Please note that the former Arts University College at Bournemouth (AUCB) became the Arts University Bournemouth (AUB) on 13th December 2012. All references in this document to AUCB, the University College or the Arts University College should be taken to refer to AUB, the University or the Arts University. Annual Report 2010 – 2011 Contents Chairman’s Introduction 2 Principal’s Review 4 Honours and Achievements 6 2011 Honorary Fellows – 6 Past Honorary Fellows – 10 2010/2012 Student Award Winners – 12 Finance 18 This Annual Report provides the AUCB financial accounts for the year 2010-2011 and highlights some of the University College’s key initiatives and achievements during this period. As part of our continued commitment to sustainability, management of resources and focus on providing the highest quality student provision, it is produced on recycled paper and is a summary report only – further details of the AUCB’s activities may be found on our website aucb.ac.uk Chairman’s Introduction The academic year 2010-11 was challenging for all Higher Education institutions as the government’s planned changes to HE funding were announced and began to be implemented. The headline movement away from grant funding to student fees provided through the Student Loan Company was well signposted, but with all such structural change the devil was in the detail, and there was a great deal of detail, much of it altering as we progressed through the academic year. Sadly the unique position of specialist Nicholas Durbridge institutions often appeared to be considered after the event, as Chairman with the late realisation that recruitment by ‘A’ level results is not a criteria by which we select our students. The University College has always sought talent through interview and portfolio review and is committed to maintaining its high standards and to identifying student talent wherever it is to be found. Therefore a system which allows Universities to recruit unlimited numbers of AAB grade students whilst capping numbers for all others has little application to us or other specialist institutions. As the head of a conservatoire succinctly put it, for them it didn’t matter whether their students had A grades in History, French and Maths but rather what grade piano they had! Fortunately the government listened to the representations of the specialist institutions and allowed us to opt out of the system, but there still remains no clear signpost from government on how specialist institutions such as our own can grow in the future, even where such growth can be self-funded. This is unfortunate as our courses in art, design, media and performance support the nationally important and growing creative industries. The debate about the level of student fees naturally was a key focus for the governing body. We set our annual fee at £8,600, slightly lower than the top level set by many universities, but at a level which recognises the higher costs involved in studio-based education, especially involving areas of high technology. It will enable us to continue to create annual surpluses that we can re-invest back into our campus, facilities, and students. All of these changes have been the subject of great discussion at every level of the University College. A lot of hard work by staff members, Heads of School, Deans and the Deputy Principal and Principal has gone into making our institution ready for the introduction of the full fee regime in 2012-2013. I would like to pay tribute to our staff and to all that the University College has achieved in such challenging circumstances. As I write this introduction, student applications for our courses in 2012-2013 have held up well against an overall national decline in applications. I remain confident therefore in the long term sustainability of The Arts University College at Bournemouth and that it will continue to rise to any future challenges in Higher Education. 2 — 3 Principal’s Review The academic session 2010-11 was eventful for the HE Sector. We received ‘Students at the Heart of the HE System’, the Government White Paper which incorporates many of the changes proposed in the earlier ‘Review of Funding for Higher Education’ and led by Lord Browne. Taken together these have set in train a shift from direct grant investment in HE institutions to a funding model predicated largely on student fees. In these matters it has been important for the University College to be abreast of national developments and to incorporate the Professor Stuart Bartholomew best analysis of current proposals within our strategic planning for the Principal period ahead. If we consider current Government proposals alongside the HEFCE funding initiatives they comprise a force for change unequalled in higher education since the Robbins’ Report of the early 1960’s. The moves towards a more market driven system of HE will be challenging for all universities and colleges. Students faced with unprecedented levels of graduate debt will expect more from the institutions in which they study. AUCB has made significant progress over the last year in privileging the student experience and squeezing the maximum from our resources to enhance the teaching and learning environment. We have also continued to build upon an established network of commercial links to provide graduates with opportunities for professional progression to the creative industries. The destination and employment data administered by the Higher Education Statistical Agency recorded a 96.7% progression to employment by AUCB graduates and placing us in the top decile of all higher education institutions for employment success. The University College specialises in higher education in arts, design, media and performance. We are justly proud of our record in preparing students for professional lives in the creative industries as we are for the contributions our academic community makes to teaching, learning and scholarship. Our success in the delivery of the subjects we offer will depend upon our sustainability. The continued development of AUCB in the emerging HE marketplace will demand the application of sound business decisions in support and promotion of our academic offer. AUCB is adopting good practices of institutional performance, monitoring and financial strategy to ensure regular, robust assessments of sustainability. These are informed by relevant strategic Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) that are appropriate to our distinct mission. We are confident that we have the adaptive capacity to respond to the opportunities and threats of the period ahead. In this regard, we are not complacent about our future in the HE sector, but are continuing to plan strategically for effective engagement with it and in the service of arts, design, media and performance. 4 — 5 2010/2011 Honours & Achievements Caryn Franklin 2011 Honorary Fellows Caryn Franklin has worked in fashion for 29 years as a writer, presenter, producer and director. Formally a fashion editor and The University College makes the award of Honorary Fellowship later co-editor of i-D magazine for six years, she is best known to persons who have made a significant contribution to the field for presenting the BBC’s Clothes Show for 12 years and BBC’s of art, design, media or performance in a professional capacity Style Challenge for three years. She has regularly appeared or an educational role. on GMTV, LK Today and This Morning as well as hosting her own programmes: Well Woman and Agony for Granada, The Frock and Roll Years for Carlton and UKTV’s remake of The Bob and Roberta Smith Clothes Show. Patrick Brill (better known by his pseudonym Bob and Roberta Caryn has produced and presented four documentaries: Smith) is a contemporary British artist. Born in 1963, he graduated Vivienne Westwood, Philip Treacy, Fashion Targets Breast Cancer from the University of Reading and was awarded a scholarship and Matthew Williamson for ITV. She has written for a variety at The British School at Rome whilst still an undergraduate. of magazines including i-D, Time Out, Marie Claire, Sunday Times, He followed this with an MA from Goldsmiths College, London. Elle and Cosmopolitan and has produced four books including ‘Fashion UK’ (Conran Octopus) and ‘The Breast Health Handbook,’ which was a bestseller. She has written for magazines and papers Bob and Roberta Smith’s work involves performance; large like Elle, Independent, Sunday Times, Marie Claire, Cosmopolitan, installations made with personalised signs on scrap materials Grazia and continues to be a broadcast fashion commentator and wall based paintings on wooden panels. His DIY approach contributing to programmes including BBC Breakfast News, appropriates the languages of folk, punk and the alternative protest Radio 4, LBC and many others. movements to personalise political sloganeering. His work cannot be reduced to one genre. Often it takes the shape of hobbies - As well as lecturing and consulting for a variety of fashion music, cooking or DIY - which is then combined with a subversive brands, Caryn has co-chaired the award winning Fashion Targets humour. By such means Bob and Roberta Smith attempts to Breast Cancer campaign with Amanda Wakeley for 15 years and demolish established values and respected authorities and, most recently has co-founded the award winning ‘All Walks like much humour, it is to do with humiliation. Beyond the Catwalk’ with Erin O’Connor to promote a wider spectrum of beauty in fashion imagery through size, age and Smith challenges the orthodoxies we are taught at school and ethnicity. This has resulted in Lynne Featherstone, Government which he believes beats the creativity out of us. He believes in Minister for Equalities, inviting her to consult on the Lib Dem people making their own art, looking at the world around us Body Confidence Campaign. Caryn has also instigated changes which has been made by human beings, and he actively tries to the degree curriculum for students of fashion thorough her to encourage this.