CREATIVE SPARK: HIGHER EDUCATION ENTERPRISE PROGRAMME APPLICATION GUIDELINES FOR PARTNERSHIP GRANTS 12 JULY 2018 1
1. CONTEXT The British Council is pleased to announce the launch of the Creative Spark: Higher Education Enterprise Programme, a five-year initiative to contribute to the development of the creative economy across Central Asia, the South Caucasus and Ukraine. This programme will be run with seven countries in partnership with the UK: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan. The programme has three key elements: 1. development of partnerships involving universities and creative institutions in the UK and those in programme countries in order to drive enterprise training in those seven partner countries including the establishment of enterprise centres. 2. delivering enterprise skills training packages to students and creative entrepreneurs, ranging from pitching ideas and starting a business, to protecting intellectual property and securing credit lines; 3. delivering an English Learning Programme with a range of new digital English language learning content including digital learning platforms, online courses and new Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) courses focused on English for entrepreneurship. In order to support higher education reform and to respond to unemployment rates in Wider Europe, the British Council will use the UK s experience in entrepreneurship education to deliver a programme aimed at developing enterprise education in universities, cities and in the partner countries, and in this way support over 10,000 students/graduates/young entrepreneurs in the first year. 2. SCOPE OF THE PARTNERSHIP GRANT E B These partnership grants will support the design and delivery of interventions that support the development of enterprise education in universities, cities and in the partner country, which will in the longer term contribute to reducing unemployment by strengthening creative industries in these countries. We are looking for applications that will address the following three themes: skills development for students and young creative entrepreneurs supporting new business activation and incubation knowledge exchange We expect UK universities or institutions to demonstrate credibility and expertise in one or more of the following four areas: training and experience / capacity building managing competition and awards providing business incubation services managing partnerships and joint programmes 2
The grant is designed to enhance existing partnerships or foster new ones between UK Higher Education Institutions, related national bodies in the creative sector and the equivalent institutions in the participating countries. Applications are also welcome from city level and non-governmental organisations that support the promotion of employment in the creative sector or play a key role in a creative industry. Funding will be available up to 50,000 per project. Applications for less than this are welcome. Applications must include a detailed rationale with the project purpose, action and budget plan for the following: Year 1: A detailed plan for the period October 2018 until July 2019, Year 2: A top level plan for period from September 2019 until July 2020, and Year 3-5: A sustainability plan that supports the continuation of the partnership for years 3-5 i.e. until July 2023 The extension of Year 1 funding is subject to signing off a progress report at the end of Year 1 (July 2019) and upcoming British Council funding opportunities to be announced. To support the partnerships, the British Council and partners will provide and fund the following two elements to be delivered in partner countries in Year 1 to kick start the programme: 1. Online English Learning Tools - The English Channel and British Council General English online courses The British Council s The English Channel platform will offer learning packs for improving English language skills and developing entrepreneurial skills. The learning pack content is video-based. The British Council will provide a more formal General English online course for students in partner universities who need additional support to enable their participation in Creative Spark project activities. Both of these should be promoted as part of the university partnership proposal, with an indicative target number of students to be reached. The British Council will develop and provide access to the English for Enterprise MOOC, and activities and resources within university-based English hubs will be delivered to beneficiaries in Year 2. *An English hub is a dedicated space set up in a college or university where students have access to English learning-focused resources and a chance to study with others or online, engage in practice activities, take part in conversation groups, read magazines or take part in additional training sessions focused on specific language skills. 3
3. 4. 2. Student Enterprise Award The British Council will run a Student Enterprise Award (Video Pitch Competition) a simultaneous multi-country online competition with a prize package of seed funding and mentorship awards. This will be a competition for students, graduates and young entrepreneurs across the seven programme countries which will take place on a British Council online platform in June/July 2019 and should be included in the activity proposal (partners are expected to work on the promotion and dissemination of the competition among the target groups and the selection of 10 finalists per partnership project). Event guidelines will follow. Other expectations from the partnerships Creative Enterprise Skills Programme Programme partners are expected to develop an intervention programme for student, graduates and young creative entrepreneurs to improve enterprise thinking and skills through training, capacity building and experience share. (1) Introductory sessions Programme designed by partners in order to create awareness on the concept, challenges and opportunities in creative economy, what creative entrepreneurship means, including case studies from the UK/local context to reach up to 500 students/graduates and/or young entrepreneurs (2) Enterprise skills Programme designed by partners to improve skills and capacity on creative entrepreneurship through diverse activities (e.g. master classes, live briefs, guest lecturers, booth camps, networking events..etc) Year 1 Compulsory Activity Activity Date Costs covered by Attendance at the Creative Spark Programme Partners Meeting in Tbilisi, Georgia w/c 19 November 2018 Partnership Grant (for travel, visa and other logistics costs of partners) Promotion of Online English Learning Tools among beneficiaries (The English Channel and General English online course) Introduction sessions (designed by partners) Enterprise Skills (designed by partners) Student Enterprise Award (Video Pitch Competition) October 2018 July 2019 November 2018 January 2019 November 2018 July 2019 June July 2019 (Event costs including venue, accommodation, meals will be covered by British Council) No cost Partnership Grant Partnership Grant British Council will cover all the competition and award costs. Partners are expected to work with British Council to promote the award for highest participation 4
2. ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA Eligibility of applicants: who can apply? UK and Partner Country University (or relevant institutions/institutes of the university) Local/National Foundations (with relevant focus and capacity to programme targets) Public bodies (Semi-governmental organisations working for city/national administrations with relevant focus) Non-governmental organisations Creative Hubs / Clusters / Innovation Centres The partnership must be formed between at least one of the identified organisations in the UK and at least one organisation in the programme country. The final version of the application must be submitted by the UK partner. Universities / local and national organisations in programme countries can initiate the partnership either with their existing UK partner or any other new potential partners in the UK. Partnerships may be one-to-one or involve a consortium (i.e. a small group of universities/institutions either from the UK or partner country). This must be a joint proposal in which the contribution of and benefits to both parties are clearly outlined. The partnership should allow for sharing best practice and learning from enterprise education and skills development for all parties. Both of the parties must have the capacity to administer the grant. Partnerships are intended to be self-sustaining once established. It is expected that plans will include how the partnership will be sustained after British Council funding has ended, including leveraging other sources of external funding. Each applicant should ensure that their proposal demonstrates: the likely impact on shared learning and capacity building in enterprise and creative entrepreneurship the strategic importance and impact in the programme country and the UK benefits to both parties value for money clear project objectives and anticipated impacts (e.g. contribution to skills development and employability) sustainability total expected audience communication and engagement strategy 5
3. FUNDING AND ELIGIBLE COSTS The grant will be disbursed directly to the UK lead institution according to the approved budget. The payment of the grant (90%) will be made on signature of the grant agreement in October 2018. Remaining amount (10%) will be provided based on the progress reported by the partners through the reporting procedure that will be provided by the British Council. Contracting and payment might take up to 2-6 weeks after notification, so partners may need to cover the initial activity cost through their own resources during that period. Creative Spark Partnership Grants can cover: Category Operational Costs Type Costs related to subsistence and travel (economy class) to the UK and partner countries Visa fees and medical insurance for travel to the UK and partner countries that is essential to collaboration Costs of meetings, training events and seminars integral to the collaboration. Basic catering costs associated with events or meetings directly relating to the collaboration This can include short-term room hire, hire of audio-visual equipment (projectors, etc.) and stationery supplies (flip-charts, etc.) Communications costs Publication costs directly related to the collaboration (design, editing, printing, photos, etc.) (Materials produced will be subject to British Council branding guidelines brand.britishcouncil.org) Translation and/or interpretation costs Use of telecommunications such as video / audio / web conferencing / live streaming Web page development by external providers, if appropriate Digital marketing and design costs (social media, content development, design of images, etc.) Human Resources costs Staff costs for personnel working directly on a grant-funded project: salaries and fees for temporary project management/assistant personnel, and other staff recruited to work solely on the project A proportion of staff costs for permanently employed staff of lead institutions - including salary-related taxes Other programme costs Consumables Specialist software licences essential to the collaboration (e.g. multimedia) Bank charges for transfer of funds from the lead institution to other partners 6
Any sub-granting to the local partner must be done as a grant transaction but not as a service contract. The British Council will not cover the cost of local input VAT on the sub-grant. The prime grant and any sub-grant must be demonstrably non-profit-making for the recipient. The British Council will not cover the cost of any corporate income tax on the grant / sub-grant. To ensure value for money, the budget requested in your proposal (including human resource costs) should cover only costs that are essential, appropriate and relevant to the collaboration. The proposal should maximise cost share through direct and indirect institutional contributions, in-kind funding, other funding sources, and private sector support. Partnerships and leveraged funding will be looked upon favourably as a demonstration of longlasting commitment to the programme. Programme participants with a disability or with particular travel requirements due to a health concern may need to select a different travel class. Exceptions to economy flights will be considered for disability, and other well-being and/or safety concerns. 4. SUBMISSION PROCESS The deadline for the submission of completed applications, including all supporting documentation (application form, senior management support, and approval from each partner organisation in an email or official letter) is 23.59 UK time on 8 October 2018. Proposals submitted after the deadline will not be considered for funding. The deadline applies to all parts of the application. This includes uploading fully completed supporting documentation. Any applications which are not submitted in full by the deadline with all required supporting documents will be considered ineligible. Appeals against this decision will not be considered. The final version of the application must be submitted using the online form. If you experience problems with the online submission system, please contact creativespark@britishcouncil.org and British Council country offices before the submission deadline. If you alert us to technical issues only after the deadline, we may not be able to take them into consideration when assessing the eligibility of the application. Applications must be in English and budgeted in GBP. To assist in developing the application and sharing content with partners, applicants can access a Word version of the online form on programme website. This is solely to allow applicants to develop their proposals in a convenient format. The final version of the application must be submitted using the online form. The programme team will hold a guidance webinar on applications in September 2018. This will be announced on the programme website and British Council social media accounts in programme countries. 7
