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Insolvency on the horizon

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abandoned room
Image by Rudy and Peter Skitterians from Pixabay

I found this WonkHE article on insolvency interesting and the current state of thinking at government and by others on what would happen if a university was to fail.

Insolvency legislation “permits continued trading” if a university enters compulsory liquidation. How so?

https://wonkhe.com/wonk-corner/insolvency-legislation-permits-continued-trading-if-a-university-enters-compulsory-liquidation-how-so

The view of the Minister

“…were an organisation to enter into compulsory liquidation, we believe that insolvency legislation permits continued trading during that period of compulsory liquidation. It would mean, therefore, that we would be able, as I have described, to support students, to support research and the important capacity of that provider during the period of liquidation, and to make sure particularly that students had the opportunity to be supported through a teach-out of their course, to be supported to move elsewhere, and to have their records and their achievements protected.”

I did think this from Mills & Reeve was interesting as well.

“The vast majority of entities operating as HEIs are not able to go into an insolvency process, save possibly for liquidation. This is because they are mostly incorporated by Royal Charter or are HECs, and are not therefore companies under the insolvency legislation.”

There was news a few weeks back that there were some universities on the verge of bankruptcy. We still really don’t know what will happen if an HEI fails. The smaller failures in higher education we have seen before have been private companies.

From a digital and technology perspective, could a failed institution continue to maintain a secure and stable infrastructure for example? You can well imagine professional services staff leaving, both as the organisation was wound down, but also as they moved to new and more secure jobs.

We know that the OfS perspective in England is to protect the needs of the student, hence the talk of “teach-out” and supporting students move to other providers. I do think that the actual process will depend a lot on the geographical location of the failed provider. For example, a provider in a large metropolitan area offers students more options, whereas a sole provider in a larger rural part of the country, there are less options.

I do think though that a better option is to avoid reacting and being more proactive in avoiding insolvency. This does mean thinking very differently about the way the university as a business is managed and transforming the operating model to something that is a lot more sustainable. Of course the challenge with that is though there are lots of similarities between higher education institutions, there are enough substantial differences, meaning there isn’t one model with fits all.

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Reminiscing about the Consortium

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Over the last few weeks I have been looking at data models. This made me reminisce about the work I did back in the day with the Western Colleges Consortium. We had seven different college student record systems sending us student data which was then uploaded to a shared VLE. 

This was twenty five years ago, so though I am reminiscing, I this was some time ago, so I don’t remember all the details and I am probably misremembering some of this. The essence of what we did was that each night, each student record system would run a routine which would create an XML file of the student details, this would then be sent via secure FTP to our server which would collate all seven XML files into a single XML file and upload the student data to the VLE. It would both create new users, delete redundant users, and update where necessary.

What was key I think was that, though the student record systems had quite a lot of detail about the student, we didn’t need that information for the shared VLE. This was about accessing a system, we didn’t need ti know their date of birth, address and so on.

There were some challenges I remember in providing a course identification so that when the user was created on the VLE they would then have access to their courses only on the VLE.

It was certainly considered quite innovative at the time, and myself and others did a number of presentations about what we did.

Back then we didn’t have single sign on, so students would have to have another password in addition to the one they used to log into the college computers. Interoperability was something new to me back then and it was an interesting time in which I realised the many technical challenges in building an interoperable learning environment. One challenge for us was that the technical development in this area was very much focused on the single institution model and ensuring the institutional systems could talk (interoperate) with each other. The concept of a multi-institutional model was a step too far.

In the end the Western Colleges Consortium became defunct. The main reasons were college mergers, the seven became four, this made the financial model unsustainable. The shared platform wasn’t meeting the needs of the students and the requirements of the consortium. Finally, the compromises of collaboration were decided to be a barrier to further VLE usage and take up.

Today the core internal interoperability challenges appear to have been solved. Attending the 1EdTech conference in Delft earlier this year demonstrated to me how mature these educational standards have become.

