Higher Education Cleans Up It's Act

How university cleaning is taking itself more seriously and how you can take making cleaning efficient and straightforward.

Cleaning is an important part of running a university. Students expect campuses and facilities to be clean and well presented, which requires organisation and budget on the parts of Estate Managers. A sizeable amount of funding goes into cleaning in HE; indeed the costs incurred by HE
institutions each year represent 2.7% of the total national spend on cleaning services for both public and private sector organizations.

In 2004, HEFCE funded the start up of the British Association of Cleaners in Higher Education (BACHE). BACHE is the primary association providing support for cleaning and associated services within the HE sector. It aims to standardise training for cleaning staff (in HE institutions) and recognise the importance of professional cleaning activity. BACHE helps HE bodies and institutions in the UK and Ireland pull together and thereby achieve the ultimate aim of improving cleaning and giving campus environs an overall boost. This revolutionised cleaning in HE because there was finally a standardisation of expectations throughout the sector.

Alongside its key objectives relating to training and development, BACHE's wider remit was to enhance the profile of HE cleaning and associated support services through professionalism, to influence the decisions of the funding councils, and to encourage university Cleaning Managers to network to share ideas and best practice. This legitimacy has raised the profile of university cleaners and given them the recognition they richly deserve.

As part of its plans to further the cause of the university-cleaning sector, BACHE also helps universities to establish training initiatives for cleaning staff. BACHE also created the BACHE awards to recognise the efforts and successes of university cleaners across the country. These awards honour best practice, environmental initiatives and training initiatives. The winner of this year's award for best training initiative was Birmingham University, which has established a training academy to improve cleaning services.

"There is a lot more to the science of cleaning than most people realise," explains Lesley Stewart, General Manager for Student Accommodation and Campus Cleaning. It's at the heart of the health and welfare of the university. If you think of all the places that the cleaning staff go into around campus, they need all sorts of skills. They have to be security-minded, reliable, careful, trustworthy as well as competent at cleaning."
She adds: "With the setting up of the academy, we wanted to develop a career progression for staff. We have cleaners of all ages being trained here during the year, casual as well as permanent staff, and, for example, student helpers during the summer break. We have had excellent feedback from our students and our clients so far."

The academy has proved so successful that several other institutions have visited in the last 12 months. Academy staff believe there may eventually be external demand for the kind of expertise that is offered here.
To further improve on its cleaning services, this month, Birmingham Cleaning Services is launching its own newsletter, The Clean Sweep, a forum for any member of the section's staff to share their views or raise ideas and concerns. From this and the BACHE manifesto, it is clear that training and communication are the key to successful cleaning. The future of cleaning in HE lies in investment in the training of the right staff, and in opening up channels through which they can swap ideas and share best practice.