…with widening participation characteristics: just under half were the first-in-their-family to attend university. The project would not have been possible without the collaborative approach the team took internally to secure effective placements, and externally with key strategic partners. The committed OEP team provided training, raised awareness and understanding of T-Levels, and supported essential practical requirements, such as safeguarding f…
…lthcare workers during and after the Covid-19 pandemic by creating free web-based access to expressive writing materials in English, Italian and Arabic . The project will also contribute to the growing body of evidence around the impact of the crisis on healthcare workers, and will be used to better understand how to support this vital but vulnerable group. While there is a substantial evidence base for the therapeutic benefits of Expressive Writi…
…l for the automatic identification and classification of illegal pharmacies- online malicious websites that prey on vulnerable people with the promise of cheap medicines. FAST uses a sophisticated algorithm and rapid method to identify illegal online pharmacies, discouraging visitors from buying pharmaceuticals online and providing valuable information for Interpol and other national bodies in identifying and classifying illegal activity. The rese…
…ng back students with a blended learning approach (a mix of online and face-to-face teaching). For Alliance universities this approach is nothing new, with digital learning opportunities existing long before the pandemic. But our recent experience has taken this one step further. Alliance universities have now amassed a wealth of evidence about the benefits of blended teaching and learning, and have a good understanding of the challenges of delive…
…ttingham Trent University ‘Engaging employers’ by Tim Thornton, Deputy Vice-Chancellor, University of Huddersfield ‘Enterprise education’ by Jane Turner, Pro Vice-Chancellor, Teesside University ‘Spaces that inspire’ by Mike Clark, Director of Estates and Facilities Management, University of Brighton and Chair of the Association of University Directors of Estates (AUDE) and Stan Stanier, Assistant Director of Information Services, University of Br…
…vely with industry. Massive open online courses (MOOCs), an accessible and cheap form of online learning, have the potential to make higher learning more flexible, and therefore easier to combine with work placements or even running a business. Professor Anant Agarwal is chief executive at EdX, a non-profit MOOC platform founded by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University with over 3.5m students regularly logging in around…
…socialising, which supports motivation while promoting solidarity and peer-to-peer support. One of the key benefits I have gained from my role on the DTA Rep Committee, is developing intimate knowledge of the complexities and challenges associated with the Covid-19 pandemic. The survey we distributed was effective in illustrating its far-reaching negative consequences for our PhD researchers. These include concerns about the continuation of fundi…
…nees Brighton Boost, University of Brighton Brighton Boost addresses cost-of-living pressures for students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds. Within six weeks, a cross-institutional team developed a support package providing up to £1,250 for essential costs, a free technology loan scheme, a Student Jobs Hub, and Brighton Students’ Union Essentials. Since its launch, there has been an increase in students from IMD quintiles 1-3, care-exper…
…ain of truth. The best of the new providers will no doubt deliver classroom-based subjects like business and law cheaply and well. They may offer welcome flexibilities to mature and part-time students. But it’s much harder to see how they will do the same for medicine and engineering. This can’t be done for £9,000 per student even with the additional grant for high cost subjects at current levels. This is likely to raise questions about the relati…
…udying a Masters degree in Financial Services Management with invaluable on-the-job training with some of Wales’ biggest employers in the sector. Since its launch in 2015, a total of 40 graduates have embarked on the Welsh Financial Services Graduate Programme. Six of these have already secured permanent roles in the sector with leading organisations Finance Wales, Julian Hodge Bank and Atradius. Professor Julie Lydon OBE, University of South Wale…