5. SELECTION PROCESS Selection begins with an eligibility check by the British Council programme staff against the eligibility criteria and assessment criteria (see below). A quality review will be conducted by a panel of experts which will determine a panel score, rank applications and make recommendations for funding. The review panel will consider whether proposals are of high quality (being intellectually innovative with a sustainable partnership model), well-focused and methodologically sound, and whether the activity has the potential to have a real impact on economic development and building a local creative industry ecosystem and social welfare in the partner country. Proposals will be quality assessed against the criteria in Section 11, resulting in a total score between 0 and 40 Successful applicants will be notified by 22 October 2018, and activity is expected to start from 22 October 2018 (contracting and payments to be completed 2-6 weeks after notification). All successful partnerships (up to two representatives from each partnership) should attend the Creative Spark Programme Meeting in Georgia during the week of 19 November 2019. Details to follow. 6. MONITORING AND EVALUATION All successful partnerships will be required to submit a programme report at the end of the Year 1 Programme Period (July 2019) (including a financial report) demonstrating how far and in what ways the initial project objectives have been satisfactorily achieved and providing a proposal for Year 2 of partnership delivery. This will be managed by the British Council evaluation partner organisation. The monitoring and evaluation mechanism, tools and reporting mechanism will be provided for the awarded partnerships. 7. EQUAL OPPORTUNITY AND DIVERSITY The British Council is committed to equal opportunities and diversity in all our activities. This includes avoidance of bias due to gender, disability, racial or ethnic origin, sexual orientation, or religious belief. Applicants are therefore encouraged to include participation by under-represented groups in the teams implementing their proposed activities. Applicants may apply for funding to cover extra costs for such participation, for example, for people with disabilities who may otherwise not be able to participate or for childcare. Please describe any action you are taking to encourage diversity on your application form. Applicants are expected to calculate the necessary costs to cover this inclusion clearly in the budget request in the application. For more on the British Council s approach, see our Equality Policy at: https://www.britishcouncil.org/sites/default/files/equality_policy_1.doc 8
8. DATA PROTECTION The British Council will use the information that you are providing for the purposes of processing your application, making any awards, monitoring and reviewing any award. Organisation details, where collected, are used for monitoring and evaluation and statistical purposes. Gender information, where collected, is used solely in preparing statistical reports. Under UK data protection law, you have the right to ask for a copy of the information we hold on you, and the right to ask us to correct any inaccuracies in that information. If you want more information about this, please contact your local British Council office or the Data Protection Team at inforgovernance@britishcouncil.org or see our website: http://www.britishcouncil.org/privacy-cookies/data-protection. 9. CONTRACTUAL REQUIREMENTS The contracting authority is the British Council, which includes any subsidiary companies and other organisations that control or are controlled by the British Council from time to time (see: www.britishcouncil.org/organisation/structure/status). The successful applicants will be expected to undertake activities in the UK and in one of the seven Creative Spark: Higher Education Enterprise Partnership Programme partner countries. A grant agreement including terms and conditions will be issued to successful applicants. The British Council reserves the right not to make any changes to the grant agreement. 10. APPLICATION DETAILS The online application requires applicants to complete the following sections: 1. ORGANISATION DETAILS (max 5 points) Only UK-registered organisations are eligible to apply on behalf of the lead and partner organisation. Please provide all required information, including the contact details of both teams, and the organisations relevant experience (with links to past projects) in enterprise education and engagement in the creative industry. 2. STRATEGIC VISION (max 10 points) Please summarise why you are applying for the Creative Spark Partnership Grant, how your project contributes to developing the creative enterprise sector and addresses capacity building, institutional development and job creation for young people in the identified partner country (please refer to the core 3 themes in Section 2) and how you will reflect on equal rights, gender inequality and social inclusion as part of the design of your partnership. Please include any potential risks that might be expected and a mitigation plan. We are looking for applications that will address the following three themes: skills development for students and young creative entrepreneurs supporting new business activation and incubation 9
knowledge exchange 3. PROJECT PLAN (max 10 points) Please provide a project plan with a timeline, activities, indicators, target beneficiaries with numbers, and planned arrangements. The British Council components below should be embedded in the project plan: Introductory Sessions to be developed by partners Enterprise Skills Programme to be developed by partners Online English Learning tools to promote and use Student Enterprise Award (Video Pitch Competition) Programme Meeting in Tbilisi, Georgia (w/c Nov 2018) 4. SUSTAINABILITY AND PARTNERSHIPS (max 10 points) Please include any plans for the sustainability of the programme for Programme Years 2-5 (i.e. until the summer of 2023) and please include any information on leveraging additional investment from your organisations / external partners. 5. PROJECT BUDGET (max 5 points) Based on the eligible costs identified, please provide a clear and realistic budget plan for the project delivery (up to 50,000 for Year 1) including breakdown of the spent in the UK and in the partner country. (the Year 2 funding details and application procedure will be shared in due course). The maximum score a proposal can receive is 40 points. 10