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Institutional Context
Summary
The University of Worcester is a modern, civic University, with three campuses across the city, each open to the community. The University is vital to the city and the region and is at the heart of strategies for local growth and regeneration and for the development of health and care across Herefordshire and Worcestershire. It is committed to working in partnership with local authorities, health bodies, schools, businesses and other HEIs.
It delivers teaching, research and knowledge exchange across Arts, Humanities, Social Sciences and Health and Life sciences, but is most noted for its education of teachers and health professionals, with plans for a medical school well-advanced, and for its research on pollen dispersion, sustainable dementia care and mental health.
Institutional context
The University of Worcester was founded in 1946 as a teacher training college. We have grown exponentially over the last 15-20 years, gaining University title in 2005 and Research Degree Awarding Powers in 2010. We now have over 10,000 students and employ 1,500 staff. We have, over this same period, physically expanded our estate from a single campus on the edge of the city of Worcester to three campuses, two in the heart of the city. However, we remain true to our founding values and culture. Now, as then, we are a close-knit and high-achieving community, focused on the individual but also committed to knowledge generation and exchange that benefits the wider world.
We are a civic University with a strong local and regional focus; the Hive, our integrated University and Public library, is indicative of this. However, our reach extends nationally and globally in key areas of research and knowledge exchange. Our work is underpinned by partnerships with local authorities, health bodies, criminal justice organisations, schools, community organisations, businesses and other HEIs, national and international.
We are driven by a commitment to social inclusion in all that we do – in our teaching, our research, our Knowledge Exchange and our estate. We are also committed to working sustainably, our success in doing so reflected in our 2019 Green Gown Award.
Our core business is Undergraduate education; our Postgraduate numbers (taught and research) are small but growing. Reflecting our origins, Teacher Education is a core part of our offer as is the education of health professionals (nursing, midwifery, allied health professions) with planned expansion to offer Medical Education in the next few years. We have expanded the portfolio of courses we offer in the Life Sciences over the last 10 years most notably to include Biomedical Science. We deliver courses across the Social Sciences, Arts and Humanities with longstanding programmes in areas such as Psychology, Geography, History, English Literature, Drama, Business & Management and Sport & Exercise Science; more recently we have developed areas such as Law, Criminology and Policing.
Research is increasingly fundamental to the University’s mission, underpinning our Learning & Teaching but also our wider impact and engagement work. We have well established areas of research excellence in Aerobiology (20+ years), particularly in relation to pollen research, and Dementia Care (10+ years), with an increasing focus on community-based and technological solutions to the health and care crisis. In both these areas, the focus has been and remains on strong fundamental research which has application in the real world. This approach has underpinned the development of new areas of excellence in: Mental Health research, in particular severe adult mental illness and trauma; Violence Prevention, focused on applied research into intimate partner violence and stalking; molecular plant diagnostics, looking at plant-pathogen interactions; and eco-system services, finding environmentally sustainable solutions to increasing productivity and crop protection.
For further information, please send queries to KEF@worc.ac.uk
Local Growth and Regeneration
Summary of approach
The University is committed to growth and regeneration of the city of Worcester and the counties of Worcestershire and Herefordshire but the reach and impact of its activities in this area extend to the wider West Midlands and into the South West of England. Within the city, we have focused on regeneration and renewal through a long-term strategy of developing brownfield sites in partnership with the local authorities. Many of these sites, in particular the Hive, are community-facing, and thus an integral part of the city. Our work in skills development, particularly in the areas of teacher and health education and enterprise support, has a wider reach and has had real impacts on target communities.
Aspect 1: Strategy
The University of Worcester is committed “to delivering opportunity and prosperity to the people and communities with whom we share our place”. (The University is a signatory to the Civic University Agreements.) For the University, those who “share our place” are, first and foremost, the people of the city of Worcester and of the counties of Worcestershire and Herefordshire; however, key aspects of our strategy extend “our place” beyond this into the wider West Midlands, through our educational and other partnerships, and into the South-West, not least through our important partnership with the Learning Institute who deliver educational programmes in health and education at venues in Cornwall, Devon, Somerset, Dorset and South Gloucestershire.
