Working in Consortia

Opportunities and Challenges

Sue Starbuck: South East DTC

s.starbuck@surrey.ac.uk

http://www.southeastdtc.ac.uk/

About us• Consortium of 4 universities: Kent, Reading, Royal

Holloway and Surrey managed by Surrey

• DTC Manager based at Surrey (financed by partners)

• DMG: 2 senior social science academics from each partner, student reps and senior administrators

• “Pathway leads and co-ordinators” i.e. subject representatives at each partner

• Administrative, Finance and e-learning contacts at each partner

Opportunities•Access to Wider Expertise: Academic and Managerial

•Community: Wider and more diverse

•Cohort: Larger and more diverse; greater support

•Networking and External Engagement: Both Student and Staff

•Training: Wider range and greater rationalisation

•Greater opportunity to Add Value

•Time: Stability

Challenges: Part 1• Community: Building a community

• Cohort: Creating a sense of belonging in students

• Culture of the organisation, direction from above

• Communication: Practical and emotional– Resistance of individuals to new processes and to involvement

or “interference”

• Cost

Challenges: Part 2

• Coordination

• Complexity– Studentship process– Allocation of studentships across institutions– Bidding for extra funding– Alignment of policies and procedures– Financial– Logistics of Training : distances; numbers

• Time: speed of reaction

Minimising the Challenges

• Attitude• Engagement • Support• Creativity• Choosing the right partners• Developing a good working relationship• Building the right foundations

Contact details

Sue Starbucks.starbuck@surrey.ac.uk

Charlotte Ayling: DTC Managerc.ayling@surrey.ac.uk

Professor Nigel Fielding: DTC Directorn.fielding@surrey.ac.uk

http://www.southeastdtc.ac.uk/