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Dartington College faced with closure
Dartington College in Devon, an arts college with a unique international reputation, a vital part of the English cultural heritage, intimately connected to its environment on the Dartington Estate, is faced with closure under a proposed takeover bid by University College Falmouth (UCF - which is not a university).
Unusually, the bid was instigated by Dartington College itself. Under the proposal, the new campus at Tremough, near Falmouth, yet to be built, will house UCF, which will cream off Dartington's state-funded arts courses, and the College will be wound up. The College's unique environment for learning, in the beauty of the Dartington Estate, will be lost for ever.
It is as if a luminous bird of paradise is about to be transferred to a zoo and put to death.
This month, the takeover (presented as a "merger") will have its application for funding decided - in two lumps - £3 million from the South West Regional Development Authority (SWRDA), and the same amount in addition from the European Convergence Fund assigned for the development of the economy of Cornwall.
The move to close the College is widely opposed in Devon, by students, staff, traders, Totnes Town Council, and most of the local community. The local economy stands to lose nearly £5 million per year.
Background
The background is that the College was set up under a trust fund set up by Dorothy and Leonard Elmhirst in the 1920's to realise a practical approach to arts education. The College, established in 1961, has academic staff who are mainly arts practitioners themselves, giving the benefit of their experience to small groups of students. The Elmhirst trustees are the Dartington Hall Trust, which owns the Estate, and the College buildings on it. It is a private trust.
In 1990, for financial reasons, the College changed from offering purely vocational courses to accredited degree courses, thus attracting state funding via the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE). Some £ 5 million of state funding was provided, on the College's application, between 2001 and 2004 for the provision of state of the art high-tech buildings and facilities purpose-designed for the College.
Why is closure threatened ?
It appears that some time in 2006 a policy decision was taken by the Trust, chaired by James Cornford, to sever its reliance on public funding, and to be rid of the College. The Trust decided it preferred instead to raise money for its projects by going cap in hand to U.S. arts funding mega-corporations such as CalArts. Somewhat inconveniently for the Trust, its trust Deed provides that money from U.S. sources has to be used for the purposes of the College.
This noble decision to relieve the taxpayer might appear even more noble were it not for the fact that to £ 5 million worth of taxpayers' money had already been lavished on providing the newly refurbished buildings for the College. The buildings will remain in the ownership of the Trust - all vacated and ready to be used for high-earning business conference hire. Nice work if you can get it ! Taxpayers might not be quite so contented however.
One might ask, rhetorically, whether the Trust, having taken the decision in 1990 to accept a public interest in the Estate, should not take the responsibility that goes with the benefits it receives from the College. Without the College, its other educational activities, Dartington International Summer School and Dartington Plus, would never have got off the ground.
Meanwhile, on the College side, the College Board, is chaired by John Bull (Chairman of the Derriford Hospital Board, one of whose directors resigned last summer accusing Bull of lying to the public about the feasibility of a Children's Wing). Bull has designs on Dartington College for his empire-building scheme : the Combined Universities of Cornwall (CUC). In his "vision" , the transfer to UCF of Dartington's arts courses, international reputation, and (he hopes) student quota will enable UCF first to acquire the necessary student numbers to get university status, then to become part of the CUC mega-university.
Small matter that Devon loses a Higher Education institution, Dartington College ceases to exist, and a unique part of English cultural life is destroyed in the process.
These are the twin agendas driving the Dartington closure. Vaughan Lindsay (Chief Executive of the Trust) and Andrew Brewerton (Chief Executive and Principal) of the College, are the agendas' hired advocates and relentless promoters.
Is closure necessary ?
This question has never been properly aired. Trust and College decisions have been taken in secrecy, without any consultation of staff, students, the local community, or local elected bodies. In fact with a deliberate policy of stifling debate prior to crucial decisions.
The Save Dartington College Campaign seeks a moratorium on closure to enable the numerous alternative possibilities to be properly examined. The Trust and College have refused to entertain proposals put to them.
The College Executive says if funding is refused the College will close. Yet under its proposal with UCF, the College would close anyway - it would be dissolved and wound up. Other options, of co-operation with Devon institutions for example, have not been seriously examined, say the Campaign Group.
This posture begs the question : why has the College put all its eggs in the basket of the UCF takeover - funding or bust ? There is (one presumes) no guarantee that funding will be granted. Not to have a Plan B , especially when alternatives have been proffered, smacks of sheer business incompetence on the part of the College Executive.
The RDA has the power to give effect to the moratorium sought, by refusing funding for the takeover. The demand for a moratorium is supported fully by the Totnes Town Council.
The Funding Situation
The takeover project seeks £3 million from the SWRDA.. The RDA's remit covers both Devon and Cornwall - not only Cornwall. Yet the proposal would aid Cornwall, an economically underdeveloped region, at the expense of Devon, another economically underdeveloped region. Robbing Peter to pay Paul - is this what the RDA is all about ?
The project seeks a similar sum from European Convergence Funding for Cornwall. Among others, the purposes of this Fund are, first, the creation of employment in underdeveloped regions. Not the creation of redundancies - 94 jobs will be lost at Dartington. Second, aid to underdeveloped regions - but not at the expense of another underdeveloped region. Third, the preservation of cultural heritage - not the destruction of a national cultural asset.
Decisions are being made in January. The UCF/ Dartington College Business Plan is submitted to the RDA on 7 January. From 7 to 11 January it will be appraised by an Appraisal Team of 4 members.
The application for the RDA part of the funding then goes to the RDA Executive (Jane Henderson [chief Executive], Colin Molson, Nick Lewis, Suzanne Board and Stephen Peacock). Following that, to the full RDA Board for a final decision later this month, but in any event before 30 January.
Because the European funding application is viewed as "contentious", it will be reviewed by the full Programmes Monitoring Committee (PMC). This is composed of representatives from the RDA, Cornwall County Council, Government of the South West, the private sector in Cornwall, Cornish District Councils, and other Cornish interests.
It might be thought that Cornish representatives, laudable though their intentions might be to improve the lot of Cornwall, might not be best suited to advocate the interests of Devon !
The PMC meets on 30 January to consider the European funding application. The RDA part of the funding will have had to be decided by that date.
The fate of Dartington College stands at the 59th minute of the 11th hour.
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