Dearne Valley University Centre

[Partner Names]

New University Challenge Draft proposal to HEFCE

This draft summarises the case for HE investment in the Dearne. It does not say who should do what or give details of curriculum, governance and other matters that are for agreement between the partners

October 2009

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Contents Overview Outline of the Statement of Intent 1. Rationale for the project 2. The aims of the project 3. Assessment against the HEFCE Common Evidence Base 4. The local evidence base 5. Links with complementary local and regional developments 6. Partner commitment

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Overview

1. This document is submitted by [requires here a summary of who is submitting the document and who will operate etc the DVUC].

2. Dearne Valley University Centre (DVUC) will be a major Higher Education centre, with up to 1000 FTE students by 2013/14, for the deprived Dearne Valley at the geographical centre of , Doncaster and , boroughs with a combined population of 800,000 but with no university.

3. DVUC will widen participation by young people; offer adults a second chance to gain the HE qualifications that they and employers need; and contribute to regeneration of the Dearne Valley.

4. POLAR data from the Higher Education Funding Council for (HEFCE) 1994- 2000, show that only 21.4% of those aged 18 in the Dearne Valley entered HE compared with 45.2% in England. And in Census 2001 only 9% of working age adults held degrees compared with 21% in England. The relative position in the Dearne has changed little since then.

5. Numerous factors contribute to low participation, but a shortage of provision appears to be one of those factors. Areas comparable to BDR have much more HE provision and markedly higher HE participation rates. The difference in participation rates cannot be explained by factors such as low prior attainment and is, we suggest, in large part due to low levels of provision. Recent major studies by EKOS and by Segal Quince Wicksteed reinforce the case for HE development.

6. Within BDR, the Dearne Valley has special attractions as a location. It has a substantial population of around 100,000; it is the place where HE participation and Level 4 attainment is worst – and where a ‘statement’ such as DVUC can be of most value; it has growing employer demand, and an ‘Eco Vision’ for development that creates particular HE opportunities; and it is accessible to the greater part of the BDR population even though the Dearne’s own residents cannot easily reach university campuses in Sheffield or Leeds.

7. In more detail on travel-to-learn, Dearne residents currently face journeys of an hour or more to substantial HE provision. We agree with HEFCE that the absence of local provision depresses HE participation. DVUC will allow participation to rise, rather than displacing learners from other institutions.

8. The government’s New University Challenge (NUC) is central to the success of Dearne Valley University Centre. Through NUC, we are seeking from HEFCE a capital contribution of £1m and some 600 Additional Student Numbers.

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Outline of the ‘Statement of Intent’

1. Rationale for the project

1.1 Dearne Valley University Centre (DVUC) will be a high quality building 1 in the heart of the Dearne Valley (see map) drawing new, local entrants into Higher Education. It will be operated by [detail required on arrangements].

1.2 The rationale for DVUC is that in HEFCE’s Common Evidence Base (CEB): that participation can be raised and other benefits secured by developing HE in areas where local provision is not available. We present below objective evidence that the Dearne Valley does not have local access to HE in the CEB sense of provision within a 45 minute one-way travel time. DVUC will focus on young people from deprived, low-participation wards, and on adults who have not previously participated in HE.

1.3 DVUC will forge close links with employers, who recognise the need to develop high level skills as the local economy emerges from recession. It will be central to the

1 Provisionally suggested to be Humphrey Davy House, which is available for purchase, and at 45,000 square feet is capable of accommodating the up to 1000 FTE students discussed here.

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‘Eco Vision’2 developed by a local partnership board chaired by local MP and Minister John Healey. The vision is for the Dearne Valley to be transformed by the know-how of its people, by the imagination and commitment of its community a nd by enterprise. The Dearne Valley will become the green heart of the Sheffield City Region and move from carbon (coal) production to carbon reduction by:

• Nurturing ecological awareness and know how • Growing a low carbon infrastructure • Seeding a natural regeneration of the landscape

1.4 The three boroughs in the Dearne Valley have each agreed economic plans for their areas with Yorkshire Forward, which form the basis for investment in the area. And all three have prioritised the regeneration of the Dearne Valley as an Eco Valley. DVUC would be a pivotal component of regeneration.

