In Conversation with Maija Ahokas and Leann Thomas at TimeEdit
Timetabling and curriculum planning are often seen as routine admin. In reality, they are central to the smooth operation of a university.
Timetables are rarely set in stone. They shift constantly to respond to student demand, staff availability and curriculum requirements. When they work well, the university runs smoothly, students make progress and staff workloads remain manageable.
When they don’t, the consequences: higher costs, wasted resources, and not least of all frustrated students and exhausted staff.
How can universities get timetabling and curriculum planning right?
We spoke with Maija Ahokas, Vice President, Sales and Leann Thomas, Enablement Director at TimeEdit, our technology partner and specialists in scheduling and curriculum planning software for higher education. They shared some insights from across the sector on the biggest challenges and how institutions are tackling them.
What are the biggest challenges for universities in course scheduling and curriculum planning?
Maija Ahokas: Course scheduling and curriculum planning can be deceptively complex.
Let’s take BSc Computer Science as an example, where demand from students is increasing and industry expectations are shifting.
When it comes to curriculum planning, the challenge is not just about finding extra capacity. It often means reshaping the modules and course itself to balance growing student numbers with the staff, resources and facilities available. Modules may need to be resequenced, while new content such as AI introduced to strengthen opportunities for graduates. All of this has to pass through manual formal quality processes, while faculty planners also weigh up staff expertise, workload, and equipment requirements.
Then comes scheduling. Legacy systems, spreadsheets, disconnected databases mean module and course information, staff availability, and room requirements sit in separate places. Schedulers spend hours cross-checking details manually – a process that duplicates effort, increases the chance of errors and even more difficult when timetables inevitably change at last minute.
The real issue is that legacy systems, whether in curriculum or scheduling, or other parts of the university IT ecosystem, keep teams working in silos. So instead of collaborating on how to improve the students' learning journey, they are stuck piecing together information from disconnected sources.
Why are disconnected systems such a strain on institutions?
Leann Thomas: When curriculum planning and timetabling systems don’t talk to each other, it’s so easy to miss small details, such as an academic who doesn’t work on a Thursday but is scheduled for a full day. This leads to such a lot of duplicated effort across an institution to fix these issues. Staff spend hours re-entering the same information into multiple systems instead of focusing on supporting students.
How do these operational challenges affect students?
Leann Thomas: Students rightly expect their classes to be well planned and organised by their university. When this doesn’t happen, it impacts their learning, their experience, and the perception of the quality of the teaching they’re receiving.
For example, gaps between classes mean students often leave campus and don’t attend. If there’s not enough time to get to their next class, students get anxious and lose focus. And assigning a class to a room without the right equipment, really impacts their learning and leaves them wondering why the university would do that.
How can good timetabling make better use of space, and why does it matter for UK universities?
Maija Ahokas: Good timetabling makes the best possible use of a university’s buildings, equipment, and learning spaces.
If schedulers have the right information at the start, such as teaching styles, students’ learning needs, or whether specialist software or recording equipment is required - it’s about creating the conditions in a timetable so every session can be engaging for students.
From the university's perspective, the goal is to do more in fewer spaces. This reduces energy costs, frees up buildings for other priorities, from research to student support services, and income-generating activities.
How can UK universities balance academic requirements with resource constraints when building timetables?
Maija Ahokas: Delivering excellent teaching is key to students succeeding, but the constraints of rooms, staff and budgets never make this easy.
Mapping modules and courses against factors like staffing, room sizes, and teaching needs helps identify issues early so they can be dealt with.
Scenario modelling is particularly useful: testing different options before rolling them out. Could a module be delivered in a shorter block instead of across a term or semester? Would blending online and in-person sessions relieve pressure on lecture halls?
Exploring options in advance helps institutions to make the most of resources and facilities without compromising the pedagogy or the student experience.
What does best practice look like for curriculum planning in UK universities?
