Latest News
Our International Shared Service
We are delighted to announce that L-Universita ta Malta is to join the UniDesk Service taking our membership total to 11!
Lying at the cross-roads of the Mediterranean the University of Malta with its 400-year history is the hub for international academic exchange on the island. Besides the main campus, situated at Msida, there are three other campuses: Valletta, Marsaxlokk, Gozo. There are in excess of 11,500 students following full-time or part-time degrees and diploma courses.
James Cilia, Head of User Services , University of Malta explained why they selected UniDesk:
“We were particularly excited to join UniDesk because of its focus on the University environment. Having the opportunity to share best practices and learn within a community of member Universities was also important for us”
Dawn Dodd & Catherine Hetherington, Service Owner for UniDesk said
“We are delighted that the quality and reputation of our shared service management solution is being recognised beyond the UK education sector. This is an exciting time for our service and we look forward to working with University of Malta and welcoming them into our UniDesk family.”
Our 10th Service Member Goes Live
We are delighted to announce that Royal College of Art (RCA), who recently become our 10th shared service member, is now Live with UniDesk
The Royal College of Art (or RCA) is one of the world’s leading postgraduate Art & Design universities. It has over 2800 students and 960 staff, split across three campuses in Kensington, Battersea and White City all in London.
Following a successful collaborative project the delivery of UniDesk will enable RCA to provide enhanced first and second line support to the institution’s growing student and staff population. RCA were attracted to UniDesk as we have a wealth of education-based experience and our members can share experiences with other institutions rather than having to build from the ground up.
We are looking forward to working with them on their service management journey.
All Change at UHI Service Desk
The project to on-board UHI is currently in full swing. The team at UHI have been immersing themselves in all things UniDesk over the last couple of months, personalising their environment and throwing themselves into call management training. UAT is now complete and the team at UHI are finalising their plans for the big launch in June.
UHI are looking forward to exciting new features including live chat support via Bomgar, self service portal and utilising the knowledgebase tp help resolve common problems and issues.
Annual UniDesk Conference 10th – 11th June 2019
This year our shared service conference will be hosted by the University of the Highlands and Islands and will take place on Tuesday 11th June. The venue is the Centre for Health Science which is located within the grounds of Raigmore Hospital, part of the university’s Inverness Campus.
The conference has presentations from our community members, a guest speaker from ITSM Zone who will provide insight into the changes ITIL 4 will bring and our technology partner TOPdesk will be presenting on the TOPdesk roadmap.
The event will kick off with an evening of Highland Hospitality on the 10th June. Please join us for a drinks and nibbles reception at Inverness Marina before we set sail on the scenic Moray Firth for some local sealife spotting! Our cruise will be followed by an evening of dining in one of Inverness’s most picturesque riverside locations.
Full conference programme details can be viewed by visiting www.unidesk.ac.uk/events
Spring Opening Arrangements
Just a reminder that the UniDesk Support Team will be available throughout the spring holiday period and there will be no change to our advertised support hours and contact arrangements.
For those of you taking a break over the spring holiday we hope you have a great time.
UniDesk Governance Reimagined!
December saw the first meeting of the enlarged UniDesk Board following the recognition of UniDesk as a Shared Service by APUC (Advanced Procurement for Universities and Colleges). At the Board the Chair was delighted to welcome representatives from 8 of the 10 UniDesk member institution and the Chief Executive of APUC Angus Warren. The presence of this engaged group ensured a lively and very productive meeting!
The Board had a packed agenda and positively progressed a number of key items including
UniDesk Availability – Gosia Such, the Director of User Services, highlighted that the root cause of the recent network outages had been identified and that a number of changes had been made to improve network resilience
New Members – Mark Ritchie, the Chair of the UniDesk Board, welcomed Royal College of Art and The University of the Highlands and Islands to the UniDesk family. Mark commented that we are in advanced discussion with another prospective new member – watch this space!
UniDesk Platform Development – The Board unanimously approved the initiation of a project to update the UniDesk platform and move the service to a commercial SaaS provider. This project will have representatives from all member institutions and will be overseen by the UniDesk Board. The aim will be to have the service migrated to the new platform by December 2020
Mark thanked the institutional representatives for their support and continued commitment to the development of the UniDesk service as a distinctive and highly valuable service desk solution which promotes and leverages all that is best in our sector.
“UniDesk – for Education by Education“