Linking London Sixth Annual Conference

2nd July 2012

Sue BettsDirector

‘Reflections on 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 excellentWe are a collaborative partnership of six years which works

by building on trust and co-operation

Linking London 2011 - 12

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 now!

Working in partnership to create opportunities

Linking London

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 FE3. IAG4. Employer Engagement5. Apprenticeships 6. Staff Development and support

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

Some achievements 2011 - 12

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

Successful EU funding for the GLAS project

GLAS partners with Baroness Perry at the House of Lords

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

Some achievements 2011 - 12

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

The CATs project - funding from BIS/SFA and AoC

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, QAAWe have explored data in progression work and are in the

process of brokering a Pan London data service for partners

Some achievements 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

In summary 2011 - 12

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 quotacore and marginal numbers (some FE providers new to HE

being directly funded), progression FE to HE, and within FEspotlight 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 targetsInstitutions taking much greater responsibility for planning

their own destinyThe cost of failure is high At the same time therefore we might see the learner journey

as something much more carefully defined and supportedCould mean a re-emergence or a re-look at more flexible and

alternative ways of providing education

Thank you for listening.Sue Betts s.betts@linkinglondon.ac.uk