Provider name: Point Blank Ltd.
UKPRN: 10019178
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TEF 2023 – Point Blank Limited
1. Provider context
1.1 Educational Mission and Strategic Aims
Point Blank is an independent, specialist provider of higher education in the UK, with international
provision of diplomas, certificates and short courses. With Music Schools in London, Los Angeles,
Ibiza, Mumbai and China, Point Blank creates a global learning community of music industry
professionals. This submission focuses on the teaching excellence of the Higher Education
programmes delivered at the London School and aims to showcase the outstanding student
experience and student outcomes we provide for our students.
Point Blank was founded in 1994 as a commercial recording studio. When an
increasing number of recording clients began to ask how the equipment worked, Cowan developed
an intensive music production course that clients could complete over a weekend. What followed
was the development of a full catalogue of short courses centred around professional, industry-
relevant skills, and thus the Point Blank ethos for education was born.
Grounded in state-of-the-art facilities, and industry-centred teaching, our educational provision then
evolved first into Further Education, and beyond into Higher Education online in 2012, and on
campus in 2016. The organic growth and expansion of the provision has presented several unique
and valuable opportunities for all stakeholders, one of which is the authentic and incubatory
educational community. Offering professional qualifications and short courses alongside Higher
Education provision empowers students and staff alike to engage in projects and discussions with a
broad range of people and practices. Students benefit from being exposed to the ways of working
presented within the core curriculum, and also through the industry microcosm offered by our global
community. This works to equip our students with professional and academic skills and knowledge,
and they begin to exercise their learning in a safe space where they can explore their practice openly
and within defined academic outcomes.
Our Higher Education community is not limited to our students and academic staff. Where other
providers seek to reach out to industry for employment-centred learning, we are unique in the way
we emerged from and with the industry. Our long-established partnerships with industry
manufacturers including PioneerDJ, Ableton and Native Instruments enable us to offer our students
access to the wider, current industry. Working closely with those at the forefront of the industry
empowers our students and graduates to shape the future of the industry by leading positive change
and helps them to find success in a highly competitive field.
Our educational mission is to prepare and support students from all backgrounds, for a successful
career in the music industry through accessing a diverse, global community and a student
experience which is unmatched in creativity and innovation; the latest state-of-the-art facilities; and
teaching excellence delivered by educators who are also active and relevant in the industry. We
meet this mission through enacting strategies with the following aims:
• To develop engaging and innovative higher education and vocational creative arts
programmes to enable students to contribute significantly to the creative industries;
• To employ an attitude for continuous improvement when it comes to enhancing the student
experience, and supporting our students to reach their full potential;
• To create strategic partnerships with key creative industry representatives and maintain
strong internal links with the industry through the recruitment and retention of talented staff
with extensive industry experience;
Provider name: Point Blank Ltd.
UKPRN: 10019178
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• To support widening participation objectives and global creativity by welcoming a diverse
range of students and strengthening our open-minded, dynamic and pioneering academic
community;
• To raise awareness of the value of the independent higher education sector and creative
industries education by engaging with the music industry; HE sector consultations and
national policymakers.
1.2 Size and Shape of Provision
A leader in specialist music education, we have cultivated an international reputation for highly
engaging, employability-focused, skills-centred education and now have 858 students on our higher
education programmes in the UK. These programmes are validated by Middlesex University via a
collegiate partnership, whereby we enjoy a supportive and symbiotic relationship with the University.
This partnership sees support from the University on aspects of quality assurance including
programme validation, annual monitoring, and admissions processes such as Recognition of Prior
Learning. In turn, Point Blank offers to the University its expertise, value and proficiency in the
development of creative education, and embedding industry and employability within the curriculum,
by participating in their departmental committees and other activities.
Our HE programmes are offered within one specialist subject area, music, with refined sub-
specialisms per programme, developed to reflect the career aspirations of the students. These
include music production, sound engineering, DJ performance, vocal performance, radio
broadcasting, and music industry management. With 3-year, 2-year accelerated, and Certificate of
Higher Education options, students are supported in finding the education route to their professional
careers that is right for them and their development.
The courses within the scope of this submission are:
• BA(Hons) Music Production and Sound Engineering (3-year and 2-year accelerated)
• BA(Hons) Music Production and DJ Performance (3-year and 2-year accelerated)
• BA(Hons) Music Production and Vocal Performance (3-year and 2-year accelerated)
• BA(Hons) Music Industry Management
• CertHE Music Production and Sound Engineering
• CertHE Music Production and DJ Performance
• CertHE Music Production and Vocal Performance
• CertHE Radio, Audio and Podcasting
• Foundation Year (integrated access year to the BA courses).
We are currently developing two new programmes to be launched in the 2024/25 academic year.
These will introduce new topics within our provision and broaden our engagement with industry.
Although these courses are not in scope of this submission, they provide an insight into our strategic
direction. The programmes in development include:
• BA(Hons) Songwriting; and
• BSc(Hons) Audio Software Development.
The development of these programmes will introduce new skillsets into our community of learners,
offering new opportunities for collaboration for all our students. The Audio Software Development
programme is particularly innovative and is being developed with key music industry software and
hardware manufacturers Focusrite, Ableton, Beatport among others. As the first Bachelor of Science
award within our provision, this will offer a unique opportunity for our students to contribute to industry
practices from a whole new perspective.
Provider name: Point Blank Ltd.
UKPRN: 10019178
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most students
hold entry profiles containing BTEC, UAL and other Level 3 qualifications including access and
foundation courses. These vocational entry profiles, most often, make for highly technically proficient
students who need more support to boost their confidence academically. Fortunately, due to our
relatively small student numbers, we are better equipped to learn and understand the different needs
of our students, in a way that larger institutions cannot. We provide individual, personalised feedback
to all students, and tailor the support provision to their needs.
As a global institution with an international reputation, we have previously welcomed a large
proportion of international students, with some cohorts comprised of as much as 40% international
students. Over recent years, however, due to Brexit and the global pandemic, this number has
reduced 26% in 2020-21, however, this coincides with an increase
due to the increase in our validated online provision.
1.3 Submission Process
We prepared for this submission in three phases:
• Data analysis;
• Consultation;
• Write-up.
Phase 1: Data Analysis
Phase 1 started with the review of the TEF indicator data and from that analysis, specific areas for
comment were highlighted. This was cross-referenced with the Size and Shape of provision data,
also publicly available on the OfS website, to extract any information that either supports the TEF
indicators directly or provides nuance. We also made reference to internal documents including:
• Programme Voice Group minutes;
• Point Blank Annual Survey results;
• Module Evaluation Questionnaire results;
• Committee minutes;
• External examiners reports;
• Access and Participation Plan progress reports;
• Educational Monitoring and Enhancement Reports (EMER);
• Student feedback.
Phase 2: Consultation
Once particular areas of note were established and the indicators were understood, phase 2 was
implemented. During this phase, the Head of Quality and Assessments worked with staff to delve
deeper into the practices and processes and assess how these impact our student experience and
student outcomes. This included covering areas of:
• Curriculum development;
• Student services and support;
• Access and Participation;
• Assessments and marking;
• Extra-curricular activities;
• Industry engagement;
• Networking and job opportunities.
Phase 3: Write Up
Provider name: Point Blank Ltd.
