Exeter Professional Career Framework Review

In 2022/23 the Exeter Professional Career Framework review was a task and finish group chaired by Drs. Astrid Wissenburg. The purpose of the group was to review the career and progression pathways for professional services colleagues including how those are enabled by learning and development.

History of the review

The Exeter Professional Career Framework Review Group (EPCFRG) was formed in July 2022, as a further continuation of the career framework workstream of the Exeter Professional Steering Group (EPSG). The aim of the review was to create a clear career framework for our professional services colleagues which will allow colleagues to navigate, gain the right tools and skills to support their career development.

The EPCF review took place over the 2022/23 academic year, looking at existing feedback from colleagues, internal statistical data from Trent, undertaking external desk based research into career frameworks (both inside and outside to HE), as well as holding a series of VIP conversations to hear about other Universities experiences of developing/using career frameworks and/or to support career development.

The group met monthly with membership of the group including senior representatives from all eight professional services divisions. A copy of the Terms of Reference (EP review) of the group can be read here.

This project worked closely with other colleague support and progression groups including the Exeter Academic Review group, Workload, Allocation and Equity group, Academic Workload Planning Steering group, and the Exeter Professional Steering group.

Project Plan

Phase 1 (October- December 2022): The group will be undertake both internal and external data collection and analysis. Internally we will be looking at data we already on colleague career journeys such as recruitment, retention, and secondment data, as well as data via the Learning and Development teams on for example mentor and leadership schemes. External to the university, we will look at what organisations within both higher education and external to HE offer in terms of careers and progression schemes.

Phase 2 (January- March 2023): Continue to collect valuable data from both within the University and from external sources. Speak to a select series of universities/organisations to talk to via VIP conversations to get more detailed understanding of how they work. Once the data collection has been complete a series of recommendations and improvements will be drafted.

Phase 3 (April-June 2023): Take the draft recommendations and improvements to the professional services community for feedback. This feedback will then be used to finalise the recommendations and improvements ready for submission to the Exeter Professional Steering Group and the University Executive Board.

Phase 4 (July-September 2023): The review group will finalise and submit the review recommendations and improvements.

Project Outcomes

Following the completion of the review the following recommendations were presented and approved by both the University Executive Board (UEB) and the Wellbeing, Inclusion and Culture Committee (WICC) in January 2024:

The new Exeter Professional Career Framework will:

Enable individuals to fulfil their potential, and develop their own careers, recognising careers are driven by both personal objectives and opportunities within and beyond professional services at the University of Exeter. It will do this by providing a three-step career development tool to guide individuals through their own career management.
Enable managers and other professionals to support individuals in fulfilling their potential through a coaching and mentoring culture.
Articulate high level pathways in professional services in Exeter, considering generalist roles, specialist roles, and those grounded in academic expertise, and giving divisions and teams the flexibility to develop more specific pathways if appropriate.

Facilitating the navigation of the career framework through:

More consistent and flexible expectations as documented in job descriptions and career grades where appropriate.
Signpost more effectively tointernal and external training and development and opportunities for wider experiences, facilitating professional services staff’s full participation in the wider university community, from small scale to longer term.
Personal and Culture Time to undertake development and wider activities, from professional training to citizenship activities.
Support tools and training for line managers in delivering the Exeter Professional Career Framework.

Implementation of the recommendations will take place in two phases, the first of which will take place between now and April 2024. The second phase will be dependent on the outcomes of the first phase further updates on phase two will be given in May 2024.