1. In 2009 the UG-FLEX project set out to reveal and enhance curriculum development processes in order to support a
more agile and diverse curriculum underpinned by integrated systems.
A series of stakeholder workshops involving staff from across the institution revealed problems related to the
management of the curriculum and curriculum-related information.
School practice is too Flexible study at Greenwich is a Our QA processes are too onerous and
The student records system stops us from
varied to systematise. cottage industry and is not scalable inflexible
developing new courses
INFORMATION SYSTEMS Marketing never have up-to-date
information on our courses We need a better way for students to
enrol on and pay for short courses
Central systems are totally chaotic
STUDENT RECORDS
MARKETING so we have developed our own
PROGRAMME TEAMS
school-based practice
Staff effort is not recognised or
We have to chase information constantly. rewarded
There is no version control of QA docs. We have to edit and retype everything for the website
For 3 years we worked with stakeholders to find and support interventions that could make a real difference. The results include:
Improved capacity for flexibility following the adoption by Academic Council of
Improvements to Quality Assurance records and planning.
proposals to introduce an academic calendar consisting of trimesters of equal
Changes to the Student Records Systems so that programmes are length from 2013/14.
organised by start month, giving more accurate & useful information. A cross-institutional, interdisciplinary forum to plan, scrutinise & implement
change and promote continuous improvement to processes & systems.
New curriculum design tools to help programme teams in review.
A commitment to a strategic approach to information literacy training for staff.
Lessons Learned
● Our systems reflect underlying principles and practices — and so effective systems depend on effective principles and practices ● Joined up
systems need accurate data ● Communication and planning is an essential ingredient of curriculum change ● Flexibility needs boundaries other-
wise you have chaos ● Institutional change is possible

2. UG-Flex Project: Stakeholder Feedback
RAISED EXPECTATIONS “...there is a snowball rolling that we never had before...We have actually got this idea of continuous improvement built into
the process...people are now expecting changes….looking for changes where they weren’t before.” Head of Department (2012)
BETTER COMMUNICATION “….This forum has been very good….it is completely multi-disciplinary in that it has got people from every-
where and it is able to discuss every perspective in one place…..and conversations can run....It is not a committee…...it has been a forum that
is quite unique. (Discussion at UG-Flex Project Group Meeting April 2012)
ENHANCED STUDENT RECORDS “Now all the reports, all the web pages all bring out the start months so that you
can easily track if you are starting that programme three or four times a year. Before you couldn’t separate them you
just had a big wodge of all these people…” “…you had an impossible job actually. You had all the same people on the
same [programme code] seeing the same version of Moodle or Web CT….” “It was a relatively simple change to make
but it is nice to hear it has a real impact.” (Head of Department talking to Head of Student Records Systems)
VISION OF LONG TERM CHANGE “...we know now what it is we’ve got to do, we just have to do it...in 5 years time I
would be really disappointed if we couldn’t actually say well that came out of UG-FLEX.” (Head of Planning & Statistics)
ACADEMIC CALENDAR “For me the biggest benefit is this understanding… that our underlying academic calendar doesn’t fit, doesn’t allow flexibility.
That for me is the biggest recognition.” (Head of Student Records Systems)
CHANGED ORGANISATIONAL MINDSET / ATTITUDES “We’ve made a journey from learned helplessness to a sense that actually we can take some control and
we can make things happen….. It was an idea a minute but actually people were sitting there saying we can’t get the actual day-to-day things to work….Despite all the rhetoric Greenwich really
wasn’t delivering the day-to-day business or really thinking what all this partnership and flexibility was about. We were very good at having little working parties that told us why we really
couldn’t do things……..UG Flex came along and people started to systematically try to work through and disentangle and pull out some of those issues and look at them in a systematic way . In a
sense everybody grew up but everybody grew up from very different positions…..I think people started to grow up and grow together…. That is actually quite a big change. It sounds very airy fairy
but it is not, it is quite solid.” (Director of Information & Library Services & Project Director (2008-April 2012)
www.gre.ac.uk/ils/ugflex www.jiscdesignstudio.pbworks.com www.ugflex.blogspot.com