Project teams should consider developing a sustainability and embedding plan. The scope would typically include:
- People e.g. addressing staff and student motivation, aspiration, expertise, knowledge and know-how
- Strategies, Processes, systems, initiatives and services e.g. addressing quality processes, curriculum design, review and approval, learning teaching and assessment strategies, information systems to support curriculum design and approval and curriculum design/review support services.
- Tools and Resources e.g. developing usable and accessible tools and resources
At a wider and top-level institutional level, institutions need to create an environment for sustaining and embedding innovations to include:
- Creating appropriate organisational structures to allow innovations to be embedded and sustained e.g. a cyclic continuous improvement approach (akin to action research).
- Becoming more business-like in approaches to embedding innovations.
As well as a focus on the institution, project teams should also include “the sector” within the scope of their sustainability and embedding plan, particularly where they have had direct sector funding for their innovations programmes.
If a communications and stakeholder engagement plan is being developed by the project, then it should be ensured that this aligns with the sustainability and embedding plan.