1 Strategy: Mission, Management and Culture
As a small specialist institution working within the field of the creative and cultural industries, and with a particular focus on training for performance, Rose Bruford College has established a reputation for placing cultural activity within a broad range of social settings. Over the years this mission has found different forms of expression; whether combining drama training with teaching; through the development of the first ever degree programme in Community Theatre; to the inclusion in its portfolio of open access distance learning programmes, and a foundation degree in arts management. This has left the College with a tradition of inclusive practice; openness to educational and performance innovation; alumni working in a wide range of settings: including schools, colleges, voluntary sector, and community based arts organisations. The college recognises its responsibility, both to its students and to the industry for which it is training, to be proactive in issues of representation and promoting cultural openness. This demands a continuous reflection on the nature of the work being undertaken, and the involvement of both staff and students in examination of our ethos
The college has recently undertaken a review of its mission and as a result of widespread consultation among academic, administrative staff and with students, placed emphasis on giving its work a greater level of community focus. The review has found expression as a new Strategic Plan, which lays out a series of aims and a list of targets for the next five years. Most relevant of the aims established are the following:
Strategic Aim 3: To further the societal as well as the commercial role of theatre and performance, working with and within a wide range of communities to develop theatre and performance that is purposeful and progressive
Strategic Aim 4: To ensure that we admit students with the greatest potential, regardless of background, so that, in turn, our graduates are employable, entrepreneurial, active and positive contributors to society
These are seen as part of a continuum, working with communities and encouraging members of those communities to be students with us. Implicit within this practice is the creation of an inclusive community within the college, and demonstrating the characteristics of both recruiting and selecting universities. In cultural terms widening participation does more than allow access, it creates dialogue between sectors of society which it is important to express in the arts.
Within the college structure, WP policy is established and monitored by the Equality and Diversity Committee, reporting to the Senior Management Committee. The committee is chaired by the Director of Community Outreach who is line-managed directly by the Principal, and consists of a broad range of interest groups within the college: unusually, governors are actively represented. Strategic directors, the Registrar, and Heads of Schools also meet as part of the Academic Management Group, which acts as a focus for drawing WP together with initiatives in Knowledge Transfer; Research; Teaching and Learning; Quality; and Production. The Director of Community Outreach is a member of Academic Board.
Degree programmes report back annually through the quality process on their progress on widening participation activity and on admissions generally. They are supported in this by central provision of statistics and other information. The college has just been subject to QAA audit and was given broad confidence: its work in supporting people with disability was particularly commended.
Strategic Objectives
The college recognizes, in line with research, that widening participation requires a complexity model rather than a deterministic one. As a consequence it seeks to integrate its activities, so that its research includes industry links, which in turn inform aspiration-raising activity. Similarly work on both disability and minority ethnicity includes student support; awareness building with staff; and curriculum content development informed by industry activity. Objectives therefore tend toward the holistic, and are about cultural shift both within the institution and beyond it; and targets and statistics are interrogated as trend indicators. As a small specialist institution, our activities concentrate in the main in developing Cultural Industries awareness and aspiration rather than the general WP activity more usual in the University sector.
Strategic aims are implemented in the main through the operational plan for Participation, Opportunity and Communities, which is reviewed and updated on an annual basis. (Attached, and available at http://tinyurl.com/rc3ctd ) There are five areas of activity:
• links with community;
• developing partnerships and relationships;
• integrated recruitment;
• curriculum development;
• equality, diversity and inclusion.
Outreach project funding is calculated annually against these activities. In addition, the college supports widening participation activity through other means: disability support; learning support; welfare and counseling; research activity; learning and teaching development and curriculum change. As mentioned, the college runs open access distance learning degree programmes which account for about 40% of students, a proportion of whom are from a WP background. The College runs a part-time evening course, which has supported a number of adult learners into performance careers.
Fair Access and Admissions
The college has taken on board the recommendations of the Schwarz Report, and is continuing to develop its recruitment strategy to increase transparency and ensure fairness. A new admissions policy was developed last year to help clarify admissions. At present college policy is to offer audition/interview to every candidate, with the exception of distance learning programmes (which are open access anyway). In addition, staff development has been run to raise awareness of implicit bias in selection. The college is developing a network of regional audition/interviews, with the co-operation of regional FE partners, to increase accessibility to candidates from poorer backgrounds.