UKPRN: 10019178
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The activities then culminated in phase 3, in which the overall submission was written up by the
Head of Quality and Assessments. We took a multi-stakeholder approach to this phase, with input
received from key staff at a range of levels, including:
• Managing Director (Head of Institution);
• General Manager;
• Head of Education;
• Head of Marketing;
• Access and Participation Manager.
2. Student experience
2.1 Teaching
As evidenced in the TEF indicator data, feedback from our students shows they are highly satisfied
with the teaching on their programme with the indicator of 86.7% satisfaction; materially above the
benchmark of 81.5%. It is particularly notable that the indicators do not significantly differ between
student groups, for example, between students of different genders, ages, or IMD quintiles. Our
students particularly appreciate the personalised approach we take to the delivery of the
programmes. All students are given the space to receive real-time, dedicated feedback through small
class sizes of circa 16 students, one-to-one tutorials, and masterclasses. Delivering the curriculum
in this way allows students to glean relevant and targeted input into their learning and development,
nurturing their specific talents and enacting early intervention of any skills gaps or challenges
experienced by them as individuals. Some direct feedback from students on this includes the
following statement from a music production student:
“I never missed a masterclass or 1-2-1[Tutorial]. [The lecturer] was there to push us in a good
way, to show our work during [the] masterclass exercises if we wanted...[but] not forcing us
to show if we didn't want to. It was more about [encouraging us to share and not be shy.]”
(Module Evaluation Questionnaire 2022), (Edited for clarity and conciseness).
One of the key features of our outstanding teaching and learning experience is its industry relevance,
which benefits our students by providing industry preparation and work readiness. This is achieved
by employing lecturers who are great educators as well as current industry professionals. Their
relevance in the contemporary industry allows students to gain an insight into how the industry works,
in a way that would otherwise only be available through internships or other direct employment in
the industry. At Point Blank, students do not have to choose between industry experience and higher
education, because here they are one and the same. This goes a long way to achieve our mission
to support students from all socio-economic backgrounds as it enables them to access industry-
centred learning and to develop real workplace skills, without taking on an unpaid internship, which
might be beyond their means. Feedback from our External Examiners supports the curriculum
design:
“The course design ensures that a broad array of current and relevant skills [are] taught and
developed within the audio world. The content covers all the major areas within a sector that
traditionally sustains portfolio career workers; placing graduates well to enter a sustainable
career. Students often enter a degree only aware of a narrow field of work: for example,
studio engineering or electronic production: the course exposes students to areas such as
Audio for Games and Mastering that they might not have considered on entry.” (J.M, External
Examiner, Music Production and Sound Engineering, 2022).
Further to our in-house lecturers, we also actively engage industry professionals and employers in
developing the curriculum, from the point of programme validation to generating digital content. A
Provider name: Point Blank Ltd.
UKPRN: 10019178
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prime example of this is in the recent development and validation of the Music Production and Vocal
Performance programme. One of the key drivers for this programme was commentary from industry
professionals, start-up artists, and prospective students expressing challenges faced by vocalists
during the pandemic where they could no longer receive production and studio support for their work.
They wanted to feel empowered to take control of their own recording processes, and learn the
essential skills required to do so. The Music Production and Vocal Performance programme solves
this problem, and the input from two industry professionals supported the validity of and need for the
programme. Industry input came from a professional vocal coach working with high-profile artists,
and a professional vocalist and higher education specialist. These industry experts provided
invaluable critique ahead of the validation panel and assessed the proposed learning outcomes of
the programme and advised on their appropriateness for developing professional skills for the
industry.
Our process for creating content for all modules is especially designed to ensure industry-relevance
and teaching excellence. Internal and external developers are commissioned to create content
across the schemes of work of programmes, as well as additional high-value content for the Virtual
Learning Environment (VLE). This most often includes video tutorial content, where a specific creator
is commissioned for a particular module based on their area of expertise. The quality of this content,
and the consistency between content made by many contributors, is ensured via a stringent training,
testing and assessment process. A proforma video is first shared with the creator to standardise the
approach among contributors, followed by training sessions on how to use the screen sharing
software. The creator is then required to create a short test video to demonstrate their proficiency
with the recording software; the suitability of their content; and the appropriateness of their delivery
tone and style. This is then approved by the module leader and the creator can begin creating the
content. Once the content is submitted, our in-house digital team edit the video to remove errors and
superfluous footage, add Point Blank’s branding and any other necessary text information to give
the polished, professional result. The above process is applied to all learning content that is
commissioned to internal and external developers, including written course notes, quizzes, project
demonstrations, and audio examples. Applying this quality assurance process to content creation
supports teaching excellence through ensuring a high standard of content for all modules and
programmes and enables us to achieve parity across the student experience.
Another area of activity that supports teaching excellence for our students is the diverse range of
input offered through the programmes themselves via in-class masterclasses, which give students
direct contact with industry experts. These sessions are arranged by the module lecturer, sourcing
guests from their own industry contacts (or those shared amongst our staff body) and are offered in
an interview-style format. This involves the module lecturer leading the session, asking questions to
direct the conversation and outcomes of the discussion, while supporting students in asking their
own questions to foster a higher level of thinking. These sessions are recorded, edited by our in-
house digital content team, and made available to all students on the Virtual Learning Environment.
This not only gives students the opportunity to rewatch the session after the event but also allows
for cross-disciplinary engagement with the content as students on other programmes can also
access the recordings.
Further to in-class masterclasses, all students also have access to extra-curricular masterclasses
that are offered across all disciplines. Again, the guests are sourced through the institution’s industry
relationships as well as the contacts of individual staff and are invited to prepare and deliver a
masterclass on their area of expertise. These masterclasses are advertised and bookable via the
Student Dashboard and are also recorded for on-demand viewing on the VLE after the event. This
enables and encourages students to stretch their thinking and understanding of broader concepts,
Provider name: Point Blank Ltd.
UKPRN: 10019178
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including specific technical elements of industry standard practices, as well as the social and political
landscape of the industry.
Overall, our approach to learning and teaching develops our students holistically as professionals.
From gaining academic skills and knowledge, to personal and professional development, the
structure and delivery of the curriculum supports well-rounded, versatile graduates. In a recent
survey about professional development and experiences at Point Blank (sent to 500 students with
484 responses), the effect of this was evidenced in the following student feedback:
“It helped me personally, it helped me become more confident, it helped me feel like I can
aim the sky's the limit … So, everything that I'm learning now I didn’t know before… and now
I feel confident in all areas of music, behind the scenes, behind the computer and also like in
the centre singing. So, it’s given me that versatility… it’s helped me get connections and the
music I'm making now, I'm making it with people that I met at Point Blank, and I've finally
found the sound that I wanted, so it’s helped me achieve goals in my career, in my academic
life and in my personal life.” (Anonymous student via the Music Futures survey May 2022).
2.2 Assessment and Feedback
The pedagogical approach to our learning and teaching strategy is assessment for learning.