Leann Thomas: Early involvement of the right people, with clear roles in the process, is key. Academic leads, quality assurance, schedulers, estates, digital learning and IT, student services, as well as the student voice, all bring perspective and value.
The universities that get this right trust their systems to handle the logistics of what needs to be taught and when. This liberates staff time to focus on what to teach, how to teach, and the experience they want to give their students.
How can integrated curriculum planning and timetabling improve outcomes?
Maija Ahokas: When people talk about curriculum planning and timetabling, the focus is often on clashes, room allocations or how to squeeze everything into a packed semester or term. But when the two are joined up, the benefits for a university go much further.
Bringing curriculum and course timetabling together early changes the way decisions can be made. Suddenly, modules and courses are designed not only for academic quality but also for how they can realistically be delivered with the staff, space, and resources available. That shift alone saves hours of manual checking, reduces errors and prevents the kind of last-minute changes that frustrate students and staff alike.
The impact ripples outwards. Smarter scheduling makes better use of campus buildings and equipment, which in turn reduces costs and energy use. Staff benefit too – less firefighting means more time focusing on the important stuff such as teaching, research, and student support.
For students, the timetable shapes their entire student life and university experience. When curriculum planning and timetabling are disconnected, that experience suffers: long gaps between classes, sessions scheduling in distant buildings with no travel time, or teaching squeezed into unsuitable rooms with the wrong equipment. These are small frustrations that add up and affect how students feel about their university and impact on their academic performance.
When universities get this right, the results speak for themselves: better attendance, higher engagement and a stronger sense of trust in their university. Students feel their time is respected and their learning supported. And when that happens, outcomes improve, not just in grades, but in wellbeing, retention and confidence in the value of their degree.
What initiatives support best practice curriculum and timetable planning?
Leann Thomas: Across the sector, we are starting to see real momentum behind integrating curriculum planning and timetabling. What makes these initiatives successful are some common threads – and they all point to better outcomes for students, staff, and institutions alike.
- Early collaboration is key. When academics, estates, schedulers, IT, digital learning and student representatives are involved from the very beginning, proposals and plans are far more likely to be realistic. Everyone brings their perspective and experience, timetables are then designed to work in practice, not fixed later. The payoff is smoother day-to-day operations and a student experience that feels thought through, leading to stronger outcomes.
- Using real-time data makes a difference. The most effective practices build curricula and timetables around live information: how rooms are actually used, when staff are available, where are students travelling from, what does student assessment load look like. Instead of relying on assumptions or partial information, institutions are working with real-time evidence. That leads to more efficient use of resources, less wasted space, and timetables that students and staff can trust.
- Simple feedback loops keep planning grounded. Initiatives that actively bring students and staff into the conversation, at the time it matters, and then listen and respond are the ones that succeed. For example, at the end of a module, asking students whether they had an ideal week of study during their learning, if not, what would that look like – can provide valuable insights.
These types of practices move curriculum planning and scheduling from reactive to intentional design. The outcome is not just that timetables work better, but that students really feel listened to and supported, and staff who can focus on what matters most, teaching and research, all of which contribute to enhanced student outcomes.
How can TimeEdit and Ellucian help?
The partnership between TimeEdit and Ellucian helps universities to save time, reduce costs, as well as manage curriculum planning and timetabling with ease.
- Use AI to guide students in choosing pathways that unlock the best opportunities
- Create clash-free schedules using the latest data on students, course demand and rooms
- Schedule teaching to meet the exact needs of students and staff
- Make mid-term or semester changes quickly with minimal effort and disruption
- Reduce running costs and keep the university operating efficiently
For more information on how your institution can design timetable and curriculum planning that supports students’ achievement, learn about Ellucian and TimeEdit's partnership.
Learn more about our trusted partner, TimeEdit, here.
Learn more about Ellucian Student here, an AI-driven Student Information System (SIS) that supports the end-to-end student lifecycle.
