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Higher Education access and success: Working in collaborative partnerships

19 Jun 2019, 09:30 - 16:30

Woburn House
20 Tavistock Square
WC1H 9HQ, London

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Overview

This conference, in partnership with Action on Access, will explore the value and importance of collaborative partnership working in Higher Education to support access, participation, and student success, and how universities can excel at this. The event will explore the working styles of collaboration; the creation of new and vital partnerships to support access and participation; and discuss case studies and initiatives which highlight collaborative and partnership working from a policy research and practice perspective.

Why should you attend?

The event will illuminate and illustrate to delegates examples of best practice, as part of a broader discuss about why and how collaboration and partnership works. It will in turn constructively examine and explore why collaborative partnership has so much to offer to widening participation and social mobility, and to Higher Education more widely. Speakers include:

Professor Mary Stuart, Vice-Chancellor, University of Lincoln
Nicola Turner MBE, Head of Access and Participation (Sector Practice), Office for Students
Professor Simon Gaskell, Chair, QAA
Professor Rob Cuthbert, Joint Managing Partner, Practical Academics and Emeritus Professor of Higher Education Management, University of the West of England
Dr Joe Marshall, Chief Executive, National Centre for Universities and Business (NCUB)

Who should attend?

This event is recommended for everyone who works on or is interested in issues surrounding social mobility or widening participation in higher education. The event will look at student access, student success whilst at university, and graduate success.

The event will also be useful for those who work in a non-access, non-participation related partnership role, but are keen to develop or refresh their partnership skills.

Anyone with an interest in this topic is welcome to attend. Possible job titles include:

Manager/Director of Widening Participation
Head/Director of Partnerships
Head/Director of Recruitment and Outreach
Manager/Director for Teaching and Learning
Director/Head of Student Engagement
Director/Head of Fair Access
Director/Head of Planning and Strategy
Partnership Officer
Outreach Officer
Social Mobility Officer

If you have any questions about this or any other of our events, please contact us on events@universitiesuk.ac.uk or 020 7419 5535.

We have a range of sponsorship opportunities available at this event. Please contact Esther Dudley, Head of Events and Engagement for information, tel: 020 7419 5412; email: esther.dudley@universitiesuk.ac.uk.

Agenda

09.30	Registration and refreshments
10.00	Welcome and introductions Chair, Professor John Storan, Director, Continuum, UEL, and Director, Action on Access
10.10	Socioeconomic background and graduate success Professor Simon Gaskell, Chair, QAA
10.35	Effective practice in access and participation Nicola Turner MBE, Head of Access & Participation (Sector Practice), Office for Students
11.00	Are we all in it together? Professor Rob Cuthbert, Managing Partner, Practical Academics and Emeritus Professor of Higher Education Management, University of the West of England
11.30	Refreshments
11.45	Lothians Equal Access Programme for Schools Gerard Lerpiniere, Director, LEAPS
12.15	Partnership working to support student mental health Dr Lizzie Johnson, Health and Wellbeing Manager, University of the West of England
12.45	Partnership working to support literacy and aspirations in children and young people ‘Reading Together’ programme: A collaboration between Queens University Belfast and South Eastern Health and Social Care Trust. Craig Woodfield, Education Coordinator, South Eastern Health and Social Care Trust Dr Karen Winter, Senior Lecturer in the School of Social Sciences, Education and Social Work, Queens University Belfast
13.15	Lunch
13.45	Welcome from the afternoon chair Dan Hurley, Acting Assistant Director of Policy, Universities UK
13.50	South Yorkshire HE Progression Partnership (HEPPSY) Sharon Woodward-Baker, Programme Manager, NCOP (HEPPSY), Sheffield Hallam University Mike Garnock-Jones, Director, Higher Education Progression Partnership (HEPP), Sheffield Hallam University
14.10	West Wales Reaching Wider partnership Alice Davies, South West Wales Reaching Wider Partnership Manager, Swansea University
14.30	Q&A and discussion
14.45	Refreshments
15.00	Collaboration in the Civic space for social and economic transformation Professor Mary Stuart, Vice-Chancellor, University of Lincoln
15.25	Challenges to collaborative practice, and how to ensure sustainability Helen Hall, UK Recruitment and Partnerships Director, Oxford Brookes University Barbara Herring, Realising Opportunities Senior Project Manager, Newcastle University Dr Joe Marshall, Chief Executive, National Centre for Universities and Business (NCUB)
16.20	Chair's closing comments

