The creative industries are the fastest-growing area of the United Kingdom economy and a catalyst for global development. This paper explores how one UK university connects cultures of creative education across national boundaries, ensuring our students are internationally networked and prepared for the new landscape of work

Slade, C

ResearchSPace - Bath Spa University

  Slade, C. (2016) 'Creative industries and global education’ in Stiasny, M. and Gore, T. (eds.) Going global : connecting cultures, forging futures. London: UCL Institute of Education, pp. 197-205. Commissioned by the British Council for the publication Going Global. Official URL: https://www.britishcouncil.org/education/ihe/what-we-do/going-global-conference/publications  ResearchSPAce http://researchspace.bathspa.ac.uk/  This version is made available in accordance with publisher policies.  Please cite only the published version using the reference above.  Your access and use of this document is based on your acceptance of the ResearchSPAce Metadata and Data Policies, as well as applicable law:-https://researchspace.bathspa.ac.uk/policies.html  Unless you accept the terms of these Policies in full, you do not have permission to download this document. This cover sheet may not be removed from the document.  Please scroll down to view the document. 3.7Cr striesal educationC JThe creative industries are the fastest-growing area of the United Kingdom economy and a catalyst for global development. This paper explores how one UK university connects cultures of creative education across national boundaries, ensuring our students are internationally networked and prepared for the new landscape of work.The creative industries‘At the centre of the UK’s digital transformation lie the creative industries. These span music, film, TV, books and the arts, but also include software, newspaper and magazine publishing, and advertising’ (Bain and Co., 2014).The creative industries as defined by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) in 2001 ‘have their origin in individual creativity skill and talent and ... have the potential for wealth creation through intellectual property’. The exemplars listed were:° Functional content: architecture, cultural heritage (including museums, galleries and libraries), crafts, art and antiques, design, fashion and computer software.° Expressive content: film and video, television and radio, advertising, computer and video games, performing arts (including theatre), music and publishing.These definitions have since served as the basis of statistics published for the UK government. In 2014, the UK’s creative industries were worth a record £84.1 billion to the economy and showed an increase of 8.9 per cent (DCMS, January 2016). This growth is twice that of the wider UK economy.Creative industries have always been global. Art, styles of architecture, music, plays, films and games do not respect borders. Each new technology, from print through television to the internet, has accelerated the pace of diffusion of cultural and creative forms, with social media giving rise to(DCMS, 2001)197Christina Sladethe phenomenon of cultural artefacts going viral and being viewed or used within hours by millions.Estimates put the value of the creative industries for the global economy at $4.1 trillion US dollars (Montgomery, 2010: 36). The creative industries are decoupled from the rest of the economy. As in the UK, creative industries grow when other sectors do not. Moreover, they are of particular importance to emerging economies. There they have grown at an average of 12.1 per cent over the decade to 2011, while the global average was 8.8 per cent (UNESCO/UNDP, 2013.) The accelerating growth of creative industries in emerging economies can be correlated with the growth of internet and disposable income in these economies. The digital revolution also allows creative products to be reproduced at low (or even zero) marginal cost, meaning that creative industries will be important in reducing global inequality (Hajkowicz, 2015).Creativity is at the heart of what universities do. Universities have long served as a prime conduit for creative and cultural innovation. Scholarly publication internationalizes innovation. Higher studies reinforce the globalization of ideas. A lecturer returning from graduate studies brings novel forms of practice, interpretations and innovation. Digital technologies underpin the newer types of creative industries -  apps and digital marketing, but also new textiles, design and all those dependent on big data.Creative industries are themselves creating new industries, new ways of conceptualizing the field. Since the 2001 definition, there have been modifications and glosses. Potts (2011) defines creative industries very broadly as activities embedded in social networks. Perhaps most interesting is the attempt to include the wider sphere of the creative economy in statistical measures (DCMS, June 2015: Ch. 3 and annexes).Creative industries both employ graduates and rely on university education:More than half (58.8%) of jobs in the Creative Economy in 2014 were filled by people with at least a degree or equivalent, compared to 31.8 per cent of all jobs in the UK. One in every six jobs in the UK held by graduates in 2014 was in the Creative Economy. Between 2013 and 2014, there was an increase of 110,000 (7.3%) in the number of jobs in the Creative Economy held by individuals with at least a degree or equivalent.