Issue 15, October 2004
Contents
News from projects and partnerships
Aimhigher national activity: funded projects
Aimhigher Greater Manchester - Learning for Work: vocational opportunities in higher education
Aimhigher Greater Merseyside
General Information
CADISE: Being Inclusive in the Creative and Performing Arts (BICPA). HEFCE funded Strand 2 project to Improve provision for disabled students
Congratulations to the 2004 National Teaching Fellows
Raising the profile of disability in HE
Wanted: Tales of the best and worst
The Graduate Employability Awards - Enhancing Employability
DRC launches new education microsite
Professional Education and Disability Support (PEdDS) project: Hull University
Events
A Richer Picture: The Wider Role Of The Voluntary And Community Sector In Learning And Development NIACE Annual Voluntary And Community Sector Conference
Student Employability - Resources to make it happen
Admissions to Higher Education Conference
Getting on Brilliantly - Managing successful meetings for adult educators
Aimhigher Healthcare Strand
NDT: Changes and challenges - Addressing disability in HE
Publications
Disability disclosure, confidentiality and evidence in a Higher Education context: Guidance notes
Requests for information
University of Gloucestershire – HEFCE funded disability project
Multimedia resources and experiences disability project: University Of Sheffield
In search of disabled people thinking about psychology study
Humour
A somewhat longer Bulletin this month – everyone must be refreshed after their summer holidays!
News from projects and partnerships
Aimhigher national activity: funded projects
An invitation to bid for funds for national projects was issued in March (Circular letter 07/2004). In all, forty-four bids were received with a total value of £25.66 million. Ten bids scored highly enough against the assessment criteria, and a total of £5.24 million was allocated. Three of these bids focused on aspects of mentoring, so the partners involved were asked to develop a joint project.
The resulting eight successful projects are described below. The values of the awards are indicative, as details of some projects are yet to be finalised.
Funded projects
Chemistry: the next generation
Partnership: Royal Society of Chemistry, University of Leicester, eleven other HEIs, three multinational pharmaceutical companies and two sector skills councils
Contact: Professor Paul Cullis, University of Leicester, tel: 0116 2522130, e-mail:
Award: £941,446
This project aims to develop materials and activities to raise the aspirations of potential students to take up courses in chemical sciences, and to provide subject-specific support and materials for Aimhigher partnerships. Activities will include providing hands-on access to modern laboratories through summer schools and open days, along with a wide range of other outreach work.
Raising aspirations, achievement rates and participation in higher education of looked-after children and children in public care
Partnership: Leicester Shire Aimhigher
Contact: Tim Farthing, tel: 0116 2707942, e-mail:
Award: £304,000
This project will provide information, advice and guidance for children and their carers through local conventions and producing a video/DVD. There will also be mentoring activities to support looked-after children making transitions from 16+ to post-19 education. The project will develop a group of local partners involved in promoting educational achievement and progression of looked-after children and those in care.
RAISE – Raising Aspirations Into Science and Engineering
Partnership: University of Teesside, SETNET (Science, Engineering, Technology and Mathematics network) and the British Association for the Advancement of Science
Contact: Colin Wilkinson tel: 01642 384249, e-mail:
Award: £500,000
This project will run activities such as summer schools, discovery days and awards events focused on science and engineering. Revision support will also be provided in a way that brings pupils into university laboratories.
Higher Education Gateway for Gifted and Talented
Partnership: National Academy for Gifted and Talented Youth at the University of Warwick
Contact: Ken Sloan, tel: 024 765 74411, e-mail:
Award: £650,200
The project aims to raise expectations among under-represented groups from England's top five per cent of gifted young people. It will provide a web portal to give national exposure to regional activities, as well as providing online study groups and a forum for staff. Other activities include events for parents and carers, and over a hundred outreach activities. The project will also produce a quality framework for HEIs working with gifted and talented young people.
Overcoming specific learning difficulties as a barrier to participation in HE
Partnership: University of Westminster, British Dyslexia Association, the Dyslexia Institute, the National Disability Team
Contact: Katherine Hewlett, tel: 0207 911 5764, e-mail:
Award: £478,000
The project aims to raise awareness of the issues surrounding pupils with specific learning difficulties, within schools and Aimhigher partnerships, and to deliver specific activities for such pupils. Activities will include national awareness-raising events for Aimhigher stakeholders, and separate events for learners. A national outreach scheme is also planned.