With the changes in technology and the requirements of student mobility today (think LLE) means that the interoperability requirements have just gone up another level, as has the need for deeper collaboration. What does this mean, well that’s another blog post.

weeknotes

Discovering – Weeknote #353 – 5th December

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coffee
Image by David Schwarzenberg from Pixabay

This week was the first week in quite a while that I didn’t have any serious travelling, actually checking the diary the last time I had a week with no travelling was the second week in October.

Spent much of the week looking at data models. This made me reminisce about the work I did back in the day with the Western Colleges Consortium. We had seven different college student record systems sending us student data which was then uploaded to a shared VLE. Back then we didn’t have single sign on, so students would have to have another password in addition to the one they used to log into the college computers. Interoperability was something new to me back then.

Joined an interesting meeting that I helped broker between the UK admissions organisation UCAS and the Finnish NREN CSC. One of the use cases in the European Higher Education Interoperability Framework is on discovery and application.

Blenheim Palace
Image by Ad Vertentie from Pixabay

In a conversation with a colleague last month they mentioned the potential impact of AI on estate data, something they thought I might be interested in, in relation to my long history with the intelligent campus. At the recent HE Transformation Expo in Birmingham I was talking to my fellow presenters and they also mentioned this. So, where to start, well I did a quick Google search and an article came up in my search results: Oxford Brookes University expertise in AI helps Blenheim Palace. I wrote a short blog post on Intelligent Visitor Attractions.

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Intelligent Visitor Attractions

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Blenheim Palace
Image by Ad Vertentie from Pixabay

In a conversation with a colleague last month they mentioned the potential impact of AI on estate data, something they thought I might be interested in, in relation to my long history with the intelligent campus.

At the recent HE Transformation Expo in Birmingham I was talking to my fellow presenters and they also mentioned this.

So, where to start, well I did a quick Google search and this article came up in my search results: Oxford Brookes University expertise in AI helps Blenheim Palace.

An artificial intelligence project, developed by experts at Oxford Brookes University, is helping one of Oxfordshire’s most prestigious tourist attractions enhance its customer service and visitor experience.

As I read through the article it reminded me much of what I have written on the smart campus and intelligent campus landscape and potential.

The system uses data from digital sensors located around the Blenheim Estate that monitor everything from footfall and ticket sales to retail and catering sales. 

In the original guide to the intelligent campus, I wrote about intelligent catering.

Certain times are likely to result in high demand at campus cafes and food outlets, such as lunchtime, but within those times there is flexibility to respond in different ways, or indeed encourage students to arrive at a different time. By using timetabling or event data, increased flow of people to the cafes could be predicted, and real time information on actual location and flow can reinforce and clarify the expected demand.

In the article on Blenheim Palace it says:

“Analysis of the data, using AI, enables managers at Blenheim Palace to make better predictions about footfall. They know, for example, that in two-days-time they can expect a certain number of visitors and plan their staff and catering accordingly.”

I also wrote about people flows and footfall in one of the many use cases we published.

Pedestrian flow could affect the time for journeys between classes, waiting times at cafes or sudden changes in how busy the library is. Location trackers such as used by mobile phones can provide data on flow, and also people counters, such as using video systems, can be placed around campus to collect data on the numbers of people in that location at any time. Such data can have a number of applications, including combining with other contexts to improve services.

In the article they talk about how they created an app.

They also developed an app called What’s Open When (WOW) that tells the operations team at Blenheim Palace in real-time which parts of the Palace and Estate are open, where it is busy and where it is quieter. 

Does this kind of technology have an application for the university estate? It’s almost reassuring that this kind of thing is happening, it actually helps with the evidence base to support universities in thinking more creatively about the use of their estate.

When I started the intelligent campus work back in 2016 I wrote this on the now defunct Intelligent Campus blog.

We need to know and understand what you see for the future of university and college campuses. Tell us what you think about how universities and colleges can exploit the potential of the internet of things and artificial intelligence.

