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Institutional Context
Summary
The University of Gloucestershire is a vibrant community of some 9,500 students and 1400 staff, with campuses in Cheltenham and Gloucester. We have a heritage dating back 170 years to our foundation as the Cheltenham Training College. Nationally, we are recognised for the quality of our teaching and the support that we give to our students to ensure they achieve their potential.
We are proud of our track-record of working with business and employers. Since 2014, we have been providing business support via the Growth Hub.
We work with more than 6000 businesses of all sizes, offering high quality and relevant professional development (including apprenticeships), as well as access to our student and graduate talent, and our academic expertise.
Institutional context
The University of Gloucestershire is a broad, multidisciplinary, student-focused and research-rich university. Our priority is to provide excellent teaching and enable our students to achieve their potential. One of our strategic goals is to work with partners for mutual benefit, with a focus on creating, exchanging and applying knowledge and skills for the common good.
We carry a Silver rating in the Government's Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF) and are highly rated for the academic support we offer and the learning opportunities we provide. We are proud to be the UK's most sustainable university (People and Planet League, 2019).
Through our “Your Future Plan” programme, we give all our students opportunities to develop their employability skills. This is achieved through work experience and placements, field trips and visits, and by engaging professional practice in the design and delivery of courses. Outcome studies have consistently reported that high numbers of our graduates progress into employment or further study.
Knowledge Exchange (KE) supports our strategic goals by promoting activity that enables academics, students and businesses to work together for mutual benefit. Examples of this include:
Giving all our students support to develop their employability skills.
Maximising our role as an economic anchor within the region, driving growth through business partnership and providing a wide range of business support services through our award-winning Growth Hub.
Ensuring that our research programmes focus on impact and application to support professional practice.
Increasing the impact, reach and application of our KE activity across key stakeholder groups, through consultancy and professional accreditation.
Enabling increased levels of local and regional graduate recruitment by developing our course portfolio in response to employer needs.
Developing a significant portfolio of higher and degree apprenticeships.
In 2018/19, we opened our new Business School Building. This co-locates academics, the GFirst Local Enterprise Partnership, our Growth Hub and our Services to Business team, to create a fully-integrated setting for business-related KE.
In support of a key strength within the region’s economy, we worked closely with leading security firms to develop a suite of cyber security courses and were the first university to offer the Cyber Security Degree Apprenticeship. In 2017, we opened our £3m C11 Cyber Security and Digital Innovation Centre.
In 2019, we were the anchor university as part of a successful bid to create an Institute of Technology in the region.
Our course portfolio is developed in direct response to the needs of local employers and businesses:
Recognising the strength of engineering and advanced manufacturing in the local economy, in 2019 we opened our new Engineering Centre.
Over the past four years, we have rapidly developed a substantial portfolio of nursing and allied health programmes, in direct response to the needs of our local NHS trusts and health providers.
In 2021, we will introduce new courses in biomedical sciences and a new subject community in architecture, construction and the environment.
We are also home to The Countryside and Community Research Institute (CCRI), one of the largest specialist rural research centres in the UK.
For further information, please send queries to ppick@glos.ac.uk
Local Growth and Regeneration
Summary of approach
We are proud to be the University of, and for, Gloucestershire. We play a key role in supporting local growth and regeneration. We do this in many ways, including:
Providing a flow of talented graduates into the labour market each year
Through our award-winning Growth Hub, which provides support services direct to businesses
Adapting our course portfolio to meet the skills and recruitment needs of employers, including through apprenticeships
Focusing our research on areas of impact and application.
We have campuses in Gloucester and Cheltenham. We recently invested heavily in our Gloucester campus (Oxstalls), and in new student accommodation in the City; both investments are contributing to regeneration. We are also contribute to cultural and community development.
Aspect 1: Strategy
We are here to serve Gloucestershire and the surrounding region. That is at the heart of our mission, and our strategic goals include a commitment to working in partnership for mutual benefit.
