The British seaside resort of Weston-super-Mare and the American gambling city of Las Vegas are to be virtually linked later this month in a unique stage show involving performing arts students.

Ground-breaking computer technology and a video link will make it appear as if the students are alongside each other when the show ‘Time Lapse’ is staged by degree students of the Wessex Academy of Performing Arts (WAPA) at Weston College and the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV).

In fact, they will be separated by more than 5,000 miles and an eight hour time difference when the performances take place on April 23rd at 4pm UK time in Weston and 8am Pacific Time in Las Vegas, and on April 24th at 8am in Weston and 12am in Nevada.

Weston College Higher Education Curriculum Co-ordinator for Performing Arts Degrees Ged Stephenson, said: “The performances will be done over video link, although the students will perform as if they’re on stage together.

“The technology that is being used to achieve this is ground-breaking and it’s believed that this performance will be a world first because there are no time delays in the visuals and only a very slight one in sound.

“The video link will be done using ultra-grids, which are really advanced computers that have been created by UNLV.”

Students from a variety of performing arts degree courses at Weston College will be performing with students from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV).

The collaboration between the two educational establishments began about a year and a half ago, after Weston College lecturer Sylvia Lane approached UNLV while on holiday in Las Vegas to see if she could forge links there.

Last year Weston College hosted a visit from two UNLV lecturers, Michael Lugering, Professor of Acting, and Louis Kavouras, Professor of Dance. They spent two days running specialist master classes for students on Foundation Degrees in Performing Arts and Musical Theatre, run in partnership with Bath Spa University.

This provided the basis for the project to stage a unique joint performance across time zones in the play ‘Time Lapse’, which has been specially-scripted for the show.

Ged Stephenson added: “Any live performance requires a considerable amount of organisation, but this show has also required exchanges and sharing of workshops using Skype, Facetime and YouTube.”

Fluffy, the creature that has helped inspire ambitions of further and higher education among numerous school pupils who have visited Weston College, has been in action at a new location this year.

The furry purple visual aid, complete with a black mortar board, has been at North Somerset Enterprise and Technology College (NSETC) to greet around 400 local Year 5 and Year 6 pupils visiting the specialist Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) school.

Ben Cocks, Progression and IAG Coordinator at Weston College said that this is the ninth year in which the College has used Professor Fluffy to engage with pupils, but the first time the project has been located at NSETC, which is part of the Weston College Group.

“It has been a really successful programme that children enjoy and we now see secondary students and some current Weston College students who remember their Professor Fluffy visit,” he said.

“This is the second year we have run Professor Fluffy in collaboration with EDF Energy and this partnership continues to be a great way to push the STEM agenda to young people in North Somerset.

“This year we decided to facilitate Professor Fluffy at the NSETC, which forms part of the Weston College Group, as it offers the students first-hand experience of a STEM school and the facilities are jaw dropping.”

During their visits to NSETC, pupils explored career opportunities and educational opportunities and were supported by student mentors and current learners.

They also toured the NSETC, interviewed current college students, and built a prototype ‘green’ car for the future using recycled materials in a project designed by EDF Energy.

At their end of their visits, the pupils ‘graduated’ in caps and gowns with certificates – and with Professor Fluffy in attendance.

Ben Cocks added:  “It’s been really great to work again with Weston Excellence on this project, and yet again we have seen the students create some amazing things as part of their visit and they are all a credit to their individual schools. With the support of Weston College’s Student Mentors and Care and Early Years students this year has again been a real success.”

Professor Fluffy was originally created under the Government’s national Aim Higer initiative, but funding was stopped in 2009.

However, Dr Paul Phillips, the principal of Weston College, which was rated ‘outstanding’ at its latest Ofsted inspection, decided it was important to keep Professor Fluffy and has found sponsorship to ensure the engagement work with local schools continues.

Universities and colleges have set themselves challenging new targets to make further and faster progress on fair access to Higher Education. The new targets, agreed with the Office for Fair Access (OFFA), form part of the 183 access agreements approved today, and will help meet a Government ambition to double the rate of students from disadvantaged backgrounds entering Higher Education.

Professor Les Ebdon, Director of Fair Access to Higher Education, said:

“The access agreements I have approved today show that universities and colleges are setting stretching and ambitious targets to attract students from disadvantaged areas and then support them through their studies. Our work with universities and colleges has really borne fruit over the last decade. There are now greater rates of young people from disadvantaged backgrounds in Higher Education than ever before – but we know that talent is still being lost. Too many people who have the talent to excel are not given full opportunity to demonstrate their ability. Eroding the stubborn link between your background as a child and your life chances as an adult is a long-term project. But I am confident that this set of agreements can – and will – make a real and lasting difference for many years to come.

“I am enormously heartened to see the significant level of ambition in this set of access agreements. By making progress towards their own fair access challenges, universities and colleges will contribute to the Government’s national fair access goals. The Prime Minister and Minister for Universities have set a goal to double the rates of students from disadvantaged backgrounds by 2020, and these agreements send a clear message that universities are ready to do the hard work to make this target a reality.

“The work and ambition universities and colleges have committed to today will transform lives. The outreach work universities have planned will open the door to higher education for people who might otherwise have thought it was not for them. The people that universities work with now will go on to be the doctors, business leaders and engineers of the future.”

Each university and college with an access agreement sets their own targets depending on their own individual circumstances. These targets are then subject to OFFA’s approval. Among the targets universities and colleges have set for their 2016-17 access agreements are:

- All institutions have set a target on the make-up of their student body

- Around three quarters of institutions set a target to improve the rates of students continuing with their studies, while around 15 per cent set a specific target to help ensure that their students were well prepared for life after graduation.

- Many targets also focus on particular groups of disadvantaged students. For example:

- Over a fifth of institutions set targets designed to help care leavers access higher education and succeed in their studies

- Approximately forty per cent of institutions set targets around specific ethnic groups. This includes a range of targets to reduce attainment gaps between different groups of students

- Around a third of institutions set targets relating to disabled students.

In total, universities and colleges predict that they will invest £750.8 million in steady state through their 2016-17 access agreements. This consists of:

- £149.3 million on access activities. This includes long-term sustained outreach work, which identifies learners at an early stage, and helps to raise aspirations and attainment
- £148.0 million on work to support students through their studies – for example through tailored induction programmes for particular groups of students
- £54.6 million on progression activities, to ensure that students are well prepared for life after graduation
- £399.0 million on financial support, including bursaries, fee waivers and hardship funds.

Professor Ebdon continued:

“Our discussions and negotiations with universities and colleges have led to improved targets at 94 institutions. These new targets are evidence-led, strategic and deliverable, and I look forward to working with universities and colleges to make further, faster progress.”

For more information on the College's HE provision, click here.

Weston College's Access Agreement for 2016/17 has been approved by OFFA and outlines the measures the college will take to widen access to HE. Click here to download a PDF for more information.