1.5 DVUC’s contribution to HEFCE and to other objectives is reflected in the commitments of support given by partners including Yorkshire Forward and the Chambers of Commerce. Yorkshire Forward’s priority in developing a skilled workforce is to focus on higher level skills. They are investing in demand-led initiatives that contribute towards the Regional Economic Strategy target of raising the percentage of the population qualified to Level 4, and are committed to working with partners in to ensure that DVUC supports their higher level skills agenda.

2 Available at www.urbedftp.co.uk/dearnevalley/Dearne%20Valley%20Eco- vision_Final%20Report.pdf

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2. The aims of the Dearne Valley University Centre

2.1 The general rationale for DVUC was sketched in Section 1. Its specific aims are to develop a campus accommodating up to 1000 FTE HE students studying a broad range of classroom-based subjects, including both generic subjects and subjects linked to the Dearne Eco Vision. There is a fundamental commitment in developing this curriculum to add capacity, rather than to duplicate existing provision. The figure of up to 1000 is our estimate of the combination of demand from potential learners (if offered local study opportunities) and from growing employer need.

2.2 We have identified a modern office building of over 4,000 square metres, which is capable of accommodating the proposed student numbers, and which Rotherham Council is willing to explore the option of purchasing for the purpose. The advantage of choosing an existing building is that early expansion can be secured.

2.3 Through this Statement of Intent, we are seeking some 600 Additional Student Numbers from HEFCE and a capital investment of £1m, primarily for refurbishment and adaptation of the building proposed for use.

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3. Assessment against the HEFCE common evidence base 3

3.1 The common evidence base (CEB) assesses travel times to HE provision on the assumption that the (raised participation) benefits of new HE provision are greatest where many potential learners face long travel times. Residents of the Fens, for instance, are many miles from significant HE provision and the CEB shows the benefits that would arise there from new HE provision.

3.2 We agree with this approach.

3.3 We consider, however, that the precise methodology used to create the CEB is inappropriate for the Dearne. The CEB explanatory note says that it takes travel times to be road travel times adjusted for (slower) urban road speeds but not adjusted for peak time congestion. It says further that provision within ten minutes’ travel is considered to be fully available whilst provision more than 45 minutes away is considered to be unavailable for local study.

3.4 The table below uses www.transportdirect.co.uk to show travel-to-learn times for residents of three Dearne settlements seeking to study at three universities. The times vary, up to almost three hours, but in no case are within the 45 minute threshold.

Thurnscoe East Denaby Wath Car Train & Bus & Car Train & Bus & Car Train & Bus & Walk Walk Walk Walk Walk Walk Sheffield 0.53 0.54 1.50 0.53 1.02 1.18 0.46 0.57 1.05 Hallam Univ University of 0.56 1.39 2.04 0.56 1.18 1.31 0.49 1.13 1.21 Sheffield Leeds Met 0.57 1.10 n/a 1.05 1.38 2.06 0.59 1.39 2.48 University

3.5 Dearne Valley resident students cannot in practice travel by private car to city centre HEIs. Even if they own a car, parking difficulties and cost preclude this option.

3.6 We conclude that HE provision in South Yorkshire is in the words of the CEB ‘unavailable for local study’ for most residents of the Dearne Valley because one-way travel times exceed the CEB limit of 45 minutes. The CEB does not actually reveal this because its travel time assumptions are inappropriate for South Yorkshire.

3 http://www.hefce.ac.uk/widen/challenge/evidence/

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4. The local evidence base

Introduction

This section presents the local case for investment in the Dearne Valley University Centre.

THE provision and HE participation are low in Barnsley, Doncaster and Rotherham, and in the Dearne Valley specifically.

Low HE participation compared with the national average is explained partly by low prior attainment by young people and by adults, but this cannot explain why participation is lower than in closely comparable areas with similar levels of attainment. It seems clear that much higher HE provision in those areas is an explanatory factor.

In this section we discuss the comparator areas and their HE provision, before turning to attainment and participation rates of young people and adults. Detailed data from Sheffield Hallam University are then used to illustrate the difficulties of progression from BDR to their Sheffield campus.