For a number of key interest areas, such as cyber security and artificial intelligence, our work has a national (and global) impact. As a local anchor institution, we are a key contributor to economic development, business success, innovation and enterprise in our community. We provide excellent and distinctive support for businesses and for skills development. We inform, and respond to, the growth priorties identified in the evolving national and local industrial strategies. Our strategic development supports and influences our Local Industrial Strategy.
We work in close partnership with local employers in both the public and private sectors, so that we are fully aware of the skills needed within our local economy to support growth and regeneration. We adapt our courses, including our apprenticeship programmes, in direct response to the needs identified.
Gloucestershire and its surrounding areas benefit from a prosperous and resilient economy, set within a highly attractive natural environment. However, there are also pockets of deprivation, with 3.4% of the population living in neighbourhoods that are amongst the most deprived 10% nationally. The four most deprived areas of Gloucestershire are all within Gloucester City.
We recognise our role in ensuring a more equal society and our work around Widening Participation seeks to raise the aspirations of those from our most disadvantaged communities. Moreover, we are investing heavily in Gloucester – in 2018 we opened our £18million flagship Business School on our Oxstalls campus, as well as extensive new sports facilities offering shared community use. We worked with partners to create a new 300-bed student village in the historic centre of the City, bringing significant benefits to the local economy. This investment is indicative of our commitment to Gloucester, and to Gloucestershire.
Within the county we work closely with the GFirst LEP, local government bodies and other public sector organisations, including our local NHS Trusts. Nationally, we work with government departments including BEIS, MHCLG and the National Cyber Security Centre. GCHQ is also a major employer within the county and a key local stakeholder.
Through the Gloucestershire Growth Hub Network and other funded projects, we are able to identify current areas in need of business support and share these findings with our contacts. These collaborative relationships inform our understanding of skills needs locally and nationally, and thus we are able to specifically target priority areas.
At every level across the university, Knowledge Exchange (KE) emphatically supports local growth and regeneration. It has been delivered through:
Developing and delivering business informed learning and teaching, by bringing the classroom closer to business, in particular through our portfolio of employer led higher and degree apprenticeships
Maximising our role as an economic anchor within the region, driving economic growth through business partnership, innovation, productivity support and thought leadership.
Through our Growth Hub, providing a wide range of services to help businesses identify and address their priorities for growth
Increasing the impact, reach and application of university KE activity across key stakeholder groups, through consultancy and professional accreditation
Enabling increased levels of local and regional graduate recruitment through employability, enterprise and high-level workforce skills support
Enabling strong partnerships through the development of alumni, knowledge and business networks, as well as sector groups
Driving success and sustainability through community and public engagement. Widening access to the institution, its facilities and its knowledge base through Widening Participation initiatives.
Aspect 2: Activity
We play a leading role in the economic, social and cultural development of Gloucestershire and the region. Our Business Engagement activity supports this through high quality links with the public sector and business community. Working closely with our clients and partners, we have identified priority areas for development in Cyber Security, Engineering, Health and Social Care, Biomedical Sciences and Construction.
Our ‘Your Future Plan’ Employer Engagement Team connect local, regional, national and international organisations with our students and graduates. The aim is to match suitable candidates to jobs, placements, internships and volunteering opportunities – all of which are mutually beneficial. This work is key to us realising our corporate goal of supporting every student in achieving their potential, including progressing to successful careers.
Evidence demonstrates that high proportions of our students wish to find employment within the county and region (South West). As such, we are well-placed to support talent acquisition, graduate retention and business scale-up for local employers. Our commitment to Widening Participation in recruiting students is critical in enabling us to support employers in achieving greater diversity within their workforce and in meeting their skills requirements.
Apprenticeships are a growing area for the University. They are enabling us to diversify our income, provide exciting work-based learning opportunities and support employers by providing the skills they need for growth. They also allow us to develop our capacity for employer-led degree provision. Delivery requires us to have close working relationships with forward thinking employers, looking to train and develop their workforce, and offers insight into best practice in work-based learning.
We are working closely with NHS trusts and providers, to help them develop the resilient workforce they need. Our nursing degrees and degree apprenticeships provide learners with the experience and opportunities to become carers for the future. Through placements and on-the-job training, learners develop their skills and have an immediate impact on the care of patients.
