The Stage

Rambert will offer degrees as CDD member

Published Tuesday 8 November 2005 at 11:40 by Alistair Smith

Rambert School of Ballet and Contemporary Dance will be able to offer degree courses for the first time this year, after becoming an affiliate of the Conservatoire for Dance and Drama.

Students at the training centre, which is the eighth to join the conservatoire, will now be able to study for a foundation degree and a BA (Hons) in Ballet and Contemporary Dance, validated by the University of Kent. They will also be entitled to the same tuition fees, hardship grants and loans as university students.

The news comes as the school prepares for the final stages of its move into its new £7 million home in Twickenham, Middlesex. Principal Ross McKim commented: “It’s an exciting time with the new building and the new degree courses. We have wanted to offer degree work for years but the idea got caught up in the logistics of the university selling our current site. We couldn’t really commit to it until we had this new centre.”

The school was formed within the West London Institute of Higher Education, which later became part of Brunel University. In 2003 it split from its parent institution and began the move to its new site, which will be completed by September 2006.

As an affiliate of the conservatoire, Rambert will have access to funding from the Higher Education Funding Council of England rather than the Dance and Drama Awards, which are given to individual students. Other affiliates are Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, Central School of Ballet, The Circus Space, London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art, London Contemporary Dance School, Northern School of Contemporary Dance and the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art.

• Meanwhile, Central School of Speech and Drama has been confirmed as part of the University of London, joining other world-class specialist arts colleges such as the Royal Academy of Music and Slade School of Fine Art. In 2004, CSSD gained the right to award its own degrees and this year it became the only drama school to be designated a Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Learning by the Higher Education Funding Council for England.