We then discuss poverty of aspiration as a possible explanatory factor and consider the difficulty that some, though not all, HE providers in Barnsley, Doncaster and Rotherham have in filling their small number of places. We conclude that neither point is decisive against the expansion of provision.

Several recent studies reinforce the case for additional provision in Barnsley, Doncaster and Rotherham, citing both under-provision and prospective growth in demand. We summarise their findings.

Many statistics relate to BDR rather than to the Dearne specifically. The final part of this section summarises the case for the Dearne as a location, including the travel-to- learn arguments already presented in Section 3. It includes comment on geographical definition of the Dearne Valley.

4.1 Comparator areas and HE provision

The former metropolitan counties of South Yorkshire, West Yorkshire, Greater Manchester, Merseyside and the West Midlands each contain large cities with universities roughly in proportion to their relative sizes.

The Dearne Valley is at the centre of the area comprising Barnsley, Doncaster and Rotherham (BDR). Three other areas in the metropolitan counties are comparable to BDR: the Black Country (Dudley, Sandwell, Walsall and Wolverhampton), the (former) Lancashire Coalfield (Bolton, St Helens and Wigan) and Calderdale, Kirklees and Wakefield. The four areas each have:

• Similar populations (0.75-1.10m) • Several large towns in each area but no large cities • Large cities immediately adjacent to each area

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• A legacy of industrial decline, including coal mining to varying but always large degrees • Deprivation on the usual statistics

The chart shows that BDR has far fewer HE places than the comparators. Many years ago, technical colleges in Wolverhampton and Huddersfield became polytechnics and then universities, and 2005 saw the creation of the University of Bolton. As a result, each comparator now has a university. The lack of a similar development in BDR is a consequence of decisions, over decades, by the institutions that might have become universities, notably . More detail appears in the table.

Source: see table below

Basic data on HE provision in

Barnsley, Doncaster and Rotherham and in comparator areas

Population HEIs HE in HE HE in FE Total FTEs per campuses colleges FTEs 1000 ‘000s mid-

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2007 No FTEs No FTEs people

BDR 769 0 1 412 4 1402 1814 2.36

Lancs 745 1 1 5325 4 1562 6887 9.24 Coalfield

Black 1083 1 3 13753 6 862 14615 13.49 Country

CKW 923 1 2 12486 3 948 13434 14.56

Source: HEFCE

4.2 Young people

HEFCE ‘POLAR’ data show that in the years 1994-2000, entry to HE before the age of 21 was much lower in the Dearne Valley than in England as a whole: 21.4% compared with 30.2% from Barnsley, Doncaster and Rotherham and 45.2% nationally.

The POLAR data are out of date, though we do not doubt that the relative position of the Dearne has remained largely unchanged. The chart below shows more recent data on admissions of young (under 21) people per thousand population. This measure lacks the precision of the POLAR data but is more up to date. It shows that entries to HE from BDR are about 30% 4 below the English average and more significantly about 23% below the average in the comparator areas. It seems probable that the greater scale of HE provision in the comparator areas is one factor promoting greater HE entry.

Deprivation in BDR means that the proportion of people in poor socio-economic circumstances is above average. But they are still a minority. Most people - teachers, business managers, bin men, plumbers - are in the same circumstances as people elsewhere. It seems plausible, though there is no direct evidence, that the young people who do enter HE from BDR are from families in ordinary circumstances and that the shortfall is concentrated amongst families facing deprivation - who are, perhaps, those most likely to benefit from local provision.

4 ie approximately the same shortfall as in the POLAR data

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Source: DCSF

It is usually argued that poor attainment at school is the main explanation for low HE participation in BDR. And indeed, in 2008, average point score at A Level was 479 in the Dearne Valley compared with 740 in England, and only 31.7% obtained five or more good GCSEs including English and Maths (2008), just two-thirds of the English average of 47.5%.

But low attainment cannot easily explain differences between BDR and the comparators. A key measure for young entry to HE is attainment of Level 3, ie two A levels or equivalent, measured in official statistics by attainment at age 19. The chart shows that BDR learners perform less well than their counterparts in the comparator areas, but the differences are too small to explain or justify a volume of HE provision substantially lower than elsewhere.