Students receive feedback at multiple points across a module, in several ways, in order to measure
their progress ahead of the formal summative assessment. These feedback opportunities include in-
class feedback (possible due to the small class sizes as detailed in section 2.1); one-to-one sessions;
formative assessments; and the online forum(s). The online forum(s), made available via the VLE,
is the most innovative method for feedback, as it aims to model the ways in which student engage
with information and self-directed learning online via popular sites such as Discord and Reddit. There
is one forum per module, and an overall student forum, where students can upload files and start
threads on specific issues and discussion topics. They can receive real-time, informal feedback from
their lecturers in this way, with the feedback remaining visible to all students to apply to their own
work. As all students on the module (and all students across the institution in the overall forum) are
involved in the forum, they can also give and receive feedback to their peers and enhance their
understanding through the practice of explaining it to someone else.
We have consistently received commendations from our External Examiners regarding the quality
of feedback within the summative assessments including the following from an External Examiner at
a recent Board:
“There is good constructive feedback provided and the consistency in the manner feedback
is provided in clear relation to the learning outcomes is good for the students to help them
better understand the relevance of their feedback to the module more broadly.”
External Examiner, Music Production and Sound Engineering, 2022).
Feedback throughout each module can be traced through each stage of the teaching period and into
the marking of the summative assessments, as noted by one of our External Examiners:
“Feedback is linked to formative feedback previously given, which is excellent.” External
Examiner, Music Production and DJ Performance, 2022).
Another way in which ‘assessment for learning’ is employed across the programmes is through the
industry framing of the assessments. All assessment briefs are designed to recreate real-life, music
industry scenarios and students are encouraged to approach them as if set by a client. These aim
to measure the students’ understanding of the subject matter as well as support them in developing
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UKPRN: 10019178
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the ‘soft skills’ that will be required in the workplace (I.e., communication skills, working in a team,
project management and prioritisation). This goes further in the collaborative projects for the core
modules. Core modules are shared across programmes and call for collaborative work to be carried
out within the assessments. This brings together students of all disciplines to work together, as they
would in industry, to create a professional standard product end-to-end.
There are also opportunities for students in different programmes to collaborate across modules and
programmes, including across the Higher Education and professional programmes. For example,
students on the BA(Hons) Music Industry Management programme collaborate with students on the
professional Music Production and Vocal Performance diploma in their Live Industry and Showcase
modules, respectively. This collaboration sees the curation, organisation, and operation of a
professional-standard live event, in which the BA(Hons) Music Industry Management students are
responsible for the budgeting; booking; venue liaison; health and safety; artist liaison; promotion;
and coordination of the event. Working with the professional students gives our HE students the
opportunity to develop the skills required to navigate the social and political aspects of working on a
live event and introduces them to the processes and realities of this type of environment.
We take clarity, transparency, and relevancy within the assessment and assessment processes very
seriously. Being a small, independent institution, we benefit from an agility which larger institutions
lack and so can respond to student feedback and action changes swiftly. In the 2020 NSS, students
noted that they did not always understand how some of the module assessments support their
professional development. To remedy this and better contextualise the assessments within our
students’ career aspirations, all assessment briefs now include a section on the purpose and context
of what they are required to do.
Our quality assurance processes within assessment and marking also work to assure our students
receive an outstanding experience. Each term, the Module Leaders run an assessment brief
calibration event, where all module lecturers get together to ensure they all approach the assessment
from the same perspective and agree on the approaches to support. They then hold marking
standardisation events at the start of the marking period, to establish the standards of work expected
within each grade level, per the grading frameworks of our regulations. At the end of the first marking,
all marking is then moderated by another internal party. The effectiveness of this is consistently
commended by our External Examiners, who have said the following in relation to our assessments
and marking:
“Assessment was fair, and there were numerous examples of assessment decisions being
challenged by the moderation process, and, in some cases, grades amended, showing the
process as a vital mechanism for maintaining appropriate standards: Moderation appeared
very robust.” External Examiner, Music Production and Sound Engineering, 2022).
“I did see an example where a moderator has submitted a change of grade backed up by
good arguments, which shows the robustness of the moderation and grading system”
External Examiner, Music Production and DJ Performance, 2022).
2.3 Academic Support
As noted in the Teaching section above, the delivery modes of the programme lend themselves
exceptionally well to tailoring academic support to individual students. For example, where a lecturer
identifies a gap in a student’s academic skills, or perhaps notices that a student is particularly anxious
about their academic skills, the lecturer can refer the student to academic skills workshops. These
workshops were developed following student feedback, and internal monitoring of student progress,
and were designed to mitigate the barriers many of our students face when it comes to accessing
Provider name: Point Blank Ltd.
UKPRN: 10019178
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academic study skills. Around 75% of our students enter Higher Education programmes from a
vocational Level 3 (BTEC or other diploma) or access route, and 25.5% are international students.
As such, our student body consists of highly technically proficient students who often need slightly
more targeted support when it comes to developing their academic skills for higher education.
This is further reflected in the development and operation of our Academic Success Centre. The
Academic Success Centre is dedicated to supporting student success through monitoring and
intervening in cases of students at risk. We use multiple data sources including on-campus
attendance, online attendance, VLE activity, and engagement with our internal counselling services
to monitor student participation and to flag concerns and risks. Where risks are found, personalised
risk intervention plans are put in place for the student. A common theme among the students at risk
is concern for their academic progression, which often stems from their own anxiety around
understanding and meeting the academic requirements of the programme. As such, the personalised
interventions most often include one-to-one tutorial sessions with the Academic Success Centre
Manager. In these sessions, students receive personalised feedback and support to prepare and
develop their assessments. This does not include support with the content of the assignment, but
support in how to structure it; how to think critically; how to reference; and how to write in appropriate
academic language. Engagement with these sessions is high (around 80% per week) and of those
under intervention, 73% submitted their reassessments and first attempt assessments and were
successful in the Autumn 22/23 term.
An interesting insight provided by the TEF indicator data was that the indicators were not significantly
different across student groups (e.g. age, disability, IMD quintile) other than in the indicator for female
students. The data shows that our female students feel the most supported academically. Although
the wide confidence interval must be noted, this does go some way to support the effectiveness of
our strategies for widening the participation of female students in music production. The
masterclasses we offer are delivered by men and women and, importantly, the women-led
masterclasses cover topics that can and should be relevant to all students. This is important to note
as providers often run the risk of only creating platforms for women to talk about being women, as
opposed to offering their professional expertise in their subject area as the male contributors would.
The Foundation Year programme was developed in 2019 following a review of the entry profiles of
HE applicants. It became apparent that an alternative entry arrangement was required in recognition
of the different starting points of our students and prospective students. This was particularly the
case for students from low-participation backgrounds, and minority ethnic students. We found that
prospective students from these backgrounds may not have had the same opportunity to meet the
entry requirements of the Level 4 to Level 6 programme, particularly where technical skills
development requires access to expensive equipment. The Foundation Year offers students the
opportunity to build confidence in their technical proficiency as performers, technicians, and
producers, as well as their academic skills. With the changes to the national curriculum over recent
years, prospective students from lower socio-economic backgrounds will often have attended
secondary schools which were not able to offer arts subjects (due to funding or other difficulties). As
such, the Foundation Year serves those who may not have had the opportunity to study music prior
to Higher Education can use the Foundation Year to hone the skills they developed through self-
study and transition more effectively into a degree programme.
The incubation of talent is not limited to our students; our lecturers are also provided with extensive
training and continuing professional development. When the opportunity to study full Bachelor's
degrees in person was introduced in 2016, we supported our senior teaching staff at the time to
complete a Postgraduate Certificate in Higher Education. This was to support their transition from
being industry professionals who teach professional qualifications, to being higher education
Provider name: Point Blank Ltd.
