Andrew Unwin appointed Yorkshire and North East Network Coordinator

Andrew Unwin has been appointed Yorkshire and North East Network Coordinator. We asked Andrew to share a little bit about himself.

Andrew’s background

I have worked in Higher Education for 20 years now and have done so in a number of different roles (central, departmental and college); I have been a branch advocate since the start of my career when the Registrar at Durham asked if I had considered joining the AUA…

I have benefitted enormously throughout my career so far from the AUA at local, regional, national, and – most recently – international levels.

I have also found attending the annual conference incredibly useful, either to meet people working in the same area, such as quality assurance, or to develop my skills, knowledge, network and career.

I will shortly begin my own journey towards either AMAUA or FAUA, and will seek to support others in the region who are keen to do so, looking to draw on the expertise of other regions who have already operated such initiatives.

Network developments

I have had the opportunity, over the years, to get to know a number of colleagues across the region but look forward to getting to know and working with many more through this regional role. I will also act as a point of contact between members in the region and the central AUA team. With all of you, I also look forward to sharing the benefits of AUA membership with others in our sector.

As well as specifically supporting members seeking to apply for higher membership status, in line with AUA targets, I would love to see the following:

• support for all advocates and members within the region
• at least one branch advocate in every branch
• membership growth within branches
• regional activity, including conferences

In order to assist with this, I am keen to build a team to work collaboratively on this and I am therefore seeking volunteer/s who are interested in working with me and taking on a Deputy Network Coordinator role. You can find further details on the Deputy role here and please do get in touch via email if you would like to discuss this with me.

I very much look forward to working with you and I am particularly keen to hear from members to find out what you would like to see as part of the regional offer going forwards.  There have been many interesting and useful changes over the last year or so, ways of working and initiatives that would not have happened without the pandemic. However, many of us are looking forward to being able to meet up again, share our ideas and experience, and enjoy socialising with friends and colleagues!

Wishing you all the very best for the remainder of this term/semester and I look forward to meeting all the advocates and members in the Yorkshire and North East region!