Worcestershire is predominantly rural, as is its neighbour, Herefordshire. Businesses in the region are mostly SMEs. The region is largely in line with the national picture in terms of the proportion of businesses by sector with some exceptions: a smaller proportion are in the “Professional, scientific & technical” and “Information & communication” sectors and a higher proportion in the “Agriculture, forestry & fishing” sector reflecting the rurality of the region.
Although the University does not have a discrete Local Growth and Regeneration (LGR) strategy, its mission in this area is writ large in its current (and indeed past) Strategic Plans, and flows through into its Research and Knowledge Exchange (RKE) Strategy and its Learning and Teaching (LT) Strategy.
The University’s strategic approach to LGR is focused on the following key areas:
Urban regeneration and renewal, primarily of the city of Worcester.
The creation of spaces for public and community, developed through consultation and in partnership with key stakeholders, which have maximum impact on local place making and which bring economic, social and cultural benefits.
Skills development that meets “local” needs through, for example: curriculum development; delivery of apprenticeships in business and health; CPD, particularly for teachers and health professionals; leadership development.
Enterprise support.
Addressing significant local socio-economic needs through research.
Our new RKE strategy (2020-25) articulates five Areas of Challenge around which the University will focus RKE activity: Health & Wellbeing; Sustainable Futures; Digital Innovation; Social Exclusion; Professional Education. The challenges described are global - feeding out of those highlighted, for example, by WHO and UNICEF- and national – as described in the Industrial Strategy and in UKRI priorities - but also regional and local, and indeed our response to these challenges will be aligned with local priorities. To give an example of this: data shows that Worcestershire has one of the most rapidly ageing populations in the UK, a consequence of which, as seen nationally, is a rapid, unsustainable rise in the costs associated with health and social care. The University is therefore committed to supporting solutions, primarily technology-based, which can address this issue. The importance of the University to meeting this challenge is highlighted in Worcestershire Local Enterprise Partnership’s (WLEP) Local Industrial Strategy Consultation Prospectus which highlights the key role of the University and specifically its Dementia Care Research Centre (the Association for Dementia Studies) in supporting digital solutions to the health and social care crisis.
Our new LT Strategy (2020-25) places a strong emphasis on the role of employers in the co-creation of our curriculum; the TEF panel commended us for our consultation with local employers in our course design. This is both in the content of the course and its modules to ensure that students have every opportunity for the effective application of practical skills but also through wider engagement with employers through placements and project opportunities.
It can thus be seen how the University’s approach to LGR is both reflected in but also supports our RKE and LT objectives.
The University’s approach to LGR is fundamentally underpinned by its active engagement with the Worcestershire LEP, Worcestershire County Council, Worcester City Council, a range of other civic and cultural organisations/networks and with local and regional NHS Trusts and health bodies:
The Deputy Vice Chancellor is a member of the WLEP Board and thus has been involved in the development of LEP strategy including its emerging Local Industrial Strategy. The University is also represented on the WLEP’s European Structural Investment Fund sub-Committee and its Employment and Skills Board by its Head of Apprenticeships and Work-based Learning, ensuring the University is active in developing the county’s strategy for skills and workforce development.
The University has well-established partnerships with Worcestershire County and Worcester City Councils, demonstrated by significant infrastructure and research projects (see below).
The University has close links with the Herefordshire and Worcestershire Chamber of Commerce and Worcester Business Central through our Business School.
We are partners in Worcestershire Innovation (WINN) and the Worcester Business Improvement District (BID), for which our Head of Facilities sits on the Board as Vice-Chair.
We are members of the Worcestershire Cultural Education Partnership which is committed to broadening opportunities for the children and young people of Worcestershire to access high quality arts experiences as artists, producers, audiences and participants.