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Source: FE Data Service

4.3 Adults

Current skill levels of adult residents of the Dearne Valley are low in comparison to South Yorkshire, which itself performs worse than the region, which in turn performs worse than England as a whole. In 2007 just 18.3% of the working age population in Barnsley, Doncaster and Rotherham were qualified to level 4, compared with 22.3% in South Yorkshire and 28.3% in England (Annual Population Survey)

This low level of adult skills is a major economic difficulty and one that DVUC aims to address. But it does not mean that the market for adult HE is smaller than elsewhere. The crucial market for adult entry to HE is people with Level 3 as their highest qualification. As the chart shows, this figure is similar for BDR, the comparators and the national average; indeed, there are rather more in this group in BDR than the national average.

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Source: NOMIS

4.4 Progression to HE: examples

A further indication of the difficulties of progression to HE is offered by two data sets provided by Sheffield Hallam University.

The first data set relates to 3,303 learners completing in 2006/07 certain vocational subjects 5 at Level 3 at FE colleges in the Sheffield City Region 6. Completion means that these learners are eligible to proceed to HE. Fifty-six per cent of the learners were aged under 21. This may represent, very roughly7, 5%-10% of all Level 3 completers aged under 21 in 2006/07 in the City Region.

Of the 3,303 learners, 257 (8%) enrolled at SHU in 2007/08. And of those, 57 were under 21 and from colleges in Barnsley, Doncaster and Rotherham.

The data indicate that despite the importance attached to these vocational subjects, they generated few young admissions from BDR for SHU

5 In descending order of subject for those admitted to SHU: Health, Nursing etc; Sport, Leisure and Recreation; Preparation for Work; Child Development and Well Being; Engineering and Manufacturing; Public Services; and Science 6 The City Region comprises Sheffield, BDR and parts of North Derbyshire and North Nottinghamshire 7 It would be a substantial exercise to calculate an exact proportion for the Sheffield City Region geography and allowing for the several year cohorts aged under 21.

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The second data set relates to acceptance rates by applicants to HE from , which draws a minority of its learners from the Dearne, and from and , Swinton and Wath schools, all four of which are ‘Dearne’ institutions. The rates averaged 80%. The exact scope of the data, eg whether adults are included and whether vocational as well as A-level learners, is not known to SHU, though they are seeking clarification.

An 80% success rate by applicants in gaining admission to HE is only superficially high. On the assumption that the great majority of applicants will have at least the minimum qualifications for admission, and given that the data relate to a year (2007) when there was no particular shortage of HE places, it is more significant that 20% failed to gain places.

4.5 Poverty of aspiration in BDR

Well-informed people agree that BDR residents lack aspiration. This type of claim is widespread across England, in most areas of the main conurbations, in many free- standing towns and in the more deprived rural areas. It may, perhaps, be interpreted as meaning that a substantial minority of people lack aspiration. This is certainly a problem but seems unlikely to be a greater problem than in the Black Country or the former Lancashire coalfield .

4.6 Inability to fill existing places

Rotherham and Doncaster colleges and the University of Huddersfield in respect of its Barnsley campus say that they have difficulty filling their comparatively small numbers of HE places, though this contrasts with the position at Dearne Valley College which has substantially more well-qualified applicants than available places.

So far as there is a shortfall in demand, this may arise because of difficulties on the demand side or on the supply side of the market, or both.

Demand side

The analysis presented above suggests that whilst demand may be somewhat lower than elsewhere, on account of unusually low aspirations or poor qualifications, these factors are not decisive.

The proven ability in the comparators to fill many more places than in BDR suggests that demand is unlikely to be a fundamental difficulty. It is true that the new universities in the comparators attract many students from far afield, but they also attract many local students.

Supply side

Weaknesses on the supply side may relate to the HE on offer or to the communication of that offer to potential students. One weakness is the limited scope of the curriculum on offer; a second weakness is the lack, in certain locations, of an HE experience of the kind that can be obtained in a dedicated HE centre. There is too a degree of consensus amongst professionals that (whether or not new HE

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facilities are needed) the ‘offer’ needs to be better communicated to potential students and to employers.

