Re: Hobsons, Skill et al
I am sorry to contribute so late to this discussion having just returned
from holiday today. It may be helpful if I clarify a few facts first about
our relationship with Hobsons generally and Higher Education and Disability
in particular.
1 The only ongoing arrangement we have with Hobsons is on Higher
Education and
Disability. While we have contributed to other publications these are
always individual arrangements. Higher Education and Disability is the
only publication which Skill takes any editorial responsibility for.
2 Skill raises sponsorship funding in order to pay for Higher
Education and Disability.
At the moment we are able to recoup some of this back from Hobsons from the
proceeds of advertising and from direct sales of the final publication.
3 Sponsorship funding can never be guaranteed. Because of a
difficulty experienced by
the sponsor who has funded us in previous years it was not possible for us
to fund Higher Education and Disability this year. However we do have
funding from them for next year, if we choose to go ahead with another
edition.
4 Higher Education and Disability is widely disseminated (it goes out
to all schools,
sixth forms, further education colleges, careers services and main public
libraries) and thus has an enormous print run. This makes the production
costs very high. Skill has calculated how much it might cost to produce
the document in-house. We estimate it would cost many thousand pounds more
than we currently raise in sponsorship.
Skill's main purpose in producing Higher Education and Disability is to
disseminate information on how to go about applying to higher education to
the 8000 schools, colleges etc mentioned above. We are well aware that
information on higher education institutions is available elsewhere.
However, advice on how to apply to higher education, what provision to
expect, and whether to disclose a disability is not widely available. The
listings and advert information is an added bonus for them that means they
do not have to look to other sources which may depend on access to the
internet.
So we are left with a dilemma: how to ensure up to date information reaches
potential applicants each year. Hobsons has provided the only viable route
so far. We could not have managed to produce the material and disseminate
it ourselves even with the sale of advertising. We annually review the
current arrangement and the alternatives. The advent of disability
statements has added a new dimension.
If you have any comments or suggestions please write directly to me by post
or e-mail ([log in to unmask]) Using disforum has highlighted
the issue and Skill is grateful to all of you. However I think direct
comments would also allow me to take this forward more productively now.
Sophie Corlett
Assistant Director, Skill
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