Plymouth’s dBs acquired by Access Creative College to offer students in creative subjects a connected learning journey from post 16 to degree level

Author
Lis Anderson
Director | AMBITIOUS PR COMMUNICATIONS
14th September 2021
Member roleChamber member

Plymouth’s dBs, the sound & music institute, has been acquired by Access Creative College (ACC), a leading independent college for the creative industries. The move represents an expansion of FE and HE services for the two colleges. Establishing a presence in the city for the first time, ACC will work alongside dBS to offer learners in Plymouth a coherent, connected and defined journey from post 16 to degree level.

With a common goal to deliver the next generation of creative talent through engaging, industry relevant courses, ACC and dBs will come together to offer learners initially in Plymouth and Bristol an extended range of courses from levels 2-7.  Learners in Plymouth will also have access to a range of support services offered by Access Creative College for the first time. 

It is anticipated that this full range of courses - including Access to Higher Education and degrees in Games and Computing - will subsequently be rolled out across ACC’s other existing cities including Manchester and Birmingham. Students will be able to move between cities and sites as they continue their learning journey.

From its campus in Plymouth City Centre, as well as from its centres in Bristol, dBs currently offers specialist music and sound production courses to help students build exciting careers in the audio industry.

Access Creative College delivers vocational education in the creative industries to over 3,000 students at campuses in major cities across England. It offers courses in computing, games, media, music and events at specialist campuses in London, Birmingham, Manchester, Bristol, York, Lincoln, Norwich and other locations with partnership providers. The college aims to prepare young people for careers in the creative industries through innovative, practical employment-led training.

Jason Beaumont, CEO at Access Creative College, comments, “Plymouth has become a thriving hub for both education and the creative sector. We couldn’t be more excited to be able to offer a new kind of learning experience to students in the city with options for courses ranging from post 16 to degree level. We want to provide students with a coherent, connected and defined journey in their learning, at whichever point they choose to study. 

“dBs has a very strong track record in successfully delivering technical degrees up to postgraduate level. Our plans are to build on this and develop a suite of degrees for our progressing students across all our provision.”

As implementation continues on the Skills for Jobs white paper, Boris Johnson used his ‘levelling up’ speech on 15th July to underline the need to escalate the value of practical and vocational education through the lifetime skills guarantee.  The ongoing reforms support the idea that more adults should have the opportunity to access the skills and training they need that leads directly to a job.  

Jessica French, Investment Manager at ACC’s backers Apiary Capital, comments“We are delighted to be supporting Jason’s ambitious plans to grow Access Creative College’s HE provision across the country and see this acquisition as an important first step in offering a new kind of HE experience for learners in the creative and digital sector.”

Nige Burt, CEO and Co-founder at dBs comments, “Plymouth is obviously the ‘birth place’ of dBs, having set up here some 23 years ago. The city is exceptionally important to us as an organisation and so we are so excited to join forces with ACC to provide students in the area with an exceptional learning experience in a wider curriculum. It provides the opportunity to be at the forefront of education provision in the digital and creative industries in Plymouth and the surrounding area.”

This announcement follows a significant 18 months for Access Creative College, during which it secured investment from Apiary Capital and welcomed the National College for the Creative Industries (NCCI) to its portfolio. ACC has also recently announced a number of new senior appointments, including former Minister of State for Universities Jo Johnson, as the college’s new chair, and former Ofsted inspector and Adult Learning Inspectorate Steve Stanley as Director of Evaluation and Impact.  

 

www.accesscreative.ac.uk 

 

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