4.7 Research Studies

Recent research by Segal, Quince Wicksteed, on behalf of Yorkshire Forward (April 2009), into the key locations for higher education expansion indicates a requirement for greater HE participation in South Yorkshire and strong demand from employers to up-skill their workforce. SQW’s occupational growth projections to 2020 indicate a particular need in Rotherham which is forecast to see over 4,000 new Level 4 jobs by 2020.

The employer demand case is reinforced for the Dearne specifically by studies showing that whilst employment in the Dearne has grown and diversified in recent years, comparatively few of the opportunities created have been taken by Dearne Valley residents. In particular, many higher level jobs created through regeneration and inward investment have been taken by people who travel into the area. Substantial further job creation is forecast, especially in occupations where local residents lack relevant skills 8.

SQW focus on local authority districts rather than areas such as the Dearne Valley. They identify (pp42-43) Bradford and Leeds as areas of need, but not for new campuses given the extensive provision there already; Wakefield as having a strong case for a new campus; the East Riding as having need but being unlikely to have the density of population required for viability; and (East) Kirklees as having a need that might be met by development in nearby Wakefield. It then turns to Rotherham and Doncaster, saying:

4.7.1 Both Doncaster and Rotherham lack local provision. They also exhibit a fair degree of future need. The two areas however are relatively close and it may be that developing one area partly addresses issues in the other. In addition, the 2006 RES evidence base shows that while all the population of Rotherham live within 15 miles of an HEI, only18.5% of the population of Doncaster do. Both areas have submitted expressions of interest to HEFCE

4.7.2 in delivery and linkage terms there are some attractions:

• Doncaster because it could link to the wider redevelopment of the college and of the Finningley site. Partners would include Doncaster College, the local authority and the private sector, including businesses from the aviation sector. Our consultations found considerable enthusiasm amongst the partners. Moreover, there are well located sites, including the current college location where there is space to develop

• Rotherham where is planning to expand its HE provision to meet local need, particularly around engineering. This may present a relatively straightforward short term solution delivered in

8 Experian Business Strategies/Yorkshire Forward Regional Econometric Model August 2007

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existing premises. The key barrier here might be the College gaining additional student numbers.’

SQW imply that Wakefield has the best regional case for a new HE campus and that Doncaster and Rotherham also each have a case, but with Doncaster having the ‘edge’. However, given their comment that ‘developing one area partly addresses issues in the other’, it may be that had they considered the Dearne expressly they would have concluded that location there would meet demand in both.

4.8 A recent review by EKOS and others of the economic resilience in the face of recession of Sheffield City Region constructed an ‘Index of Economic Resilience’. The index includes two components relevant to HE: ‘Assets & Infrastructure’, including the number of University/HEI places, and ‘Workforce’, including the proportion of the workforce qualified to level 4 and above. Key findings for the two components are summarised below:

The City Region’s worst performance is on ‘Workforce’, reflecting the low proportion of the workforce qualified to Level 4 - just 23% compared with the Index average of 27%. There are marked differences between Sheffield and its hinterland. Sheffield has a relatively high proportion of its workforce qualified to Level 4 or above, but Doncaster, Rotherham and Barnsley perform very poorly on this indicator.

On ‘Assets and Infrastructure’. The key paragraph is as follows:

‘Sheffield City Region under-performed the city region average on the assets and infrastructure domain as a result of the performance of the HEI indicator. Whilst the number of students at the two Sheffield Universities increased, the growth failed to keep pace with that of other City Regions. The City Region is unusual in that there are only two HEI providers, both located in the central City (although with some outreach provision across the City Region). This contrasts with City Regions such as Leeds (with eight HEIs located in four different authorities).’