(DCMS, June 2015: 5.1)198Creative industries and global educationThe creative economy underpins a new world of work. Many traditional occupations are being digitized away, including roles in banking, administration and industry that were the traditional middle-class occupations of university graduates. Some new roles will be based on digital skills. Andrew Hugill, head of creative computing at Bath Spa University, listed ten jobs that did not yet exist for which we need to train our students for the world service in 2013. These include: ‘collective intelligence officer; data ecologist; gamification consultant; pervasive mediatrician (mobiles)’ . In the past two years, each of these then unheard of posts has been advertised.The traditional job market is being ‘hollowed out’, a partner from McKinsey’s, Jonathan Dimson, explained to UK vice-chancellors and senior educationalists (4 February 2015). While professional jobs in the financial and professional a'reas will continue, and low-paid jobs will survive, the middle tier is increasingly automated. Routine tasks will disappear. Dimson identified the creative digital sector as the major growth area.Training for the creative economy is a particular focus of specialist institutions such as art colleges and the so-called ‘modern universities’, which have responded rapidly to new and emerging markets by developing multidisciplinary courses. Some 70 per cent of students of creative subjects study in such universities (Million+, 2015). While traditional universities also train those who join the creative industries, established pathways from university to work are changing. The change is made vivid in a 2012 Gazelle Global report. A simple 2 by 2 matrix divides the world of work along two axes -  one the corporate vs the personal employer, the other axis business drivers -  whether proprietary products or ‘open solutions’.In earlier years, graduates expected to leave university to work with a corporation, whether public or private. Those producing products in industry would fall into the proprietary corporate quadrant, while services such as education, banking, law, management consulting or medicine are ‘open’ corporates. Corporations tend to be hierarchical. Technical expertise is valued. They are places where careers can be planned. Universities were a prime route into success in the corporate world, whether in industry or in the services sector.The new world of work is ‘personal’ rather than corporate. The proprietary quadrant in this case is where individuals work alone or in small teams to produce products such as novels, pots, apps or computer programs. This is the ‘artisanal world’ of the matrix. Value is typically shared across a team rather than distributed hierarchically through a bureaucratic structure. In the personal sphere of work, those who produce are very often ‘entrepreneurs’ as well as artisans. The ‘entrepreneurial world’ is the fourth199Creative industries and global educationBath Spa UniversityBath Spa University began 1 55 years ago as the Bath School of Art. Bombed in the Second World War, the school moved to Corsham Court in Wiltshire. In the immediate postwar era it was acknowledged as a leading British art school, involved in the flowering of the English Modernist movement, attracting students from across the Commonwealth and an international group of teachers including Jim Dine. Following the war there was an acute shortage of teachers and a college for primary teachers was set up at Newton Park, a Georgian house and grounds near Bath that had been bought by the Duchy of Cornwall in 1942. The first principal, Miss Dawson, led a successful all-female college. Men were not admitted until the 1960s.During the 1980s there was a flurry of amalgamations in the tertiary sector in Britain. The School of Art and the Teachers College in Bath were combined in 1983. The title, Bath Spa University, was granted in 2005, to be followed by ‘higher degree research awarding powers’ in 2008. Bath Spa University, a title conferred by the Privy Council and referring to the name of the town, offers a range of degrees from undergraduate to doctorates.When I took up the role of vice-chancellor in 2012, Bath Spa was a perfectly formed and successful institution. Based in a world heritage city and in several historic buildings, it had developed a good reputation for student experience. The creative writing, music and art programmes were regarded as among the best in Britain. However, some areas