At the moment WP recruitment targets are based on Hefce’s benchmarking process; though the college aspires to better them. The college also benchmarks itself against comparable institutions as an additional indicator of progress.
2 WP policy and practice
WP commitments
WP commitments Total funding committed 2008-09 (£)
e.g. School/College links 40,000 7%
Equality and diversity initiatives 20,000 4%
Student Bursaries 160,000 30%
Student support, counselling, etc 70,000 13%
Contact with industry 25,000 5%
Course content and delivery mode 120,000 22%
(distance learning, active learning model, p/t courses etc)
Planning and administration 105,000 19%
Total 540,000
Targets and Milestones
The college has set the following indicators as part of its strategic plan:
Strategic Aim 3 (Community) – Indicators of success – by 2013:
• “Creative Hub” launched
• RBC to secure or distribute a minimum of £100,000 per annum in community arts funding
• A minimum of five ongoing partnerships with community-based theatre and arts organisations
• A minimum of two community-based performance research projects
• RBC facilitating at least five external community theatre and performance events per annum
• At least 1,000 places filled per annum at RBC events for local children & young people
• at least one undergraduate module, focussing on the societal role of theatre and performance, embedded in curriculum of each of the College’s FT undergraduate programmes,.
• MA module, focussing on the societal and applied role of theatre and performance, available to all Masters pathways
• collaboration in performance, at least twice in each academic year, with a professional community/minority theatre company.
• provide local schools with at least six workshops each year based on current productions.
Strategic Aim 4 (Admissions and Recruitment) – Indicators of success:
• CEIG established (2009)
• A minimum of eight regional recruitment centres, accounting for 15% of undergraduate interviews and auditions (2011)
• establish progression agreements with at least five local FE institutions providing ladders of study into Rose Bruford and accounting for at least 10% of annual undergraduate offers (2011)
• All FT and MA programmes to include employability, entrepreneurship and societal contribution within curriculum (2011)
• Exceed our sector participation benchmark by at least 10%. (2011)
• 85% of students in degree- related and degree-level employment or further study within a year of graduation (2012)
• A minimum of ten graduate companies p.a. supported by incubator activity (2012)
• A minimum of 15 CPD programmes on offer (2013)
Evaluation
Reviewing the activity that the College has undertaken in widening participation for the current year, the level of activity which, as a small specialist institution, we have been able to achieve is quite striking. Looking over the targets set in the strategic plan, as listed in the previous section, we have been able to make substantial progress. Much of this progress has been as a result of our partnership working, but also the message seems to be out there that Rose Bruford is serious in its commitment to engaging with communities, and to creating an inclusive and welcoming community for all its students. Many of the longer-term targets have been met; in particular the progression agreements.
More progress needs to be made on detailed commitments, such as the schools workshops, but we are well placed to make this happen in the next year. The Equality and Diversity Committee has established three target communities for next year: BME students working backstage (a long-term endemic problem for the industry); students from a South Asian background across the range of courses; and students with disabilities.
Whether our work is effective is an area for serious consideration. Our progress against benchmarks would suggest we benefit from an overall level of activity in raising aspiration and awareness; to which in turn we contribute both through our own and through collaborative effort, and through joint research. Comments from students about the College are supportive; as are those from regional partners. Steps to broaden the curriculum; to explore diverse cultural expression, and to support students with specific difficulties have been particularly welcomed. Evidence of the success of progression work remains at the anecdotal level: it is easy to identify those students who have arrived as a result of outreach activity, but the presence of significant numbers of students who could be classified as being from a WP background suggests a more complex process at work. We have identified the need to develop qualitative measures of WP activity, including the use of student testimony, as part of a wider review of recruitment activity.
The most successful direct activity has been through our participation in the two arts-specialist Lifelong Learning Networks: Creative Way and NALN. Sample analysis suggests that two-thirds of workshop participants, from FE Colleges, are either first in family in HE or receive EMA. Because our involvement with AimHigher was through the specialist arts consortium, our schools links are not as strong as other institutions. As a result that has allowed us space to develop close working relationships with FEI’s, and potentially at a number of levels: the most obvious level 3 progression, but if resources should allow, to offer FD top-up and postgraduate training. Engaging with HE in FE for vocational creative industries training, an area where the College has substantial expertise, offers a very logical route for a specialist college to engage in the WP agenda.