UKPRN: 10019178
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academics. It was a catalyst for an entire shift in the lecturers’ approach to learning and teaching,
resulting in an environment in which teaching staff seek to critically reflect on their practices. They
employ an attitude for continuous improvement within themselves as individuals and apply this to
developing the curriculum and learning resources.
An example of a change driven by academic staff development was the inception of the ‘Introduction
to teaching Higher Education at Point Blank’ module. The staff who completed the Postgraduate
Certificate in Higher Education developed this module that all academic staff must now complete as
part of their induction. It is delivered over five weeks, covering the following:
• Week One: the fundamentals of Higher Education and the structure of learning in Higher
Education;
• Week Two: Theories of learning and pedagogical approaches;
• Week Three: Developing as a lecturer, including planning and structuring learning activities;
• Week Four: Assessment, including how to assess learning, and how to create assessments
that align with learning outcomes;
• Week Five: Lecturing at Point Blank, including timelines and schedules, and how to use the
systems etc.
The module mirrors the content of the full Postgraduate Certificate in Higher Education course, and
in addition is structured in a similar way to initial teacher training short courses. It applies the
concepts and pedagogy within the Point Blank context. It was established in October 2021 and so
far, has been completed by twenty new members of teaching staff. It has worked to build confidence
in the lecturing team and to standardise the active and experiential pedagogical approach to our
learning and teaching. The completion of this module ensures a high-quality baseline of teaching
from the beginning of a lecturer’s appointment; however, it also serves as a useful resource where
needed within the teaching staff observation process (please see below).
Teaching staff are observed annually and when they are teaching a new module to assess their
classroom practices, after which the individual staff member receives feedback, commendations and
recommendations. In the event that a member of staff requires a re-observation, the ‘Introduction to
Teaching...’ module can serve as a re-induction and a supportive resource to help realign the
lecturer’s practice. This has not yet been necessary and going forward, we are now using the module
as part of the lecturer induction.
Further to the development of teaching, assessment and marking skills specifically, teaching staff
are also offered support in developing skills in broader areas. Both academic staff and professional
services staff are invited to quarterly Away Days to:
• Team build;
• Share good practice;
• Share new ideas.
The Away Days are assigned a theme relating to a current strategic directive (e.g. widening
participation, or developing the learning spaces), and staff work together to develop ideas and
initiatives within those themes. This works to create a connection between our departments, and
give our staff a voice in the development of the institution.
2.4 Learning Resources
We pride ourselves on providing students access to state-of-the-art, industry standard equipment
and software as normal practice. In addition to time spent during their scheduled class times,
students can also access the facilities in their own time to work on their assessed projects, and
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personal/ professional projects. This is, overall, very well received by our students, as reflected in
our internal student feedback:
“…the fact that you’ve got 30 or 40 thousand pounds worth of equipment in the studio you
can hire out for free… is just insane” (Anonymous student, Music Futures Survey, 2022.)
Learning Resources is the only indicator within the TEF data that falls below the benchmark for Point
Blank. It was expected that this would be the case, due to the feedback we have received internally
via our internal Point Blank Annual Survey. As an alternative provider of practice-based programmes,
we often find a disjuncture between student feedback on learning resources and the resources we
provide. When considering the learning resources and facilities questions in surveys, our students
tend first to consider the buildings in which their classes are held and their feedback most often
concerns the physical learning space, centred around the heating and air-conditioning of the
buildings. The word ‘library’ also paints a specific picture and does not lead students to consider the
alternative formats library spaces and resources can take. However, such feedback has been one
of the most important drivers in the campus expansion project at the Penn Street location. Although
we do in fact have a library with relevant curated books on the shelves and workstations for private
study, plans to improve our library facilities are included in the campus expansion.
The campus expansion project is a multi-million-pound investment in our physical learning
environment funded entirely by Point Blank Music School. This project is focussed on making major
enhancements to the student experience including:
• Library – we have made provision for an upgraded library facility including apportioning an
increased budget to this area for books, industry periodicals, and academic journals. This is
a more ‘typical’ library space where students can study quietly and independently. We have
consulted with the students on the layout and design of this space and are confident they will
enjoy this area. The additional space will empower us to diversify the types of resources we
currently offer. We expect this work to improve our students’ perceptions of the library
learning resources and increase the satisfaction rate gleaned in future NSS. We are
particularly excited about the prospects this presents regarding our Academic Success
Programme. Having a larger, and more conventional library space will provide the perfect
supportive environment to our at-risk students. This new space will be particularly valuable
cohorts from low socio-economic backgrounds who do not otherwise have access to quiet
spaces, technology or bandwidth.
• The studio classrooms - state-of-the-art, intimate learning settings with a maximum of 16-
20 students per studio – pictured below. The studios include industry-leading equipment such
as Solid State Logic mixing consoles, Pro Tools HD, plus individual MAC workstations with
the latest industry standard music-making software. The DJ Studios feature Pioneer DJ
equipment, known around the world as industry–leading in its field and with whom Point Blank
has a long standing and fruitful relationship.
Two further singing studios have been included in the expansion to support the Music
Production & Vocal Performance degree course which launched in Sept 2022. This course
has contributed to increasing our student cohort.
In total there will be 16 brand new studios within the campus expansion allowing the students
to be taught in comfort with fantastic facilities curated by our team which outshine our
competitors.
• Small private practice studios – designed to allow students to work on their practical
assignments outside of lecture hours, these studios resemble small recording studios, again
featuring industry standard equipment.
• Breakout spaces – following feedback from staff and students alike we have made provision
for more breakout spaces designed for small meetings where privacy is important, whether
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between staff members or staff and students. We fully recognise the need to support and
comfort those who need privacy and discretion whether talking about academic, financial,
domestic or mental health issues.
• Auditorium/performance area – This is a communal space where the students can meet
up, socialise, network, collaborate and relax but also doubles up as a performance area and
nightclub with a stage, lighting rig and sound system. This area is where the students take
part in the regular termly performances scheduled as part of their courses e.g., singing
students perform, DJ students play their sets etc and will also be used for Open Days,
masterclasses, student collaborations and special guest lectures.
• Staff room – this has also been added following feedback as there previously was not a
space available for this purpose in our current premises. This new space will encourage
cross-departmental relationships, deeper discussions in sharing good practice and problem
solving, as staff will be able to converse freely without disturbing staff members at their desks.
In order to ensure this project will meet the requests of our students, we engaged the Student Officers
(please see the Student Voice section below for further information on Student Officers) in engaging
their peers in feedback on the expansion proposals. Feedback gleaned from one student officer
included input from 45 students and expressed that:
“General feedback was that students were excited to see more independent study spaces
and even more excited about the idea of the stage and a coffee bar...”
We found that students were already inspired by the plans with the Student Officer citing that:
“A few students even went on to start thinking up events that could be run using the stage.”
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UKPRN: 10019178
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The indicator data, via NSS scores, also does not allow for differentiation between the types of
learning resource available. We have a completely bespoke Virtual Learning Environment (VLE), on
which all online learning resources are held including lecture notes, recommended reading, lecture
recordings and any other resources set by the lecturers and module leaders. The VLE is developed
and maintained by our internal development team, which enables us to continually review and
improve our systems and processes in line with sector changes and student feedback.
