A Short Guide to Higher Education in the North West
NWUA has recently produced "A Short Guide to Higher Education in the North
West". The guide is a brief introduction to some of the main issues in higher
education for those who are unfamiliar with the sector or whose work may
require some basic knowledge of HE. It can be downloaded
here
. Alternatively, hard copies can be requested from NWUA.
LEONARDO GRANT FUNDING now available to staff and students at all North West
HEIs
The Leonardo da Vinci grant programme is the European Commission’s vocational
training programme that aims to facilitate staff and student mobility
throughout Europe.
Previously, funding was only available to staff and students from the 7 regional
HEIs who were party to the original grant bidding procedure. However due to the
number of grants unallocated at this stage in the programme, we are pleased to
extend this funding opportunity to staff and students at ALL North West
HEIs.
Click
here
For further details on eligibility and how to apply.
NWUA and NWDA capacity building
In November 2006, NWUA and NWDA held a capacity building training session on
the development of the North West Operating Programme for Competitiveness
2007-2013. The event was attended by representatives of each of the HEIs in the
region and, after an introductory presentation from Keith Burnley, NWUA
Executive Director, the discussion was led by Dr Pernille Kousgaard, NWDA Head
of European Policy, Tim Sherward, NWDA Head of Policy and Support, and Dr
George Baxter, NWDA Director of Science and Innovation. The session was an
opportunity for the HE sector to ensure the capacity of the sector is
understood and acknowledged by NWDA, especially as it has now been confirmed
that the RDA will lead on the ERDF programme.
The North West receives HEFCE Approval for innovative Higher Level Skills
Pathfinder
On November 2nd the HEFCE Board gave their approval of the NW Higher
Level Skills Business Plan. The project will therefore be active from 1st
October 2006 - 30th
September 2009 across the entire region. This is an innovative project led by
the North West Universities Association (NWUA), as the representative body of
the fourteen North West Higher Education Institutions (HEIs), in partnership
with the North West Regional Development Agency (NWDA), Government Office North
West (GONW), the Association of Colleges (AoC), the Learning and Skills Council
(LSC), the Sector Skills Councils (SSCs) and the NW Regional Skills Partnership
(RSP). The project looks to increase employer engagement with the HE sector in
the region in order to increase the investment in and take up of higher level
skills within the NW workforce.
The October HLSP summary document can be
download here (pdf).
The November HLSP summary document can be
download here (pdf)
.
For further information on the HLSP please contact Dr Celia Brigg, Assistant
Director (Skills) NWUA on cbrigg@nwua.ac.uk
or 0161 2348891.
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The North West is Chosen as a Pathfinder region for
Employer Engagement with Higher Level Skills Training
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The North West region has been invited by the Higher Education Funding Council
for England (HEFCE) to develop a business proposal for a Higher Level Skills
Pathfinder Project. This development will be led by the North West Universities
Association (NWUA) in conjunction with a wide range of regional partners and
will extend the work of the LSC Train to Gain programme to cover Higher
Education.
As detailed in the FE White Paper ‘FE Reform: Raising skills, improving life
chances’ in March 2006 the Department for Education and Skills (DfES) has asked
HEFCE to develop three pathfinder projects for employer engagement with higher
level skills.
HEFCE, in conjunction with its partners, will run three regional projects (North
West, South West and North East) which will extend the LSC funded Train to Gain
service to higher education. The projects will enable employers in these
regions to source all their training and development needs through a single
broker. They will also promote direct links between HE providers and employers
to develop flexible workplace provision centred on the needs of employers and
employees. The projects are scheduled to commence in September 2006 and will be
funded for a maximum of three years.
The pathfinder regions have been chosen on the basis that they have the capacity
and potential to establish the Higher Level Skills projects within a short
time-scale and with cross-regional involvement. This project will offer HE
institutions and their regional partners an opportunity to undertake
collaborative work to enhance the contribution of higher education to the
skills agenda more broadly. Many institutions are already making a strong
contribution to this agenda, however, the HEFCE believes that closer
partnerships between HE, employers and the skills infrastructure are required
to support all learners to combine learning and work in a way which meets their
needs and those of the long term economy.
The pathfinder project will be led by the North West Universities Association,
with strong links to the AoC in the region, this will ensure the involvement of
the 15 NW HEIs and the FE Colleges delivering HE. NWUA will also be looking to
secure explicit support from all regional partners including the NWDA, SSCs,
GONW, the LSC and the Regional Skills Partnership.
For further information on this work please contact Dr Celia Brigg, Principal
Officer (Strategy and Policy), NWUA on 0161 2348891 or email
cbrigg@nwua.ac.uk
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The Northern Way Summit 06 Event
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Date: Tuesday 21 Feburary
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Location: The Royal York Hotel in York
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The conference has updated delegates on the progress and achievements of The
Northern Way, its focus and the Regional Economic Strategies for each of the
City Regions. The event facilitated discussions focussing on the investment
priorities (employment and skills, economy, transport, sustainable communities)
and the eight City Regions (Liverpool, Central Lancashire, Mancehster,
Sheffield, Leeds, Hull and Humber Ports, Tees Valley, Tyne and Wear).
