The Chief Operating Officer – or its equivalent* – has never been more important in the functioning of a higher education institution. From digital transformation to international disruption, heightened student expectations and constrained finances, the COO is involved in some of the biggest challenges for institutions. And yet there have been few systemic efforts to pool the thinking of COOs across jurisdictions.

All that is about to change.

The Nous Group Higher Education COO Survey is a new initiative by Nous and NousCubane to capture the insights and experiences of an invitation-only group of COOs at a cross-section of universities in Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand and the United Kingdom. Informed by Nous and NousCubane’s collective experience and ongoing discussions with COOs, the survey will comprise qualitative interviews followed by a quantitative study. The survey will seek to answer critical questions across jurisdictions, including:

• How is the focus of the COO role and portfolio evolving?
• Which new or different contributions can professional services make to help institutions meet key strategic ambitions?
• What is the one big thing that people aren’t yet paying enough attention to?

The survey is being conducted by Nous and NousCubane, two consultancies with extensive global experience in higher education and a deep commitment to the transformative value of education:

• Nous Group is an international management consultancy with more than 500 people working globally. Nous is a trusted partner to vice-chancellors, presidents, and senior academic and professional service leaders. We have contributed to nationally and internationally significant higher education agendas including shaping the policy future of higher education, designing new academic models, improving research performance, reimagining universities and their civic role, and transforming professional and administrative service delivery.
• NousCubane is a world-leading provider of higher education benchmarking services. NousCubane is the expert guide ensuring the integrity and effectiveness of UniForum, a unique consultancy program for exchanging data, insights and best practices in a moderated forum setting. The UniForum program provides university management with the means to manage strategically their administration and support services, leveraging the power of sharing information, learning from one another and collaboration.

We are confident the outcomes of this survey will be compelling reading for global higher education leaders.

* A note on the use of Chief Operating Officer: Across markets and even institutions, senior executives charged with leading professional and administrative services go by many names. For the purposes of consistency, we have used the title COO and hope you will excuse this generalisation for the purposes of economy and consistency.