A fascinating day...

Yesterday we had the third day of the Cardiff Futures programme: how the University really works.

It proved to be a fascinating day, including conversations with the Deputy Vice Chancellor and the Chief Operating Officer, the Chair of Council, and the Treasurer, as well as an outside perspective from the VC of neighbouring Aberystwyth University.  Participants also took on the roles of members of Senate, Council, the Executive Board and so on to consider a hypothetical issue from multiple perspectives, and looked at a real paper that had been considered by the University Executive Board - reaching similar conclusions (in some cases!) to the ones the Board had actually reached.

In response to participants' requests, we also  squeezed lunch and shortened one of the exercises in order to create time for them to work on their projects, which they are developing throughout the programme.

The day closed with the Action Learning Sets that are an integral part of the whole process: and it was encouraging to hear the insights and progress many had made on the issues each has personally chosen to address.

It was a packed day, and the time flew by: energy levels were high, and I certainly learned a lot: I will be interested in participants' feedback, as always.