Professor Nick Braisby, Vice-Chancellor of Bucks New University, will be part of an hour-long panel discussion with US higher education leaders on the topical theme of 'Navigating Competing Priorities and Evolving Plans' from 5.30pm-6.30pm on Thursday 18 June.

Prof Braisby will be discussing how institutions may be re-thinking services and programmes due to Covid-19, how leaders are responding, and what it means for the sector.

The panel is part of a month of virtual summits with the international company Civitas Learning.

Prof Braisby said: "This is a good opportunity to speak to an international audience about our work which, thanks to the outstanding efforts of all our staff, has continued online to ensure we deliver on commitments to our students and partners. I will also be speaking about our work as we look ahead to offering a blend of face-to-face and online learning across our modules from September."

Prof Braisby will be joined on the panel by Dr Melissa Vitto, Interim Vice Provost at University of Texas at San Antonio, and Dr Hezekiah Simmons, Chief Financial Officer at Monroe Community College, in Rochester, New York State.

Find out more about the Virtual Summit Series, and register to attend, at this link.

Emma Binnie, Head of Students and Wellbeing at Bucks New University, will also be part of a panel at 6pm on Thursday 25 June, speaking about Designing A Student Experience With The End In Mind. The discussion can be joined at the same link.

The University's work with Civitas has also included contributions to an advisory document sent to around 1,300 Higher Education professionals who attended a Universities UK (UUK) webinar on 'Addressing the impact of Covid-19 on student progression and retention'.

Prof Braisby contributed to the content of the document by speaking about the importance of being agile at this time as an organisation; the role that resumption plans have played in its planning and how communication is being handled around this; and how the University is using data-driven, evidence-based decision-making as it prepares for the next academic year.

Miss Binnie wrote about the value the University will be placing on evaluating whether it continues with the outreach and support programmes it has provided for students during the crisis, and being flexible in providing options with which students feel most comfortable.