NEWS
The Learning Skills Foundation Whitehall Debate on Higher Education
in association with
"Does British Higher Education still rule the waves or is it sinking?"
As British HE Institutions face swingeing cuts in funding, the question is, what is the future of HE in this country?
Thursday 3rd September 2009
By invitation only
Chairman of the Conference
Dr Jennifer Barnes, President of Murray Edwards College, New Hall, University of Cambridge
Keynote Speaker
Prof Malcolm Gillies, Vice-Chancellor of City University, London
The Debate will be recorded and produced as a Paper published by The Learning Skills Foundation, The Learning Skills Foundation will undertake to circulate this Paper to every university and college in the UK. It will also make sure that the Paper is circulated to the main political parties ahead of their conferences. Those interested in receiving a copy of this Paper should send their contact details including email address to:
[email protected]
The following are some of the recent headlines concerning the future of British Higher Education.
- "Where will savings be made? Universities for a start..." The Independent, June 2009
- "Cash Cuts would harm universities' international standing" Times, May 2009
- "University 'chaos' as student places are squeezed" Telegraph, June 2009
- "Thousands of jobs to go at universities as budgets slashed by £150m" The Times, May 2009
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The Learning Skills Foundation Fellowship
The Learning Skills Foundation is delighted to announce the award of its first ever Fellowship to Dr Claire Mera-Nelson, Dean of Studies (Trinity College of Music) & Creative Futures Director (Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance). It is the Foundation’s intention to create a number of Fellows amongst outstanding academics who are pioneering advances in educational thinking and training.
Under the banner of Creative Futures, Dr Mera-Nelson leads a small team at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance in advancing the application of creativity from a professional, educational and community perspective. Trinity Laban students and staff interact with a wide-range of local children, young people and adult learners and interrogate the outcomes of this project work as it impacts on issues such as cognitive enhancement, physical fitness and social regeneration.
One such Trinity Laban project tracking the impact of dance in tackling issues such as obesity was recently nominated for a Times Higher Education Award. Likewise colleagues at Trinity Guildhall, another wing of the Trinity family, are currently working in partnership with Arts Council England to support young people in their development as artists and artistic leaders, through the delivery and assessment of a new kind of holistic qualification called the Arts Award.
Only months after the scheme’s inception, already 2,000 young people have been assessed for national qualifications at levels 1, 2 or 3 known as Bronze, Silver and Gold Awards in Creative Projects. From 2008 Trinity Laban – through the auspices of Creative Futures – will be the beacon HE partner in the delivery of these awards.
Creativity is at the centre of the UK’s commercial achievement; the creative industries are one of the highest earning industries in the UK, outstripping the financial services sector. Creativity is also at the heart of much human endeavour. In establishing Dr Mera-Nelson as the Learning Skills Foundation Fellow in Creative Practice we are demonstrating our commitment to the importance of creativity within the future of our nation and its young people.
Derek Aviss
Currently Dean of Studies (Trinity) and Creative Futures Director for Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance, Claire Mera-Nelson originally studied as a violinist at the Royal College of Music. The recipient of several awards for both academic studies and performance whilst a student, she has since received research grants from the British Academy, Higher Education Academy and PALATINE amongst others. An active academic, she has lectured and given conference papers across the UK, Europe and Australia on topics as diverse as the future of music education in the UK and the influence of Scotland (politically and socially, as well as musically) on London's musical life in the eighteenth century. Her reviews and articles have been published by Early Music and The Consort, and she has written a number of biographical entries for the New Dictionary of National Biography and MGG (Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart). As a performer Claire has toured throughout Europe, Australia and Japan, and performed and recorded with ensembles including English Touring Opera, the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Florilegium, the Gabrieli Consort, the London Handel Orchestra and The Sixteen.
Claire is passionate about opening up educational opportunities to the widest possible range of young people and in this capacity plays a leading role in the Thames Gateway Lifelong Learning Network (known as The Creative Way) and as a member of the new 14-19 Creative and Media Diploma Higher Education Advisory Group alongside her role at Trinity College of Music. Her directorship of Creative Futures - a new centre for research, enterprise and academic development formed as a result of the merger of Trinity College of Music with the Laban school of contemporary dance in 2005 - will see her leading her institution in examining new ways of supporting the creative learning of young people from early years to advanced continuing professional development studies.
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