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The Scholarship Project
Welcome to the Scholarship Project newsletter
· Aiming to support the development and embedding of a
distinct scholarly ethos in the college HE sector ·
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The project so far...
Update from John Lea, Scholarship Project Director
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 The Scholarship Project is now moving from its reconnaissance phase into its trialling and testing phase. The reconnaissance phase comprised of a number of surveys and interviews with key stakeholders in college higher education (HE) in England. These included a student survey with over 700 responses and a survey to teachers which had 329 responses. These surveys will be repeated next year. All this data is currently being analysed and reports will be available in September.
As part of the trialling and testing phase, the Scholarship Development Managers from the colleges involved in the project submit proposals to trial and test ideas and schemes aimed at enhancing forms of scholarly activity, including collaborative work between staff, students and employers. The ultimate aim is to evaluate the robustness of those ideas and schemes with a view to including them in the project's scholarship framework. If you have ideas that you believe could contribute to this trialling and testing phase, please get in touch. |
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Employer Engagement
"The process through which employers directly participate in activity facilitated by an external organisation in pursuit of shared objectives" (Sector Skills Development Agency 2007). But what are the scholarly activities that…"offer the prospect of inviting employers into this [scholarly activity] space, not as people who know the answers, but in more co-joined scholarly ways"? (Lea 2016).
This is a key conundrum for the Scholarship Project and to begin to address this issue, we have collected baseline data on employer engagement with the colleges involved in the project. We have also produced a more detailed survey which aims to establish the 'depth' of that engagement. Interestingly, the colleges have experienced significant difficulties in completing this second survey. Is this a consequence of partial college recording or something more significant?
Whatever the reason, we want to get to the core of this issue to inform the final project scholarship framework. For this reason we invite all colleges in the sector to send us examples of how you work with employers in a 'scholarly way'. We hope to feature some of your responses in our next newsletter. We look forward to your responses.
References:
Sector Skills Development Agency (2007) Employer Engagement Guidance: Wath-upon-Dearne
Astrid Flowers Ltd & Simpson Consulting Ltd, pg 3
Lea, J (2016) The Scholarship Project Literature Review, AoC https://www.aoc.co.uk/system/files/Final%2026%20Jan%20-%20Scholarship%20Project%20-%20Literature%20Review.pdf [accessed 24 June 2016], pg 48-49
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AoC College HE Research and Scholarship Conference - 28 June 2016
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The Scholarship Project held its second research and scholarship conference on Tuesday 28 June in Birmingham, sponsored by the Education and Training Foundation.
Over 120 college and university delegates attended with keynotes from AoC's CEO Professor Martin Doel, Scholarship Project Director John Lea and Jens Lautrup Nørgaard, Head of Research and Development, Zealand Institute of Business and Technology in Denmark. There were over 30 selected presentations and a full record, including selected articles, will be published later in the year.
Feedback about the conference so far has been very positive:
"I thoroughly enjoyed the conference [and] the keynotes were the best of my experience and were understandable and enjoyable (a real rarity)." - Andrew Wilson, Hull College
"It was a really interesting day and has given me lots of food for thought for future developments. I got so much out of it" - Aine Venables, Hereford College of Arts
Please see last year's research and scholarship conference publication and this year's breakout sessions synopses.
A big thank you to all the Scholarship Development Managers for chairing all the sessions! |
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Community of practice: Back to blogging
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Some of the Scholarship Development Managers from the colleges involved in the project have been blogging to document the fantastic work taking place in their colleges. Hull College Group and Hereford College of Arts give details on how they have been helping their students gain further skills with links to their blogs.
Hereford College of Arts' (HCA) Innovative Collaborative Learning
An arts education equips students with the ability to juggle multiple contexts and narratives while accruing real-life experience and skills. Perhaps one way to explore ideas of employer engagement within the arts would be to consider the intersections of different needs to see if this forms the 'fuzzy interface' (Eaton, 2016), where innovative collaborative learning with employers can occur. HCA’s recent work at the Hay Festival provides a tangible example of the role of the employer within partnership learning communities as students worked with festival organisers, tutors, and audience-participators to design and deliver a series of well-received workshops.
You can read more about HCA’s innovative partnership with Hay Festival on their blog.
References:
Eaton, Gower and Macdonald (2016) Partnership learning communities: a guide for college-based higher education, available at https://www.heacademy.ac.uk/resource/partnership-learning-communities-guide-college-based-higher-education [date last accessed 5/6/16]
Employer Engagement at Hull College Group
Hull College Group has many links with local businesses and industry which it uses to enhance the learning experiences of students. One of the key ways this is achieved is through live briefs which use the employer as the client, setting the parameters for student work and providing them with feedback. For example, Associated British Ports (ABP) commissioned permanent sculptures for their brand new multimillion pound Green Port facility; students were given the opportunity to successfully submit proposals in a competitive process. In other examples, students have worked with Hull based bespoke tailor Cock of the Walk who commissioned students to create a collection of menswear accessories to complement their unique brand. Hull College Group's scholarship blog further demonstrates the work the college has been doing with employers and to help students gain vital employability skills.
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| Keeping up with the Scholarship Project
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