At last: some positive news of activity from DramaUK, the new body formed a year ago from the merger of Conference of Drama Schools (CDS) and National Council for Drama Training (NCDT).

In addition to working with schools running accredited courses – mostly the 20 or so former CDS schools – Drama UK has now awarded the first of its new quality marks to one course at Arts University College Bournemouth and three at the University of the West of Scotland.

The mark is known as ‘Recognition’. DramaUK claims on its website that it “offers students and their future employers assurance that a course with this award has been through a rigorous assessment including a visit from a panel of industry experts to ensure that it delivers what it promises,( ‘does what is says on the tin’) and provides a real benefit to the industry.”

The idea is to broaden out quality assurance now that there are so many more providers of drama training than there used to be.

Ian Kellgren, Chief Executive of Drama UK said:

The drama training landscape has changed significantly since quality assurance for drama training was originally set up by the NCDT in the 1970s. We have acknowledged that there are now many more providers in this sector and there is a need to provide quality assurance for courses that are less vocational than conservatoire training but offer a very real benefit to the industry.”

DramaUK has worked with Creative Skillset, the Creative Industries’ Sector Skills Council (SSC), to pilot the new award.

So that’s good news. Meanwhile we are still waiting for a proper DramaUK website. “A new Drama UK website is due to launch later this year and will contain the full list of all Accredited and Recognised courses as well as other vocational training available. There will also be information and advice for students looking for drama and technical theatre training” is the official statement.

Watch this space – and DramaUK’s.