Collaborative Training Accounts CTA

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Collaborative Training Accounts (CTA)

• James Callaghan

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Contents

• What are CTAs?
• What is being proposed?
• How is it intended to work?
• Timetable for implementation
• 1st call or 2nd call?
• Position at Essex and the Indicative Limit
• Discussion and Next Steps

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What are CTAs?

• A new mechanism by which EPSRC will support,
  under a single financial umbrella, those schemes
  which link postgraduate training programmes with
  the workplace
• Includes
• Engineering Doctorate
• Industrial CASE
• Knowledge Transfer Partnerships
• Masters Training Packages (MTP)
• Research Assistants Industrial Secondments (RAIS)

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What is Proposed ?

• All HEIs receiving EPSRC funding in these areas
  will be invited to bid for a CTA
• The CTA bid will include a Business Plan which
  identifies the total funding requirements
  estimate for the next 4 years
• The bid is reviewed by a panel, probably
  non-academic
• Pilot involving 10 representative HEIs
  currently underway

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How is it intended to work ?

• The HEI appoints an Account Director who
  manages the account
• The funds in the CTA are called off according to
  the funding opportunity
• Funds can be re-directed as necessary within the
  CTA
• Keep approximately within the Business Plan

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Single Business Plan per Organization

• Provision of a single CTA with a small number of
  fund headings will give greater flexibility in
  the subsequent deployment of funds
• Plans to be pitched at a strategic/high level
• Actively encouraged to
• choose amongst brands (MTP, EngD etc) and
  subjects within EPSRCs remit, but single scheme
  bids will be allowable
• create new activities
• work across disciplines and with other Research
  organizations
• pump-prime new courses
• form partnerships with other public and private
  sponsors

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CTAs Outline Timetable
First General Call
Pilot Phase
Dec
Feb
Call released
03
Business Plans
July
Assessment
Sept
Call released
Expressions of interest
Nov
Decisions
Jan
Business Plans
Close current activities
March
Assessment
Decisions
April
Announce CTAs
04
May
Course development
Major student starts
Oct
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Timetable for Implementation

• Pilot phase 2003
• 1st General Call 1st Sept 2003
• Expressions of interest by end Sept 2003
• Full proposal by end January 2004
• Students starting by Oct 2004
• 2nd General Call 1st May 2004
• Expressions of interest by 31st May 2004
• Full proposal by 1st Oct 2004
• Students starting in Oct 2005

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1st Call or 2nd Call?

• Taking into account
• Ability to respond and develop the full business
  plan on the required timetable
• Whether the planned training activities are
  particularly time critical in terms of their
  development/implementation
• The criticality of EPSRC funding (in terms of
  when the current EPSRC funding is due to
  terminate
• EPSRC may choose to impose restrictions on who
  can submit a business plan in response to the
  first general call
• Implications of applying to either the 1st or 2nd
  call will be financially neutral

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Position at Essex
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Value of CTA Indicative Limit
EPSRC state that this is a limit, not a target
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Discussion Next Steps

• Next steps
• Proposed portfolio
• Current activities which are to continue
• Current activities to be discontinued (if any)
• Proposed new activities
• Areas to address (see business plan proforma)
• Institutional suitability
• Strategic fit and vision
• Management and operation of the CTA
• Collaboration
• Outputs
• Finance and justification of resources
• Roles and responsibilities
• Who to involve?