Strategic advice for online education and partnerships
Chirality Consulting works with university leadership teams on the decisions that shape online provision: whether to invest, how to organise, and how to assure quality. I bring senior strategic experience and a practical sense of what it takes to run online programmes day to day.
My advice comes from having run university provision, not only advised on it: as a former Dean, Director of Online & Distance Education at the University of Wolverhampton, Head of Psychology and Professor of Applied Psychology, and as a Chartered Psychologist. I have been accountable for strategy, academic quality, staffing, financial performance and day-to-day delivery.
Clients include UK universities, international education providers and professional bodies. See who I’ve worked with.
What I advise on
Leadership and engagement
- Stakeholder engagement and facilitation: structured workshops that bring leaders, staff and partners to a shared view of priorities, and build commitment to the way forward
- Senior team support: independent review, facilitation and executive coaching for VC, PVC, Provost and COO teams
- Interim and fractional leadership: Interim Director or Dean-level transformation lead, portfolio recovery and operating-model redesign
- Mental health and wellbeing: online programmes that support learner and staff wellbeing, and resilience workshops for senior leaders
Strategy, finance and partnerships
- Strategy and investment: market assessment, business cases and investment planning for new online provision
- Financial modelling and risk: full cost analysis, contribution and profit margins by programme, and risk modelling with best-case and worst-case scenarios
- Partnerships and organisational strategy: operating models and staffing, and partnerships with private providers, including market analysis and due diligence
- The Chirality Review: my independent review of online partnerships (see below)
Quality, standards and assessment
- Quality assurance and governance: PSRB compliance, accreditation readiness, continuous quality monitoring and academic governance
- Psychometrics and assessment: design and validation of assessments and measurement scales, psychometric analysis of student and candidate performance (including Rasch modelling), and psychometric testing for leadership and team development. BPS-qualified Expert in Test Use
- Responsible use of AI: using AI in curriculum development and quality assurance while keeping academic judgement and accountability
Programmes and delivery
- Institutional readiness: gap analysis against best practice, staff development for online delivery, and a tailored action plan
- Programme design and launch: portfolio planning, curriculum design and getting programmes to market
The Chirality Review
My own method for online education partnerships, whether with an overseas institution, an OPM or another delivery partner. It tests whether a university and its partner can build, staff, fund and sustain an online programme together, with both sides rated independently and every difference between them treated as a finding. The result is a clear recommendation: proceed, redesign, defer or stop.
How we work together
Engagements range from a short review or workshop to longer advisory and interim roles. Each starts with a conversation about what you need to decide and by when.
1. Listen and diagnose
I start by understanding the decision you face, your context and your constraints, through conversations with leaders, staff and partners.
2. Model and test options
I set out the realistic options with full costs, margins, risks and best-case and worst-case scenarios, so you can compare them clearly.
3. Plan and support delivery
We agree a practical plan, and I can stay alongside your team to support implementation, governance and quality assurance.
Who I’ve worked with
Universities: Heriot-Watt University, the University of Warwick, the University of Bradford, Aberystwyth University, Queen Margaret University, St Mary’s University Twickenham, the University of Bristol and the University of Winchester.
Education organisations and partners: Higher Education Partners, Pearson Education, Kaplan, Laureate Education, Walbrook Institute and the Association for Business Psychology.
Examples
- Higher Education Partners: retained adviser on academic quality, validation readiness and partner assurance across a portfolio of university partnerships
- Association for Business Psychology: wrote the national certification standards and accreditation framework, which became its most profitable workstream
Listen
- Women leaders in online learning (Association for Business Psychology podcast)
- Senior leadership and disclosure of mental health lived experience (Association for Business Psychology podcast)