Over the last nine years I have seen many developments in this space and I have seen many practical applications of the developments in technology and artificial intelligence in enhancing the campus experience for students.

weeknotes

Amsterdam is not just a city, it’s a state of mind – Weeknote #352 – 28th November

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light display on the canals of Amsterdam

This week I was off to Amsterdam once more, this time for the GÉANT CTO workshop which I was helping to deliver a session for.

I spent time on Monday reviewing the two events I had attended in London and Birmingham over the last two weeks. What they were like, who was there, and what (if any) were implications for Jisc.

Tuesday I flew out from Bristol to Amsterdam. This is quite a quick flight. I had anticipated a lengthy wait at passport control, but it wasn’t that bad in the end. They did have the new EES system, which meant scanning my face and fingerprints. I thought that would be that, but I then had to go through the automated passport gate, which didn’t work for me. So, it was then to a manned passport booth. Got my passport stamped (which I thought EES would stop, maybe it will, but not at the moment). 

Prior to the workshop I spent time preparing going through my notes and the presentation slides we were going to use in our session. I also had various online (and in-person) meetings as well.

The workshop went very well, with lots of positive comments about the approach and lot less resistance than expected.

houses along a canal

I have also been looking at student data models and how SURF in the Netherlands approach this with regard to sharing data about students, courses and other aspects of education. A very different approach compared to the UK.

I had an afternoon flight back to the UK, so didn’t get back too late.

conference

Is Your Estate Working for You?

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campus
Image by 小亭 江 from Pixabay

Last week I was up in Birmingham for a conference. The HE Transformation Expo, which was a new event, and I was on a panel session entitled: Is Your Estate Working for You? Deploying Smart Campus Capabilities at Scale to Meet Efficiency Objectives.

We had a good session and an excellent discussion. We covered various topics within the session.

This session will explore how universities are embracing smart campus technologies to drive efficiency, sustainability, and enhanced user experience across their estates. As institutions face increasing pressure to reduce costs, meet carbon targets, and deliver seamless digital experiences, the integration of intelligent systems and data-driven decision-making has never been more critical.

It is quite clear that across the UK, all universities have an element of a smart campus, some more than others. Though it has to be said the focus of much of that “smartness” is in building management and the estate function. Over the last ten years or so I have been working in the Intelligent Campus space, which in essence is about adding further data sources to your estates data to provide not just better insights into the use of the campus, but also how the estate can be managed to improve the efficiency of the university as a whole, and enhance the student experience.

One new focus that I brought to the discussion was the research I have been doing over the last couple of years on collaboration, and the work that we undertook for the Transformation & Efficiency Taskforce.

Now and down the line there may be a need for more collaboration and sharing in the estates space. This will require a new paradigm in thinking about how your estate is managed, but also the data architecture behind the estate.

weeknotes

A quiet place – Weeknote #351 – 21st November

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This week I was up in Birmingham for a conference. The HE Transformation Expo was a new event, and I was on a panel session entitled: Is Your Estate Working for You? Deploying Smart Campus Capabilities at Scale to Meet Efficiency Objectives.

We had a good session and an excellent discussion.

The event was at the NEC was part of a larger schools and academies show. This was much more a trade exhibition than a traditional conference, well it was described as an Expo. The sessions I watched were well attended, with standing room only. There was the challenge of delivering and listening to sessions against the noise of the event itself, but headphones were provided.

I did have some interesting conversations, as well as listening to some good sessions. The need for collaboration was across many of the sessions, the challenge of how you deliver on that aspiration was also there too.

Unfortunately I had some online meetings I needed to attend, and there wasn’t really any space at the Expo for such a meeting. I had planned to take the call in the speaker lounge, alas the lounge was just a fenced off area within the hall with tables, chairs and some really bad coffee. There were no other suitable spaces within the NEC, so I had to head back to my hotel for the call. Usually I try and avoid having meetings whilst at a conference, but sometimes this isn’t always possible.

I was lucky in that the cold weather didn’t impact on my travel arrangements however really felt that winter was now upon us.

