Common use of Links with schools and colleges Clause in Contracts

Links with schools and colleges. The University has developed strong links with schools and colleges over a number of years. In addition to the operational links we have, we have more recently emphasised the strategic nature of the relationships between the University and schools and colleges in the region. For example: We currently have around 80 University staff acting as school governors, and have been working with the School Governor’s One Stop Shop in recent months to explore how our participation in governing bodies can be expanded over time our annual Schools and Colleges conference provides an opportunity for teaching and guidance staff to be updated on developments both at the University of Sheffield and in the wider sector “REACH”, our e-newsletter is available to all staff in schools and colleges within the Sheffield City Region, and a new version of this has been introduced for the national audience Further development of our consultation programme for Heads and Principals of local schools and colleges has resulted in the development of an advisory group, which can be a helpful source of information about the pre-HE sector as well as acting as a sounding board for any developments we would like to ‘test’ with schools and colleges We also contribute to regional activity targeting schools and colleges in collaboration with ▇▇▇▇, from a CPD perspective for teachers as well as with activities targeting pupils We believe that these opportunities facilitate effective two-way communication and help us to develop stronger partnerships with our key stakeholders. Although the University has taken the decision not to become exclusively involved in individual school governance, for example through the sponsorship of an academy, we are currently exploring new models for partnership working with schools and colleges and this may lead to us implementing a prioritisation model in future years, to take account of those schools and colleges who would benefit most from participation in our outreach programmes. For over fifty years the University has had a strong commitment to part-time degree provision delivered by its Institute of Lifelong Learning (TILL). Our 2013/14 Agreement committed significant financial support for part time students studying through TILL in the form of fee waivers. The fee waivers, (which were implemented from 2012/13) will continue to be offered until at least 2014/15 in line with NSP regulations (see ‘Financial support for part-time students’, below). Our commitment to working with part-time students and mature students generally has been reinforced by the recent appointment of a new Director of TILL, who will be taking a lead in the review of our current offer, to update and where possible extend our undergraduate curriculum for part time, mature students. Our targets in this area are developmental, and will be clarified in the coming months but we have included additional milestones for part time mature learners in the 2014/5 milestones section.