Legislation and common-practice influence and challenge the work-life of our H&FE clients. Having the opportunity to share these challenges with others is both reassuring and educational. To do this, we facilitate bi-annual University Discussion Forums (UDF) in Birmingham, Cheltenham, London, Manchester, and Glasgow, attended by clients involved in for AR; Credit Control; Treasury; Student fees; Income and Finance, and clients from independent student accommodation providers.
Since UDFs began in December 2008, interest and enthusiasm for them has grown:
Dates and venues for the Summer 2019 UDFs are as follows:
Tuesday 4 June – Cheltenham
Wednesday 5 June – London
Thursday 5 June – London
Tuesday 11 June – Birmingham
Wednesday 12 June – Manchester
Thursday 20 June – Glasgow
Naturally, discussion topics evolve with time, just as many of them are resolved with collaborative solutions, such as out-of-hours arrears recovery to mitigate the removal of sanctions by the OFT, and the introduction of credit control training to meet HEIs desire for sector-specific solutions.
In the winter 2018 series, the most discussed topics were:
Vulnerable Students
Payment options for International students
Sanctions used and their effectiveness
Accommodation debts and remedies
In house collections best-practice
Cashless campus
When to refer to a Debt Collection Agency
GDPR
Experts in the HE sector attending the forums include:
- BUFDG
- Chartered Institute of Credit Management
- Hadfield & Co Solicitors
- Student Loans Company
- Travelex
- UKCISA
Feedback from attendees include:
Thank you for a very informative and useful discussion forum and lunch today. It was a very worthwhile event and provided lots of networking opportunities too. Looking forward to the next one already.
I look forward to these networking sessions as its amazing how different universities deal with debt collection, processes, procedures etc…. More often than not we find that we are experiencing similar issues and someone else at the forum has already addressed the issue.
These events contribute highly as to why STA stand out from other debt collection agencies! Excellent.
This event is one of the most useful meetings I attend in my role which is directly relevant and informative. I really appreciate the opportunity to meet with peers across the sector, share best practice and raise any questions. Thank you!
I wanted to say a really big thank you for inviting me to your Forum. The hospitality and professionalism, not to mention friendliness, was amazing. To top it all, I gained a lot of knowledge as well as confidence in the way our university works. Thank you again for making me feel very welcome
Thank you for a very informative and useful discussion forum and lunch today. It was a very worthwhile event and provided lots of networking opportunities too. Looking forward to the next one already
Thanks for hosting the forum yesterday. It was an enjoyable and informative day