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Life on campus – Oxford Brookes University [Videos]

AZ — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 11:54:38 +0000

What do you want from your university?

Oxford Brookes University – A Great Place to be a Student

Oxford Brookes University – Excellent Facilities

Oxford Brookes Academic Offering

Oxford Brookes Students’ Union Representation DVD

Oxford Brookes University: A mental note

Hundreds of thousands of students may miss out on university this autumn

AZ — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 05:58:57 +0000

Vice-Chancellors and students erupted in fury after more than £ 500 million university budget cuts were announced today.

Universities will be fined about 10 million pounds for recruiting too many students last year, and the total intake of undergraduates in time could stop this year for the first time in recent history.

This means that hundreds of thousands of school leavers can get lost in college this fall. Many places are already promised to those who missed last year, creating a bottleneck.

Leading universities warned of dire consequences on the quality of education and rectors said the cuts were deeper than expected. Student leaders described as an act of “self-harm” by the Government.

The Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE), the body which distributes government money to universities, appearing in spending cuts would fall in the academic year 2010/11.

He emphasized that the funding of £ 449 million lower than expected, and £ 518 million less than last year.

Mr Mandelson, the Secretary of Universities, announced in December that £ 135 million was vice-rectors cut budgets “next year, on top of £ 180 million efficiency savings.

In the next three years will be the university loses £ 950 million, research institutions more important to note that paralyze the industry.

Investment projects will be most affected, with 15 percent budget reduction, but teaching and research will also be affected.

The grant will be reduced in the teaching of 215 million pounds and that 40 million pounds was withdrawn funding for old and historic buildings are a key feature of many universities. Another £ 24 million will come from accelerated and intensely-taught postgraduate courses, and another 24 million pounds of funding for the establishment of two degrees year.

This comes after ministers said they wanted the universities to offer more options and flexible courses, including degrees of merit.

Ten million pounds has been earmarked to help universities to change their teaching to science and math topics, which they say is encouraged by the Government, and comes on top of £ 25 million already provided to protect high cost and vulnerable science courses.

Last summer, tens of thousands of good level of students were turned away from universities because of a limit on the number of seats and a funding gap.

Professor Steve Smith, president of Universities UK, which represents principals, said that last year nearly 160,000 students applied to be a safe place at university.

Applications for this year are already 10 per cent in 2009, when the number of application log.

Professor Smith added: “There will be plenty of students this year who do not get a place.” He said the cuts would have an impact on the quality of teaching.

Sally Hunt, general secretary of the University and College Union, said: “If these cuts forward the dreams of thousands of students, encouraged to apply to university by the Government, will be shattered. The massive funding cuts will impact. The industry simply can not do more for less.

“Our higher education system is already creaking under the pressure of government efficiency savings.”

Dr Wendy Piatt, director general of the Russell Group, said: “Our main institutions can not remain competitive internationally, provide a first experience in teaching and the level of generous support to provide disadvantaged students do not have access to a increased funding.

Professor Les Ebdon, chair of million +, which represents new universities, claimed that as a result of the cuts, the number of places available in institutions in 2010/11 would be the same as in 2008 / 9, and lower than this academic year.

Professor Ebdon, who is also vice-chancellor of the University of Bedfordshire, said: “This is totally counterintuitive.

“The evidence points to increasing demand, but funding for student support, which the Department of Commerce, Innovation and capabilities intended to enable newly recruited 10,000 students in 2009 has been withdrawn and universities do not have these numbers available for students wishing to enter university in 2010.

David Lammy, the Minister of Universities, said: “There has been a lot of scaremongering on the savings that we have asked HEFCE to do. But we are confident they can achieve these HEFCE in a way that minimizes the impact on teaching and students as requested in our recent award letter.

Mr Mandelson last month told its partners that act as tighter budgets create a “” to universities to find alternative sources of money and “mind focus” on quality teaching and research.

Oxford University slipped down to 5th place in University ranking

AZ — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 06:19:35 +0000

Oxford University has declined an international classification of the world’s best universities, which also revealed the progress of academic institutions in Asia, soon to be a challenge to the Ivy League and Oxbridge.