The Gloucester Growth Hub opened on our Oxstalls campus in 2014, and has welcomed more than 12,000 people through its doors. It recently expanded to become a Growth Hub Network, with centres opening across all the county’s districts. As the original and lead Growth Hub in the county, the University has worked with thousands of businesses to help them accelerate their growth through consultancy, workshops and collaboration.
The Growth Hub moved into a new facility in 2018 (still on our Oxstalls campus), which co-located it with our Business School and the Gfirst LEP.
Alongside delivering core Growth Hub activity, the University has carried out three other European Structural and Investment Fund projects:
The GAINS (Gloucestershire Accelerated Impact Networks Support) Project provided high quality bespoke coaching from business experts and academics to 77 businesses, as well as the opportunity to work with academics on short research projects.
The Gloucestershire Research and Innovation Programme (GRIP) supported 120 Gloucestershire SMEs in driving an innovative culture and improving innovation capacity within their business.
The Start and Grow Enterprise (SaGE) project stimulates successful enterprise in Gloucestershire, particularly among priority demographic and geographical groups. It builds upon the county’s already high start-up survival rate by addressing SME growth failure points and common support needs. To date, the project has supported more than 600 businesses. It recently received additional funding to extend the project to March 2023.
We are playing a key role in a number of cyber-related projects of regional and national importance. We have invested in new engineering labs based at our Park campus and are now offering degree apprenticeships in engineering in order to provide a route for higher level engineering qualifications within the county.
We have been working closely with Constructing Excellence Gloucestershire (CEG) to develop a range of undergraduate, postgraduate and apprenticeship programmes that will meet the industry's fast-evolving needs, particularly around sustainability and active buildings.
Aspect 3: Results
The ‘Your Future Plan’ (YFP) programme has made great progress since it was introduced in 2015. Within the YFP framework, all Schools have developed wide-ranging programmes of employability support for all students, as set out in their annual employability action plans. Our Schools have incorporated employability activities into modules and assessments in different ways, and course teams are communicating messages related to employability to their students using a range of media. The best indicator of results is graduate employment outcomes; national surveys and data (DLHE, GO, LEO) have consistently shown high rates of University of Gloucestershire graduates going into employment and further study.
Similarly, our placements team has achieved significant success in increasing the number of placement opportunities for students, which now stands at more than 4,000 a year. The organisation of placements has recently been reviewed, along with how responsibilities are shared between the placements team and our academic schools. We are learning from experience and promoting best practice.
From August 2017 to July 2020, the Growth Hub welcomed more than 12,000 visitors to our Oxstalls campus, and nearly 70,000 visitors to the website. They have run more than 330 business events and have supported 2636 individual businesses with the development of a personalised Growth Plan.
In the first three years of the Start and Grow Enterprise (SaGE) project, we supported more than 650 start-up and pre-start-up organisations. As a result of the obvious on-going demand for this type of support, we were able to successfully bid for an additional £1.451m in funding, meaning we can continue to deliver this service for a further three years.
The Gloucestershire’s Accelerated Impact Network Support (GAINS) project was created to build upon support previously offered by the national Business Growth Service. GAINS offered subsidised access to approved high quality business coaches in order to equip eligible SMEs with the tools they needed for further success. The project engaged with more than 200 local SMEs, enabled around 80 businesses to benefit from the full coaching experience, and supported the creation of more than 40 new jobs in the county
The Gloucestershire Research and Innovation Programme (GRIP) provided 120 SMEs with free expert advice and help with productivity, technology and design research; commercialisation and intellectual property (IP) exchange; access to sector specific innovation networks, smart networks and clusters; specialist supply chain activity. The programme supported 80 new jobs.
Over the last three years apprenticeship numbers have grown to more than 400 learners. We expect further significant growth in future years towards our ambition of 2,000 apprentices. We currently work with more than 60 employers, some of which are well-known national organisations (such as SERCO, Virgin and Dyson), but most are based within Gloucestershire and the South West region. We have strong relationships with various NHS bodies and local authorities, across both Health and Social Care and Leadership and Management. Other employers we work with are small to medium sized organisations, who know the university well and like the benefits of partnering with the provider on their doorstep.
