The Stage

Central gets right to grant own degrees

Published Friday 17 September 2004 at 10:50 by Liz Thomas

Central School of Speech and Drama has received the right to award its own undergraduate and postgraduate degrees, meaning the school will be responsible for its own qualifications and standards with the same powers as a university.

Currently, drama schools awarding degrees do so through accreditation from larger institutions. Prior to this decision, Central’s degrees were awarded by the Open University through its validation service. Now, after two years of scrutiny by the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education - the watchdog that monitors standards of higher education qualifications - Central has been recognised as having the capability to award its own qualifications.

The move sets a precedent for drama schools in England and bridges the gap felt by many of the institutions between the levels of vocational and academic training they are able to provide. It has been ten years since the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama became the first such institution to be granted the powers to award its own degrees.

Central’s principal Gary Crossley commented: “We have elevated the practical study of drama from that of pragmatic training to something more wholly understood as a cerebral art form.

“We can now take our place properly alongside the nation’s universities as an institution whose teaching standards, and the controls on them, are measurably commensurate with the best.”

There are currently around 700 pupils at the school - two-thirds are undergraduates and the rest studying for a further qualification. Earlier this year it was announced Central and the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art are to join. In 2005 both schools will have consolidated at Central’s Swiss Cottage home, where they will share a new £6.5m building.

Central moved to Swiss Cottage in 1956 and began awarding degrees in 1986, becoming higher education institution in 1989. Its alumni include Laurence Olivier, Judi Dench, Vanessa Redgrave and Harold Pinter.