Speakers

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	Professor John Storan, Principal, Action on Access and Director of Continuum, University of East London John is Director of Continuum, the Centre for Widening Participation Policy Studies at the University of East London and Visiting Professor at Malmo University in Sweden. He is also Director of Action on Access which is the national co-ordination team for widening participation originally funded by HEFCE. As founding and current Chair of the Forum for Access and Continuing Education (FACE) he represents communities of practitioners involved in HE Access and Lifelong Learning from across the UK and beyond. John has been a highly influential regional, national and international figure on Lifelong Learning and Widening Participation in HE. Over recent years he has been advising and supporting funding agencies, government bodies and also stakeholder groups concerned with access and participation in HE both in the UK and internationally. In addition to his extensive UK experience he also has enormous international experience as result of his keynotes and conference inputs and involvement in a large number of research and development projects. In 2014, John was appointed the UK representative on the Bologna working group for the Social Dimension and Lifelong Learning and in 2016 he was invited to become a member of the Social Mobility Advisory Group (SMAG) which reports directly to the Minister for Universities and Science.
	Professor Simon Gaskell Simon Gaskell is Chair of the Quality Assurance Agency (QAA), having served as President and Principal of Queen Mary University of London from 2009-2017. His service to the university sector has included terms as Treasurer of Universities UK and Chair of the Higher Education Statistics Agency. Gaskell retired from QMUL in August 2017. He is now Chair of the Quality Assurance Agency, serves on the Board of the University of Plymouth, and is a member of the Advisory Board of the Halpin Partnership. He is an Honorary Professor at the University of Manchester.
	Nicola Turner MBE, Head of Access and Participation (Sector Practice), Office for Students As Head of Sector Practice, Nicola’s role is to accelerate the closing of gaps in access and participation by promoting and encouraging effective practice. Previously, as national lead for skills policy in the higher education sector, she worked extensively on technical education and apprenticeship reform in order to improve choice for students. She produced two independent reviews into employability (Shadbolt and Wakeham, 2016), established the £10m Degree Apprenticeship Development Fund, launched a £20m Institute of Coding and will soon be announcing winners of bids to the Local Grads competition. Before joining HEFCE, Nicola spent 12 years at Aston University in Birmingham as Director of Employability and before that she worked in graduate recruitment. In 2015 Nicola received an MBE for services to graduate employability and Higher Education. She is also a Governor at Birmingham Children’s Hospital.
	Professor Mary Stuart, Vice-Chancellor, University of Lincoln Professor Mary Stuart CBE is Vice Chancellor of the University of Lincoln, UK. She is a graduate of the University of Cape Town, SA, and the Open University, UK, where she obtained her Doctorate in Social Policy in 1998. Mary has a strong track record in all aspects of university leadership, having worked in senior roles in three different universities. She was named as The Guardian’s ‘Most Inspiring Leader in Higher Education’ at their HE Awards in 2018. She was also awarded a CBE for her services to Higher Education in the same year. Mary was Chair of the UUK Social Mobility Academic Advisory Committee, a past HEFCE Board member and currently a member of the Office for Students – Student Information Advisory Group (SIAG), a Trustee of the Universities Partnership Programme (UPP) Foundation and a Fellow of the Bridge Group.
	Dr Joe Marshall, Chief Executive Officer, National Centre for Universities and Business Dr Marshall has recently taken over as Chief Executive Office of the National Centre. He works closely with our public funders, partners and members to develop strategic work plans for the National Centre to promote and foster world-leading, business-university collaboration. Dr Marshall has recently taken over as Chief Executive Office of the National Centre. He works closely with our public funders, partners and members to develop strategic work plans for the National Centre to promote and foster world-leading, business-university collaboration. Prior to joining the National Centre, Dr Marshall has held a number of positions across government and university organisations. As an academic specialising in government education policy and practice he worked with a number of international agencies including UNESCO, WHO and the European Parliament. A researcher at the University of Manchester, he went onto hold senior lectureship positions at Liverpool Hope University and University of Worcester before working for UK Sport (the government agency for elite sport) and then the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.