The aim of the NALN is to widen participation by increasing the number of learners progressing from vocational programmes, or the workplace, into higher education, and to equip them for lifelong employment in the creative industries, so that:

• more learners with vocational qualifications or at work progress to specialist programmes in art, design and the performing arts, including those that are already heavily subscribed;
• employers recruit from a growing pool of qualified individuals that reflect the diversity of the population;
• institutions ensure continued excellence through a rich social and cultural mix within their student body; and
• progress is made towards government targets for widening participation.

Our objectives are:

• to develop local arrangements between institutions to encourage progression from FE to HE;
• to develop arrangements within full member institutions to accommodate learners from vocational courses;
• to assure the quality of the on-course experience, in terms of student support and acquisition of cultural capital;
• to develop national agreements covering further progress through the system; and
• to build relationships with other organisations – other lifelong learning networks, Sector Skills Councils and the wider arts education community.