Each module is designed to a blueprint to ensure consistency across modules and ensure easy
navigation through the information. As a provider with 21.7% of students having an additional need
or disability, this works as an anticipatory adjustment and makes the information as engaging as
possible.
A particularly innovative and effective part of the digital systems we offer is the Student Dashboard.
Upon logging in, students view a personalised dashboard that provides them easy access to:
• Their individual timetable;
• A calendar of assessment deadlines with links to the related module pages;
• One-to-one bookings; and more.
The image below shows an example of the student dashboard.
Students can keep track of their progress through the programme with the visual ease presented by
the progress wheels (please see the colouring of specific circles in the image above). Having all
relevant information accessible from one central, easy-to-use location works to minimise any
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potential frustration students may feel when finding what they need, freeing their time and mental
space for learning and processing their learning.
The Student Dashboard and VLE has received excellent feedback from the External Examiners, who
use the platform to review the samples of student work. The External Examiner for the Music Industry
Management programme described it as:
“Outstanding...transparent, extremely well organised and effective with a wealth of
resources.” External Examiner, Music Industry Management, 2022).
This is echoed by other External Examiners including the External Examiner for Music Production
and Sound Engineering who said:
“The VLE is, in my experience, an excellent example of an easy to navigate VLE.”
External Examiner, Music Production and Sound Engineering, 2022).
2.5 Student Voice
We embed student engagement at every stage of the student journey and offer multiple routes for
students to get involved. From applying to be a Student Officer, to sitting on committees and
consultation panels, to completing feedback surveys, there is a method of engagement to suit every
student’s availability and capacity. Students appointed to the roles with specific responsibilities
(Student Officer, Student Voice Leader, and Student Ambassador) receive dedicated training on our
governance framework, and their roles within it. The training highlights the importance of being
impartial, inclusive, organised and open-minded when dealing with student feedback. It also provides
support in developing the practical skills needed to run clinics and consultation sessions with their
fellow students. A specific distinction is made between feedback and complaints, in order to ensure
any student grievances are directed to the appropriate channels and handled within the boundaries
of the appropriate policy and procedures.
The sections below detail the roles and channels within our student governance framework, followed
by a table of examples of how this structure has influenced positive change.
Student Officers
The Student Officers hold the greatest responsibilities within our student governance framework.
They act as a student leadership team to engender a ‘Led by Students, for Students’ approach to
ensuring the student voice is prominent within all our decision making. The Student Officers devise
and initiate campaigns on key issues within the student body, to endorse and affect change and
continuous improvement within the institution. They attend and provide input to the following
governance committees:
• Academic Board;
• Quality and Standards Committee;
• Executive Committee;
• Programme Development Committees;
• Programme Voice Groups.
The Student Officer vacancies are advertised and students are invited to apply. We take a
democratic approach to the recruitment of the Student Officers. Applicants must prepare a manifesto
explaining their interest in the role and demonstrating what they aim to achieve if appointed. The
manifestos are then reviewed by students who anonymously vote for their preferred candidate(s) via
the VLE. Our Student Services department oversee the process, count the votes and announce the
successful candidate(s).
Provider name: Point Blank Ltd.
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Student Voice Leaders
The Student Officers are supported by a team of Student Voice Leaders. The Student Voice Leaders
are elected by the students to collate and champion student issues and feedback. They are required
to feedback to the Student Officers on a regular basis (at least monthly) and do so in a way that is
impartial and accurately represents the views of the student body.
Student Ambassadors
The Student Ambassadors’ primary duties are to support prospective students during Open Days,
HE events and other recruitment activities. They represent the institution from the students’
perspective.
Surveys
Most students engage with us via the survey opportunities. As well as the external National Student
Survey, we run an annual student survey for those not within the NSS remit; a new starters’ survey
for new students; and module evaluation surveys at the end of each term.
Meetings and Consultations
Although there are specific roles in place to represent students and present to the institution their
views and feedback, all students are given the opportunity to attend the Programme Voice Group
(PVG) meetings and the Student Consultation Panels. The Programme Voice Groups run each term
and consider the results of the module evaluation questionnaires, and our responses to the results.
Consultations are also held ad hoc, when a strategic directive calls for feedback from students. One
example of this includes the consultations held to glean student feedback on the campus expansion
project (please see section 2.4 above).
Examples of Changes and Enhancements Driven by Student Feedback
Through the student governance framework, our students have brought about change across the
institution through their feedback. The table below offers some examples:
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3. Student Outcomes
3.1 Continuation
Our students, in general, demonstrate very high levels of continuation, as evidenced by the overall
indicator for continuation being broadly in line with the benchmark of 86.6% at 87.5%. We attribute
this largely to the holistic approach we take to our students’ academic journeys, in effectively
supporting them academically and pastorally. Students are supported to continue their studies via
the risk intervention strategies detailed in the Academic Support section above. Whilst any student
may experience an issue that presents a barrier to their education, the support we offer through
small class sizes, our engagement monitoring and intervention, and student support provision
mitigate those barriers and enable them to succeed.
These methods result in high-quality outcomes for continuation for our students undertaking the
integrated foundation year, whose continuation indicator is materially above the benchmark of 82.6%
at 85.5%. In other circumstances, these students may have been discouraged from continuing their
studies due to falling behind at Level 4, either because of confidence issues or not being ready to
meet the level of academic ability; and could have been de-registered from their studies due to lack
of progression; or denied access to Higher Education altogether. However, our integrated
Foundation Year focusses on building students’ confidence and giving them the fundamental skills
and knowledge they need to succeed in their studies at Levels 4 to 6. Furthermore, the range of
study options available to our students empowers them to choose the path that is the most engaging
for them and supports their career trajectory timeline. Our students can opt to study on the integrated
Foundation Year, followed by a two-year accelerated degree. This allows them to build the academic
skills, subject-specific knowledge, and technical proficiency they need for Level 4 and beyond, while
following a route similar to a traditional three-year degree programme.
Upon reviewing the split indicators, the performance of some particular groups of students with
certain characteristics is below benchmark. Disabled students and students from minority ethnic
groups show the most significant deviation from the benchmark, with continuation for disabled
students reporting at 77.2% (7.9% below benchmark); black students reporting at 75% (3.8% below
benchmark); and mixed students reporting at 75.7% (6.6% below benchmark).
It should also be acknowledged that widening access and
participation is at the heart of our educational strategy and we would be remiss not to address this
issue.
Through implementing our Access and Participation Plan, since the academic year 2016/17, we
have seen a significant increase in the continuation rates of our Black and Mixed students from 50%
in 2016/17 to over 75% in 2021/2022. The success of improving these continuation rates can be
partially attributed to the establishment of our Widening Participation External Advisory Group. The
group is made up of five external professionals including the Founder of UK Black Music Lawyers,
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the Education Manager at Diversity and Ability, among other leaders in research for access and
participation. The externality this group provides in developing strategies for our students has been
invaluable. An example of the impact the group has had so far, is in developing the Students of
Colour network, and founding a dedicated student advisory group of underrepresented
demographics. Prior to this, where student input to decision making was called for and all students
invited, we found that students of colour and other underrepresented groups did not engage with the
sessions. Following an exploration of the reasons for this, we learned that these students felt their
voices may not be heard within a wider group, and they did not feel confident in offering their opinion
and feedback. Since we have created a dedicated space for them to provide their input, we have
seen an increasing number of our students of colour engage in these sessions
Feedback provided in these sessions is distributed
to the relevant governance committees, including the Programme Development Committee. This
has empowered our students of colour to join the wider student body as co-creators of the curriculum.