were clearly challenging. As an arts-based university it had low graduate employability scores. Eighty-five per cent of students were from the west of England. Both the student body and the staff reflected the region, and were ethnically homogeneous. While individual academics had international networks, there were few active partnerships and the International Student Office had been closed down in 2010.The greatest challenge at Bath Spa University was to attract international students. Tn 2011, there were 1.4 per cent international (non- EU) students and around 3 per cent EU and international students. This was the smallest proportion among all universities in the UK at that time. Very few students studied abroad. Their horizons were local: one graduate from 2011 remarked that the university had extended her horizons so much that she had considered taking a job in Swindon, 20 minutes away (Dossett and Devadasan, 2014). Yet higher education is and should be global. We owe it to our students to help them become globally aware, confident, cross- culturally adroit -  global citizens. But we also owe it to them to prepare them for the new world of work. Bath is a ‘creative hotspot’, in a region201Christina Sladewhere employment in the creative and digital sector is forecast to increase by 20 per cent by 2020 (West of England LEP, 2015). The creative industries, education, business and science are globalized. Our students need to have global networks and competencies.In 2012 we developed a vision for the university:To be a leading university in creativity, culture and enterprise. Through inspirational teaching and research, we transform student lives. Based in a world heritage city and connected to a network of international partners, Bath Spa University will ensure that its graduates are socially engaged global citizens.‘Creativity’ is a core value of the university, in terms of research, innovation and digital technology. We have developed our connection to the creative industries, a wide group of activities involving film, media, art and language, as well as education, design and creative computing. We focus on connectivity, and collaborative offerings, to emphasize not just the digital connectivity, but also the international, national and regional partnerships we encourage.We have rapidly increased conventional internationalization through recruitment of international students. Over 950 of a student body of 7,000 are now international (including students from the European Union). There is a striking mix of student origins, with a very wide distribution, including the Faroe Islands, Colombia, Ukraine, Albania, Latvia, Gibraltar, Zambia and many others. Just 28 per cent of the international cohort is from China, or around 4 per cent of the student body, a much lower percentage than in the sector in general.The vision for the university calls for our students to become socially engaged global citizens. I introduced a Certificate in Global Citizenship, based on a model used at Macquarie University in Australia (itself borrowed loosely from the USA). A small cohort of around 30 students is chosen in a competitive process from each intake year. Of this group we aim to have around 15 per cent non-UK-based students. As part of their courses, students must have at least two modules from a list that identifies material already taught across the university with a global focus. They attend a series of lectures by leading figures that touch on a wide interdisciplinary mix of global topics. They are asked to debate issues with the lecturers, then work together in teams to develop their understanding of the content of the special lectures. We have been able to attract scholarships and fund all UK- based students to assist them to study or work abroad.202Creative industries and global educationI also led the establishment of the Global Academy of Liberal Arts (GALA), a network of international liberal arts institutions. Launched in 2014 by Professor Liz Coleman, a former president of Bennington and a TED speaker, GALA uses its networks and partnerships to internationalize students and staff experience. Students can learn virtually across campuses and are able to take courses and get credit across the network. Partners include the Tec de Monterrey in Mexico, the top-ranked university in Latin America, Claremont College in California, the J.M. Coetzee Centre at the University of Adelaide, the Communications University of China and the Foreign Languages Institute of Beijing, Queensland University of Technology, the University of Stockholm and the University of Utrecht. The network is formed on the basis of a convergence of highly reputable undergraduate and master’s-level programmes, of research interest and of excellence. Our students travel within the network to study -  this year to Mexico and Beijing as well as Los Angeles, Adelaide and Stockholm.As leaders of the GALA network, Bath Spa proposed and developed a research project in the area of