When someone mentions a project manager, what often springs to mind is someone with that job title. They are leading a funded project to meet a set project outcome. If you are lucky, this may mean a Project Management Office (PMO) and the associated practices and controls. Depending on your viewpoint, we can see this as unnecessary meetings, paperwork and bureaucracy or the best thing ever to help ensure a project delivers – I like the latter.
Recently, we have been reflecting on project management and university working. Odds are, most academics are project managers without either (a) realising it or (b) wanting to admit it. If you have done the following, or been asked to, you might consider yourself a project manager:
- Leading a module or a course
- Writing an action plan as part of annual monitoring
- Writing any action plan – for example, in response to the NSS
- Creating a new course
- Apply for and leading an internally-funded project (perhaps an education project)
- Introducing a new technology or process
- Working as a Deputy or Head of School
- The list goes on…!
The chances are many of the above look familiar. If so, then you are a project manager – congratulations. This raises the question of how much formal project management training an academic receives as part of their core CPD? For an academic, a PgCertHE, a requirement for most institutions, and rightly so, focuses on the practice and pedagogy of learning, teaching and assessment. Research training focuses on developing research practice, bid writing, funding, publication and perhaps PhD supervision. Additional CPD exists aligned to project management. However, is this part of a structured and strategic training programme to support academic development? In our experiences, often not, but instead, individual choice.
As a project manager, one would expect training, time, resources and support to deliver a project. In reality, and what often happens, is that someone writes an action plan, design a new course and left to achieve this. Many are successful, and this is great. However, could the outcome have been achieved better and with perhaps less stress and anxiety with formal training and approaches? We are seeing more structured approaches to course design. Additionally, there are some good companies with curriculum management/journey tools, but there is significant disparity.
So, what does this all mean, if indeed anything? Is the proposition that all academics need to have elements of formal project management training aligned to their career journey? Project management, through the lens of a module and course leader, and then perhaps more as people enter senior roles? Is there an overlap with leadership and management training – if so, why and if not, should there be?hello@transform-ed.uk
Academic managers need to be cognisant of this and strive for change. Overt recognition in workload planning (a topic for another day) and perhaps a longer staff onboarding plan over a series of years would help. What would happen if when starting a new job a new academic was provided with a three-year CPD and progression plan? It will need to be aligned to the individual, but it will show an institutional commitment to development. This will certainly help with staff retention. Will it also help with institutional performance, staff wellbeing and the overall student experience?
If you would like to know more about about thoughts on project management within the academic environment, or you would like to discuss about us working with you, please contact us on hello@transform-ed.uk