Oxford fell from fourth to fifth place with Imperial College London in the QS / Times Higher Education rankings, released today, the widening gap with those in Cambridge who rated second in the world. University College London (UCL) jumped Oxford next quarter after Yale, Cambridge and Harvard.

Overall, the UK still blows above its weight, second only to the U.S.. There are four of the 10 slots and 18 in the top 100. But there has been a significant drop in the number of North American universities in the top 100, 42 in 2008 to 36 in 2009. The number of universities in Asia in the top 100 increased from 14 to 16. University of Tokyo, at 22, is the highest ranking of the University of Asia, ahead of the University of Hong Kong at 24.

Major Universities UK said institutions in Japan, South Korea and Hong Kong “hot pursuit” of Western institutions saying they needed more funds to compete on the world stage.

Earlier this week, the outgoing vice chancellor of Oxford, warned that the university needs more than £ 1bn investment over the next decade to “not fit for purpose” facilities to a world-class quality. John Hood, said the university was the budget to make a loss for the fourth consecutive year.

“From a financial perspective that these are really worrying,” he said. “Government budgets are very stressed and equipment are very volatile, as are the markets for our business.” Oxford yesterday expressed surprise at his fall from the table. A spokesman said: “Placement of the league table can vary as they often use different methods to measure success, but the position of the University of Oxford Oxford is surprising given that … is first in each table national league.

The rankings are based on a survey of 9,000 international academics, how influential the institution’s research and quality measures of education and the ability to hire staff and students abroad.

Wendy Piatt, director general of the Russell Group of Universities, said: “The overall message of these tables is clear – the leading research universities in the UK are held in high esteem internationally, but countries like China and Korea, are investing heavily in their best institutions are heels.

“The accuracy of classification tables like this can be debated, but certainly a warning alarm that our success is at risk if we as a nation do not take measures against such fierce competition.

He added that the UK was less resources than its competitors and, by reducing public spending budgets hit they would be under increasing pressure. Universities are calling for better funding in the next revision of the student finance system, to be launched by the government within weeks. Increasingly, calls for fees to be increased to safeguard the quality of their teaching.

The rates of the league table of teaching quality according to the ratio staff / student. A recent report by the Higher Education Funding Council for England suggested some students were struggling to get enough contact time with tutors.

Phil Baty, deputy editor of the Times Higher Education magazine published tables, said: “Oxford comes out with a perfect score on the reputation of staff appointments, but have fallen slightly, while the UCL has improved dramatically. It is very tight on top of a relatively small change can move the pecking order. Spending on higher education in Asia is phenomenal and that’s why we see their results is increasing. ”

National Student Survey results effect university rankings

AZ — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 06:32:50 +0000

The findings of the fourth national student survey (NSS) published this month will be used to drive up academic standards in universities.

The pledge comes from Professor Michael Arthur, chairman of the survey’s steering group and the vice-chancellor at Leeds University, in the wake of publication of the results from 220,000 final-year students.

More students contributed to this year’s survey than any of the previous three. For the first time, all universities taking part achieved the 50% response rate required for their data to be released. And all seven categories of the 22-question survey showed overall satisfaction levels up by 1%-2%.

The NSS was introduced in 2005 shortly after the individual subject review programme — where academics rated their peers — was discontinued. “Vice-chancellors are taking the results very seriously,” says Arthur. “They all have action plans related to the outcomes, so the quality enhancement aspect of the NSS is very important. It’s working better than subject review in that respect.”

Even this year’s student assessment and feedback section saw scores climb from 62% to 64% overall, although it remains well behind all other sections of the survey, some of which gained satisfaction ratings 20% higher. “It shows that we need to work very much harder on assessment and feedback, as it still lags behind. But it is improving,” says Arthur.

Publication of the results followed a difficult year for the NSS with repeated allegations of attempts to influence the findings by university staff eager to avoid poor ratings. “The integrity of the data is crucial,” Arthur warns. Where university departments are deemed to have interfered with the survey’s findings, data for the department concerned will be suppressed from the NSS, he says.