Spent time planning for next week, I am attending a GÉANT workshop in Amsterdam.

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Turning that Supertanker

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Tanker
Image by Gerhard Traschütz from Pixabay

Is it just me that finds the analogy of a supertanker in higher education annoying. 

The story goes that changing things in higher education is like turning a supertanker.

Reality it is fun fact very easy to stop and turn a supertanker. If it wasn’t we wouldn’t be using them. Think about a supertanker is in port it needs to turn to get out of the port and will have to eventually stop when it arrives at its destination.

We use the analogy because where it is difficult for a supertanker to turn or stop is in an emergency. When the supertanker faces something unexpected then yes it can be challenging and difficult to turn or stop in time.

The reality is that when a supertanker moves, it is following a well defined process, outlined in a plan, along a pre-determined route. If higher education was a supertanker, it would be a highly efficient thing meeting all its objectives on time and to budget.

What does this mean for higher education?

If we say higher education is like a supertanker, what we seem to be saying is that as a sector we lack any kind of coherent plan, so when faced with a constant series of challenges we are unable to respond to them.

We should stop waiting for the disaster or the emergency and plan for the future in advance. A well planned route, an understanding of the potential hazard and adequate contingency planning to mitigate emergencies and disasters. If higher education is a supertanker then it is a well designed efficient thing which gets the job done. But only if they have a plan, a route, and good processes.

Maybe in the future, it will be a positive thing so say higher education is like a supertanker. 

weeknotes

Your radio voice – Weeknote #350 – 14th November

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Senate House Library

Much of this week was spent in London. Monday I was in our London office, and on Tuesday and Wednesday I was at the WonkHE Festival of Higher Education where I was speaking on a panel about collaboration.

I really enjoyed attending the WonkHE Festival of Higher Education and I am slightly sad that they are taking a fallow year in 2026. What works for me is the structure and format of the range of sessions that happen across the conference. I like the interview format of the keynote sessions which is different to the usual kinds of keynotes we see at other conferences. There was a dearth of PowerPoint slides in most sessions, which I liked. Sometimes slides dominate a session rather than enhance it.

My session was on how to collaborate, which seemed to go down well. Also decent audience for a penultimate session on the final day. The only issue for me was that I had a bad cough all week which meant that I had virtually lost my voice and did have trouble speaking in the session, a number of people referenced my radio voice.

I particularly enjoyed the final session about where will higher education be in 2050. There was an amusing lively debate on the discord channel for this conference session. It reminded me of how we would use what was the Twitter back in the early 2010s at conferences.

At the end of the week I braved the rain and delayed trains to get to the office in Bristol.

weeknotes

Cream, two sugars – Weeknote #349 – 7th November

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This week I was in Amsterdam for a GÉANT workshop on education and their strategy.

As I was anticipating that the new Entry/Exit System (EES) would be in place at Schiphol Airport I didn’t want to take a late flight to Amsterdam or try and get there first thing on the day of the workshop. Though the EES wasn’t in place at Schiphol, it still took me longer to get out of the airport after landing then the time if took to fly from Bristol.

I had a late flight back, so spent the afternoon of Thursday working in the GÉANT office.

Next week I am in London for the WonkHE Festival of Higher Education where I am speaking on a panel about collaboration. I am doing some preparation for that.

coffee

Saw on WonkHE that Nestlé had undertaken a survey on student coffee drinking habits, now I had to read that. With my intelligent campus and learning spaces work I have visited many different university campuses, one constant feature was coffee shops, sometimes chains such as Starbucks and Costa, other times it was home brewed coffee places. Of course, all were selling espresso based drinks. I look back at my university experience in the late 1980s and I trying to recall what was available back then. There wasn’t any espresso type coffee on sale, and I suspect that it was probably filter coffee, or even instant.

Just to note I did write an interesting blog piece on coffee analytics a couple of years ago and could we combine data on coffee drinking (along with snacks and tea) with other student data sets to better understand the student experience. I actually think we could still do that. I wrote some more on that here.

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