environmental humanities entitled ‘Lost Waters’. This project brought together researchers, students and industry from Canada, Australia, the UK and Mexico. Artists from Montreal charted the lost canals of Montreal Island, a BSU student traced the tributaries of the Fleet in London, and we opened discussions between ecologists, artists and economists that then led to joint teaching. In another network, heritage management courses are shared between Claremont Graduate College in California and Bath Spa. Claremont College has strong links with the Getty Museum, while Bath Spa works not only with the Roman Baths and the many other local museums but also with the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. These networks enable students and staff to publish, work and move easily in the globalized world of the creative industries.A final example of global integration is the ‘three continents’ degree with Santa Monica Community College in the USA and a variety of Asian partners. This degree gives ambitious students the chance to study in Asia, the USA and the UK. Students in Asia complete a foundation year with a partner in Hong Kong, Singapore or Malaysia. They then move for two years to Santa Monica College, where they complete a second (associate degree level) year and a third year, which is the penultimate year of the Bath Spa honours degree curriculum. Students then move to Bath for two years to complete their honours degree and go on to do a one-year master’s. The focus is on a range of skills from the creative through to entrepreneurship. The students will have developed a unique range of contacts and cross- cultural skills when they graduate.203Christina SladeInternational students are important for universities not just as an income stream. All students need global networks, and experience with those from outside their own country or region. For a university such as Bath Spa, which focuses on the creative industries and on preparing our students for a global workplace, globalization is essential. We seek to open the minds of our students, to encourage innovation and entrepreneurship. We would like to be able to shape a student body to mix groups of different origins together. That is not easy and cannot be done by fiat: as university professors and professionals our role is to make interaction possible, and to create the conditions for understanding and friendship. Just as we aspire to foster interdisciplinary understanding and cross-disciplinary creativity, we hope to develop communities of difference where original and creative students have the confidence to move in a global world.ReferencesBain and Co. (2014) ‘Creative UK: Overview of the digital transformation of the UK creative economy’. Online, www.bain.com/publications/articles/creative-uk. aspx (accessed 17 November 2015).Department for Culture, Media and Sport (2001) ‘Creative industries mapping document’. London: HMSO.Department for Culture, Media and Sport (2010) ‘Measuring the value of culture:A report to the Department for Culture Media and Sport’. Online. http://tinyurl. com/jy97o4l (accessed 17 November 2015).Department for Culture, Media and Sport (January 2016) ‘Creative industries worth almost £10 million an hour to economy’. Online, http://tinyurl.com/ jcuvkdo (accessed 2 March 2016).Department for Culture, Media and Sport (2015) ‘Creative industries focus on employment June 2015’. Online, http://tinyurl.com/naj328t (accessed 17 November 2015).Dimson, J. and Karim, D. (2015) ‘Global challenges for higher education’. Speech presented to HEFCE Annual Conference (4 February).Dossett, G. and Devadasan, R. (2014) ‘Globalisation, work and the graduate experience: Moving beyond Swindon’. Research presentation at Bath Spa University, Bath, UK, July.Gazelle Global (2012) ‘Enterprising futures: The changing landscape and new possibilities of further education’. Online, www.stow.ac.uk/media/ gazelleenterprisingfutures.pdf (accessed 17 November 2015).Hajlcowicz, S. (2015) ‘The potential of the creative economy’. CSIRO Australia. Online, https://agenda.weforum.org/2015/01/why-is-the-creative-economy- growing-so-strongly/ (accessed 17 November 2015).Million+ (2015) Creative Futures: Ten steps to support the creative economy. London: Million+.Montgomery, L. (2010) China's Creative Industries: Copyright, social network markets and the business of culture in a digital age. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.204Creative industries and global educationPotts, J. (2011) Creative Industries and Economic Evolution. Cheltenham:Edward Elgar.UNESCO/UNDP (2013) ‘Creative Economy Report: Widening local development pathways’. Online, www.unesco.org/culture/pdf/crcative-economy-rcport-2013. pdf (accessed 17 November 2015).West of England Local Enterprise Partnership (2015) ‘Employment in the West of England 2015: Creative and digital’. Online, http://tinyurl.com/jgdj3fx (accessed 17 November 2015).205

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