CUBO STRATEGY 2019-2023

Promoting Excellent Student and Campus

Experiences

www.cubo.ac.uk

Founded in the 1960s, today CUBO has around 100 institutional members and 300 individual members, whose responsibilities include the strategic development, management and administration of their university’s commercial business.

Whether run in-house or outsourced, this normally includes the residential portfolio, catering and retail operations, conferencing, business and leisure tourism. Members may also be responsible for sport, security, printing, transport, cleaning, childcare, customer services, maintenance and even running the whole university estate.

Our members role is twofold: to provide outstanding, value-for-money services for the students, staff and customers of our universities, and to deliver income that is reinvested in the university through commercial activities such as conferencing and summer vacation letting. CUBO members contribute a growing percentage of UK universities’ income and over £2 billion to the UK economy.

CUBO: who we are

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CUBO is the professional association for senior managers of commercial and campus services in higher education institutions in the UK and Ireland.

Our missionTo lead and promote excellence in the development of campus life and the student experience through our unique ability to integrate commercial activity across the higher education sector.

Our aimsn To connect members and support their professional development through events, training, research and the sharing of best practice.

n To work with organisations and companies that share our ethos of using commercial activity to deliver excellent, value for money services that support wider university missions.

n To enable members to use their management skills and business acumen to deliver effective services and income that enhance universities.

n To be the leading advocate for the delivery of high quality and innovative campus life activity.

n Become the leading advocate for the delivery of high quality and innovative campus life activity and recognised by senior officers accordingly. 

n Been sought out to represent universities on key developments in the sector and have influence on national debates. 

n A reputation that makes CUBO the first choice professional partner for companies and organisations who wish to talk to the ‘people who matter’ with regard to commercial and customer experiential decisions at universities. 

n Conferences that are the ‘must attend’ events for members and sponsors. 

n A number of specialist sector events that bring people together to address significant commercial and service issues in the sector. 

n An accessible research library that gathers together information across all areas of commercial activity and an annual programme of research (either directly commissioned or by partners). 

Our goals

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By 2023 CUBO will have:

n A training programme recognised by the sector in delivering up to date professional support and skills  development for managers and in developing future leaders.  

n Encouraged growth in diversity and talent in the sector that delivers continuous improvement of commercial activity.

n A positive international reputation in the sector and meaningful links with other international professional bodies. 

n An enviable online presence that has an engaged and active community of members and sponsors and is used by non-members as a benchmark in the university sector. 

n Members that can express purpose and a pride in their membership. 

n Members from every HEI in the UK who are recognised and have impact on their university’s strategic direction. 

THEMES  KEY AIMS  CORE WORK AREAS 

Deliver  

n Supporting members to deliver excellence  n Rewarding innovation and championing best practice 

n Continuing and developing the CUBO Awards and the new CUBO RA Awards n Sharing case studies, knowledge and research  n Providing benchmarking and research in partnership with other organisations  n Identifying and sharing international best practice 

Connect  

n Connecting members to resources and partners  n Creating an effective network across the sector and beyond   

n Create new digital platform: a leading off- the-shelf association software and new website  n Grow the membership to enrich the network and networking  n Build supplier relationships through a corporate partner scheme that brings them into CUBO  n Develop national and international partnerships 

Develop  

n Personal development and knowledge sharing n Professional skills training   

n Training in partnership with UHS conference programmes  n Special interest groups and forums n Networking opportunities  n Professional development to enhance commercial acumen at senior level and deliver an outstanding student campus experience 

Lead  

n Leading the way on new initiatives  n Influencing policy and decision-making  

n By leading on res life initiatives and the broad on-campus experience  n By leading in university commercial business  n By bringing our unique, multi-disciplinary, senior perspective to HE policy-making 

The delivery of these work areas will be monitored by the Board and embedded in the work programme of our staff and volunteers.  Performance indicators exist for each theme so that we can measure the impact of our work and the company and its members can monitor progress. 

How we will get there: action plan

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CUBO is ambitious: although our staffing and financial resources are modest,  our capacity to work and influence is large. 

We are seeking to focus our resources in four core areas:

Case studies: how our members make a difference

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University of Bath Bath’s successful Leave No Trace campaign inspired more than 60,000 people to fill their own reusable containers rather than take a disposable cup. In some accommodation recycling rates increased by 40 percent. More than 3,000 bags of unwanted items were donated to charity rather than sent to landfill, and 5.3 tonnes of cutlery, food, crockery, glassware, plastics and other materials have been donated or recycled, instead of being thrown away.

Edinburgh First, University of EdinburghEdinburgh First’s conference and events business has grown by 25 percent in the last five years. In 2018 it organised 1,648 events for more than 132,000 delegates, with revenues in excess of £3.6m. Its Delivered Catering service is forecast to grow by 10 percent in 2018/19. By maximising commercial utilisation of university  assets the significant profit is able to be reinvested in core university services.

University of LeicesterUniversity of Leicester introduced new use post-card-sized referral forms for staff to flag concerns about students. The Make Every Contact Count cards allow all staff, from cleaners to directors, to report worries about students’ wellbeing to the relevant person. Since the scheme was rolled out in September 2017, staff have submitted 76 cards covering a wide range of concerns, enabling more students to get much needed help.

University of Sheffield Sheffield’s Jonas combines student accommodation with a modern hotel, a first-of-its-kind concept in the UK. The £2 million refurbishment of a 150-bedroom student block was inspired by the Student Hotel in Amsterdam. Its design aims to create opportunities for contact between guests, to facilitate the sharing of knowledge and friendship between its inhabitants. Jonas caters particularly for ERASMUS students and apprentices combining real work experience and learning.

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Oxford Brookes UniversityOxford Brookes prides itself on an ethical and environmentally conscious approach to catering. The university prioritises local farmers, producers and suppliers: 11,000 free-range eggs a year come from family-run Mayfield Farm, only four and a half miles away from Oxford Brookes. The university uses only Fairtrade coffee, cocoa, sugar and bananas, its homemade cakes use British flour milled in the UK and its milk is UK-produced.

Solent Conference Centre, Solent University The team behind Solent’s innovative conference centre smashed its event income target by 181 percent, through successful marketing, excellent client liaison and first-class event delivery. In 2017 the team held 1,072 events on campus and opened up new markets including private and wedding. The team achieved mystery shop results of 97 percent, well over the industry benchmark of 71 percent, and have secured significant new clients including Barclays and Apple.

Swansea University and First Cymru First Cymru links Swansea’s two campuses with its 24-hour Unibus service, supporting 45,000 student journeys each week. The partnership was launched in September 2015, when Swansea opened its Bay Campus in an area of the city with limited local infrastructure and transport links. Today more than half of students now use the Unibus service, up from 24 percent in 2017. Between September 2018 and February 2019, the Unibus service carried an incredible 810,000 customers.

University of Manchester Manchester transformed an old canteen into an indoor street food market. Rather than inviting big high-street names onto campus, the university decided to support local independent traders, who pay rent each week. The market gives local start-up businesses a chance to access a new client base and reflects the university’s community ethos. Nine out of ten students surveyed said they thought the market was really innovative.

www.cubo.ac.uk