BU shortlisted for two THE Awards

19 March 2010

BU has been shortlisted for two Times Higher Education Leadership and Management Awards.

BU has received sector recognition for the strength of its finance and student recruitment operations with nominations in the national Times Higher Education (THE) Leadership and Management Awards 2010.

The awards are designed to celebrate the sector's leadership, management, financial and business skills and showcase the extraordinary innovation, teamwork and commercial acumen of UK higher education institutions.

BU’s nominations for ‘Outstanding Finance Team’ and ‘Recruitment Campaign of the Year’ follow the University’s success at the 2009 Awards when it proudly received the inaugural award for ‘Outstanding Library Team’.

THE Leadership and Management Award for ‘Outstanding Finance Team’
The ‘Outstanding Finance Team’ award recognises outstanding work within BU’s Finance department in the academic year 2008/09.

During this year the department implemented a wide range of improvements including: a revised Financial Strategy; new financial regulations; enhanced communication at all levels, based upon business partnering; and the introduction of online payments – simultaneously improving the student experience and BU’s cash flow.

The team’s strong financial management processes and procedures resulted in:

The University recording its highest ever surplus of £4.5M pre-FRS 17 (4% of turnover)
Increasing its cash reserves by more than £10M
Locking in efficiency savings totalling nearing £26M over 5 years.

THE Leadership and Management Award for ‘Recruitment Campaign of the Year’
The campaign that secured this prestigious nomination – led by the University’s Marketing & Communications function – targeted the undergraduate UK market.

A fully integrated and carefully targeted marketing communications campaign was developed. The concept was market tested and worked on both practical and emotional levels to appeal to the audience and build on the BU brand values of employability and developing individuality.

A range of online and offline channels and tools was used to reach the audience and results were impressive:

High conversion to Open Day registrations from dedicated microsite pages
Open Day attendance increased by 36% year on year
Applications increased by 13.4%, significantly above those of the overall sector (8.4%).

David Willey, Deputy Vice-Chancellor of BU commented: “Our shortlisting for these awards is firm evidence of the ability, skills and dedication of our Professional Services staff and we thank them for their contributions. We won an inaugural Times Higher Education Leadership and Management Award last year and cross our fingers as we hope to repeat that success in at least one of this year’s categories.”