Raising attainment, awareness and aspirations through football
Partnership: Manchester Metropolitan University, Football in the Community
Contact: Rob Halsall, tel: 0161 247 1024, e-mail:
Award: £544,600
The project aims to raise attainment and awareness among pupils through out-of-school 'catch-up' homework/coursework sessions. Parent and carer groups will also be set up to raise awareness of the pupils' curriculum and its demands, and how they can support their children. In addition, football coaching will be offered to pupils and parents/carers to encourage engagement with the scheme. The scheme will involve contact with professional and ex-footballers and with HE and FE students and staff.
National Compact Scheme
Partnership: University of Leeds, seventeen other universities
Contact: Ceri Nursaw, tel: 0113 343 4019, e-mail:
Award: £317,724
This project will investigate the special admissions arrangements (including compacts and summer schools) which operate across the HE sector. Building on this, the project will seek to develop a collaborative scheme for these special admissions arrangements. It will focus on how well these schemes are understood, and how they can provide opportunities and motivation for young people.
Aimhigher National Mentoring Scheme
Partnership: Middlesex University, National Mentoring Pilot Project, The Brightside Trust
Contact: Professor Andrew Miller, Middlesex University, tel: 0208 4116846, e-mail:
Provisional award: £1,500,000 (NB. This money has been set aside pending the approval of the joint project).
This project would bring together and develop three existing mentoring schemes, which include both face-to-face and online mentoring. The project would develop materials and a framework for mentoring of school pupils by HE students. A specific strand would relate to mentoring pupils with an interest in healthcare professions.
Aimhigher Greater Manchester - Learning for Work: vocational opportunities in higher education
Raising awareness of Foundation Degrees is a high priority for Aimhigher Greater Manchester. Research has been undertaken to map the current provision of across Greater Manchester. “Your Guide to Foundation Degrees in Greater Manchester” is a brochure of fifty-three foundation degrees offered by colleges and universities in Greater Manchester.
A Foundation Degrees event will be held on 17 November. Students in Y13 and learners in the workplace will find out about vocational higher education options. Aimhigher and the Greater Manchester Strategic Alliance are offering an evening reception for employers with speakers from Foundation Degree Forward in order to encourage them to:
· Support staff who might be interested in pursuing a FD
· Provide workplace opportunities for those studying FDs
· Engage in an employers network to discuss the development of new FDs
For further information please see: http://www.aimhighergreatermanchester.com or contact Catherine Boyd:
Aimhigher Greater Merseyside
The partnership will be involved in many activities over the coming year and the list below summarises some of the main projects and events.
RadioStar
An Aimhigher and Juice FM campaign focusing on progression routes to music and related media industries culminating in a two-day convention.
Champions Project
A project bringing together a targeted cohort of young people from across Merseyside to act as Champions for learning.
Transition – Preparing the way forward
Providing opportunities for pupils to develop independent learning skills and prepare pupils for their next step in education.
Primary Project
Developing a range of resources across partner HEIs and FECs, including a new interactive website and Children’s University modules.
Syndicate Aimhigher Project
Subject specific syndicates will be created with members drawn from schools, FE and HE to raise attainment in GCSE and A Level students.
Fast Forward
An on-line course offered by Edge Hill to support transition to higher education.
Health & Social Care
A course offered by JMU and Toxteth Community College providing an insight into Health, Early Years Education and Child Care.
Vocational Progression Routes
A project lead by St Helens College focusing on progression routes from Advanced Modern Apprenticeships to Higher Education.
Health Care Cadets
A two-year NVQ Care and Key Skills programme that involving Foundation and Modern Apprenticeships, this project also investigates the issues around progression to HE.
MAP to Hope
Developing a portfolio of activities to facilitate entry to Higher Education amongst Modern Apprentices.
Progression Routes Research
Research into progression routes within four sectors of construction, health & social care, engineering and hospitality and leisure.
Achievers Awards
The fourth annual awards celebrating the outstanding achievement of young people in schools and colleges from across the whole region.
AIMs Activities
Continuing activities with the themes of aspiration and attainment, inspiration and motivation.
