Plans for
improved Students’ Union facilities
The University and the Students’ Union are
working on plans for a major enhancement of Students’ Union facilities on campus.
The meeting on 3 February heard that the idea
being pursued is that the existing Students’ Union offices and meeting space should
be located to a new Students’ Street located between the Health Centre and the Day
Nursery.
The current entertainment facilities will be
refurbished and enhanced. There is also the possibility that new facilities will be
provided elsewhere on campus, possibly in the boiler house, or a nightclub for exclusive
use for University students, in the centre of Colchester.
A plan for the Students’ Street includes,
not only facilities for the Students’ Union, but possible new accommodation for the
Chaplaincy Centre, Careers, Student Support and a new purpose-built launderette.
To achieve the planned enhanced and expanded
entertainment facilities, the University will be approaching commercial nightclub and
facilities companies to come forward with proposals for the refurbishment, expansion, and
management of the facilities.
Their proposals will be compared with plans being
put together by the Students’ Union to refurbish and continue to run the
entertainment facilities.
The Archbishop of Canterbury visits campus
The Archbishop of Canterbury, the Most Reverend Dr George Carey, used a
public lecture at the University to warn that spiritual and political values could not be
separated.
A packed lecture theatre heard the Archbishop say that it was
‘self-delusion’ for politicians and other public figures to think that
decision-making could be stripped of moral responsibility.
In the wide-ranging and stimulating address on spirituality and morality
in public life, Dr Carey also praised the University, noting ‘its considerable
reputation.’
The lecture was attended by some 600 people, and chaired by the
Vice-Chancellor, Professor Ivor Crewe.
Professor Crewe said the University was delighted that the Archbishop
had found time in his busy four-day visit to the county to speak at the campus. ‘The
University, since its establishment, has taken a particular interest in government, ethics
and the world of social mores,’ he added.
Biological Sciences
praised for its ‘value added’ teaching
The Department of Biological Sciences has been
given a score of 23 out of 24 for the quality of its teaching.
Last week, the Department was visited by a team
of subject specialist reviewers, appointed by the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher
Education (QAA), who studied the teaching quality at undergraduate and master levels over
a four-day period.
Each aspect of provision assessed was given a
mark of 1 to 4, representing the degree to which the aspect contributes to the achievement
of the aims and objectives.
The departmental QAA panel:
(Seated) Dr Minnie O'Farrell and Dr Richard Jurd. (Standing) Professor Neil Baker,
Dr David Heath and Professor Mike Wilson. Executive Officer Christine Watson (not
pictured) also played an important role.
The Department was awarded the maximum possible
mark of 4 in five of the six areas, which were assessed:
- Curriculum Design, Content and Organisation: 4
- Teaching, Learning and Assessment: 4
- Student Progression and Achievement: 4
- Student Support and Guidance: 4
- Learning Resources: 4
- Quality Management and Enhancement: 3
The Review Chair in his verbal feedback on the
final day of the exercise (17 February) praised the Department for its
‘coherent’ degree schemes and ‘carefully planned progression in teaching of
key skills, practical skills and development of independent learning’.
Also highlighted was the ‘high quality’
of the teaching, provided by ‘enthusiastic and research active staff in a friendly,
supportive atmosphere.’
The high proportion of mature students and
entrants from non-traditional backgrounds was also praised by the team. They particularly
commended the Department for its ‘high level of value added,’ which meant that
the students from a wide variety of backgrounds realised their potential- and not just
those from traditional backgrounds.
Facilities for lectures and laboratories for
practical work were also described as being of ‘a high standard.’ The learning
resources provided by the University were also praised, as was the good liaison between
the Department and central services and the training and development of staff. A full
published report will be sent to the University in about six to eight weeks time.
Professor Neil Baker, Head of the Biological
Sciences Department, said: ‘This is an excellent performance and I would like to
thank everyone in the Department and across the University for their considerable efforts
to achieve this result. I am particularly delighted that we got top scores in the five
areas which most directly relate to the student learning experience in the
Department.’
University joins
Millennium Festival launch
The University is one of many organisations
across the UK joining together to mark the millennium in a special way.
Its forthcoming exhibition based around
Constable’s painting of Wivenhoe Park in the University Gallery
(September-December 2000) is a Millennium Festival event made possible by funding from the
National Lottery.
Michelle Waterworth, the University’s Public
Relations Officer, joined representatives from organisations planning all kinds of
heritage, sports, charity and arts initiatives in Cambridge on 7 February.
The reception to celebrate the launch of the
Millennium Festival in the eastern region was co-hosted by New Millennium Experience
Company (NMEC) and the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge.
For more information about what is going on for
the Millennium in the eastern region, see the Millennium Festival website,
www.festival2000.co.uk
Local research will
improve health and social care
Many people across Essex who receive help from
health and social care agencies will benefit from improved services as a result of the
research undertaken by the University’s Health and Social Services Institute (HSSI).