4.9 EKOS make the following policy recommendation:

‘One of the City Region’s key priorities is to improve the level of skills amongst the existing and future workforce. This is reinforced by the economic downturn which is likely to lead to a reduction in the number of jobs available requiring no or low levels of skills and push employers into higher value added activity, requiring highly skilled employees, to survive. The City Region benefits from the presence of two major Higher Education Institutions, but there is a low level of progression into HE across significant parts of the city region, including Doncaster, Barnsley and Rotherham. Extending the level of outreach provision, raising aspirations and changing attitudes towards education will all be required if young people in the City Region are to be encouraged to progress towards higher level skills. The recession provides an opportunity to reinforce the message that education is the most effective way to secure sustained, well-paid employment.’

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4.10 The Dearne as a location

The case for greater provision in BDR is not in itself a case for greater provision in the Dearne. There are, however, good reasons for choosing the Dearne

Definitions

The rises in the Pennines and flows through Barnsley to join the Don at Denaby. The ‘Dearne Valley’ as a place is not clearly defined:

• Local people take it, informally, to mean the valley downstream from, but excluding, Barnsley. • The City Challenge initiative in the 1990s defined it as the six wards of Swinton, Wath, , Mexborough, Dearne and Dearne South. • A 2004 report to Yorkshire Forward 9 suggested including two further wards, Darfield and Brampton, Melton & Wentworth, the resulting eight wards having a population of 92,000. • The ‘Eco-Vision’ work undertaken recently envisages something in between these two definitions, using new ward boundaries. • The only official definition is the Dearne Valley Urban Area as defined for Census 2001, but this includes Barnsley itself whilst excluding Conisbrough. The population on the Census definition, but excluding Barnsley itself, is 136,000

No particular definition is suggested here, but rather an acceptance that the towns (other than Barnsley) in the bullet points above are generally recognised as being in the Dearne Valley and have a population of roughly 100,000, ie comparable to the Census-defined Urban Area Sub-Divisions of Barnsley 10 (72,000), Doncaster 11 (68,000) and Rotherham 12 (117,000). This is thus a large urban area, much larger than others within South Yorkshire but outside the four main centres.

The case for the Dearne

The argument for locating HE expansion is founded upon the general case for expanding HE provision in BDR as presented earlier, and the following specific factors:

• The 100,000 people of the Dearne must travel to the main city centre campuses in Sheffield, Leeds or further afield by public transport • Travel by car is prohibitively expensive for most students, because of city centre parking costs, or takes as long as public transport if free parking at a distance from campus is used • Travel from the Dearne by public transport to the city centres is time consuming and expensive

9 ‘The Economy of the Dearne Valley’, June 2004 10 Forming part of the Dearne Valley Urban Area 11 Forming part of the Doncaster Urban Area 12 Forming part of the

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• Dearne residents and most other BDR residents (all except those on the fringes away from the Dearne, eg Maltby, Penistone, Thorne) enjoy good access by car and by public transport to central Dearne locations • The ‘Eco Vision’ for the Dearne and the predicted expansion of employment there represent opportunities to meet employer needs • The potential availability, quickly, of suitable premises, whilst not in itself a decisive argument, is a further factor counting in favour of the Dearne

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5. Links with complementary local and regional developments

5.1 HEFCE recognises that HE Centres can help to meet priorities that are broader than those of HEFCE alone. This can help to make the case for an HE Centre, though with the concomitant that if non-HEFCE priorities are a major part of the case, the organisations with those priorities will be expected to bear with HEFCE a share of the funding costs of the Centre. Dearne Valley University Centre can make a major contribution to the achievement of:

5.2 Dearne Valley Eco Vision

Developed by the Dearne Valley Special Board of the Sheffield City Region, this vision is detailed earlier in this document. It represents an aspiration and an ambition of the partnership to move the Dearne Valley from carbon production to carbon reduction. This will culminate in a proposed submission to Government for the area to become the country first specially designated “Eco Park” by the end of the year.

5.3 Economic Plans/Geographic Programmes

All three of the local authorities have recently developed their own individual economic regeneration plans, done in collaboration with Yorkshire Forward. These plans articulate the major regeneration priorities for each of their respective areas and as such inform the subsequent development of their Geographic programmes. These are effectively investment plans for each LA district, jointly agreed with Yorkshire Forward and helping to contribute to the economic plans and the Regional Economic Strategy. The shared focus on the Dearne Valley means that is prioritised in each of the Barnsley, Rotherham and Doncaster geographic programmes

5.4 Sheffield City Region Development Plan

The Sheffield City Region Development Plan was published in 2006 and represents a joint partner vision for the economic revitalisation of this key area. By 2025 the Sheffield City Region will be:

A pivotal international business location, closely connected to the major economic hubs of Leeds and Manchester and the South, recognised as one of the most successful city regions in Europe, sustained through the strengths of its urban and rural economies.