Hearing and responding to our student feedback has, in turn, enabled us to create a high-quality
student experience for them, and lead us towards outstanding student outcomes. Our projections
are for the continuation rates for our Black and Mixed students to continue to improve this academic
year, with the current rate tracking at 90%.
In terms of disabled students, we must again note the low student numbers and lack of statistical
certainty, however we are working to improve the continuation rates for our disabled students
through targeted intervention, and broader policy updates. We operate a tiered adjustment system
that considers accessibility across all areas of the student experience as follows:
Tier 1: Anticipatory Adjustments
The anticipatory adjustments are embedded throughout the institution, with the guiding principle of
‘that which is beneficial our students with additional needs and disabilities is beneficial to all.’ This
sees collaboration across all departments with Student Services to ensure communications are
clear, concise, and employ plain English. Further, all lectures and seminars are recorded to allow
later viewing for all students. This supports our neurodivergent students who may need to receive
information multiple times in order to fully process it, as well as our students with chronic illnesses
or mobility issues who have difficulty attending onsite activities during flare ups.
Further enhancements due to be made in this area, over the course of the 2022/23 academic year,
include closed captioning for all video content, and a text-to-speech function for all written course
notes.
Tier 2: Reasonable Adjustments
Reasonable adjustments are personalised to the student and their needs. We encourage all students
to disclose any additional need or disability during the application process. This process ensures we
can put any reasonable adjustments in place during the application process and, ahead of their
studies, as well as support them through the application for Disabled Students Allowance. Where
students perhaps do not feel comfortable informing us pre-registration – or they do not receive a
diagnosis until after they have enrolled – a review of their needs, and any necessary support for DSA
application is carried out.
To assess the student for reasonable adjustments, the Student Support team meet with the student
and review the following documentation:
• Any diagnosis letter or other medical assessment;
• DSA2 letter (if applicable/ available);
• Any previous Educational Health Care Plan (EHCP) they may have had during their
compulsory education (for reference);
• Any other supporting documentation the student would like to submit.
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Our Student Services team then works with the student and a member of the Assessment Team to
determine which adjustment(s) would be reasonable for the student. This could include giving
extended deadlines for assessments; offering viva voce assessments in place of written
assessments; arranging for performance to be given to the marker only (as opposed to in front of an
audience); or other suitable adjustment. Future enhancements to this process will include providing
a matrix of adjustments for all staff and students to use as a guide for reasonable adjustments.
With these processes now in place, we expect continuation rates for our disabled students to become
firmly in line with those of our overall student body.
3.2 Completion
Our provider response to this section needs to take into account that we have only been required to
submit HESA data from 2015/16. As such, the data displayed in the OfS TEF Data Dashboards
includes only two years of data for us, as the data series for this indicator includes two years in which
we were not required to submit, namely 2013/14 and 2014/15.
Our students, in general, receive high quality outcomes when it comes to completion, as evidenced
by the overall indicator being broadly in line with the benchmark at 80.9% for these cohorts. As
detailed in the Student Experience and Continuation sections above, this can largely be attributed to
the engaging curriculum, and academic and professional development support offered over the
course of the programmes.
One indicator showing as materially below the benchmark is in completion rates for students in IMD
Quintiles 1 and 2. Over the academic years within the time series, and within our data return
responsibility period (2015/16 and 2016/17), we had a total of 36 students within this indicator. As
such, the difference between our indicator and the threshold is 11 individual students. We recognise
the importance of providing equitable outcomes for all our students and have made it a strategic
priority within our Access and Participation plan to: 1) recruit more students from IMD Quintiles 1
and 2, particularly intersections of female + IMDQ1/Q2 students, and Black + IMDQ1 and Q2
students; and 2) improve the completion rates of students from IMD Quintiles 1 and 2.
The strategies we have implemented to improve continuation rates for this group, and other
underrepresented groups, have included:
• Appointed a Student Officer for Equality, Diversity and Inclusion;
• Held curriculum consultations with all students to better understand their unique potential
barriers;
• Appointed a Widening Participation Curriculum Coordinator following student feedback;
• Sustained outreach with London schools in low-participation neighbourhoods;
• Set up a summer school with free places for students from low-participation neighbourhoods
and underrepresented groups.
Our completion rates for the past three years have been significantly higher, the table below
illustrates our projections per programme:
Programme
2019-20
2020-21
2021-22
CertHE Music Production and DJ Practice
86%
100%
CertHE Radio Broadcasting
100%
100%
CertHE Music Production and Sound
Engineering
80%
100%
100%
DipHE Music Production and Sound
Engineering
100%
100%
100%
Provider name: Point Blank Ltd.
UKPRN: 10019178
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BA Music Industry Management (Accelerated)
100%
94%
100%
BA Music Production and DJ Practice
88%
100%
82%
BA Music Production and DJ Practice
(Accelerated)
80%
75%
83%
BA Music Production and Sound Engineering
93%
100%
94%
BA Music Production and Sound Engineering
(DL)
75%
100%
90%
BA Music Production and Sound Engineering
(Accelerated)
95%
100%
100%
During the academic years 19/20, 20/21 and 21/22, we implemented significant risk intervention
strategies to minimise the impact of the pandemic. As we deliver online programmes as part of our
core provision, we were already prepared to move the campus-based learning online. However,
compensating for the restricted access to onsite learning environments (e.g., studios and computer
laboratories) presented a different challenge, particularly in supporting students to complete their
practical assessments. We worked quickly to make arrangements with industry partners to give
students free access to Logic Pro, Ableton, Adobe, and Pro Tools software from home and provided
online one-to-one Studio Lab Time sessions supervised by a Studio Technician to empower students
to get a professional sound.
To further support the students to complete their assessments as normal, Middlesex University
introduced a no detriment policy that: (1) applied automatic Extenuating Circumstances approval to
assessments held between 1
st
March 2020 and 31
st
December 2020, and (2) permitted students to
trail up to 60 credits between academic levels (an increase from 30 under the usual regulations).
This worked to assuage student anxiety around being assessed during unprecedented disruptions
and gave students the time to receive any additional support they needed in order to prepare of their
assessments (for example, automatic deferral of assessments to the next opportunity, allowed time
for students to install and get used to using industry software at home).
We also reviewed the learning outcomes and assessment methods for relevant modules, to make
them more conducive to remote learning.
This resolved the risk to assessments but the risk to the student experience was still present as
access to the studios is one of our key selling points. In order to maintain as much of the offer as
possible, we extended the studio availability, once the students were permitted to return to campus,
and continued their access after graduation. Additional workshops and masterclasses were also
delivered during this time, to supplement learning within curriculum areas; provide learning in related,
but extra-curricular subjects of interest (e.g., photoshop); support mental health and wellbeing; and
connect students socially. Finally, all students impacted by the pandemic during their studies were
given the opportunity to study an additional module, separate from their award.