The HSSI was set up in 1996 with the role of
providing training and educational courses for nurses and social workers. It also draws
upon the expertise of a growing number of University staff, many of whom carry out
research at both national and local levels.
So far they have undertaken vital local research
in such areas as domestic violence, drugs and crime, as well as evaluations of initiatives
such as the Colchester Town CCTV system and police cautioning of drug misusers. 
Other recent activities include research into the
social needs of the elderly in North Essex and into schemes to help drug and alcohol
misuers get back into the work place, education or voluntary work.
The HSSI is also involved in a variety of
education and research initiatives, led by Kimmy Eldridge, Deputy Director. These are
aimed at advancing professional nursing and specialist forms of healthcare such as
nutrition.
The Institute has also been sharing its expertise
by holding occasional conferences, such as the one called ‘Drugs and alcohol: whose
problem is it anyway?’ organised jointly with Essex Social Services at the Five Lakes
Golf and Country Club last November.
Lord Newton of Braintree chaired the event, which
brought together representatives from a range of statutory and voluntary organisations
concerned about the problem, to establish what the real issues are for the county and how
they should be tackled.
The conference - the first of its type in Essex -
was a great success and the HSSI hope it will become an annual event.
Other projects on the horizon including a study
into the ways children who are in care or have been in care might be at risk from drug
abuse.
Professor Nigel South (pictured above), said:
‘Helping social workers and health service personnel to conduct research in their own
towns and villages means that improvements are directly relevant to the needs of the local
community, and they can be implemented within a relatively short space of time.’
Millennium planting
– call for overseas student volunteers
In November 2000, oak trees will be planted in
the Park to mark the new Millennium and underline the contribution that has been made by
overseas students to the international standing of the University of Essex, Colchester and
the County.
Wivenhoe Park, although designed by Richard Woods
in the late 18th century, has a large number of ancient British oak trees. The Wivenhoe
Park Committee now seeks to broaden these plantings with a wider selection of species from
many parts of the world from which our students come.
Planting overseas oaks here was begun in the
early 19th century when General Francis Slater Rebow, the owner of the park at that time,
brought back cuttings of cork oaks in his boots from the Peninsular Wars. Two were planted
behind Wivenhoe House where they can be seen today at the edge of the Ha-Ha. It was
General Rebow who also commissioned John Constable to make a painting of Wivenhoe Park,
which is usually to be seen in the National Gallery in Washington. The trustees of the
gallery have agreed to loan the painting to the University to mark further the new
Millennium. It will be at the centre of an exhibition in the University Gallery being
organised by Dr Neil Cox, of the Department of Art History and Theory. The exhibition will
start in the autumn and will be on at the time of the tree planting. Both events are
supported by a grant from the National Heritage Lottery Fund.
The University hopes the new oaks will be planted
by undergraduate and postgraduate students, past and present, who come from the same
countries as the trees. A number of species and hybrids were selected in 1996 and these
have been grafted onto English oak root-stocks and grown for us by local nurserymen in
Suffolk and Essex. In particular, we are grateful to Notcutts of Woodbridge, Mr Brian
Humphrey of Little Glemham and Original Landscape Design of Dedham. We are also grateful
to those individuals who have contributed generously to the project through the Essex
Foundation and to the University of Essex Convocation who will be establishing a small
grove of trees in the Park.
If you are interested in taking part in the
planting ceremonies and will be available in the second half of November 2000, please
contact Professor Tim Gray of the Department of Biological Sciences, John Tabor Building
(email: grayt@essex.ac.uk).
Unfortunately, oak trees do not grow in all
countries or in all parts of the world so that at this stage, Professor Gray is mainly
interested in hearing from students who come from or have a connection with a limited
number of countries or regions. These are listed here, together with the type of oak tree
to be planted.
| Algerian Oak |
Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco |
| Chestnutleaf Oak |
Iran and southern border of the
Caspian Sea |
| Scarlet Oak |
Eastern North America (Maine to
Georgia) |
| Lusitanian Oak |
Spain/Portugal |
| Hungarian Oak |
Italy, Balkans, Rumania, Hungary |
| Ambrozy’s Oak |
Czech Republic/Slovakia |
| Lebanon Oak |
Syria, Lebanon |
| Macrolepis Oak |
Greece/Albania/Turkey |
| Tabor Oak |
Israel |
| Macranthera Oak |
Iran and Caucasus region |
| Pin Oak |
Eastern United States (New York to
Great Lakes) |
| Willow Oak |
Atlantic seaboard of USA |
| Golden Red Oak |
Holland (possibly
Canada) |
| Daimio Oak |
Japan |
| Rysophylla Oak |
Mexico |
| Trojan Oak |
Italy, Western Balkans |
| Acute Oak |
China |
| Oregon Oak |
Western United States or
Canada |
| Variable Oak |
Korea |