Investment in widening participation: funding streams
Funding stream Amount invested in WP Proportion of total WP investment (%)
£
HEFCE WP allocation (including mainstream disability allocation) 255,000 53%
HEFCE teaching grant
HEFCE TESS allocation
Other HEFCE funds (please specify)
Charitable sources
Student fee income 200,000 42%
Other private income (e.g. endowments)
Other (please specify):
Partnership projects 26,000 5%
TOTAL 481,000
Widening participation activity: volume measure
Institutions should set out the volume of activity that was delivered. Information should be aggregated at an appropriate level. Institutions should not provide descriptions of interventions or processes.
Activity Number/reach of activities
Contact projects – one or half-day 17 / 1060 participants
Sustained projects – longer term (typically I week or longer) 15 / 410 participants
Campus outreach events 9 / 290 participants
Indirect / dissemination events – festivals, community events etc with general audiences 14 (footfall inappropriate)
Student ambassadors 60 (10% of undergraduates)
Distance learning students 295
Short courses 265 attendees
Progress against outcome-based targets and associated milestones
Institutions are asked to report here on the statistical and outcome-based element of their targets/milestones and to provide a commentary on progress below. Institutions should indicate whether the target/milestone relates to the access agreement, strategic assessment or is shared.
Target (milestone) Access agreement only – yes/no
WP strategic assessment only – yes/no Shared – yes/no Actual position (please specify: milestone met; milestone delayed; milestone not met) Evidence/commentary for stated position
2 signed performances p.a. Y Milestone met: Annual commitment www.bruford.ac.uk/whatson/whatson.appx
10 community projects Y Milestone met www.theatrefutures.org.uk
18 FE progression agreements/ partnerships Y 5 with Creative way LLN; 5 with NALN (On target for 2011) Operating plan for Participation
www.theatrefutures.org.uk
Establish Outreach VLE Y Milestone met www.performancepassport.org
205 bursary students Y (Milestone exceeded) Student Loans Company returns
Appoint support officer Y Milestone met outreach@bruford.ac.uk
Productions to address ethnic minorities issues Y Milestone exceeded www.theatrefutures.org.uk
Comment on performance against targets/milestones and evidence of the effectiveness of the WP activities outlined in the strategic assessment
Separate reports can be provided if necessary.
Financial data for access agreement monitoring
Additional fee income 2008-09 (£)
1,100,750
Expenditure on bursaries and scholarships 2008-09 (£)
For students with household incomes up to £25,000 132,912
For students with household incomes between £25,000 and £39,305 (monitoring threshold to be confirmed) 5,400
For students with household incomes between £39,305 and £49,305 (monitoring threshold to be confirmed) 0
For students from other under-represented groups where no income detail is known 0
Non-OFFA-countable support, for students where no income detail is known and no WP categorisation is applicable (optional) 0
Please show your calculations for estimated expenditure figures
Expenditure on additional outreach (OFFA-countable) 2008-09 (£)
105,000
Reallocation of bursary funds from 2007-08
Amount (£) Progress
All allocated
Reallocation of bursary funds from 2008-09
Amount (£) Description of what the underspend was/will be spent on
24,900 Carry forward to 09-10
Number of bursary holders
Household income Number of students in receipt of a bursary/scholarship As a proportion of the total number of students Estimated bursary take up rate (for non-HEBSS institutions)
Up to £25,000 187 31%
Between £25,000 and £39,305 (monitoring threshold to be confirmed) 18 3%
Between £39,305 and £49,305 (monitoring threshold to be confirmed) 0
Other under-represented groups where no income detail is known
Other: non-OFFA-countable support, for students where no income detail is known and no WP categorisation is applicable (optional)
Changes to the strategic assessment
Institutions should detail any changes to their strategic assessment in light of the annual reporting or any change in institutional or external circumstances and provide an explanation of why such changes have been made.
First year return
Additional papers
OFFA Access Agreement
Operational Plan for Participation, Opportunity and Community
Admissions Policy