3.3 Progression
As evidenced in the TEF indicator data, our overall indicator for progression is materially above
benchmark at 77%. Throughout their journey with us, we provide opportunities for our students to
develop professional skills and knowledge; and engage in activities that accelerate their exposure to
industry standard practices and hone their image and portfolio as an industry professional. This can
be attributed to our clear and deeply embedded strategy for the educational gain we enable our
students to experience.
As well as the skills-centred curriculum and significant industry involvement developing the
curriculum explored above (please see section 2.1), there are several extra-curricular activities that
focus solely on student professional development.
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Careers Hub
Our students have access to a Careers Hub, which is led by the Careers Support Manager. The Hub
was established in 2022 in response to student feedback calling for a dedicated general careers
space, to supplement the discipline-specific support offered by the academic staff.
The Hub offers one-to-one sessions with the Careers Support Manager who supports students in
determining their career direction and considering the options available to them. The Hub also offers
CV clinics for students to receive guidance and feedback on the ways in which they present
themselves as industry professionals and optimising their CV for any roles for which they may be
applying. There is also a wide range of digital resources available to encourage students to explore
next steps. Postgraduate events and workshops have also evolved due to student feedback as well
as termly industry meet-ups which enable our students to feel confident in their next steps outside
of Point Blank.
Students can access information and current opportunities via the Careers Hub tile within their
student dashboard.
The Careers Hub team continuously review student feedback (collected via the methods outlined in
the Student Voice section) and plan each season’s careers events based on the current needs of
the students. The themes and focuses of the week ten and eleven activities (see below), weekly
Thursday workshops and large-scale events are chosen by the students, with input from the
academic staff.
Week Ten and Eleven Activities
The teaching weeks of validated course modules run from week one to week nine of each term,
leaving space for extracurricular modules to be delivered in weeks ten and eleven. These
extracurricular modules are known as accelerator modules and they serve to deliver specific
teaching on wider industry practices that may not be appropriate to incorporate into the main
programmes. Accelerator modules delivered previously have included:
• Freelance Income Streams;
• Branding & Graphics in the Music Industry;
• Radio Industry Skills;
• Academic Writing: Reflective Writing; and
• Referencing.
The week ten and eleven activities include career-development-specific activities such as panel
discussions and networking events. In recent years, the panels have featured well known industry
experts , and each panel event is followed by
15-minute one-to-ones between the students and the panellists, and a student ‘speed networking’
session.
Music Futures
In May 2022, our Music Futures event was set up following student feedback requesting more
opportunities to network with each other and with the wider industry. The day and evening event,
which now runs annually, was held across three rooms at Fabric nightclub in Farringdon, London, a
venue with which we have an ongoing partnership for student performances. There were a variety
of panel discussions featuring key industry professionals such as Artist and Repertoire (A&R)
representatives for record labels, DJ performers, Music Managers, specialists in music law, vocalists
and songwriters who offered dynamic and engaging discussions on current industry topics and
advice on how to break into their fields.
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One key aim was to expose our students to the diverse career opportunities presented by the music
industry and the wider creative industries and to encourage them to explore the specialisms they
may wish to pursue. The evening event allowed our students to perform in the globally renowned
London venue and exposed them to working in a live setting and bolstering their experience as
performers. A pre-event and post-event survey was carried out in order to measure the impact of the
event and the value it held in supporting the students to consider their future career objectives. It
also served as an excellent method of gauging the students’ current understanding of their
postgraduate options, and confidence in their professional identity.
The pre-event survey was sent to 500 students and gleaned 484 responses. The survey results
showed that 76.8% of respondents felt they were already confident in their understanding of the
career options available to them following their studies with us. This confirms that embedding
professional development within the curriculum, and the wider careers support we began to offer
prior to the advent of Music Futures, has been creating the desired outcome. However, only 55.5%
of respondents said they felt confident that they knew exactly what they needed to do in order to
access their chosen career paths. This emphasises the need for and value of the Music Futures
event.
The post-event survey did not see the same engagement, with only 26 of 500 students responding.
As such, the data from the post-event survey is not statistically reliable, however we did also gather
qualitative feedback during the event that provided a better picture of the reception of the event.
Some of this feedback was included in the promotional video of the event, where one student had
this to say:
“It was amazing and to have the opportunity [to play at Fabric] was surreal!” ( 3 year
Music Production and DJ Performance student, via a student testimonial
3.4 Educational Gain
We pride ourselves on the fact that our relatively small cohorts give us the opportunity to observe
the distance travelled by our students in the classroom, although this is not currently formally
measured as ‘educational gain’. In order to articulate clearly the educational progress we aim to
enable our students to make, it is important to clarify and understand that which we seek to measure
(Hoareau McGrath et al., 2015).
Academic Development Content Knowledge
There is specific content knowledge outlined for each programme, as evidenced in the respective
programme handbooks, however there is subject-specific knowledge and academic development
shared across all programmes. No matter which programme one of our students chooses to study,
all will aim to develop:
• knowledge of the history and context of the music industry;
• an understanding of the processes and operation of key music industry business types (I.e.,
record labels, booking agents, radio stations, publishers, etc.);
• knowledge of personal branding and marketing;
• an understanding of how to monetise their creative work;
• the ability to analyse and critically assess their own creative work, and that of others.
Personal Development
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Supporting the personal development of our students is essential in preparing them for the industry.
The music industry and wider creative industries are highly competitive and students must be
equipped with skills and personal attributes that go above and beyond their knowledge of the craft:
• Project management;
• Critical thinking;
• Presentation skills (particularly for pitching);
• Networking;
• Resilience.
Work Readiness, Skills and Competencies
As echoed throughout this submission, work readiness and preparation for the industry is at the very
heart of what we do. The curriculum, extra-curricular activities, and wider strategies aim to support
the students to develop skills and competencies in:
• Collaboration and teamwork (understanding team roles and responsibilities, and the value of
sharing ideas);
• Trend awareness;
• Entrepreneurship and managing a portfolio career.
Our Approach to Supporting Educational Gain
We approach our students’ academic, personal and professional development by embedding it
within every aspect of their engagement with us. However, there are key examples of specific
offerings we provide that illustrate the ways in which we support educational gains:
• Asynchronous professional development modules available to all students via the VLE;
• Academic skills modules available to all students via the VLE;
• Networking events;
• Public performances;
• Point Blank Recordings record label.
Point Blank Recordings (PBR)
Point Blank Recordings (PBR) is a graduate employability project as a record label which releases
student and graduate music, as well as guiding the management and promotion of students as
artists. The label’s talent scout Director is BAME representative and industry-based role model,
Kwame Kwaten. Kwaten has managed the careers of several artists who have sold over a million
records including Rumer and Laura Mvula. Kwame is a Trustee of both the Brit Awards and the
MOBO Awards (Music of Black Origin), both of which are internationally respected, highly credible
and visible events.
PBR is a collaborative project between students and active, successful industry representatives, and
goes back to our industry roots. It actively promotes knowledge exchange, provides industry
experience for students and is a proven launchpad for graduate success. Through incorporating
students working within the label and the success of student and graduate releases, it has:
• Actively taught employability skills to current high-cost subject students working within the
label or observing operations via integrating an active company into the School;
• Directly contributed to graduate success via the release of music, involving high-cost subject
students in the production and recording of the releases.