In 2018, we were the winner of the Times Higher Education Leadership and Management Awards for Outstanding Employer Engagement Strategy. This was awarded in recognition of the unique way in which the Growth Hub had contributed to the employability agenda.
Known for our commitment to sustainability, we came top in the People and Planet University League in 2019.
Within the University, we communicate our results through regular reporting of data to the University Executive and Council, and through monthly newsletters. We use our annual business planning cycle to identify priorities for further growth and improvement in the light of those data. Externally, we communicate through our website, through newsletters to business clients and apprenticeship contractors, and through our annual reports.
For further information, please send queries to ppick@glos.ac.uk
Public & Community Engagement
Summary of approach
We are proud to be the University of, and for, Gloucestershire. We value the support we have received over many years from the county.
We are committed to our role as an “anchor institution”, being an integral part of the community and contributing to the long-term wellbeing and sustainability of our society. One of four priority goals stated in our strategic plan is that we will work in partnership with others, for mutual benefit. Strong partnerships are a key element of our Strategic Plan, including partnerships with: Gfirst LEP (our Local Enterprise Partnership); business and employers; further education colleges; international partners; providers of public services; and with cultural and community groups.
Aspect 1: Strategy
The University’s Corporate Strategic Plan 2017-2022 was developed in consultation with staff, students, local community groups, local government, the Business community and other stakeholders.
The University Council is our governing body and it is responsible for approval of our overall strategy.
The stated goals of the 2017-2022 plan were as follows:
to provide a breadth and richness of experience that enables all our students to reach their full potential
to provide teaching and support for learning of the highest quality
to undertake excellent research and innovative professional practice which enrich students’ learning and create impact and benefit for others
to build partnerships which create opportunity, innovation and mutual benefit for the communities we serve
Public and community engagement contributes to each of these goals.
We are proud of our heritage as the University of, and for, Gloucestershire. We aim to transform the communities we serve by offering excellent higher education, and by working with partners to support economic, social, cultural and environmental wellbeing. As an outward-looking university, we continue to build relationships with new and existing local partners to promote the wellbeing of our community. We aim to be the partner of choice for others who share this ambition, and working with others to develop programmes that support safer, healthier and happier local communities is one of our key priorities.
We work closely with employers, local government and the GFirst LEP in support of local skills development. Engagement with employers and the business community through the Growth Hub, and Gfirst sector groups helps to identify local skills gaps and also informs the development of new provision. The Higher and Degree Apprenticeship Board oversees the development and delivery of our growing range of apprenticeships. Employer consultation is a key to the developments of programmes.
We always aim to be a good neighbour and work actively with a number of local partners, including Gloucestershire County Council, the Diocese of Gloucester, Gloucester City Council, Cheltenham Borough Council and Tewkesbury Borough Council. We continue to engage with our closest neighbours by facilitating community liaison groups linked with each campus. Each group meets four times a year, enabling representatives from residents’ associations and elected councillors to meet with colleagues from the university and the Students’ Union, along with representatives from the local police and environmental health teams. Our ‘Bank It’ scheme captures and recognises the time our students and staff spend volunteering in activities that support local charities and communities.
Many of our courses directly connect and engage with the community, and students undertake dissertations and placements with a community focus. Our research has a strongly applied theme, and often includes engagement with the community, in areas as diverse as History, Creative Writing, Fine Art, Sociology, and Rural Development.
Aspect 2: Support
The University’s annual business planning cycle is framed within our Strategic Plan, requiring each School and Department to identify priorities and actions for achieving the University’s corporate goals, including working in partnership with others for mutual benefit. How those partnerships are supported varies from case to case. Many of our professional and applied courses build public and community engagement into the design and delivery of the curriculum. Similarly, many of our research programmes focus on community engagement and co-creation, working through our University framework for the planning and delivery of research programmes.
