Royal Birmingham Conservatoire to become Associate Faculty

Royal Birmingham Conservatoire will return to its roots by standing alone as an ‘associate’ faculty.

This means RBC will no longer be embedded within the Faculty of Arts, Design and Media and, instead, will become structurally independent.

The initial transfer-out date will take place on 1 June. At the same time, RBC will undergo a review, due to be completed by the end of the financial year.

The review will assess the efficiency of RBC’s teaching, identifying opportunities to modernise as well as recommending any operational changes necessitated by the move out of ADM.

Principal Stephen Maddock will continue to lead RBC, and will now directly report into Vice-Chancellor Professor David Mba. And, although RBC will no longer form part of ADM, Stephen and Pro Vice-Chancellor and Executive Dean of ADM, Professor Dean Hughes will continue to collaborate on research activity; RBC will also maintain back-end administration and quality assurance processes with ADM. Professor Mba explained:

“This marks an exciting step for BCU and RBC, and is a move that will ensure the Conservatoire remains both resilient and competitive. We believe it is in our interests for RBC to match its organisational structure with competing conservatoires.

“By doing so, we will give RBC the independence it needs to develop its teaching, maximise opportunities to increase capacity, and unlock additional funding streams.”

Principal Stephen Maddock added: “I’ve been at RBC for a year, and I’m enthused about our potential to grow and attract the best students.

“Nevertheless, for a conservatoire operating in 2024, it’s critical that we can react to fast-changing times, and that we can overcome the challenges faced by the arts sector.”

The move out of ADM would see RBC once again operate as an independent unit within the overarching university structure – this hasn’t been the case since 2009, when the Conservatoire was based at Paradise Forum.