As the NSS slowly replaces (the still useful) subject reviews carried out by the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education (www.qaa.ac.uk) in our league table, its greater influence can be seen in the rankings. St Andrews, Exeter and Leicester are all riding high at least in part because of exceptional scores in the NSS.

Imperial and LSE lie in third and fourth places in spite of poor NSS scores, which ranks them 97= and 107 respectively for student satisfaction. Manchester, Edinburgh and Bristol (ranked 103=, 105= and 108 respectively) all fall in our overall table off the back of poor satisfaction scores.

So a word of caution: don’t choose your university solely on the basis of whose students seem happiest. Overall scores can be misleading; much more useful are the individual subject scores, detailed on pages 58-63 of this guide. For example, biology students at Bristol give a 79% satisfaction rating compared with 62% for politics. Subject ratings show real differences in perceived quality within the same institution, regardless of its overall score.

Barry Taylor, director of communications at the University of Bristol, gets it about right. “The NSS is a good and useful thing, but the results should be handled with care. “For example, students at leading institutions may be especially aspirational. Such characteristics probably helped them get in. They set the benchmark high for others as well as themselves — and rightly so.

“It’s best to see the NSS, like league tables, as an indicator, rather than the be-all and end-all. It should be considered alongside insights that can be gleaned from visits, guides, online social networks and so forth.”

Women are achieving better grades at university

AZ — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 06:56:37 +0000

Women are outperforming men at university according to research by the Higher Education Policy Institute (HEPI).

The study shows that female students of all ages and social and ethnic groups now outstrip male undergraduates in almost every subject including law and medicine. They are also more likely to go to leading universities and achieve better grades.

More than 49 per cent of women now go on to higher education compared to 37.8 per cent of men who study for degrees.

Women have almost reached the Government’s target of half of all young people becoming graduates, but the low percentage for men drags the overall figure down.

Researchers found that the gap between the sexes is widening most dramatically between the poorest.

They argue that GCSE exams, which heavily favour female styles of learning, exacerbate the differences in performance later in life. They warn that plummeting achievement among young men risks creating a disillusioned and excluded male generation — particularly among the working class.

The number of women undergraduates first overtook men in 1992-3 and they now outnumber male students at every university except Oxford and Cambridge, where the balance is about level.

The strides taken by women in higher education have been matched by soaring numbers of men underperforming, the report suggests.

The study says that the situation reflects a “mindset that continues to see males as advantaged and females as disadvantaged.” It concludes: “Whatever the truth in society at large — that is emphatically not the case in higher education.”.

Women are outclassing men at university, according to research by the Higher Education Policy Institute. They are also outstripping men in most subjects, including law and medicine, and are more likely to go to leading universities.

How do I choose the best university course for me?

AZ — Fri, 22 May 2009 05:16:15 +0000

Many people look back on their time at university as the best days of their life, but a surprising number would take a different degree if they could choose again.

A survey of graduates three years on from leaving higher education indicates that more than a third wish that they had opted for a different course. In some subjects, more than half regretted their choice.

The study, published by the Higher Education Statistics Agency underlines the need for close scrutiny of both the content of your chosen course and the prospects for employment afterwards. Not surprisingly, the results are closely linked to graduates’ satisfaction with their early career experiences.

Medical and dental students, almost all of whom go into their chosen profession, are the least likely to regret their choice of degree, although nearly one in five does. However arduous the training, they are happy to have achieved their goal and were earning reasonable salaries, with the prospect of much higher pay.

Less predictably – in view of the frequent claims of low morale among teachers – education graduates are the next most satisfied. Nearly eight out of ten would make the same choice again and almost nine out of ten were satisfied with the first three years of their career. Indeed, education was the only subject where more than half of those responding to the survey declared themselves to be “very satisfied” at work.

