsulting.com
transformational change.
Together, Nous and Cubane form the
most authoritative higher education
service business operating in the United
Kingdom, Ireland, Canada, Australia, and
New Zealand.
Julie Mercer Matt Durnin Sarah Connelly
PRINCIPAL PRINCIPAL PRINCIPAL
julie.mercer@nousgroup.com matt.durnin@nousgroup.com sarah.connelly@nousgroup.com
Simon Lancaster Tim Kennedy Trish Birtles
PRINCIPAL PRINCIPAL DIRECTOR, CUBANE CONSULTING
simon.lancaster@nousgroup.com tim.kennedy@nousgroup.com SERVICES DEVELOPMENT
trish.birtles@cubaneconsulting.com
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