Southern Culture
Did You Know?
Winchester
The city of Winchester is home to Britain’s oldest festival of street theatre – the Hat Fair. Having started in 1974 as a busker’s festival it is now held annually and is a fun, family event that is completely free for all.
Hastings Multiversity: transforming a town
Margaret Wallis writes:
The University Centre Hastings (UCH) was officially opened in February 2004 as
the first higher education institution of its kind in the country. It was originally
described as a "serviced university" but more recently has come to be known as
a "multiversity". UCH was designed and built as a key part of the Hastings and
Bexhill Regeneration programme to improve opportunities for higher education
in the area.
It is led and managed by the University of Brighton and offers a range of courses
and excellent facilities for its students. It is an innovative approach to providing
higher education with a significant focus on raising the participation rates in Higher
Education in an area of severe economic and social deprivation.
The UCH multiversity is a partnership venture. The courses on offer are approved by
a number of universities but taught in one building. The universities currently
offering courses at UCH include University of Brighton, University of Sussex,
Canterbury Christ Church University, University of Greenwich, Open University and
the University of Chichester. The courses offered include both vocational and
academic programmes: Computing, Business, Social Sciences, Education, Tourism et
al and the range of subjects is growing all the time.
Working in partnership
UCH is founded on partnership and it would not exist if it were not for the
contribution of three partners:
- SEEDA through its local regeneration company Sea Space. Sea Space provided the
majority of the capital, just over £8 million, for the refurbishment of an existing
building – the former British Telecom exchange - The Higher Education Funding Council (HEFCE) through its Strategic Development
Award Fund awarded £3.5 million to establish the multiversity and provide revenue
support for the first five years - The University of Brighton has provided the essential infrastructure and
management to build the development in the early stages of its life. The building is now complete and has been designed and fitted out to a very high standard, part of the regeneration objective to deliver urban renaissance in the heart of Hastings.
Historically levels of education attainment in Hastings and Bexhill have been below
the national and regional averages for many years. UCH working with the local
schools and colleges is committed to meeting local education and business needs by
delivering excellent provision in higher education for local learners and raising the
skills base locally.
Importance of creative industries
One clear area of local need emerged particularly strongly. Sea Space, through its
Enterprise Hub identified a vibrant creative industries sector in Hastings, Bexhill and
Rother and together with the University of Brighton established a creative industries
sector group as part of the ProfitNet SEPIA funded project in 2004-05 (an EU funding
initiative) at UCH.
The creative industries sector is now one of the key sector groupings in the area.
Sectors represented include marketing and design, Internet TV, writers and
publishers, film producers and a radio specialist. This development would not have
happened without the physical existence of UCH to provide space to meet, but also
equally importantly the input of academics and researchers to the group to provide
ideas and encouragement.
The Creative Media Centre opened in the town centre in 2005 providing office and
studio space for innovative media companies. However, what has been missing is
the equipment and facilities for professionals to produce high quality programmes,
films and documentaries locally. The University of Brighton working with Sea Space
successfully bid to SEEDA in February 2006 for £235,000 to build and equip the
Broadcast Media Centre (BMC) at UCH to address and fill this gap.
The BMC is equipped with a state of the art multi-media teaching facility with 24
multi-media work spaces for students and one lecturer’s work space, together with
two multi-media digital editing facilities using Avid Express, the industry standard
software as well as a radio editing studio built and equipped to commercial
standards for small local media businesses to use.
The Centre is designed to raise the profile of Hastings as a centre of world class
film and television production and to attract companies to the area to work and
live. But there is still one further strand to be added – the provision of a local skills
base to work in the creative industries.
The University of Brighton has a proven track record in delivering relevant and
attractive media degree courses and is currently designing, in partnership with local
media professionals, a Foundation degree in Broadcast Media for delivery at UCH
from September 2006. In addition a UCH Modular degree programme is being
developed which will include a Broadcast Media strand. These degrees will provide
students with essential practical skills to enable them to work in the media
industry.
None of this would have been possible without the existence of UCH as a catalyst
for change. There is much more to do and many other aspects which could have
been mentioned but to end with words from the speech given by Sir David Watson,
Vice-Chancellor of the University of Brighton at the opening of UCH "…there is also
that vitally important cultural spark, of pride and joy in an important local
institution. Quentin Hogg (founder of Regent Street Polytechnic) said that the
polytechnic was a place where "the head, the hand and the heart" were educated
together. Benjamin Disraeli said that a university "should be a place of light, of
liberty and learning." This is our dream for the University Centre Hastings.