The University has significant links with regional NHS Trusts, not least through the Herefordshire and Worcestershire Sustainability and Transformation Partnership, but also through representation on research forums and committees for Worcester Acute NHS Hospitals Trust, Worcestershire Health and Care NHS Trust, Midlands NHS Partnership Foundation Trust, whilst our Director of RKE for the College of Health, Life and Environmental Sciences is Associate Director of Research and Innovation for the Midlands NHS Partnership.
University representatives have been invited to sit on the Board for a number of major “local” projects – e.g. Worcestershire Health and Care NHS Trust’s Global Digital Exemplar project and Worcestershire 5G project.
Aspect 2: Activity
Urban regeneration and renewal
Over the last 10 years, the University’s estate strategy has had a profound impact on the city of Worcester. It has developed a number of brownfield sites to create a new City Campus (opened in 2010 on the site of the Victorian Infirmary); an integrated University and Public Library, the Hive (opened in 2010 on a derelict city centre site); and the Worcester Arena, a sports facility designed to be accessible and inclusive (opened in 2013 on the site of an abandoned produce market). The University has also renewed a number of iconic city buildings: for example, it opened the Art House in 2018, an open studio, workshop and exhibition space for our students and the community. This strategy was developed in close consultation with civic society and community and is delivered through partnership with local authorities and other organisations.
The most recent example of the University’s commitment to urban regeneration is the “Worcester Arches Project”, a partnership between the University, Worcester City Council, WCC, Severn Arts, Network Rail, the Worcestershire Arts Partnership and a number of local businesses to create a new gateway for the city, following the line of the Victorian railway arches from the main rail station to the River Severn via the Hive. The project, which received £3m funding from the DCMS Cultural Development Fund, matched by the partners, will establish a cultural hub for the city, encouraging business development and creating jobs, in particular, in the arts and hospitality sector.
Public Spaces
Many of the University’s facilities are public spaces. The embodiment of this is the Hive, a shared public and university library, history and archaeology archive, and community service hub in the heart of the city, developed at a cost of £60m with ongoing investment and managed in partnership by the County Council and the University which attracts over 500,000 visitors per year. Worcester Arena and the Art House are also significant community-facing facilities, the former had over 500,000 users per annum from 2016-19.
Skills development
Apprenticeships
The University delivers apprenticeships in Teaching, Health Education and Business. For example:
In 2019, the University won a three-year contract with Herefordshire and Worcestershire NHS partners, to deliver Nursing Associate Apprenticeships builds on the University’s outstanding reputation for educating the health professionals who work in our local hospitals and communities.
Our Business School offers Chartered Management Degree Apprenticeships at Level 6 in partnership with Walsall College and at Level 7 for senior business leaders.
Professional Development
The University delivers a range of development programmes for teachers and health professionals. For example:
A core area of work relates to STEM teaching. Our School of Education hosts the West Midlands STEM Ambassador Hub (funded through a 3-year £250k contract with STEM Learning), which aims, through a combination of CPD, mentoring and other support, to improve the quality of STEM teaching in the wider West Midlands region, encourage more young people into STEM careers, improve STEM teacher retention and reduce disadvantage through STEM learning. These aims are closely aligned with key elements in the Industrial Strategy relating to STEM teaching.
Leadership Development
The University is committed to developing leaders who are committed to the ethical and sustainable development of their organisations to meet economic and social needs, particularly in the areas of Education and Health. For example:
As part of its wider school improvement work, the University delivered a programme of leadership development for 55 schools in Stoke LEA to drive school improvement and build collaborative working within the LEA to enhance pupil outcomes.
Enterprise support.
Worcester Enterprise was established by the University in 2015/16 to provide: a Business Incubation space for local pre start-ups, and micro enterprises; a Summer Start-up Bootcamp funded through ERDF - a free business start-up programme that is available for any resident in Worcestershire if they are looking to start a business; an annual #Worcesterpreneur programme of events hosted by the University of Worcester, which aims to get students, local business start-ups and community members together to learn more about business and do business effectively; and a weekly business ideas clinic run by local entrepreneurs, available to anyone who is keen to receive support to develop a business idea in the local area.
