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Top Rank Crowd Managers Begin Foundation Degree Course at BCUC
The managers, who included crowd managers, venue operators and event production staff as well as members of the police force, attended an induction session for the groundbreaking course at BCUC’s Wellesbourne Campus on 14th December. Parts of the rest of the course will be delivered ‘on the job’, with the students also taking advantage of the e-learning facilities provided by BCUC’s ‘Blackboard’ service. This will enable the students to participate in a series of virtual workshops, lectures and seminars. Assessment will also be carried out in the workplace.
The Foundation Degree in Crowd and Safety Management is the latest in a series of foundation degrees to be offered by BCUC. It has been developed over a period of two years in conjunction with a panel of industry professionals. Both the NCFE and SITO, two awarding bodies for the stewarding and security industries, were involved at every stage. It has received an A1 grading by the Higher Education Funding Council of England (HEFCE).
“I am really excited about this Foundation Degree which I believe will promote increased professionalism across the crowd safety industry and will help develop best practice,” commented Professor Chris Kemp, Dean of BCUC’s Faculty of Leisure and Tourism and Foundation Degree Programme Head.
BCUC has been involved with the live music and events industry for over a decade. It currently offers a number of qualifications at undergraduate and postgraduate level and carries out research. The Foundation Degree is the first of a number of Foundation Degrees whose focus will be workplace activity.
The programme is headed by Professor Chris Kemp, former industry professional and Dean of BCUC’s Leisure and Tourism Faculty, assisted by Mick Upton. Mick Upton has been one of the key names in crowd management studies over the last 30 years. He has written a large amount of the material for the programme and was in charge of the crowd management at Live Aid and numerous other events. Iain Hill, a lecturer at BCUC and also the manager of Joachin Cortez, is a workshop leader on the programme and Ben Challis, music industry lawyer and executive producer for Glastonbury TV is another academic/professional taking part in the dissemination of the programme. A number of text books have been written specifically for the course and a special crowd management library set up at BCUC.
All of the 25 students who have so far enrolled on the programme have vast amounts of knowledge in crowd management. All member companies of the United Kingdom Crowd Management Association (UKCMA) have enrolled key members of staff onto the course and the programme has been heavily supported by the PSA (Production Services Association).
During the induction the students were given seminars on skills development, teaching in Higher Education, blackboard virtual learning environment and its workings.
For some of the students, it is their first foray into higher education, for others who have honours and/or masters degrees it is a re-entry to a programme focussed on their specific working discipline. One student from the company that manages the stewarding and security for the Big Day Out in Australia is taking the programme by distance learning mode. Although such a mode is experimental at this stage it is hoped to increase this type of study in this area.
It was clear from the induction that many of the companies and students had not got together in such a way before. By the end of the day there were indications of a strong, integrated crowd safety community, which will hopefully provide a vehicle through which the different companies and individuals can share and develop best practice in the sector
17th December 2004
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