Episode 16: Innovation and partnership, the new campus experience and the future for HE in Northern Ireland and beyond

Episode 16 in the series of podcasts featuring University Registrars talking about stuff. This time Paul Greatrix talks to Joanne Clague, Registrar and Chief Operating Officer at Queen’s University Belfast, about a wide range of topics both pre- and post- pandemic. We learn a bit about Joanne’s background and how she spurned auditing to pursue a varied pathway through many different areas of professional services in higher education and also enjoyed a particularly valuable experience in the NHS where she picked up a real taste for innovation and partnership which has translated well into her current role.

We explore the many challenges of lockdown and the phased return to work for professional services staff along with the strategies for trying to plan for different ways of working in the future along with helping to promote wellbeing for staff. The likely campus experience for students arriving in September is discussed along with the likelihood or otherwise of anyone hitting their international student recruitment targets. Finally, we look at the distinctive case of HE in Northern Ireland and what the future holds for universities there and in the sector more broadly.