For further information on these and other activities and events taking place throughout Greater Merseyside visit the website at: http://www.ahgtm.ac.uk.
General Information
CADISE: Being Inclusive in the Creative and Performing Arts (BICPA). HEFCE funded Strand 2 project to Improve provision for disabled students
The eight partners of CADISE (The Consortium of Arts & Design Institutions in Southern England) are collaborating on a project which aims to improve the design and delivery of programmes of study within the creative and performing arts.
The BICPA project is developing a portfolio of resources which will provide practical information and advice for teaching staff, backed up by a programme of staff and educational development sessions.
The main focus of activity has been the development of a number of in-depth case studies which cover a variety of scenarios within the creative and performing arts.
Using the wealth of material gained from the case studies, we shall be addressing the issues raised in a series of written briefings and guidance notes for staff.
Other activities include working with programme leaders as they prepare for new programmes and/or the revalidation of existing programmes, to ensure that disability considerations are built in and not bolted on.
For further information and more detailed updates on project activity contact: Gill Capewell. Project Manager CADISE BICPA Project: . If you would like to know more about CADISE, please go to: http://www.cadise.ac.uk
Congratulations to the 2004 National Teaching Fellows
The NDT would like to offer congratulations to all fifty National Teacher Fellowship Award winners in 2004.
We would particularly like to congratulate Val Chapman and Judith Waterfield who are leading HEFCE/DELNI funded Strand two projects: To improve provision for disabled students, and are recipients of a National Teaching Fellowship Award.
Judith Waterfield, SPACE Project Director and Head of Disability ASSIST Services, at University of Plymouth plans to use her NTFS Award to look at Universal Design.
More information on the SPACE project and Judith’s plans for her NTFS award can be found at: http://www.space.ac.uk/
Val Chapman is Head of University College Worcester’s Equal Opportunities Centre. Val is also a QAA Institutional Auditor and chairs the Higher Education Opportunities Network (HEEON) and Project Director for the HEFCE/DELNI funded Strand two project: Academic standards and benchmark descriptors: developing strategies for inclusivity. Val will use her NTFS award to extend the work on strategies for inclusivity and also undertake an international research visit and create and publish resources online and on CD.
More information on the HEFCE/DELNI funded project led by Val can be found on the website: http://www.worc.ac.uk/services/equalopps/benchmark/
Raising the profile of disability in HE
Is your institution planning a disability event? Is an academic department trying to raise the profile of disability issues? Perhaps the NDT can help.
As part of our support to all HEIs in England and Northern Ireland the team would welcome the opportunity to visit your institution to make a presentation or facilitate a workshop, as this is an effective way of reaching staff and supporting you to change practice. To discuss how we might be able to assist please contact Yvonne Dickinson, Deputy Director of the NDT at:
Wanted: Tales of the best and worst
The Times Higher is starting a regular feature in late September, asking academics for their worst/best teaching/research moments over the last year and, if worst, how they overcame them. It would be about seventy words. Examples should be sent to:
The Graduate Employability Awards - Enhancing Employability
ESECT and The Independent are proud to invite teams in higher education and employers to submit applications for the prestigious ‘Graduate Employability Awards’ which celebrate the high standards of employability of the UK’s graduates. There are two awards please see the Generic Centre web site for further details: http://www.ltsn.ac.uk/genericcentre/index.asp?docid=20748
DRC launches new education microsite
The DRC has launched its new education microsite to provide students, parents and education providers with a range of useful information on education issues and disability in a new easy to use site.
The new site includes Codes of Practice, consultation responses and research surveys as well as successful DRC casework examples and legal information. In addition to a frequently asked questions (FAQs) section, the site also provides links to a number of related websites.
To view the education microsite, please follow the link: http://www.drc.org.uk/education/
Professional Education and Disability Support (PEdDS) project: Hull University
The PEdDS Project is funded by the Higher Education Funding Council to examine the experiences of disabled social work students with ‘unseen’ disabilities undertaking placements. The team have conducted interviews with fifty students and fifty staff comprising practice teachers, disability support staff and placement coordinators. The consultations have been analysed and key themes identified. These include disclosure dilemmas, reasonable adjustments, assessing competence and passing on information.
A research report outlining the findings is in preparation and will be available in Autumn 2004 at: http:// www.hull.ac.uk/pedds