Sharing finance and MIS. Can it really be done?
The race is on for FE colleges to save money in the shadow of reducing funding. But for three GFE colleges and one sixth form college, the challenge seems to be more about improving quality than cutting back. Can four autonomous institutions really share their engine rooms of finance and management information, or is this really just merger by the back door?
Sunderland College, Tyne Metropolitan College, South Tyneside College, Hartlepool Sixth Form College.
In this follow-up film, Dr Kathy Bland, Project Director for the Federation of Strategic Services Project (FeSSP), has her say on: strategy, staffing, TUPE, pensions and VAT. The exhaustive journeys her projects have been through mean that others exploring the sharing of services will have a much easier time.
The full case study on the FeSSP project can be found here.
For support with shared services or innovation research, feel free to contact Tony and our Shared Services Team to talk through your requirements.
Hi There,
Just curious. Is the FESSP strategic services private limited still operating? Any insights will help.
Thanks.
Girish (Australia)
Many thanks for your note, Girish. These studies date back to 2011-13, so lots has happened in the UK FE sector since then. Government policy moved away for sharing services to massive mergers of multiple colleges, I’m sad to say. However, one of the major architects of UK education shared services (featured in both films) is Dr Kathy Bland. She took her new skills and knowledge in sharing services over to Saudi Arabia, where she now runs (at the last count) four female colleges of excellence. You can see my films of her work here: https://ccqi.org.uk/film/saudi-arabia, and her LinkedIn details can be found here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-kathy-bland-89561740/. Best wishes, Tony.