Underneath the metrics: What is really happening  to Art and Design education?

Every day we face a barrage of statistics which have a significant impact on our creative work with students. Whether it is NSS scores or UCAS application statistics, DLHE results or diversity data, TEF, LEO or REF, these metrics are often telling us crucial information about the strengths and weaknesses of Art and Design Higher Education in achieving current government agendas. At a time when the wellbeing of our sector is under threat from so many directions, we need to tackle the weaknesses, nurture the strengths, and understand and contextualise our value, emerging from analysis of the ‘big data’.

This year’s conference seeks to dig below the surface of the metrics to look not only at whole cohorts but also at the individuals, to unearth key issues which our sector faces, including diversity, employability, mental health and the twin challenges of recruitment and retention. We will be aided by the release of new data, commissioned by GLAD, which analyses trends in recruitment to different disciplines in Art and Design over the last ten years. We will be inviting along new voices to enrich the debate and promote creative exchange.

Full details at www.art.mmu.ac.uk/events/2018/glad