North West performing arts college becomes first to have digital campus

Creative and Performing Arts College has rolled out its digital campus with Liverpool-based Collabco’s myday – making it the first ever further education college to have a digital campus before having a place to call home.

The newly-opened FE college is currently waiting on planning permission to build its physical campus environment for opening in 2020 – it is Wakefield’s first DfE-funded Free School.

The decision to roll out the digital infrastructure was a strategic one that allows the foundations to be laid to keep students and institution in constant communication whilst in a period of transition. myday delivers a digital hub for all college resources and services for students and for everything from safeguarding policies to registration information for staff in one easy to access location.

Sarah Williamson, marketing and communications officer, CAPA College, said: “As a Creative and Performing Arts College we need to be able to physically come together to rehearse, perform and learn, but we are currently in temporary accommodation with plans to move into our purpose-built campus in the centre of Wakefield in 2020.

“The digital campus is vitally important to laying the infrastructure of the college and will allow us to transition more easily and smoothly to our new premises when that time comes.

“We currently have 105 full-time students who enrolled in September 2018, but our intake will grow, and we will have multiple academic years – not just a first year to accommodate too, myday will grow with the college.

“It will deliver increasingly more resources as we take in more students and staff and work with third parties – we’re investing for our future, and we are embracing a digital way of working from the outset – even before we have a physical campus environment.”

CAPA College has invested heavily in hardware and equipment too – putting investment behind campus devices as well as media equipment, such as video cameras.

Adam Smith, business development manager, Collabco, added: “In this scenario the digital campus is absolutely central to the college environment – it’s not an afterthought or playing second-fiddle to the physical campus, it’s the beating heart of the new college and its infrastructure and working.

“It’s a testament to the forward-thinking management team that it has been able to unite students and staff and eradicate the siloed thinking that so often blights FE colleges from achieving all they should collectively as a brand – there is cohesiveness because students and staff have everything they need at the swipe of a finger.”