Preparing for UncertaintyShaping the Future: Predicting the Unpredictable

Wednesday 11 June 2014

Matthew Andrews

AUA Chair

Academic Registrar Oxford Brookes University

Higher education administration

Planning your career

The AUA

Higher education administration

Planning your career

The AUA

Massification &

Specialisation

Tensions in uncertain

times

Are you student

centred?

Being good is not good enough

Higher education administration

Planning your career

The AUA

Few of us ever plan on being University administrators…

…so how do we manage our career when we find that we are one?

Planned Happenstance®

• Kathleen Mitchell• plannedhappenstance.com

• Confronts the notion that career planning is a logical and linear activity

• An articulation of and explanation for the way many of our careers have developed!

• Embraces uncertainty

• Planned

• Happen

• Stance

Having plans, organised, and made arrangements – professional development planning

Events that occur by chance, i.e. life! – the certainty of uncertainty

Your position on your plans and the impact of events – attitudes & behaviours

Working out a direction

DO

Follow your curiosity, interest, and hunches

DO NOT

Make a linear plan for your career and attempt to follow it from A to D

through B & C

Approaching roadblocks

DO

Think about alternative routes, the benefits of taking a diversion, and

ask “how can I…?”

DO NOT

Stop, or keep on trying to follow the same path,

or work out “I can’t because…”

Facing the unexpected

DO

Expect the unexpected! Be prepared for

unexpected opportunities, chance

encounters, and answer every question with

“yes”

DO NOT

Fail to recognise opportunities or be too

narrow in how you define one, and end up

saying “no”

NB It is never the right time!

And your ideal job?

DO

Leave your mind – and opportunities – open! So

don’t define one… it might not exist yet

DO NOT

Fixate on one job you want to the exclusion of any other opportunities

Developing your “stance” is all about…• Being ready and willing to take action• Being open-minded and flexible• Taking a risk and seizing the

opportunity• Networking, being “out there”• Being involved: volunteer, learn• Exploring, being curious• Staying positive, optimistic and

embracing change – in fact, being change

Key Questions for Personal Reflection

• What role did you play in chance events?

• Has uncertainty been a barrier?• How important was the step you

were considering taking compared to the step you hoped that it would lead on to afterwards?

• What role has luck played in your career?

Higher education administration

Planning your career

The AUA

Continuing Professional Development

Professional CapabilityProfessional Reflection

Accredited Membership Framework

• Recognises that you are dedicated to improving yourself and others.

• Clear indication to others of your commitment to your own role and higher education.

• Uses the CPD Framework (a set of professional behaviours) which help you devise a plan for how you'd like to develop.

• Offers you a structure to develop personal targets. • The FAUA or MAUA post-nominals provide an increasingly

widely recognised badge of your professionalism.• Get the most of your AUA membership.

Accredited Membership Framework

You’ll need to be:• employed in the administration and management of higher

education, an organisation related to higher education, and any other organisations as may be approved by the Officers of the Association; or

• self-employed and works regularly in support of higher education administration and management; or

• considered to have a sufficient interest in the objectives of the AUA by the Officers of the Association to benefit from membership.

Member

• 25 hours CPD over the previous two years• Any qualification at Level 4, or a statement of evidence• A statement (750 – 1,000 words) demonstrating how your CPD

relates to at least three of the nine professional behaviours.• One referee• £35 application fee• Lasts 5 years

Accredited Member

• 30 hours CPD over the previous three years• Any qualification at Level 4, or a statement of evidence• A statement (1,500 words) demonstrating how your CPD relates

to all nine professional behaviours, and the impact and influence of this CPD on others and the HE sector. You must also include examples of how you have helped others with their professional development.

• Two referees• £45 application fee• Lasts 5 years

Fellow

Grasp every opportunity

Engage with AUA activities

Give up your misery

Be active locally

Preparing for UncertaintyShaping the Future: Predicting the Unpredictable

Wednesday 11 June 2014

Matthew Andrews

AUA Chair

Academic Registrar Oxford Brookes University