The Creative Enterprise Initiative: developing an infrastructure for creative entrepreneurship

A clear link exists between creativity and entrepreneurship. Creative students are taught to think laterally. Indeed, 42% of creative graduates will undertake some form of self employment within five years of graduating (Blackwell and Harvey, 1999), with a high number working in small and micro companies where flexibility and change are common to business development. The Creative Enterprise Initiative (CEI) at the University College for the Creative Arts at Canterbury, Epsom, Farnham, Maidstone and Rochester was developed in 2002 to implement an infrastructure for entrepreneurship relating specifically to business start-up and sustainability for creative businesses. Creative businesses include: advertising, the arts, crafts, design, fashion, digital media, film and video, games design, graphic communication, music and performing arts. The CEI has helped over 600 creative entrepreneurs in the South East gain knowledge through specialist workshop events, networking, mentoring, short courses, one-to-one advice and competitions. It has also contributed to publications, developed sector research and undertaken a specialist sector conference. The CEI has received funding through the Higher Education Innovation Fund, the European Social Fund, the Arts Council of England South East and Surrey County Council

Structural properties and quasiparticule energies of cubic SrO, MgO and SrTiO3

The structural properties and the band structures of the charge-transfer insulating oxides SrO, MgO and SrTiO3 are computed both within density functional theory in the local density approximation (LDA) and in the Hedin's GW scheme for self-energy corrections, by using a model dielectric function, which approximately includes local field and dynamical effects. The deep valence states are shifted by the GW method to higher binding energies, in very good agreement with photoemission spectra. Since in all of these oxides the direct gaps at high-symmetry points of the Brillouin zone may be very sensitive to the actual value of the lattice parameter a, already at the LDA level, self-energy corrections are computed both at the theoretical and the experimental a. For MgO and SrO, the values of the transition energies between the valence and the conduction bands are improved by GW corrections, while for SrTiO3 they are overestimated. The results are discussed in relation to the importance of local field effects and to the nature of the electronic states in these insulating oxides.Comment: 3 figures, accepted in J. Phys.: Condens. Matte

Transitions in higher education: the relationship between the thoughts and aspirations of students entering higher education in art and craft areas and the opportunities awaiting them at graduation

Governmental pressure to raise the number of students entering Higher Education in the UK has seen more aggressive strategies being introduced in order to entice students to continue their education. An argument is raging among art and design academics to whether this expansion is wholly ethical, especially within art and design subjects where the professional opportunities are finite and often complex in their development. This paper looks at the relationship between the aspirations of students at entering university and after they have subsequently graduated. Studies undertaken by the authors are used to explore issues facing secondary school students when deciding upon undertaking Higher Education. The thoughts and reflections of graduates about their education and career progression are also investigated and key issues are documented about the intentions of students and career realities These key issues include: Are Universities honest about career opportunities within art and craft areas? Do students enter Higher Education in art and craft areas with the intention of becoming practitioners? How much parental influence underpins students' educational choices? What careers do art and craft graduates undertake? What are the reflections of graduates about their education and development of careers post graduation

Transitions in higher education: the relationship between the thoughts and aspirations of students entering higher education in art and craft areas and the opportunities awaiting them at graduation

Governmental pressure to raise the number of students entering Higher Education in the UK has seen more aggressive strategies being introduced in order to entice students to continue their education. An argument is raging among art and design academics to whether this expansion is wholly ethical, especially within art and design subjects where the professional opportunities are finite and often complex in their development. This paper looks at the relationship between the aspirations of students at entering university and after they have subsequently graduated. Studies undertaken by the authors are used to explore issues facing secondary school students when deciding upon undertaking Higher Education. The thoughts and reflections of graduates about their education and career progression are also investigated and key issues are documented about the intentions of students and career realities These key issues include: Are Universities honest about career opportunities within art and craft areas? Do students enter Higher Education in art and craft areas with the intention of becoming practitioners? How much parental influence underpins students' educational choices? What careers do art and craft graduates undertake? What are the reflections of graduates about their education and development of careers post graduation

Creative paths: supporting creative journeys through professional skills

Creative paths describes a professional development initative to supporting the emerging contemporary cultural and creative scene in Hastings. Also included are six stories from creative artists who were involved in the programme

On the growth of the automorphisms of Baumslag-Solitar groups

Un groupe de Baumslag-Solitar est un groupe dont la présentation est, pour p et q entiers non nuls. A chaque groupe de Baumslag-Solitar est associé un espace de déformation D p, q d'actions sur des arbres analogue à l'outre espace. Aut(BS(p, q)) agit sur cet espace ce qui induit une action du groupe des automorphismes extérieurs Out(BS(p,q)). Nous nous intéresserons au cas plus complexe où q est un multiple de p et dans un premier temps, nous démontrerons que tout automorphisme de BS(p, pn) est réductible ce qui signifie qu'il existe un BS(p,pn)-arbre T et une application laissant invariante un certain type de forêt. Ce résultat nous amènera à introduire un nouvel espace de déformation et une classification des automorphismes de BS(p, pn) en trois catégories : elliptique, parabolique ou hyperbolique. A l'aide de cette classification, nous démontrerons que tout automorphisme est à croissance soit polynomiale soit exponentielle.A Baumslag-Solitar group is a group given by the group presentation, for p and q non-zero integers. For each Baumslag-Solitar group we consider a deformation space D p, q which is analogue of Culler-Vogtmann's Outer Space. The action of Aut(BS(p, q)) on D p, q induces an action of the outer automorphism group Out(BS(pq)). We will focus on the case where p divides q. Firstly, we will show that every automorphism of BS(p,pn) is reducible which means that we can find a BS(p,pn)-tree T and a map that leaves a certain type of subforest invariant. This result leads us to introduce a new deformation space and a classification of the automorphisms of BS(p,pn) in three types : elliptic, parabolic or hyperbolic. Using this classification, we will show that the growth of every automorphism of BS(p,pn) is exponential or polynomial