If you’re sometimes secretly overwhelmed by higher education change, you’re not alone

When I first joined the higher education sector it felt like getting on a bus in a different country.

I’d obviously been on public transport before but I didn’t know all the routes, how to call the bus, stop the bus or what to say to the driver when I got off. Higher education has its own language, set of acronyms and cultural norms to get used to. And just like mastering the bus routes in Spain, you have to have a threshold of knowledge about how things work, and why, to feel comfortable and confident in navigating the sector.

Crucially, the higher education sector is going through a period of transformation and making sense of the bigger picture is trickier than ever – which is why Team Wonkhe has created Making Sense of Higher Education. Ten online modules that start from first principles to support you to master the nuts and bolts of the sector we all call home.

I’ve had the pleasure of chatting with some of the incoming inaugural cohort of Making Sense to see why they’ve signed up and where the value of sensemaking really lies.

Tooling up

First up, having the capacity to understand the wider context was the primary reason colleagues were joining the programme. As the sector undergoes efficiencies and transformation, roles are in flux with many staff covering posts that won’t be re-recruited for and managing a burgeoning workload.

One colleague described keeping up with what’s going on in the sector as a “never ending churn.” If you’re busy focusing on completing your ever growing day-to-day tasks, a deep dive on the internationalisation of HE won’t be at the front of your mind. And that’s despite the fact most know it’s of benefit to them, the challenge is carving out the time.

Another attendee explained they’re signing up because they’d spent several years becoming confident in their corner of the institution but that they’d lost sight of what was happening elsewhere. Institutional knowledge and sector awareness aren’t the same thing – specialism without context creates a form of insularity.

Colleagues were also signing up as an opportunity to block out protected time for personal development. Making Sense gives them the permission to engage with the sector as an alternative to traditionally heavy-workload CPD courses. It’s a way to enhance knowledge, skills, and progress. One colleague described how they felt far more confident and empowered when they felt like they’d hacked a topic area. They said seeing how the dots connected gave them a sense of personal achievement.

I spoke to colleagues with a breadth of experience in HE but also those who had joined the sector from elsewhere. For one staff member their reason for signing up was to gain clout and confidence in meetings to challenge rigid assumptions and take their institution into a period of change.

Another reason to engage with the programme was to better grasp institutional changes that were happening in response to the national picture. Being aware of changes to immigration policy allowed one colleague to better process changes to attendance policies. Understanding the national picture helped them translate what was happening locally, particularly in roles where the scopes can often feel more limited.

Collective benefits

Everybody I spoke to identified the collective benefit of understanding the sector’s direction of travel. The responsibility for it often lies with the individual with curiosity and interest being the biggest driver for this development – rather than a formalised institutional effort – but the benefits are collective and significant.

One colleague had signed up to reduce friction in cross-departmental working. They explained a situation where two staff members were talking in two different regulatory languages and neither understood each other. Making sense of higher education for them would speed up conversations in the corridor but also facilitate them to better engage in weekly meetings.

The collective benefit is also about increasing the efficiency of working with colleagues from all corners of the institution – in research, teaching and development, or the international office. And for colleagues with line management responsibilities, Making Sense offers them the opportunity to better support their team, and assist with their professional growth.

And finally in periods of sector instability, that shared understanding between colleagues of why things were changing – what the shared problems are and what is a result of a decision made in Westminster or by the regulator – created a sense of solidarity. For one attendee who felt confident in the sector’s complexities, they described the programme as an opportunity to bridge some knowledge gaps that would then help them to make better informed decisions and navigate organisational change. They explained they wanted to move from the operational to the strategic.

In the “never ending churn” of policy, you can guarantee that it’s not just you who who sometimes feels overwhelmed. Making Sense creates space to put all the parts together, giving you the opportunity to build your confidence, connect with colleagues, lead your teams, and navigate change in a turbulent sector. We’re going to be taking the national to make it make sense locally – just probably with a few extra puns and anecdotes.

Find out more about Making Sense of Higher Education, including full module descriptions, dates, presenters and sign up links here. Our thanks to the colleagues who took the time to talk us through why they’re signing up.