AUA Blog

AUA's Eleventh Annual Guest Lecture 2008

AUA's Eleventh Annual Guest Lecture 2008 presented by Sir Peter Scott took place at the Rembrandt Hotel in London on Tuesday 21 October 2008.  You can listen to the lecture by clicking the link at the end of this post.

'Beyond the Market: higher education in 2020'

Sir Peter Scott, Vice-Chancellor, Kingston University (with introduction and closing remarks from Maureen Skinner, AUA Chair)

Click the link below to download: (5.6 MB / mp3)

Download Annual Lecture 2008

AUA national office staff welcome Alison Robinson

AUA staff welcome our new executive director Alison Robinson to the AUA national office. We wish her all the best in her new position and look forward to working with her.

Ewart Wooldridge CBE, at the 2008 AUA Conference

We thank Ewart Wooldridge CBE, chief executive of the Leadership Foundation for Higher Education, for giving the plenary address at the AUA conference held recently at the University of York.



Members can access the presentation for his address in the Members only area of the AUA website.




Image: Ewart Wolldridge CBE addressing the AUA conference attendees, with the AUA Chair Bruce Nelson in attendance.

Caroline Brown receives AUA Fellowship

Congratulations to Caroline Brown of Oxford Brookes University who was appointed Fellowship of the Association during the AUA annual conference held recently at the University of York.



More information on AUA Fellowships.




Image: Caroline receiving the award from Bruce Nelson (AUA Chair).

Postgraduate Certificate graduations

We were delighted to celebrate the graduation of 14 participants in the latest assessment round, 7 of whom attended the graduation ceremony as part of the plenary address at the Annual Conference. We extend our congratulations to all our graduates and thanks to their mentors for their support. I’m sure these successes will provide additional motivation for those approaching their final work on the PgCert.

Sheila Aynsley Smith MBE!

We are delighted to report that Sheila Aynsley Smith has been awarded an MBE for services to higher education in the New Years Honours list.

Sheila was a very active and enthusiastic AUA member for many years until her retirement from Manchester Met in August 2007. She served on AUA’s Executive Committee, Perspectives editorial board and Corporate Planning Forum steering group. She acted as a mentor to participants undertaking the PG Cert and was a regular speaker at the annual conference and other events.

Sheila has had a long career in education, starting in the early 1970s. She held various positions and was appointed as a Head of Student Services at MMU in 1995. She was an active member of AMOSSHE and a member of its Executive.

Sheila is highly respected in the higher education field and well known for her work, in particular with regard to disabled students, issues relating to student retention and learning support, and to enhancing the student experience.

We are very pleased that Sheila has received appropriate recognition for her work and send her our warmest congratulations.  The photo shows Sheila's investiture at Buckingham Palace on 1 May.

Definitions for: BA vs BSc and MA vs MSc

Does anyone have clear definitions of the above that they use within their institution, or are you aware of an "official" website where this is stated. 

Thanks for your help.

Terry Bransbury

Senior Assistant Registrar - Programme Enhancement, City University

t.m.bransbury@city.ac.uk

AUA's Tenth Annual Guest Lecture 2007 - Listen again!

For those who were unable to attend AUA's Tenth Annual Guest Lecture presented by Professor David Eastwood, Chief Executive, HEfCE, and for those who would like to hear it again, why not fetch a glass of wine, a couple of canapes and listen by clicking the link at the end of this post.

AUA's Tenth Annual Guest Lecture, 24 October 2007, London

'Quietly flows the Don?  Higher Education, turbulence and timeless verities'

Professor David Eastwood, Chief Executive, Higher Education Funding Council for England (with an introduction and closing remarks by Bruce Nelson, AUA Chair

Click the link below to download: (45.5 MB / mp3)

Download annual lecture 2007

Student Communities

At the University of Sheffield we are in the preparatory phase of a project to evaluate the ways in which student communities develop on campus, and how these enrich the student experience in its broadest sense.   

By communities we are thinking of social networks, the experience of community in academic departments, virtual communities like facebook, student societies, faith based groups, community-building in our residences, etc.  Issues around student interface with the local (city) community are not the primary focus, but I suspect we will need to reference these in some way within the work.

I am aware of considerable US research on the concept of student community development, including some use of the "College and University Community Inventory", developed within NASPA.

I am keen to make contact with colleagues here who are already working on, or considering work on, this issue.  If you could contact me off-list, that would be extremely helpful.

Thanks in anticipation.

Andrew West

Director of Student Services, The University of Sheffield

a.west@sheffield.ac.uk

HEFCE Funding Cuts 2007-2010

Dear Colleagues

I must first introduce myself; I am Donald Hedges and I have worked as a lecturer in the Further Education and Higher Education sectors. I am currently helping to run a campaign (with colleagues in facebook) against the funding cuts proposed by the Secretary of State for Universities, which I feel will defeat the government's avowed agenda for widening participation and lifelong learning. In addition I feel that the government itself has been discovered in a fatal embrace because there have been rumours that the HEFCE scheme costs about £250million per anumn to administer, according to the Higher Education funding auditors.

So all in all, we are living in very interesting times for Universities, higher education, university administrators and finance officers. I would urge you to have a look at my blog, on which I have made many comments about the HEFCE situation. This looks set to be an interesting few months.

Regards, Donald Hedges, Dip Eng Law(Open), BA(Hons)(Solent)

http://donald2000.blogspot.com

and http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=5335572035