Transcript Slide 1

Linking London Sixth Annual
Conference
2nd July 2012
Sue Betts
Director
‘Reflections on Linking
London 2011 – 12’
Linking London 2011 - 12
2011 – 12 has been a transitional year into sustainability –
from a HEFCE funded Lifelong Learning Network to one based
on partners’ subscription, and other funding sources
It has seen the expansion of the network from a solely HE/FE
partnership to one with a variety of partners
It has been a productive year – with most objectives in the
Business Plan achieved
Evaluation of our staff development work is good to excellent
We are a collaborative partnership of six years which works
by building on trust and co-operation
Linking London now!
We have 8 types of members to support currently:
Universities Further Education Colleges 6th Form College Adult focused smaller colleges (SDIs and residential) –
School, with 6th Form Awarding Bodies Professional bodies unionlearn -
Linking London
Working in partnership to
create opportunities
Main work strands of Linking
London 2011 - 12 and 12 - 13
Business Plan (11-12) concentrated on 6 main
areas:
1. Access Agreements, now including student engagement
and success (retention) and data
2. HE in FE
3. IAG
4. Employer Engagement
5. Apprenticeships
6. Staff Development and support
Some achievements 2011 - 12
We have organised 21 events (Business Plan promised 10)for
partners – involving 400 staff over the year – five of those
events have been practitioner groups dedicated specifically to
two priorities of the network – IAG and HE in FE
We have held individual consultations with 23 of our 27
partners during the year
We have published 10 new publications*
We have responded to numerous consultations on behalf of
partners and lobbied government and policy bodies on behalf
of members’ interests
Successful EU funding for the GLAS project
One highlight after the last conference was discovering in July
that we had been successful in gaining 400K Euros, under the
Eramus Programme for our GLAS project, investigating areas of
APL, WBL, Social Mobility, Civic Engagement, CPD – all through
the lens of gender and class
GLAS partners with Baroness Perry at the
House of Lords
Some achievements 2011 - 12
We have delivered bespoke sessions to staff in our partner
institutions on IAG, and progression to HE
We have supported partners in their collaborative work by
brokering new Progression Agreements and supporting
existing relationships*
We have increasingly become involved in internal members’
partner meetings, IAG delivery, FDAP etc
There has been a subtle shift in our work with partners as we
all anticipate the new fee structure
The CATs project - funding from BIS/SFA and
AoC
In the spring of 2012 another highlight was the successful
gaining of £78,000 of funding to run a Credit Accumulation and
Transfer (CATs) project in the area of leadership and
management
We now have eleven partners involved in this project – 2
universities, three colleges and three awarding/professional
bodies, plus some new recruits
The first Steering Group meets on the 9th July
Some achievements 2011 - 12
We have supported institutions in their Access Agreements
through providing up to date templates of engagement for the
year, held an event with OFFA policy advisers, who are keen to
support partners
We have liaised on partners’ behalf with numerous
organisations, both London wide and nationally
We have shared our expertise speaking at regional and
national conferences*
We have developed MA modules for partners to use for APL
and Admissions Staff – to show their competency
We have developed an Employer Engagement toolkit to
support partners’ work in this area
Some achievements 2011 - 12
Through the Link – our monthly newsletter, HE in FE our
monthly bulletin and the website we provide an information
and updating service for the partners
We run a Helpline and Advice and Support line – 0207 380
3226 for our partners
We link with national experts in their field – SPA, UCAS, QAA
We have explored data in progression work and are in the
process of brokering a Pan London data service for partners
In summary 2011 - 12
We believe 2011 – 23 has been a good year
for the partnership, albeit in difficult
circumstances
We know there are considerable challenges
ahead as we approach the ‘new era’ of HE, and
in time FE, but we do believe that
collaboratively in partnership we can do more
A ‘new era’ characterised by:
Uncertainty
The ‘new era’ characterised by:
the new fees regime,
admissions targets and accuracy, unlimited AAB students off
quota, and quota
core and marginal numbers (some FE providers new to HE
being directly funded),
progression FE to HE, and within FE
spotlight on level 3 to 4, particularly for mature learners
need for emphasis on teaching and learning, and
information for students, re-looking both in FE and HE at staff
qualifications.
the use of evidence (data)for planning
purposes
Reflections
Sustainability
Awareness of the longer term – collaborative targets
Institutions taking much greater responsibility for planning
their own destiny
The cost of failure is high
At the same time therefore we might see the learner journey
as something much more carefully defined and supported
Could mean a re-emergence or a re-look at more flexible and
alternative ways of providing education
Thank you for listening.
Sue Betts [email protected]