Most of those in the education category in the table below are teaching at primary schools, rather than comprehensives, having completed a BEd degree. As with the medics and dentists, they were committed to their future from the outset, and those who took the one-year Postgraduate Certificate in Education – the usual route into secondary-school teaching – were even more satisfied.

At the other end of the scale, more than half of those who took media studies and other subjects in the category of mass communications and documentation regret it. Although only 2 per cent of them were unemployed, 40 per cent (the highest proportion for any group) said they were in jobs that did not require a degree.

Until now, the employment rates quoted for different subjects and universities have all measured activity six months after graduation, when many graduates are travelling, beginning postgraduate courses or casting around for a career through internships or temporary employment. But, although relatively small-scale, involving 16,000 people who graduated in 2003, the Destinations of Leavers from Higher Education longitudinal survey covers a period when most have settled into a career.

The sample was too small to produce figures for each subject, so they are grouped together in 19 areas.

Catherine Benfield, the HESA official responsible for the project, says the results tallied with those in the Government’s much larger Labour Force Survey and were seen as sufficiently reliable for the exercise to be repeated next year. “There has been a feeling for some time that six months after graduation is too soon to be the only measure of destinations and this exercise adds to our understanding.”

Fewer than half of the respondents had been in jobs requiring a degree throughout the entire three years since leaving university but 75 per cent had a graduate job by the time of the survey. Only 2 per cent were still unemployed, compared with 7 per cent six months after graduation, with an additional 2 per cent “not available for employment”.

Surprisingly, maths graduates were shown to be the most likely to have had a job not requiring a degree, more than a third having been in this position at some time in the three years. Even so, only one in 10 was less than satisfied with their career – one of the lowest proportions in any subject – and the proportion regretting their choice of degree was lower than average for all subjects.

Computer science, agriculture and social studies are the other areas where more than four out of ten graduates said they would be likely, or very likely, to choose a different subject. The findings for these subjects suggest that graduates’ attitudes are not all about success in the jobs market because in all three areas, those responding were relatively satisfied with their career.

Agriculture is particularly puzzling because, while 41 per cent would choose a different subject, more than 90 per cent are shown to be happy with their career. Only architects, builders and planners are more satisfied – and they are among the most content with their choice of course.

Even in computing, where applications have been dropping and 45 per cent said they would be likely to choose a different subject, 87 per cent were satisfied with their career. Social studies covers a variety of degrees, from economics to sociology, so it may be that some respondents feel that a slightly different emphasis would have interested them more.

Computing graduates (jointly, with those in the creative arts) are, it seems, the most inclined to wish they had chosen a different university. Almost a third felt this way, compared with a national average of just over one in five.

As with the subject questions, most graduates would not make a different choice if they had their time again, but enough had regrets for the survey to underline the importance of serious research at the application stage.

University life in UK

AZ — Fri, 15 May 2009 06:01:12 +0000

Want to know what University life is like? Well, look no further. Simply watch the video above to get the inside scoop on what our students think about Bedfordshire, our accommodation and how they rate our facilities. You can also find out about our undergraduate courses, and our diverse social scene. So, what are you waiting for?

And why not read below to get the latest on our league table successes? You can also check out our exciting investment plan – which will provide you with even more fantastic facilities to use during your studies, and you can also find out about all of the free cash that you can get, just by studying with us – yes really!
reception
Latest on our league tables

The University of Bedfordshire has an excellent academic reputation. Recently runner-up for the prestigious title of University of the Year in the Times Higher Education awards 2007, the University of Bedfordshire has also been placed third in the country for Media courses and 12th for Sport (Guardian 2007).

More recently, the University has been successful in climbing up the league tables, according to the Independent ‘Good University Guide’ 2008, and our Hospitality, Leisure, Recreation, Sport and Tourism courses have been ranked 21st in the UK. And that’s not all. Our Dance courses have recently been rated 2nd in the UK, Journalism 6th, Marketing 11th, and Business 21st in the UK, and our Computer Science courses have been ranked among the top 25% of all UK universities, in the 2008 National Student Survey.
pods
Exciting new facilities

The University is investing a massive £130m into its main campuses in Bedford and Luton to provide a wide range of state-of-the-art facilities, including a brand new £34m Campus Centre and new £40m en-suite student accommodation at the Luton campus.

