ucreative update

University Title Visit

The University was visited by a small team of assessors on behalf of the Quality Assurance Agency on 31 January and 1 February 2008. The visit took the form of meetings with myself, Executive, the Heads of College, Heads of several Departments, two groups of students, two groups of academic and academic related staff and a small group of governors, including the Chair, Deputy Chair, Chairs of Sub-committees and a recently appointed governor.

The student groups included representation from the five colleges at under-graduate and post-graduate levels as well as covering part-time and full-time modes. The staff groups represented staff from all colleges, including those in management roles, those engaged in research and research leadership, staff teaching at all HE levels and included part-time as well as full-time staff.

In the meetings, the assessors explored issues relating to the Institutional Audit and probed the "challenges of merger" as well as seeking to understand our case for University Title, the kind of University we are and how we perceive the benefits of becoming a University. They were also interested in our future plans and how we see the University developing in relation to our sustainability plan and how it will assist in delivering our ambitions and aspirations as a University for the Creative Arts.

They explored with students their experience of the University, including areas for improvement and their perception of staff engagement with industry and research.

In meetings with staff and managers, they probed explored some of the processes underpinning academic management and focused on our research strategy. As expected, they were particularly interested in the support provided for staff to undertake research and scholarship and opportunities to further develop the subject as well as involvement in curriculum development.

They probed some specific governance matters with the governors, including issues emerging from the Higher Education Funding Council for England Assurance Review which took place in November 2006. They were interested in the evolution of the Board since merger, governors' views of the Board's effectiveness and their views of the sustainability challenges we face.

Next Steps

The assessors are providing a report to go to the Advisory Committee on Degree Awarding Powers (a sub-committee of the QAA Board) which meets on 11 March 2008. They will send us a draft of this report in February to enable us to comment on inaccuracies. ACDAP will form a recommendation on the basis of the report and their recommendation will go to the QAA Board in June. If the QAA recommendation is positive, it will be quickly communicated to the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills and then to us. We must await formal communication in June. However, if ACDAP has reservations and is unable to make a positive recommendation, we will be informed quickly in March, in order for us to address any outstanding issues.

I would like to thank those staff, students and governors who participated in the visit, all of whom displayed enthusiasm and commitment to our future as a University and provided important evidence to support our case. They included:

Executive

Professor Mark Hunt, Deputy Rector (Strategic Planning)
Professor David Buss, Deputy Rector (Quality and Student Experience)
Marion Wilks, University Secretary
Alan Cooke, Acting Pro-Rector Corporate Resources
Dr Seymour Roworth-Stokes, Pro-Rector Research and Development

Heads of College

Laurence Wood, Head of College (Canterbury)
Ian Dumelow, Head of College (Epsom)
Paul Coyle, Head of College (Farnham)
Claire Mussell, Head of College (Maidstone)
Dianne Taylor-Gearing, Head of College (Rochester)

Heads of Support Department

Jane Rudd, Acting Head of Quality and Standards
Tracey Boston-Townsend, Head of Registry Services
Vanessa Crane, Head of Library and Learning Services
Jonathon Thompson, Acting Student Services Manager & Disability Support Manager
Angela Fisher, Head of Human Resources
Uwe Derksen, Acting Head of Research and Knowledge Transfer

Governors

George Burnett, Chair of the Board of Governors
Richard de Friend, Deputy Chair of the Board of Governors
Jacqui Burke, Chair of the Audit Committee
David Hunter, Chair of the Employment and Finance Committee
Jennifer Glastonbury, an Independent Governor who has been a Governor for less than two years

Deputy Heads of College/Directors of Study/Directors of Research

Professor Oren Liberman (Canterbury: Architecture)
Calum Mackenzie (Epsom: Fashion, Fashion Promotion and Illustration)
Sarah Jeans (Farnham: Media and Communication)
Neil Breedon (Maidstone: Illustration and Animation)
Michael Poraj-Wilczynski (Rochester: Design)
Dr Roni Brown (Deputy Head College, Farnham)
Robert Russell (Deputy Head of College, Epsom)
Hilaire Graham (Director of Teaching and Learning)
Dr Philippa Ashton (Senior Research Manager)
Professor Suzanne Buchan (College Research Co-ordinator – Farnham)

Academic Staff

Dr Hocine Bougdah, Subject Leader, Environment & Technology (Canterbury)
Deborah Lampit, Course Leader BA(Hons) Fashion Journalism (Epsom)
Francine Norris, Postgraduate Co-ordinator (Rochester)
Professor Lesley Millar, Professor of Textile Culture (Epsom)
Dr Andy Darley, Research Degrees Leader (Farnham)
Gary Clough, Director of Study (Rochester)
Professor Nicky Hamlyn, Time Based Media (Maidstone)
Paul Vivien, Course Leader, Fine Art (Farnham)
Peter Hoffer, Lecturer, Fine Art Sculpture (Canterbury)
Lucy Panesar, Contextual Studies Co-ordinator (Rochester)

Post Graduate Students

Maria Papanastasiou, MA Fine Art (Canterbury)
Katherine Nolan, Research (Epsom)
Tim Garrett, MPhil/PhD (Farnham)
Sandy Curry, MA (Farnham)
Cathy Rogers MA Artists Film Video and Photography (Maidstone)
Jonathan Gilhooly, Research (Maidstone)
Kate Samuels, MA Design (Rochester)
Julie Kong, MA Fashion (Rochester)

Under Graduate Students

Tara Perry, BA (Hons) Interior Architecture and Design (Canterbury)
Krister Klassman, BA (Hons) Fine Art, Canterbury
Katie McCormack, BA (Hons) Fashion Promotion and Illustration (Epsom)
Akiko Komatsu, BA (Hons) Interior Architecture and Design (Farnham)
Margareta Doek, BA (Hons) Film Production (Farnham)
Stephanie Seabrook, BA (Hons) Printmaking (Maidstone)
Vasileious Balaskas, BA (Hons) Video Arts Production (Maidstone)
Benjamin Bird, BA (Hons) Photography (Rochester)
Ashton Wainwright, BA (Hons) Fashion Design (Rochester)
Benedict Carroll, BA (Hons) Digital 2-Dimensional Design (Rochester)
Depa Masih, Foundation Degree in Art and Design: Technical Practice (Rochester)

Consultation on our name

We are required by the Privy Council to consult on our proposed name. We are indicating that we would prefer to adopt University for the Creative Arts as our formal title and to brand the colleges using their locations either singly or collectively. We are also indicating that, we would consider retaining each of the town locators in our title and adopting University for the Creative Arts at Canterbury, Epsom, Farnham, Maidstone & Rochester. We will be sending out approximately 300 letters to relevant stake holder organisations during the next few weeks. Although we will not know the outcome of the University Title scrutiny process, we are initiating the consultation process sufficiently early to enable us to make a proposal to the Privy Council in good time.