The powerpoint presentations from the day can be downloaded here:
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Centres for Excellence in Teaching and Learning Seminar
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Date: Wednesday 15th Feburary
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Location: The Open University in the NW
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The Learning and Teaching Strategy Group held a seminar for staff involved with
the Centres for Excellence in Teaching and Learning (CETLs) on the 15th
February at the Open University in the NW. The event, aimed at CETL staff from
NW HEIs, sought to discuss areas for potential collaboration such as research
and evaluation.
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NWUA Annual Dinner 2006
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Date: Monday January 30th 2006
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Location: Barton Grange Hotel
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NWUA held its Annual Dinner on Monday January 30th 2006 at Barton Grange Hotel
near Preston. The event celebrated 6 years of successful collaboration between
NWUA and North West Regional Development Agency across a wide range of regional
agendas. Key note addresses were received from Mr Steven Broomhead, Chief
Executive, NWDA and Dr Malcolm McVicar, Chair, NWUA, and the after dinner
speaker was Loyd Grossman.
One hundred people attended the event representing a wide range of regional and
national partners including GONW, NWRA, NWDA, North West Business Leadership
Team, Institute of Directors, Sector Skills Councils, Learning & Skills
Council and HEFCE.
A paper detailing some areas of collaborative working between NWUA and NWDA is
available to download
here.
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Construction Mapping Workshop
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Date: Thursday 2nd March
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Location: The University of Salford
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Professor Ghassan Aouad, a Lead Academic for the Construction Sector, hosted an
event for academic representatives from departments relating to the
Construction Sector. The event sought to refine and develop a mapping of
provision within the North West that has been conducted by the University of
Salford. An outcome of this meeting is the proposed production of a
Construction brochure to highlight the research and teaching expertise
available within Northwest HEIs. For further information please contact
Celia Brigg at NWUA.
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Financial & Professional Services Lead Academic Network
Meeting
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Date: 28 February 2006
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Location: Manchester Metropolitan University
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The Financial & Professional Services Lead Academic Network met on February
28th at Manchester Metropolitan University. The group discussed HE engagement
with the Financial and Professional Services SSPA and involvement with their
developing action plan. Colleagues from all Northwest HEIs were invited across
the business, finance and law departments. Delegates have now agreed the input
and activities to be undertaken by NWUA member institutions and the completed
action plan will be shared with SSPA colleagues at the next Financial and
Professional Services SSPA meeting, 15th March.
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NOTICE OF CANCELLATION- Engineering and Technology
Knowledge Exchange
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Date: 3 April 2006
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Location: Reynold Building, University of Manchester
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Unfortunately this event has now been cancelled. For further information please
contact Celia Brigg at NWUA.
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Environmental Academic Network
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Date: 8 March 2006
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Location: University of Lancaster Environment Centre
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The Environmental Technologies and Services Lead Academic Network met on 8th
March. Dr Mark Bacon, Lead Academic, University of Lancaster hosted the event.
Envirolink Northwest, the cluster body will join NWUA in operating this network
in the future and the meeting sought to explore how this will be developed.
Presentations focused on funding opportunities, industry research needs and
working with the regional environmental technology industry. All presentations
from this event can be found on the
Envirolink NW website
, under News and Events, Events presentations.
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Learning and Teaching Strategy Group
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The Learning and Teaching Strategy Group submitted a joint response to the HEFCE
Teaching Funding Review Consultation on 13th January. Copies of the response
are available on the NWUA website here.
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Regional Statement of Skills Priorities
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The Regional Statement of Skills Priorities has now been approved and a copy of
the full document is available via the NWUA website
here.
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NWUA, Culture NW and NWDA Tourism Cluster
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NWUA, Culture NW and NWDA Tourism Cluster held a joint seminar on the NW
Visitor Economy on 26th January 2006. NW Academics interested in tourism,
consumer psychology, urban design, planning, culture, economics, social
anthropology, cultural geography etc. attended along with regional tourism /
visitor economy related organisations.
Full details of the event including conference proceedings, presentations and
workshop notes are available from here.
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Sport Lead Academic Network Meeting
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NWUA held a meeting of the Sport Lead Academic Network on January 18th at the
Newton Rigg Campus of UCLan in Penrith. The event began with talks from Celia
Brigg, Lead Officer for Sport, Dr Iain Adams, Lead Academic for Sport and Anne
Thompson, Sport Industries Manager, NWDA.
The network members were asked to consider ways in which HE can contribute to
and engage with the sport cluster in the NW. For further information please
contact Ceila Brigg at NWUA.
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Lead Academics Meeting
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NWUA held a meeting of Lead Academics on February 8th at NWDA, Renaissance
House, Warrington. The morning session focused on NWUA engagement with Sector
Skills and Productivity Alliances (SSPAs) in light of the review of the
Regional Economic Strategy, the NWDA Cluster review and the SSPA review.
As an outcome of this session NWUA will revise the Roles and Responsibilities
document for HE representatives on SSPAs. For the afternoon session lead
academics were joined by colleagues from NWDA to talk about linkages between
the priority sectors for the NW and the NW Science Council. In particular
opportunities for engagement with the developing regional science strategy were
discussed.
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