So far, the investment has introduced a £5.5m Media Arts Centre which is home to a broadcast television studio and two digital radio studios, a £7.8m Learning Resources Centre, £20m en-suite student halls of residence at the Bedford campus, £1.2m pioneering ‘Business Pods’ which resemble modern offices, an £8m Physical Education and Sport Science Centre that is set to train athletes for the 2012 Olympics, and a £6m Campus Centre which houses a 280-seat theatre.

Fantastic Bursaries and Scholarships – Up to £4,180 Available

Bedfordshire offers the best financial support in the south of England and the second best support in the whole of the UK. Most UK/EU students that are starting full-time degree courses will be able to receive up to £4,180, and at the very least every student can receive £310.

Cambridge University Students Poses Naked for Charity

AZ — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 08:29:39 +0000

The calendar is designed to raise money for the university’s Queen’s Veterinary School Hospital, which needs £2 million for key equipment. The Cancer Therapy Unit is in urgent need of expansion and the hospital wants to buy a radiotherapy machine, replacing the current one which is more than 30 years old.

Fiona Jacobs, who organized the shoot and posed for the calendar, said the models braved chilly temperatures as they held their risque poses.

“As you’d no doubt guess from seeing the pictures from this year’s calendar, we had a fantastic time making it, although it was pretty cold up on the farm I can tell you,” she said.

“We are all very happy to be involved in producing something fun and light-hearted, which could potentially help us raise a large amount of money for a very worthy cause.”

The hospital is entirely reliant on donations for veterinary treatment, education and research because it receives no government funding.

By selling the calendar for £9, the students hope they can emulate the success of The Women’s Institute when their poses with sticky buns and knitting needles raised thousands of pounds and inspired a Hollywood film starring Helen Mirren.

The calendar is available from the University of Cambridge Veterinary School Trust, Cambridge, on 01223 764475.

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UK’s 4 Universities Ranked Among Top 10 in World

AZ — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 09:29:04 +0000

According to The Times Higher Education Supplement, 2008

The Times Higher Education is the UK’s most authoritative source of information about higher education. Designed specifically for professional people working in higher education and research, THE was founded in 1971 and has been online since 1995.

According to The Guardian.co.uk, 2009. Top 10 Universities in UK are…

According to the Times Online, 2009. Top 10 Universities in UK are…

Timesonline.co.uk also provide the facility to check universities ranking in UK according to Subjects.. Please click here to check UK Universities Ranking According to Your Subject…

Topless student photos in cambridge university magazine

AZ — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 10:03:21 +0000

According to the Telegraph UK report A female student, from Homerton College, who was not named, was photographed in a black lacy thong and stockings straddling one of the city’s historic bridges, Clare College Bridge(A popular spot for tourist, Thousands of tourists visit each year).

She agreed to pose for the latest edition of Vivid Magazine, which is published by a group of students once a term and has a circulation of 5,000.

It also has a website featuring a video of women sitting in a changing room and then playing football.

It is the first time a student has appeared topless in a University publication and it has caused an outcry. One student from King’s College said: “I can’t believe she agreed to pose for the magazine. Everyone has been talking about it. I’m sure she must really regret it now.”

Another student, from Clare College, who did not want to be named, added: “Lots of students and professors have seen this. It’s a very risky thing to do when you are studying at one of the top universities in the country.”

The magazine is distributed to all the university colleges. It has featured “page three” girls before but none have been as explicit. The magazine is largely constituted of comment pieces of a political and satirical nature.

The model, who is pictured anonymously in the magazine, has declined to comment on reactions to the photo. Vivid’s editors also refused to offer a statement. The university’s press office was unavailable for comment.

Despite of all criticism i have to admit that this is the One classic Photography. Everything is perfect about this picture.

[Source: Telegraph UK]

heystudents.com » university

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