Damien Shannon
[FOI #28904 email]
12 March 2010
Dear Mr Shannon
Freedom of Information Act 2000 – RFI20100222
Thank you for your request under the Freedom of Information Act (‘the Act’) of 14 February
2010, seeking the following information:
“the details of any and all agreements for "partnership" of any kind between the University of
Salford and the BBC and any details of these that can be provided.”
Connect & Create partnership
The University of Salford signed a Connect & Create partnership agreement with the BBC in
summer 2008. Salford University was the first higher education institution in Greater Manchester
to sign a partnership agreement with the BBC. The agreement included new joint courses such as
BSc Digital Broadcast Technology, enterprise training for undergraduate Salford students, and
student placements within the BBC. A press release dated 13th January 2009, which gives more
detail on this partnership, is enclosed as disclosure document 1.
Disclosure document 2 is a letter from Genevieve Lawrence, the then Joint Programme Director
for the BBC at MediaCityUK, to Professor Laurie Wood of Salford University, which sets out
some of the benefits to both organisations from the partnership.
The contract is enclosed as disclosure document 3, and the covering letter as disclosure
document 4. Please note that individuals’ contact numbers and email addresses have been
removed as they would not expect these to be made public.
Students from Salford University have been involved in the following cross-university projects as
part of Connect and Create partnership work.
* Oct 2009:
BBC Introducing - 6 universities invited to put in applications. Student groups
were asked to make a film of a band/ event, and the best was be chosen to work with the BBC
Introducing team in Manchester, making films and interviewing bands at the regular Introducing gig
nights hosted by BBC Manchester. A Salford team of 4 won, and have worked with Introducing
three times; their films were shown on the BBC Manchester website.
* Oct/ Nov 2009:
CBeebies commissioning challenge - 19 universities involved. The Cbeebies
controller has committed to commissioning and making three ideas from student teams. Salford
students put forward ideas but weren’t shortlisted.
* Nov 2009:
Bitesize brainstorm event - 4 universities involved. Students were invited by the
Bitesize team and the Creative Network to come up with ideas to revamp Bitesize key stage 3.
One of the two teams of Salford students was chosen as having the best idea, and has been invited
to come in on placements with Learning to work up their ideas.
* Nov 2009:
Great North Film Challenge - 17 universities involved. A workshop day was held
for 170 students - masterclasses with professional directors, producers, sound engineers,
production managers and for camera skills. The students were then challenged to make a film to
the brief "The Beautiful North". Salford University has put in entries; judging has not yet taken
place.
* March 2010:
World Cup Day. A day of workshops and masterclasses with BBC Sport editors
and talent, culminating in a challenge. The best six students will get placements working with BBC
Sport across the World Cup. Salford students are signed up.
* March 2010:
5Live Challenge. Post grad and MA journalism students invited to apply for a
rolling placement scheme with the 5Live teams based in Manchester. They'll be asked to come up
with story ideas for a particular slot, and the best eight will get placements.
*
Studio Managers tour. Studio managers in 5Live aim to find out more about whether there is
potential for any long-term connections with universities teaching this discipline. They plan to
“tour” a number of universities including Salford.
In addition to the above, there are a number of individual projects or relationships, largely
managed by individual contacts rather than the Outreach team.
* Summer 2008: An Entertainment producer set up a pitching challenge, for students to come up
with ideas for a quiz or gameshow to transmit between 7-9pm on a weekday. One student was
brought in on placement early 2009.
* Staff from BBC Sport are advising Salford University on the creation of a new Sports Journalism
course.
* Staff from BBC Future Media & Technology are working with Salford University to develop a BSc
in Digital Broadcast Technology, and create an undergraduate module of Entrepreneurial
Management.
* The BBC’s principal technologist sits on the management board for the Salford University Think
Lab.
* Salford MA students were filmed at a Salford Family Orchestra event in collaboration with the
Philharmonic.
Other partnerships
1. A Knowledge Transfer Project intellectual property rights agreement is currently in the final
stages of negotiation.
2. A collaborative research programme called FIRM (Framework for Innovation and Research at
Media City) involves Salford University, Lancaster University, Goldsmith’s, Cambridge and MIT.
The BBC are active in an industry advisory role alongside North West Vision and Media. This
programme started in January 2010.
3. BBC Research and Development and Salford University, together with a number of other
organisations, have entered into a collaborative EU-funded Framework 7 Research Project for
three and a half years (starting 10th February 2010) called FASCINATE. The following
organisations are also partners in this project:
Deutsche Thomson OHG DTO - recently renamed "Technicolor"(Germany)
Fraunhofer Gesellschaft – Heinrich Hertz Institute HHI (Germany)
Alcatel-Lucent Bell NV (Belgium)
Arnold & Richter Cine Technik GmbH (Germany)
Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (Spain)
The Interactive Institute (Sweden)
Softeco Sismat SES (Italy)
The Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research TNO (Netherlands)
Appeal Rights
If you are not satisfied that we have complied with the Act in responding to your request, you
have the right to an internal review by a BBC senior manager or legal adviser. Please contact us at
the address above, explaining what you would like us to review and including your reference
number. If you are not satisfied with the internal review, you can appeal to the Information
Commissioner. The contact details are: Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House,
Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF, telephone 01625 545 700 or see
http://www.ico.gov.uk/
Yours sincerely,
Paul Middlemas
Head of Finance, Benefits and Governance, BBC North
