Changing Cultures: Having Impact within your Institution.

Professor Martin D. Stringer, Deputy Pro-Vice Chancellor10th November 2011

Changing Cultures: Having Impact within your Institution

What can we learn from Religious Literacy Leadership Programme?

What do we want to communicate?

Who are our allies?

Changing Cultures: Having Impact within your Institution

Religious Literacy Leadership in Higher Education Programme was funded by HEFCE

Aimed to get beyond the Religion = Islam = Problem issue

Aimed to provide literacy training for senior managers in HE.

Began with a pilot that led to a series of workshops with very positive outcomes.

Changing Cultures: Having Impact within your Institution

Two principle lessons learnt:

It is important to get the message right It is important to reach the right people

Changing Cultures: Having Impact within your Institution

It is important to get the message right:

The message had to be positive, not a ‘problem’

Focus on ‘equality and diversity’, ‘widening participation’, ‘student experience’ and ‘good campus relations’

Know what changes you want to make

Changing Cultures: Having Impact within your Institution

It is important to get the message right:

Focus on practical questions: what will make a difference?

Focus on case studies, examples of good practice.

Focus on academic comment and ‘campus voices’ (videos)

Changing Cultures: Having Impact within your Institution

It is important to reach the right people:

Began with a focus on Vice Chancellors Found it was important to focus on those who

can make a difference (PVC education, Head of Student Experience, etc.)

Changing Cultures: Having Impact within your Institution

It is important to reach the right people:

Work with the Equality and Diversity structures/champions within the University

Need to identify key allies and form networks for change

Changing Cultures: Having Impact within your Institution

Get out there and get on with it….