Addressing significant local socio-economic needs through research.
A prime example of this approach is the University’s role in the West Mercia Rural 5G project, which received £3.2 million funding from DCMS, and is led by WCC in partnership with regional NHS organisations, tech partners, Shropshire Council, the University of Worcester, University Centre Shrewsbury and the Academic Health Science Network. Operating in the rural area where the counties of Shropshire and Worcestershire meet, the project will explore infrastructure challenges when planning, building and operating a rural 5G network and look at how 5G can enhance health and social care services for rural communities through digital applications. The University brings its expertise in health and social care and specifically around digital health solutions for older people.
Aspect 3: Results
The impact of the University’s estates strategy is clear. Its regeneration programme saw the City Council re-articulate its strategy to “be recognised and promoted as a first rank university and cathedral city, with a high skill, high value-added economy, supporting growth in knowledge-based industries, whilst continuing to contribute to the growth of existing industry and commercial sectors and recognising the importance of tourism”. The Hive and the City Campus was at the heart of this. The continuing social and cultural importance and economic impact of the Hive is highlighted in a 2016 Social Return on Investment report. It is further demonstrated by its visitor numbers – it was the eighth most visited library in the UK in 2017/18 with 695,000 visits - and is highlighted as a key visitor attraction in the Visit Worcestershire Strategy.
Evidence shows the impact of individual programmes:
Stoke Schools’ Leadership Programme – direct feedback from senior leaders in the schools and OFSTED reports has shown the positive impacts of the programme on the leaders, on the schools, on collaborative networks and on the pupils.
STEM Ambassador Hub – national data on the impact of these hubs shows that 80% of teachers who work with these hubs improve the quality of their STEM teaching, more young people pursue a STEM career, disadvantaged students benefit more from this support and science teachers are 160% more likely to remain in the profession.
Enterprise Support – the Worcester Enterprise team have sought individual impact statements from participants in Bootcamps and other aspects of the support programme.
For further information, please send queries to j.wilson@worc.ac.uk
Public & Community Engagement
Summary of approach
The University has a deep-seated strategic commitment to Public and Community Engagement (PCE). It is through PCE that we shape our teaching, our research and our campus to meet wider societal needs. At the heart of our PCE strategy are our buildings which are community-facing, most strikingly the Hive, an integrated University and Public library, where our staff and students encounter our public and community on a daily basis, and which acts as the focus of many of our PCE events. We focus our PCE projects in three main areas: health and wellbeing, children and families, and social inclusion. Our PCE has real impacts in these areas, evidence showing how people’s lives have been enhanced through our work.
Aspect 1: Strategy
Public and community engagement (PCE) is a core strategic commitment of the University, as reflected in our current Strategic Plan (approved in 2019). This plan identifies the specific ambition to “increase community engagement” as one of its three main commitments. This emphasises the absolute and ongoing centrality of PCE to our mission. Our PCE enriches the city and the wider region, economically, socially and culturally, but also has national and global impacts. In particular, we are focused on PCE which enhances health and wellbeing, which enriches the lives of children and families, and which increases social inclusion. Further, our PCE informs and shapes our teaching, our research and our facilities. This is physically manifest in the Hive, the UK’s only fully integrated University-Public library, developed in partnership with Worcestershire County Council.
The Hive is:
an exemplar of the University’s partnership working, both in the creation of the Hive in 2010 but also in its subsequent success, reflected in the multiple awards it has received over that period.
the primary location in which the University (through its staff and its students) and the public come together daily.
a key location for academic staff to present their research and expertise to the public through public lectures and seminars, science fairs and exhibitions.
an arena for research on PCE but also in collaboration with the public.
Beyond the Hive, other facilities also function as key locations for our PCE:
the Worcester Arena,
the Art House,
Our PCE also takes place across the city and county through, for example, our engagement with national events such as Pint of Science and through events like our storytelling festival (see aspect 3).
