Centralised processes

Questionnaire respondents were asked if their institution’s processes around OLT grant application development and appraisal ultimately reflect a centralised approach. For example, the existence of centrally-coordinated development assistance processes, centrally-hosted web information, centrally-organised internal review of applications and centrally-provided feedback to applicants after the internal review. The responses in the table below show that the majority of institutions subscribe to a centralised approach:

A subsequent question gave respondents the opportunity to indicate the nature of any variation from a centralised approach, for example, significant inputs from faculties or schools. While only six of 35 institutions indicated either 'no' or 'uncertain' to a centralised approach, respondents from more than six institutions answered this question. This indicates that the 'yes', 'no' and 'uncertain' categories in the original question may have been too narrow to fully describe the processes at their institutions. The open text responses are presented below by size of institution:

A-size institutions (FTE academic staff <500)

Staff from six A-size institutions provided responses. One of the respondents who indicated 'no' to the centralised approach explained, 'Support is provided by me on an ad hoc basis. (My institution) has had no applications for a number of years'. Another said that 'all grant applications are treated in a similar way'. The third respondent commented, 'Most of the processes of this sort are managed through the Office of the Vice-Chancellor'. The remaining three respondents indicated shared work between the faculties or schools and a central body.

• 'Peer review is undertaken by academics in the faculties. Review is provided by the Selection Panel which has representatives from the faculties.'
• 'The level of faculty support can vary, but the office of learning and teaching provides the same level of support across faculties.'
• 'One school (of eight) offers budget development and some editorial support, but otherwise all support is centralised.'

B-size institutions (FTE academic staff 500 to 1,000)

While all B-size institutions said 'yes' to having centralised processes around OLT grant application development and appraisal, staff from two universities commented on what happens at their institutions: 

• 'Some schools (we have 10) provide more support than others. Those who 'have their heads' in the OLT space provide a much greater level of support than those to which the concept of an OLT/ T&L grant is 'alien'.'
• 'The less centralised activities occur when there is a call for Strategic Commissioned Projects, and the University gets caught up as partner in a major project. Often this happens at the last minute, with no chance for feedback on the full application. The shorter timeframes for these projects tend to lead to a less organised process.'

C-size institutions (FTE academic staff >1,000 but <1,500)

Six of seven C-size institutions said 'yes' to having centralised processes. A respondent from the single institution which said 'no' to a centralised approach indicated that, 'Previously successful OLT grant winners make themselves available informally to support staff in developing their applications. Additionally, the ICO and the Research Office provide compliance and editorial support'. The other respondent who provided an open text response came from an institution with a centralised approach. They acknowledged, however, that 'Applicants in certain faculties may have assistance to develop, for example, budgets. At the time an application is submitted for internal review, however, it enters the centralised process'.

D-size institutions (FTE academic staff ≥1,500)

Nine of the 11 D-size institutions said 'yes' to having a centralised approach for their processes. The two others selected 'uncertain' and here are their explanations:

• 'All applications are currently received through the Awards and Grants team. Development support is provided on request and is regularly offered across campus through the Academic Development role. Support to applicants within faculties and schools is not generally discussed.'
• 'Some school/faculties will offer support but this is on their own initiative and the central learning institution is, for the most part, not involved in this.' 

Respondents from the remaining four institutions show that despite their centralised processes, there is ad hoc support available in the faculties and/or schools:

• 'Our approach is very centralised and the faculties don't have a clear support process in place. However with our new policy/process faculties are going to be called on to be more involved/supportive, e.g. provide mentors for our mentor pool.'
• 'Some faculties have staff with more experience in grant writing than others. These are better able to assist the development of ideas and or budgets.'
• 'Only some of the ... colleges in (my institution) have academic developers who can provide focussed support in the person's area.'
• 'Different faculties have different resources available - including human resources where some faculties have educational development positions which offer support in this area.'