CHEAD & Crafts Council Members COVID-19 Impact Survey Results

In May we issued the CHEAD & Crafts Council Members Covid-19 Survey, designed to understand how higher education is adapting and sustaining provision to support students and graduates at this time. The survey was open from 1st May to 15th May 2020 and was sent to 66 institutional members across the UK and publicised across social media. Firstly, thank you to everyone who completed the survey. We received a large number of responses, representing over two thirds of CHEAD’s membership. We have created this infographic in order that can see the key findings of the survey and share these with your colleagues and partners. The results of the CHEAD & Crafts Council Members Covid-19 impact survey highlight a sector that has adapted quickly to the challenges of online teaching and support for students. The survey recorded that students are predominantly being supported to complete practical work through the provision of software and alternative means of assessment. A range of virtual learning environments are being used to deliver courses online and live lecture/workshop delivery and separate tutorial seminar groups through VLE are the predominant technologies being used to deliver sessions. The results have found that overwhelmingly, member institutions are hosting an online graduate showcase with just under a third of members working with an external organisation to deliver its online graduate showcase. The survey results show members are well ahead in planning for delivery in the Autumn term preparing for multiple scenarios to ensure flexibility and enable access to making spaces and facilities. The full survey report can be downloaded here. Please note: CHEAD has shared this information to support colleagues in the sector who are all working with local and differing conditions. The survey results are not representative of all art and design higher education institutions so can not be used as a comparative benchmark. The responses to the survey were early on in the lockdown period, reflective of the immediate changes that were made and HEIs have subsequently evolved more strategic and sustainable responses.  Next steps Your responses are helping us focus our efforts on how we can best support our members and one of the first responses has been to issue an open letter to the Secretaries of State for Universities and Science, Research and Innovation where CHEAD outlined the need for policymakers to engage with arts, media and design higher education by valuing the sector's extraordinary response to the Covid-19 crisis. See more here. In order to promote and showcase this year’s graduating cohort and celebrate their achievement, CHEAD has provided links to all the online graduate showcases from participating CHEAD members here. We are now turning our attention to recovery planning, both in terms of supporting members through events to tackle issues such as designing socially distanced spaces and adapting the digital experience for ADM disciplines but also in terms of supporting recovery in the wider creative economy by stepping up efforts to work with our sector partners to advocate on your behalf.