Professional body relationships and practitioner input are key elements of our learning-led, research-informed environment, as well as the strategic development of our academic schools and Research Priority Areas. For example, the development of our School of Health and Social Care over the last three years has been informed by close collaboration between the University and our local NHS trusts.
Our ‘Your Future Plan’ (YFP) programme provides support, guidance and experiences for our students, to help them prepare for their graduate careers. The Employability and Business Engagement Programme Board was created in 2019/20. This Board brings together academic colleagues with responsibility for helping students develop their employability skills, and colleagues from professional services who oversee the specialist staff and resources within the YFP teams.
Our commitment to sustainability sets us apart from all other UK universities and we were ranked in 1st place in the 2019 People and Planet University League; we have held a top ten position since 2007. Community engagement is an important aspect of our strategy. RCE Severn is our public engagement platform for sustainability learning across our region, one of the recognised United Nations University Centres of Expertise in sustainability education.
We offer a public lecture series for local communities, providing opportunities for guests to hear about our work and research. This recently transformed into the streamed ‘Living Room’ lecture series as a result of the Coronavirus pandemic. Our website provides easily accessible ways for anyone to contact us, with sections for alumni, current students, potential students, employers, businesses, partners, suppliers and the general public.
The University is an active and central player in cultural development in the community. Our students in performing arts, music and other creative and applied arts perform and display their work in many local venues. We sponsor and work closely with the wide range of outstanding festivals in the county, including the Gloucester History Festival, the Design Festival and the internationally renowned Cheltenham Festivals. Our art gallery, sports arena and other facilities are available for public and community use. The University is a major contributor to the Gloucester Culture Trust, leading the creation of the Cultural Entrepreneurs Hub for community enterprise in culture.
Aspect 3: Activity
The following are representative examples of activities, illustrating how we implement public and community engagement:
Our Criminology and Policing staff and students are actively engaged with communities of practice. Dr Jane Monkton Smith’s research is focused around interpersonal violence, domestic abuse and feminicide. She works with professionals nationally in reviewing homicides and developing training, as well as with bereaved families to help them with the criminal justice processes. Students on the BSc Professional Policing are encouraged to join the Special Constabulary.
Our commitment to the development of local skills in STEM subjects is demonstrated through the creation of our £3m C11 Cyber Security and Digital Innovation Centre, our investments in Engineering at our Park campus and our leading role in the successful Swindon Institute of Technology bid.
Close collaboration with local NHS trusts, local government and care services has enabled us to rapidly develop our portfolio of health and social care courses. Our programmes in this area have been developed over the past four years at the request of, and in partnership with, our local NHS Trusts. These programmes are developed with input from health and care professionals, and service users.
The Countryside and Community Research Institute (CCRI) works closely with rural communities in all its research activities at the interface of agriculture, society and the environment. It explores issues relevant to rural and urban development, with a particular focus on behaviour change and the social rate of return.
The ‘Going the Extra Mile’ (GEM) project is being led by Gloucestershire County Council and managed by the Gloucestershire Gateway Trust. It aims to move the county’s most vulnerable adults closer to education, training or employment. GEM involves a consortium of more than 50 voluntary community social enterprises, as well as public and private sector partners from across the county. To date, the GEM project has engaged 981 participants, exceeding its target. Our role in this project is survey design, monitoring and evaluation, feeding back into the project to constantly improve delivery and outcomes.
The Growth Hub (located at our Oxstalls campus since 2014) provides support, advice, events and co-working space for our local business community. During the coronavirus pandemic, the Growth Hub has been providing support, signposting and grant funding to affected businesses. We also recently introduced the Gloucester Recovery Bursary, providing a 20% fee reduction for people made redundant in the county during the crisis.