The University does not currently have a separate PCE strategy but its commitment to PCE flows from our Strategic Plan into our new Research & Knowledge Exchange (RKE) and Learning & Teaching (LT) strategies (2020-25). Each identify “Engagement” (along with People, Infrastructure, Culture and Collaboration) as one of the 5 key pillars of the RKE/LT environment on which delivery of the strategic vision will depend.
The RKE Strategy articulates 3 core objectives: to enhance and develop existing structures, resources and training to support staff and student PCE; to improve how PCE is co-ordinated across the University to maximise opportunities and effectiveness; and to build an evidence base of how our public and community engagement is making a difference and having an impact.
The implementation of the new RKE strategy is in its early phases but a Working Group has been established, chaired by a senior researcher with cross University membership, academic and professional, and community partners, to drive forward this element of the strategy.
The University has taken an embedded approach to leadership and management of PCE as opposed to creating specific leadership roles in this area. Fundamentally, the VC himself takes overall leadership of this agenda but devolves responsibility for key elements of the strategy to the PVC Students, the Deputy PVC Research, and the Deputy PVC Inclusive Sport & Education, whilst Heads of School also play a central role in the leadership and management of core aspects of the PCE strategy.
Aspect 2: Support
Support for PCE is shared across a number of departments:
the University’s Research Office provides support with PCE bid development and project delivery and acts as a point of contact for public and community partners seeking to work with the University.
the Hive events team supports PCE events in the Hive.
the Communications department supports PCE cross-University.
The Research Office also collects data annually on PCE in collaboration with Communications, the Hive and Academic Schools.
The University provides a programme of development around PCE for researchers delivered by experienced academic and professional staff:
PhD students are required to undertake a PCE module exploring different approaches to engagement and requires them to plan an engagement activity focused on their own doctoral research.
As part of our researcher development programme, staff have access to workshops and short courses focused on different aspects of PCE such as: “Enhancing public engagement with your research”; “Presenting to non-academic audiences”; and “Engaging with policymakers”.
It is planned to expand this programme to enhance staff engagement with PCE training as part of the RKE strategy implementation.
The University has established user groups to inform the development of our research and our curriculum, particularly in the area of health and wellbeing. Our IMPACT group has 40 members including care-leavers, those affected by mental illness and domestic violence, carers, physically disabled and older people. IMPACT members provide input to the development of research projects and to our teaching through contribution to teaching, curriculum design and validation processes. In 2019/20, IMPACT members contributed 1800 hours to the University. Evidence of the effectiveness of IMPACT is shown by articles co-produced by our staff and IMPACT members.
Aspect 3: Activity
The strategic focus of our PCE is in 3 areas: health and wellbeing; children and families; social inclusion. Our approach to PCE is to engage directly with those affected by an issue, who can potentially benefit from our knowledge and from whom we can learn, and with those who have the ability to address the issue, whether through developing their practice or through policy change.
Health and Wellbeing
An exemplar of our approach in this area is the work of our research centre, the Association for Dementia Studies (ADS). ADS is focused on working proactively at the interface between the experience of those directly affected by dementia, those developing care practice and policy, and those undertaking research to ensure knowledge exchange between these different world-views. This is well-reflected in their work around Dementia Meeting Centres (DMCs), a community-based intervention to support people and families affected by dementia to adjust to living with the change that a dementia diagnosis can bring. Building on research funded by the ESRC which demonstrated the effectiveness of the DMC model, the team, supported by a £500k Big Lottery grant, are half way through a nationwide implementation programme (2018-21) which seeks to deliver 15-20 new DMCs over the period and are also leading on the coordination of a separate implementation programme in Worcestershire (£540k) to establish 9 DMCs across the county (2020-23). The team have played a central role in establishing DMCs in close collaboration with communities and this work was recognised in the 2019 Times Higher Education Awards for “Outstanding Contribution to the Local Community”.
It is worth noting here, the response of staff in ADS to the Covid-19 pandemic. The team have:
Developed a wealth of resources for Worcestershire County Council in response to the pandemic to support care homes, domiciliary care workers, family and friends and community groups.
