Establishing Industrial Advisory Boards using a Practice Transfer Adopters Scheme Michael Grove University of Birmingham Samantha Pugh University of Leeds © University of Leeds 2014

Outline National HE STEM Programme ▫ Practice Transfer Adopters Scheme Industrial Advisory Boards ▫ Making it work Audience Participation Time! Impact of IABs at Leeds and elsewhere

© University of Leeds 2014 HE STEM Programme Established by HEFCE & HEFCW in autumn 2008 Three-year Programme of activity from August 2009 £21million investment Ten core Partners in consortium Wider consortium  90 higher education institutions Built upon 4 pilot projects

© University of Leeds 2014 HE STEM: Mission Statement The National HE STEM Programme supports Higher Education Institutions in encouraging the exploration of new approaches to recruiting students and delivering programmes of study within the STEM disciplines. It enables the transfer of best practice across the Higher Education STEM sector, facilitates its wider adoption, and encourages innovation. Through collaboration and shared- working, the Programme focuses upon sustainable activities to achieve long-term impact within the Higher Education sector.

© University of Leeds 2014 Value Added Contribution The National HE STEM Programme supports Higher Education Institutions in encouraging the exploration of new approaches to recruiting students and delivering programmes of study within the STEM disciplines. It enables the transfer of best practice across the Higher Education STEM sector, facilitates its wider adoption, and encourages innovation. Through collaboration and shared- working, the Programme focuses upon sustainable activities to achieve long-term impact within the Higher Education sector.

© University of Leeds 2014 Practice Transfer Adoption (PTAs) A structured approach to dissemination (uptake): ▫ Identification of proven effective practice  Costed/Packaged model for roll-out ▫ Competitive call for ‘Adopter’ HEIs ▫ Implementation funds and access to a mentor/advisor ▫ Undertaken as a ‘community of practice’ Other similar ‘uptake’ models implemented with HE STEM

© University of Leeds 2014 Industrial Advisory Boards (IABs) Why? ▫ To bring an industrial/employer/external perspective to the activities of the school ▫ To provide opportunities for students When? ▫ Meets twice yearly What? ▫ A board of approx. 20 members drawn from industry, professional bodies, alumni and other stakeholders.

© University of Leeds 2014 Typical remit/ToR improving student employability and higher level skills; exploring ways in which students and staff can increase their understanding of how the external environment operates; exploring the possibility of stakeholder input in terms of placements and externally-led sessions in the curriculum; increasing student awareness of career options; exploring collaboration for research projects; obtaining external input on the future direction for the school.

© University of Leeds 2014 Audience Participation Time! Do you currently have an IAB in your school/faculty? ▫ If so, how established is it? What does success look like? What is the constitution of the membership? Has there been any impact so far?

© University of Leeds 2014 Making it work – setting up Choose/appoint a proactive and senior figure as chair (external or internal chair) Recruit members from existing contacts within the school initially. Find a small group of “reliable members” to ensure the board establishes itself. Recruit members who have sufficient subject knowledge to comment on the curriculum. Decide on what you want to achieve internally before you start. This can evolve over time. Establish draft terms of reference, but keep them simple. This will help in recruiting board members.

© University of Leeds 2014 Maintaining momentum Meeting twice yearly seems to work The mutual benefits should be made visible Build in opportunities for student interaction Employers should see where their input is being used. Ensure the board reports into the school/faculty committee structures.

© University of Leeds 2014 Impact of IAB to date: Chemistry: ▫ Speed Networking ▫ Industrial module input ▫ New laboratory experiment Physics: ▫ Group Industrial Projects ▫ Student Summer Research Symposium Maths: Industrial Lecture CASE Award

© University of Leeds 2014 Impact of PTA approach “It has shown how initial guidance can be interpreted to suit the needs of individual adopters and of the students involved. This has been a particular highlight of this project as the adopters have managed to each produce an audit which is unique to their own programmes.” Student-led Employability Audit PTA, (Exeter + 5 Adopter HEIs)

© University of Leeds 2014 Impact of PTA approach “This HE STEM project has clearly demonstrated that it is possible to introduce teaching initiatives into HE so as to achieve changes in practice that have national impact and the potential for sustainability with modest units of funding. Indeed, on reflection, I doubt if our project would have had quite the same impact if it had received £300k under the ‘old rules and formulae’!“ Mathematics Modeling & Problem Solving PTA, (Leeds + 12 Adopter departments)

© University of Leeds 2014 IABs and TABs (Teacher Advisory Boards) within HE STEM IABs established within 9 HEIs TABs established with 13HEIs "The school’s operation of an external advisory board, which meets regularly with the school’s senior management team, has been critical to this development as it permitted a route via which industrial partners could be recruited.” Teesside University, Industrially Owned Modules for HE

© University of Leeds 2014 Summary Overview of IABs Impact Your own practice Samantha Pugh: Michael Grove: