Half the exhibition space.
Well – the keynote was a little more somber than usual. St Andrews’ Quaestor and Factor (best job title in HE?) giving us a rundown of the financial situation… not a rosy one to say the least. In short… we need to cut costs, grow business and generally get more money in and less out. To boot, we’re not public bodies but we do rely heavily on public money – the sort of money that any government fresh into power is going to want to cut.
So – belts in, wallets locked away and everyone checking for coins down the back of the sofa!
Realistically we’re going to see IT expenditure be much more heavily scrutinised in terms of ROI and esecially short to mid-term ROI. It’s no longer “what funky stuff can we do” and more “where can we save money?”.
The light at the end of the tunnel? Funding in HE is heavily dependent on funding that chases excellence – or at least the perception of it. So maybe we’ll see a new focus on doing what we do but better. Quality trumping gimmickry and marketing spin? Well – I guess that remains to be seen but we can hope.
Hopefully the next talk with have some gadgets and gimmicks to cheer up us beleaguered geeky types…