Interim management, campaign planning, feasibility study… and more for University College London (UCL) one of the biggest international success stories in UK higher education

Client

University College London (UCL) was England’s first secular university and is now among the top-ranked higher-education institutions in the world – with 22,000 students from 140 countries.

Brief

When the development department, found itself without a leader in late 2010, “London’s Global University” knew exactly who to call. Since then, UCL has called on More Partnership for a wide range of support.

Project dates
2010 to 2015

Lori Houlihan, Former Vice-Provost (Advancement), says:
“By the time I was recruited, More Partnership was already providing interim cover for my post. Given the lack of deputies, it was clear that we needed Rebecca to stay on alongside me.

“It turned out brilliantly from day one. With Rebecca doing the day-to-day management, I was able to concentrate on developing relationships inside and outside UCL. This is an incredibly complex place. In the biomedical field alone, for example, there are four huge, world-class, partner hospitals. Thanks to Rebecca’s support, I was soon up to speed in all directions at once!

“Now, we’ve closed our old campaign and are embarking on a new one. We decided to keep More Partnership on for the campaign planning and feasibility study, as they’ve proved that they can develop relationships across UCL at a senior level.

“Rebecca will often say: ‘I’m not the best person to do this. I’ll ask one of my colleagues.’ And so, for example, we’ve had the benefit of Joanna and Ian’s  expertise in running an ethics session with our governing body and of Adrian’s experience on the annual fund. Rebecca even supplied a specialist writer to work on cases for support.

“Honesty and respect shows up in everything More Partnership does. They’re incredibly thoughtful and not afraid to challenge you if they think you’re wrong.”