During the coronavirus pandemic we have been working closely with our local NHS partners to support local activities. Throughout the lockdown (26/3/20 – 31/7/20), we provided accommodation for staff working for the Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Trust and Gloucestershire Health and Care NHS Foundation Trust. This accommodation supported workers with family members who were shielding, and those working extremely long shifts on the Covid wards. In total, we housed more 130 staff for more than 2000 nights. Our 3D printing facilities were used to print and donate face masks, and many staff on clinical programmes signed up to the clinical banks to support the response in hospitals. Four members of staff were released to support the rapid induction of staff to local NHS trusts. They completed teaching sessions for new starters and clinical staff re-joining the workforce. Nursing students in their 2nd and 3rd year (in line with national guidance) were given the option to join the workforce alongside their studies. Approximately 90% of our students took this option. Working with PHE and local councils, we also set up Covid Testing centres on two of our campuses. We loaned specialist scientific equipment from our laboratories, and we kept our campuses open for local people to exercise outdoors.
Aspect 4: Results and learning
In 2018, we were winners of the 2018 Times Higher Education Leadership and Management Awards for Outstanding Employer Engagement Strategy. In 2019, we were ranked in 1st place in the 2019 People and Planet University League; we have held a top ten position since 2007.
In 2017, the Biggar survey of 400 businesses estimated that we contribute £150million to the county's economy and around 3000 jobs to the South West region. Businesses supported by our Growth Hub have shown growth in employment and turnover, with many apportioning these improvements to the advice received. There is a high level of satisfaction with the services delivered by the Growth Hub amongst its customers.
The first Graduate Outcomes survey was published in June 2020, providing data on the graduating class of 2017/18. The results showed that 93.2% of our graduates were either in employment or further study (or both) 15 months after graduation.
The latest Longitudinal Education Outcomes (LEO) data was released in July 2020. It shows that we are in the upper middle quartile of institutions for graduates in sustained employment or further study for both one and three years after completion, and in the upper quartile five years post-graduation.
All of our research programmes involving public and community engagement will have their own impact and evaluation methodologies integrated in the research.
The University of Gloucestershire evaluates and monitors the GEM is a social inclusion programme, which is aimed at moving a range of disadvantaged groups closer to the labour market, training and education. Since October 2016 the programme has engaged 1668 participants, of which 365 have moved into paid employment and 120 into education and training. However, the on-going monitoring and evaluation has revealed a range of positive and often life changing outcomes for the vast majority of participants, most notably in improving their personal and motivational attributes and through removing barriers to the provision of advice and support.
There are volume indicators of public and community engagement for our Public Lecture series, the Hardwick Art Gallery, community use of our sports facilities, and students on placement in the community. Since March 2020 the University has moved much of its Public and Community Engagement activity online, for example with our Public Lecture Series becoming the ‘Living Room Lectures’. Unsurprisingly the number of face to face, physical events has dramatically reduced due to the pandemic, however the latest HEBCIS response will show that we have grown the overall number of attendances across all activities this year from 23,634 in 2018-19, to 33,221. The online provision appears to make events more accessible, so this is an aspect we intend to take forward in the future.
Since working in partnership is one of our four corporate goals, the delivery of actions and key indicators in support of that goal is covered in each year’s University Operating Plan, and the progress reports that are submitted to the University Council three times a year. The University is actively engaged with our local communities and stakeholder groups, and we continue to develop the ways in which we review activity and monitor success.
Aspect 5: Acting on results
Regular reporting of activities (including performance against all KPIs) is overseen by University Council and University Executive through the business planning and review process for Academic Schools and Professional Departments.
Our central marketing team is responsible for external communications to all our stakeholders. They regularly disseminate reports on our community engagement activities, research activity and staff and student initiatives.
Many of our funded business support projects are subject to stringent reporting and this is supplied to bodies such as the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) on a regular basis, for collation on a national level. Related case studies and findings are shared through our website and through related dissemination events (which are often a requirement for funding). Throughout projects, we are continually reviewing best practice and sharing this both internally and with the wider funding programme. Summative assessment of these projects is also a requirement of the funding, which is used as the basis both for future funding rounds and our approach to future project development.
Our Higher and Degree Apprenticeships Board oversees the development and improvement of our apprenticeship programmes, with regular monitoring of performance against targets.
For further information, please send queries to ppick@glos.ac.uk