Developed a collection of sensory and creative activities to be undertaken at home or in care settings by people affected by dementia and their families and carers.
Provided direct support for care homes and domiciliary care providers through telephone/virtual consultations.
Our work in the health and wellbeing arena is wide ranging; a very different example is our development of student-led clinics. Based in our McClelland Centre, these clinics were established to provide placement activities for students in physiotherapy, sports therapy and occupational therapy. However, these supervised clinics have become an important resource for local communities who can access therapeutic treatments at a low cost that they might otherwise not have opportunity to engage with.
Children and Families
Our Beeline children’s storytelling festival has run continuously from 2004-2019, growing significantly over that period. The festival seeks to enhance schoolchildren’s literacy and creativity and has established an excellent reputation for delivering high quality educational and artistic activity, attracting many of the UK’s leading children’s authors, professional storytellers, illustrators, and performers but also drawing on our academic staff, who contribute their expertise to the programme, and our students, particularly our trainee teachers. The festival has two key audiences, schools and the general public, and over this period both audiences have grown significantly. In 2019, 4237 children from 57 schools across Worcestershire and the West Midlands took part in the festival. Feedback from Schools, teachers and public is sought and this input has helped to continuously shape the festival.
Social inclusion
A primary example of our approach to inclusion, which also emphasises the global reach of our engagement, is the work of our International Centre for Inclusive Sport (established in 2016). The centre is a network of researchers, coaches, practitioners and teachers dedicated to forming partnerships and sharing best practice in both teaching and infrastructure projects, with the aim of making participation in sport easier for marginalised groups. Examples of its work include:
Delivering workshops to trainee teachers with our partner, Beijing Sports University, focused on an inclusive approach to physical education.
Advising the organising committee of Tokyo 2020 and the Japanese Paralympic committee.
Working with Pacific Consultants to inform design of a national inclusive sports facility in Japan.
Partnering with the World Academy of Sport to launch the Global Physical Education/Sport Teacher Training Centre, to deliver inclusive sport education to teachers around the world. One of its first projects will be a programme for the IPC Academy, the global education division of the International Paralympic Committee.
Aspect 4: Results and learning
The University collects a range of data on its PCE activity, such as attendance data for public lectures and seminars, festivals, exhibitions, performances and community events, as well as “user” numbers for its facilities. The events themselves are subject to standard evaluation which informs future iterations of events. There is opportunity to collect both more and more in-depth data here. We recognise that we do not capture all of our PCE activity, and that for some events (particularly those off-site) we do not have basic attendance data. We also recognise that our standard evaluation does not always provide a detailed understanding of the impact of our PCE events.
The University further recognises the potential to engage in full evaluation of the impact of its community-facing facilities. In 2016, the University and WCC commissioned a social return on investment analysis of the Hive, which demonstrated the social and economic impact of the Hive on its various audiences. There is clear opportunity to take a similar approach to other facilities.
At the level of the project, there are good examples of how the project team have engaged in in-depth evaluation of their activities. For example:
For the DMC project discussed above, evaluation of individual DMCs has been built into each stage of the project. The University is currently co-funding a PhD with the Shaw Foundation to look at the impact of a strategic regional approach to scaling up DMCs and has been successful in winning £300k from the NIHR to undertake a realist evaluation of the sustainability of DMCs in the UK context.
The University has recently appointed a postdoctoral researcher to evaluate the impact of the work of our International Centre for Inclusive Sport.
Aspect 5: Acting on results
The University communicates the impacts of its PCE activity through its Public Benefit statement that forms part of its annual accounts: (see 16/17, 17/18, 18/19). This document sets out much of the PCE data described in Aspect 4 and provides wide-ranging examples of our PCE activity and its impact, as well as our research and teaching. The statement is approved by our Board of Governors and is a public-facing document, available on our website.
The University recognises that it does not yet, in any systematic way, examine the impacts and outcomes of its PCE activities with a view to assessing how it might develop and enhance support in this area.
For further information, please send queries to j.wilson@worc.ac.uk