The higher levels skills agenda is recognized as important and the plan articulates the need for:

 Developing a sustainable critical mass of knowledge and skills  Developing an educated and skilled labour pool willing and able to take advantages of the range of skills training and higher education facilities in the City Region  Developing a sustainable critical mass of knowledge and a skills pool to meet advanced manufacturing needs

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 Developing and raising skill levels in the major growth areas of healthcare, the creative and digital industries and the professional and financial sectors.

5.5 Regional Economic Strategy

This contains six main objectives based around the region’s need for: • More new businesses that last—more business start-ups, help for new businesses to survive the tougher early years.

• Competitive businesses—businesses need to be more able to compete at home and overseas: they will achieve this through innovation and investment.

• More skilled people—need to ensure a strong regional bank of talent, of the sort which is valued by employers and which delivers rewards to businesses and individuals.

• A way to connect people to good jobs—especially in deprived areas, because employment levels make a big difference to communities, to levels of social inclusion, to individuals, and finally to the economy.

• Better transport, infrastructure and environment—because good, sustainable transport connections encourage inward investment, retain people in the region, and support productivity and competitiveness.

• Stronger cities, towns and rural communities—because there is need to maintain attractive places in which people want to live, work and invest.

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6. Partner Commitment

6.1 [To be completed as agreement is reached amongst the partners] Dearne Valley University Centre needs partner commitment to substantial capital investment and to development of the curriculum, the allocation of student numbers, and recruitment in ways intended primarily to raise participation rates. These ‘capital’ and ‘student’ objectives are demanding, especially in straitened financial times, and entail a third objective, namely consistent provision of wider support to overcome difficulties as they arise 13 .

6.2 The roles of the partners differ across the three objectives.

6.3 Capital investment

Capital investment is required to create an impressive HE-only centre that will be attractive to students, especially those who have not previously considered HE. Humphrey Davy House is in the heart of the Dearne Valley. The freehold interest is available for purchase and the building is completed to a high specification. It is ideally located next to Dearne Valley College. Rotherham MBC are willing to explore the potential to purchase this building with the intention of reducing any requirement for capital investment from HEFCE

6.4 Students and curriculum

Dearne Valley University Centre aims to attract young and adult learners who have not previously considered HE, to offer qualifications that provide good prospects for employment and, related to this, to meet the skills requirements of local employers.

6.5 The objective is expansion into new curriculum areas to attract new students and maximise additionality rather than to duplicate existing provision in the colleges. Engagement with the environmental agenda and with real employment opportunities will win the hearts and minds of young people and adults who have not so far thought of HE as being something for them.

6.6 The curriculum will thus have a dual focus on meeting the requirements of the Eco- Vision and of local employers. The curriculum will be broader than this but we reiterate that our objective is to add to rather than replace the curriculum already available through the colleges. The detail will be developed further through the Strategic Development Fund process, but the critical requirement given low participation and the absence of a tradition of university study is for ‘a local campus for local learners’.

6.7 The Partnership that has come together to develop the DVUC proposal is still in its early stages of development. The partners are committed to widening participation within the Dearne Valley area and tackling deep rooted cultural and geographical

13 For an account of the difficulties that inevitably attend major new campus development see http://www.lfhe.ac.uk/research/projects/owenlincoln.html/

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barriers to accessing HE. Equally strong is their commitment to the development of new approaches to this issue, and to seeking an innovative response to the low aspirations of young people and adults in this still deprived area.

6.8 A wide range of partners have expressed support for the aims of the Dearne Valley University Centre and a willingness to enter into dialogue about achievement of those aims. They include:

• XXX

This extensive, high level partnership will be vital to securing the progressive development of DVUC in coming years.

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