Council Launches Deans and Directors of Graduate Schools Network
Council Launches Deans and Directors of Graduate Schools Network
The new opt-in initiative hopes to be a highly useful resource for membership institutions to share and develop practice. Similar to the ‘DDoGs’ network in Australia and Deans’ Institute in the United States, the network will enable enhanced collaborative working both across the UK and internationally.
Professor Ken Wann (UKCGE Executive Committee) said;
‘Any cross institutional networking is to be welcomed, at any level. We have seen how well this level of networking has performed in the US, Europe and Australia. We want Institutions to take ownership and contribute to developing a meaningful agenda as we do not want it to be another talking shop.
Dr Darren van Laar (Director of the Graduate School at Portsmouth) said;
‘The idea for the network first came from an observation that Portsmouth’s Director of HR and also the Head of Academic Registry benefitted from cross institutional specialist networks within their respective membership bodies.’
‘The potential of this network could be very valuable and very useful both in terms of sharing practice but also sharing issues and problems. But it’s also more than that, it’s about growing a community of senior leaders within graduate schools. As we’ve found over the last couple of days, we have had many of the same issues come up again and again, and it’s sometimes true that not everybody else understands the issue in the rest of the university. By growing that community and having those people we can talk to and understand the current issues will make us all a much stronger group than otherwise.’
The group’s first meeting will take place in early 2015 when the Council will hold a residential workshop designed to engage discussion and networking opportunities.
A number of potential names for the network were discussed during the Conference, including ‘DoGSUK’, ‘DoGsNET’, ‘DHoGs’, ‘The Dublin Group’ and ‘The Lichfield Group’. Colleagues with further suggestions for names for the group should contact the UKCGE office. Once the name has been chosen by members of the network the official title will be communicated across relevant UKCGE platforms.
UKCGE’s Principal Officer, Carolyn Wynne is administering the network and all expressions of interest for joining the network, as well as items to add to the agenda for the 2015 residential should be emailed to c.l.wynne@ukcge.ac.uk.
