Introduction to TRAC

Zoom sessions starting from the 5th May (introductory session) then 3 weekly sessions from 8th May

Cost: £250 + VAT per delegate

OUTLINE
This virtual course provides a comprehensive introduction to the Transparent Approach to Costing (TRAC). It looks at the TRAC requirements, what universities need to do to comply with them and how they can go about doing it.

The course is aimed at members of finance staff involved in the management and delivery of TRAC within their institutions. It will also be of interest to more senior members of the finance team responsible for overseeing the TRAC process as well as to people from other teams.

Topics that the course will cover include:

• What TRAC is all about and how it works;
• Governance of the TRAC process and the role of the TRAC Oversight Group;
• The TRAC activities and the annual TRAC process;
• Approaches to academic staff time allocation;
• Calculating the indirect and estates cost rates;
• Determining cost rates for research technicians and research facilities;
• The TRAC return and how to complete it; and
• How to implement TRAC in practice.

No previous experience of TRAC is required.

The course is delivered online over a period of three weeks and combines a series of scheduled, live-online Zoom workshops with asynchronous pre-prepared learning materials delivered via an online learning platform.

The course will include:

• a one-hour introductory Zoom workshop with your course tutor and other participants, to get to know each other and to discuss how the course will work;
• a structured series of online self-study sessions covering key TRAC topics, presented by your course tutor in bite-sized chunks to help you to structure your learning (around six hours in total, spread across three weeks);
• access to the course online learning platform, allowing you to engage with the asynchronous learning materials at your convenience and to keep track of your progress;
• three one-hour, live-online group Zoom workshops (one each week) with your course tutor and fellow course participants to explore key topics in more detail and to answer any questions you may have;
• a series of learning quizzes and (optional) reflective assignments to consolidate your learning;
• the opportunity to book one-to-one video calls in your course tutor’s ‘office hours’ to discuss any questions you might have or to explore specific TRAC-related issues for your institution; and
• support via email from your course tutor for the duration of the course.

The Zoom sessions will be recorded. While you will get more from the course if you can attend them in real time, you can catch up from the recordings if necessary.

Introductory Zoom call: Tuesday 5th May, 11am – midday
First weekly Zoom workshop: Friday 8th May, 11am – midday
Second weekly Zoom workshop: Friday 15th May, 11am – midday
Third weekly Zoom workshop: Friday 22nd May, 11am – midday


To participate in the course and to access the course materials, you will need a computer/tablet with a reliable internet connection, a microphone and audio capability. You will also need the free Zoom app, a video player app and a web browser.

Your course tutor will be Simon Perks, who has considerable experience of advising higher education institutions on the TRAC methodology and of developing TRAC costing models. He is the founder and director of Sockmonkey Consulting and lives in Somerset with his wife, Natalie, and Ozzy, his Labrador.