The record label team regularly reviews student work submitted for consideration (in line with the
industry), however, feedback and mentoring are provided for those not selected to support students
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to improve and develop. On a successful review, students are given the opportunity to release their
work via the label.
Through the record label, we plan to continue to form partnerships and allegiances with the music
industry such as major and other independent record companies; publishing houses; management
agencies; live booking agencies etc where strategic cooperation would benefit the careers of our
students through distribution, production, management, publishing deals, and internships and
employment. For example, the second release on the label was sub-licenced to European ‘major’
label BMG and was featured at half time in the Women’s Football World Cup last summer in 2022.
Innovatively merging excellent HE teaching quality with the music industry roots and connections of
our staff, the record label has achieved over 5 million streams of student tracks on Spotify and other
platforms within 24 months of launching.
The professional support we currently provide for the releases via comprehensive marketing
campaigns includes playlist plugging to Spotify; advertising on Google Adwords; editorial placement
on and offline; competitions; interviews; masterclasses; the creation of music videos; social media
presence across Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, Twitter and TikTok to our network of 2m+ users.
Through these methods we introduce students to a wide audience during their studies.
Acting as an in-house employability service and promoter of student/graduate work, the record label
also provides key exposure to the music industry for our current students and alumni of the School.
This has resulted in the facilitation of extraordinary graduate outcomes and student success.
Research
We approach research from a practice-based perspective, delving into musical, production, and
industry practices and developing new ways of working and creating. This involves output such as:
• New electronic sounds (plug-ins);
• Alternative business models;
• Social and community engagement projects;
• Podcasts and other broadcasts;
• Documentaries.
The BA(Hons) Music Industry Management Level 6 module, Start-Up Lab, involves developing a
business idea; writing a business plan; and beginning to implement it. One example can be found in
the project of a student in the 2022 graduate cohort, in which he developed a non-profit organisation
that served as a community platform. Its offering was to organise immersive experience live events,
releasing music on vinyl, organising workshops and showcasing emerging artists from underground
club music and contemporary dance scenes. The aim of the project was to extend cultural
opportunities to disadvantaged communities and it did so by engaging the local community in East
London in curating and performing at these immersive events.
This student has now graduated and continues his work in this community project.
4. Closing Statement from our Head of Institution
“Running Point Blank Music School, helping it grow, seeing our students develop on the courses and
blossom into graduation and beyond is a labour of love. All the team are passionate about the
creative arts and their involvement with the process; the student experience is at the forefront of the
collective School’s consciousness. Our Awaydays include big-themed sessions e.g. Behaviours
Framework, Widening Participation or new areas for course development, how to build our new
premises, all of which are designed to feed into the School’s over-arching strategy. Everyone, from
the students, faculty, administrative staff, middle and senior management and the Board are heavily
invested in creating successful outcomes for our students in an ethical and quality-led environment.
We all share the same aspiration and are on the same journey, aspiring to excellence.” (Jules
Brookes, Managing Director (Head of Institution) 2023).
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5. References (internal Point Blank documents unless otherwise
specified)
‘Access and Participation Plan Progress Review 2021-2022,' December 2022. Held in the
Widening Participation shared drive.
‘Annual Monitoring Report – Music Production and DJ Practice (incl. CertHE Radio Broadcasting)
2020-21,’ October 2021. Unpublished. Held in the Quality Assurance shared repository.
‘Annual Monitoring Report – BA(Hons) Music Industry Management 2020-21,’ October 2021.
Unpublished. Held in the Quality Assurance shared repository.
‘Annual Monitoring Report – Music Production and Sound Engineering 2020-21,’ October 2021.
Unpublished. Held in the Quality Assurance shared repository.
‘Annual Monitoring Report – Foundation Programme 2020-21,’ October 2021. Unpublished. Held in
the Quality Assurance shared repository.
‘Annual Monitoring Report – BA(Hons) Music Industry Management 2019-2020,’ October 2020.
Unpublished. Held in the Quality Assurance shared repository.
‘Annual Monitoring Report – Music Production and Sound Engineering 2019-2020,’ October 2020.
Unpublished. Held in the Quality Assurance shared repository.
‘Annual Monitoring Report – Foundation Programme 2019-2020,’ October 2020. Unpublished. Held
in the Quality Assurance shared repository.
‘APP Analysis Presentation,’ November 2022. Unpublished. Held in the Quality Assurance shared
repository.
‘Educational Monitoring and Enhancement Report (EMER) BA(Hons) Music Industry Management
2021-2022.’ October 2022. Unpublished. Held in the Education SharePoint.
‘Educational Monitoring and Enhancement Report (EMER) Music Production and DJ Practice (incl.
CertHE Radio Broadcasting) 2021-2022.’ October 2022. Unpublished. Held in the Education
SharePoint.
‘Educational Monitoring and Enhancement Report (EMER) BA(Hons) Music Production and Sound
Engineering 2021-2022.’ October 2022. Unpublished. Held in the Education SharePoint.
‘Educational Monitoring and Enhancement Report (EMER) Foundation Year 2021-2022.’ October
2022. Unpublished. Held in the Education SharePoint.
‘External Examiner Report, 2021-2022 – John Meredith.’ October 2022. Unpublished. Held in the
Quality Assurance central repository.
‘External Examiner Report, 2021-2022 – Mike Pailthorpe.’ October 2022. Unpublished. Held in the
Quality Assurance central repository.
‘External Examiner Report, 2021-2022 – Simon Walsh.’ October 2022. Unpublished. Held in the
Quality Assurance central repository.
‘External Examiner Report, 2021-2022 – Pete Goodwin.’ October 2022. Unpublished. Held in the
Quality Assurance central repository.
‘External Examiner Report, 2021-2022 – Nino Auricchio.’ October 2022. Unpublished. Held in the
Quality Assurance central repository.
Provider name: Point Blank Ltd.
UKPRN: 10019178
24
Hoareau McGrath, C. et al. 2015. ‘Learning Gain in Higher Education.’ RAND. Cambridge.
Accessed on 18
th
January 2023.
Programme Voice Group Minutes. Various Dates. Held in the Quality Assurance SharePoint.
‘PBMS Evaluation of Music Futures Careers Festival Final Report,’ October 2022. SEER.
Unpublished. Held in the Quality shared drive.
‘Point Blank Additional Learning Support Policy.’ Unpublished. Accessible via
pointblankmusicschool.com/legal/public-policies
‘Point Blank Teaching and Learning Strategy’, Unpublished. Accessible via
pointblankmusicschool.com/legal/public-policies
‘PVG Qualitative Feedback Report,’ September 2020. Unpublished. Held in the Quality shared
drive.
‘PVG Qualitative Feedback Report,’ January 2021. Unpublished. Held in the Quality shared drive.
Sobkiewicz, M. 2022. ‘Start-Up Lab Project: inklingroom.’ Point Blank Music School. Held in the
Virtual Learning Environment.
‘Student Governance Handbook,’ Unpublished. Accessible via
pointblankmusicschool.com/legal/public-policies
‘Student Governance Training Slides,’ Unpublished. Held in the Quality Assurance central
repository.
‘Termly Student Feedback Report,’ June 2022. Unpublished. Held in the Data Team central
repository.
‘Termly Student Feedback Report,’ March 2022. Unpublished. Held in the Data Team central
repository.