Better Processes - Management is the Key!  2020 is a year I think we will all wish to consign to the bin! But one positive effect of the pandemic for colleges has been the increased focus it has brought on the effectiveness of processes. Every college has been forced to re-appraise the way things are done to make sure that the constraints imposed on us all by the pandemic can be accommodated, but a positive bi-product of the need to do this has been that colleges have found that not only can they cope with the changes needed, but they can also improve processes at the same time. Improving processes usually also equates to a saving in resource and therefore cost.

Cash is king, is an often-used statement in the commercial world. And it is true, businesses do not fail because of lack of profit but due to a lack of cash. The crunch arrives when the wages cannot be paid. It is possible for a business to be making profits but still run out of cash.

The Covid-19 pandemic has affected everyone in the world and has forced every aspect of life to be completely rethought and whilst it will be some time before we can contemplate returning to anything approaching our previous normal life, if we ever can, there is no doubt the lockdown cannot exist indefinitely. At some point we will aim to return to some modified form of the life we once new.

A common view shared by providers of finance, even after Incorporation in 1992, has been that colleges are ultimately government-backed.

A wise CEO with years of Further Education experience once advised me that “to truly understand the learners, you must know their data”. The notion of knowing learner data struck a chord with me – one that has become more and more relevant to maximising student acquisition and retention in Further Education.