Annual Report 2016-2017
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
Institute of Continuing Education Annual Report 2016-2017 Contents 1. Director’s report 2016/2017 ........................................................................................................ 3 2. International Programmes ........................................................................................................... 8 3. Public and Professional Programmes ......................................................................................... 10 4. Teaching and Learning ................................................................................................................ 14 5. Resources and Administration ................................................................................................... 16 6. Madingley Hall and Gardens ...................................................................................................... 19 7. Health and safety ........................................................................................................................ 21 8. Master of Studies (MSt) Programmes ........................................................................................ 21 9. Summary of student enrolments ............................................................................................... 23 10. Awards made in the academic year 2016/17 ............................................................................. 24 11. Staff publications ........................................................................................................................ 25 12. Staff activities ............................................................................................................................. 32 13. Staff changes .............................................................................................................................. 48 Appendices: .......................................................................................................................................... 50 A. Membership of the Strategic Committee ................................................................................... 51 B. Staff List ...................................................................................................................................... 52 C. International Programmes’ Courses ........................................................................................... 57 D. Public and Professional Programmes’ Courses .......................................................................... 70 E. MSt Programmes ........................................................................................................................ 83 F. Accounts for the year ending 31 July 2017 ................................................................................ 84 1. Director’s report 2016/2017 After a decade long decline following the introduction of the Equivalent or Lower Qualification (ELQ) funding legislation in 2007 and more recently the significant increase in university tuition fees which collectively drove part-time student enrolments to fall by 50% across the English higher education system, the past year has witnessed several potentially positive signs emerge which may herald a governmental and sectoral change in position with respect to the importance and prioritisation of continuing education. For example, in January 2017 the Government’s Green Paper entitled “Building our Industrial Strategy” sought broad consultation on the value of lifelong learning in a knowledge based economy (Cambridge submitted a complete response). In February 2017 the University Alliance mission group published a thoughtful and pragmatic report entitled “Lifelong Learning: Ladder and Lifeline” which proposed a well- received set of recommendations focused on maximising continuing education’s role in improving the life chances and social mobility of individuals and fostering economic regeneration across communities and regions. In his March 2017 Budget Philip Hammond, Chancellor of the Exchequer, announced up to £40 million of pilots in lifelong learning in response to the re-skilling and up-skilling required to address disruptive technologies such as artificial intelligence, and the predicted economic uncertainty following the UK’s decision to leave the European Union. April 2017 brought the introduction of the Apprenticeship Levy, a 0.5% tax on the payrolls of companies with an annual salary bill of more than £3 million; the multi- billion-pound Levy is ring-fenced for companies to reinvest specifically in work-relevant education and training at all levels, including advanced postgraduate study, and can be utilised across all career stages (not just school leavers). The first full year of the government-backed postgraduate loan scheme has been beneficial in terms of encouraging enrolments on part-time postgraduate taught courses, although it has limitations and further schemes encouraging debt financed study remain controversial. More generally, influential books such as “The 100-Year Life: Living and Working in an Age of Longevity” by Gratton and Scott of the London Business School have focused the minds of think tanks and policy makers on how higher education must respond to extended lifespans and the need to cater for an ever-changing world through continuing education at all life stages. Furthermore, the body of medical evidence demonstrating that learning in later life significantly improves physical and mental health, presumably in large part through limiting social isolation, continues to accrue. Whilst the Institute of Continuing Education (ICE) has been ever present in various guises for over 140-years due to the foresight of senior leaders across the generations at the University of Cambridge, it is now interesting to reflect on how the current political classes across the main parties, policy makers, economic development agencies, educationalists, the wider HE sector, health sector bodies and professionals, and advocacy groups for social mobility and healthy aging are waking-up to the intrinsic role continuous learning plays in cohesive, informed and economically productive societies. The green shoots of recovery are evident across lifelong learning; however, the continuing education sector of the twenty-first century will be a very different one to that seen in the second half of the twentieth century. It must reinvent itself to meet the needs of students and to respond to emerging competition. It is against this complex yet far more optimistic backdrop that ICE must now consider its future. The early part of AY16-17 saw the conclusion of a range of all staff engagement events with leaders from higher education, industry, the third sector and government. These inclusive and reflective events helped us to consider how we collectively wish to position ICE into the future. This process developed into a series of theme specific working groups involving a large number of ICE staff which brought forward many creative and practical suggestions to be incorporated into our strategic planning process. ICE's new strategy for the period until July 2021 was subsequently approved by ICE Strategic Committee and endorsed by the General Board during Easter term. The plan will depend on developing a course portfolio which is simultaneously aligned to market demand and the wider academic mission of the University. Our approach will centre on meeting the distinct and segmented needs of adult part-time learners in areas such as professional education including postgraduate apprenticeships gateway programmes including international pre-masters courses; international summer programmes; an academically rigorous arts and sciences continuing education offer and learning in later life. The strategy will see course enrolments grow from just over 4,000 currently to just under 8,000 by 2021 – however, in order to retain and promote accessibility, significant course fee increases are not proposed, and small class sizes will be retained – leading ICE to become surplus generating and no longer dependent on Chest funding. Significant investment will be made on IT systems, partnership development and marketing to enable such ambitious growth, and an extensive new course portfolio will be developed. ICE staff will be further empowered to identify innovative approaches to respond to student need and partnership working will be encouraged. In broad terms, AY17-18-will be a transitional year where modest enrolment growth of 5% is achieved whilst the foundations for a more contemporary and agile ICE are put in place. AY18-19, AY19-20 and AY20-21 will be years where ambitious enrolment growth is sought, around 20% year-on-year, against the backdrop of an expanded and modernised series of courses and administrative processes. If targets are met, turnover will grow from around £9m to £14m per annum. The plan is demanding but necessary if ICE is to meet the requirements of diverse student groups through provision of genuinely transformational education and respond to the financial parameters placed upon it by the rapid reduction in Chest funding. Overall performance of ICE during AY16-17 was broadly in line with expectations. Total student enrolments increased marginally from 4,298 in AY15-16 to 4,378. This enrolment stability is quite pleasing as many of the new marketing initiatives will not feed into to enrolments until the next academic year, and, generally speaking, load factors on taught courses have increased slightly thereby improving overall