Name of Provider: Royal Central School of Speech and Drama UKPRN: 10007816 TEF Year Two provider submission Provider Context The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama (hereinafter ‘Central’, or ‘the School’) is a small and specialist higher education institution that stands at the forefront of training and research in the theatre and performance arts. Placing students at the centre of its work, Central develops practitioners and researchers who shape the future of theatre and performance across the UK and beyond. This is achieved in a conservatoire environment that is vocationally focussed, industry aligned and intensely practical. We train students to high-level industry standards in specialist technical theatre practices and identify, inspire and equip cultural leaders to develop the future of the theatre industries. By creating new challenges in our training environments, and establishing ourselves as a world-leading centre for research excellence in performance, we foster a climate of creativity, artistry and innovation that prepares students not only for jobs, but for professional careers. Recognition of the School’s world-leading teaching and graduate impact was conferred on Central by HEFCE in 2016 as a result of its review of institution-specific targeted allocations (ISTA); the review panel comprised a number of international experts, and led to the School being awarded the highest possible allocation of institution-specific funding. Academic strategy and philosophy Central is committed to: maintaining our distinctive ethos as an HE conservatoire at the crossing-point of HE, industry and the theatre and performance arts community. This consists of a fluid combination of scholarship and research, industry-related vocational training and research- informed teaching; the recognition that enhancement of learning is a project for staff and students alike, and that it takes many forms and relationships; active encouragement of diversity as a basis not only for an enriched learning experience but also for an enhanced working environment; opening doors to our disciplines for new thinkers, makers and practitioners in dispersed and diverse communities and seeking to lead participation in varied but interrelated communities of interest and study. The School employs conservatoire models of intensive physical and technical training extended and informed by industry engagement, and integrated with a research environment of active staff research that is coupled with a research degree programme. It is widely known as one of the UK’s oldest drama schools, with Laurence Olivier, Harold Pinter, Vanessa Redgrave and Judi Dench among its alumni, in addition to contemporary stars such as Martin Freeman, Kit Harrington, Cush Jumbo and Riz Ahmed. Less well known to the general public are the world-leaders in stage design and technical production who graduated from Central, and the leading role graduates play in regional and community arts. From its origins as an institution that focussed on actor training it has grown and diversified to cover a full range of production, design and craft disciplines, social and community applications of drama and theatre, and specialist pedagogical practices (for example, the training of acting and voice coaches and movement directors). It is a constituent college of the University of London, with its own taught degree awarding powers, and was one of the first drama schools to situate rigorous, practice-based vocational training and learning within higher education frameworks and benchmarks. By 2015/16, 955.7 student FTEs were taught across three undergraduate programmes (640.7 FTE) and a portfolio of specialist postgraduate programmes extending from taught Masters-level courses (MA and MFA) to MPhil/PhD degrees. Postgraduate programmes (315 student FTEs in 2015/16, including those on research degrees) constitute the largest platform of specialist drama-related postgraduate provision in the UK. Page 1 of 14 Name of Provider: Royal Central School of Speech and Drama UKPRN: 10007816 Central distinctively does much more than the traditional drama conservatoire. Its research-led teaching produces graduates who challenge the parameters of the discipline and make new art. Central offers the widest range of small vocational BA and MA theatre and performance arts courses in the specialist sector, with some subjects only available at the School. It also has the largest faculty of permanently contracted, expert scholars in either the specialist HEI or university drama department sectors, extensively supplemented by visiting professional practitioners. It delivers its teaching in diverse modes and levels of instruction appropriate to the curricula, including placement learning, community production work and collaborative outreach. Through industry-related and research seminars, Central provides a forum for professional and academic peers to engage with pedagogic, and research, discourses and practices from the UK and beyond. Teaching Quality Central’s undergraduate academic provision comprises three programmes: BA (Hons) Acting, which also includes routes in Musical Theatre and Collaborative and Devised Theatre; BA (Hons) Theatre Practice, with routes in twelve theatre and performance practice specialisms, including costume construction, stage management and performance arts; BA (Hons) Drama, Applied Theatre and Education (or DATE), which includes a pathway in writing for performance. Together and separately, these programmes are regarded by current students, alumni, and peers in both academia and the theatre and performance industries as sector- and, indeed, world- leading. ‘Central graduates currently stand head and shoulders above other Drama School graduates.’ M.D., White Light – the market leader in lighting and audio-visual equipment ‘Central is a byword for high quality training both in the UK and worldwide.’ Kate Buckley, Manager, 42 – a leading management and production company ‘The BA DATE programme is exceptional: it offers an incredibly robust structure, with excellent staff inviting students to engage with an expansive range of practices and theoretical frameworks as well as providing unique placement opportunities with a range of local, national and international partners. Students clearly flourish, developing and pursing independent research interests and practical work that actively contributes to a wider body of cultural practices in educational, community and professional theatre contexts. […] It is also important to acknowledge the extraordinary commitment demonstrated by staff in the delivery of the programme.’ Dr Caoimhe McAvinchey (Queen Mary, University of London), External Examiner BA DATE, 2016 Student feedback on teaching quality The quality of Central’s teaching is attested by the high regard in which it is placed by students, something that is clearly demonstrated by the ‘double positive’ flag that the School receives in the corresponding TEF metric. In NSS 2016, 95% of respondents agreed that staff are good at explaining things; 97% agreed that staff have made the subject interesting; 97% agreed that staff are enthusiastic about what they are teaching; and 92% agreed that their course is intellectually stimulating. Central is thus placed well above its benchmark in this area, and at a course level some of the responses have been even more gratifying: 100% of BA Acting respondents in 2016 agreed with every statement in the ‘teaching on my course’ category of questions. Comments about the School from NSS respondents in 2016 confirm its high standing in their view: ‘The course is so thorough, and has really helped me develop as an artist. I am so grateful for the generosity of the teachers, with their time, enthusiasm and rigour. What I've learnt has been very Page 2 of 14 Name of Provider: Royal Central School of Speech and Drama UKPRN: 10007816 valuable, but just as valuable has been learning how to learn. I feel extremely capable, in a deep way which I don't know that I could have before Central.’ BA Acting NSS respondent, 2016 ‘The course has helped me develop as a person and an actor in a way that I don't think another institution would have enabled me to. The support the staff offer to the students is exceptional, and though they push you to your limit, there is such a high level of care behind everything that they do.’ BA DATE NSS respondent, 2016 ‘The low student-to-tutor ratio really makes your degree a personal experience and the course is able to adapt around you, your wants and your needs. All the tutors really care about you and the work you are producing.’ BA Theatre Practice NSS respondent, 2016 Central also gathers feedback from first- and second-year undergraduate students on their perceptions of teaching quality in the form of an annual survey that uses the core questions of the NSS. The responses to this survey have consistently replicated the high levels of agreement on teaching quality that the School finds in the NSS; in 2016, for example, 88% of second-year undergraduates agreed that ‘staff are enthusiastic about what they are teaching’, while 85% agreed that ‘staff have made the subject interesting’ and that ‘the course is intellectually stimulating’. A one-to-one discussion on student feedback (gathered from the NSS, internal surveys and course committees) between Course Leaders and Central’s Director of Learning, Teaching and Student Experience takes place each year, and course leaders are required to respond formally in an annual course monitoring exercise.