Professor David Stevenson
Professor David Stevenson, Dean of the School of Arts, Social Sciences and Management & Senior Lecturer in Arts Management and Cultural Policy was awarded an Innovation Fellowship to explore the feasibility of a new degree-level qualification for students who have already completed an HND in a creative subject.
The proposed delivery model would see students studying for their degree at the college where they gained their HND thus addressing one of the major barriers to undertaking degree-level studies - that of the significant costs associated with moving away from home. Focused on how to develop a sustainable career in the creative industries, the syllabus would provide students with the entrepreneurial knowledge and skills required to create and sustain a creative business, alongside the opportunity to develop their creative practice. This new qualification aims to engender greater equity and diversity in Scotland’s creative sector as well as supporting the government’s aspiration for inclusive economic growth.
"The Fellowship supported the development of this idea in two specific ways. Firstly, it allowed me to bring in some additional resource in the form of a part-time member of staff with specific expertise in curriculum development for further education. This not only ensured that someone was able to give the concentrated time and focus needed to develop my initial outline into a fully developed syllabus but also to do so in a manner which ensured that it would effectively align with the qualification that prospective students would have completed when joining this programme.
"Secondly, the Fellowship allowed us to formally partner with the Cultural Enterprise Office in order to shape the new syllabus on the basis of their first hand insights about what type of knowledge, skills and experiences new graduates in the creative industries tend to currently lack. This ensured that the new degree programme will be industry oriented and informed by the latest thinking about creative entrepreneurship."
