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UNIVERSITY OF GLAMORGAN STAFF MAGAZINE

ISSUE 04AUTUMN 2010

University of Glamorgan

Prifysgol Morgannwg

Philip GrossHis extraordinaryyear

Designed by youWeb presence revisited

Open for Business

Students’ Union and Glamorgan

Sport Park

Keep it onCampus

Special staff rates available.Half-day and hourly bookingsnow on offer. We have ameeting space and a price for everyone.

Whether you want a day meeting awayfrom your normal office space, or a fully-managed conference, GlamorganConference Services can help.

We have the most comprehensive rangeof conference and event facilities in SouthWales. Our staff are on hand to help, sogive us a call on 2002 to get your specialstaff rate.

We’ve got spaces to suitevery need, so why go

anywhere else?

staffroom 3

vice-chancellor’s message

As I write, a new academic year dawns, bringing for students, a renewed sense of excitement andanticipation for the future. At the same time we, as higher education professionals, are anticipating ourfuture, through the strategic direction in which we want to take this institution and through the externalfactors that are likely to impact on us in the coming months and years. At this perennial milestone, Iwanted to take the opportunity to update you on some of these things.

Since my appointment in April, I have been working with the Board of Governors, Directorate, Deans andCorporate Heads to develop our new strategic plan. At the presentations I hosted in May and June, Ishared with you my vision for our strategic direction and, equally important, gathered feedback from youon our plans. My thanks to all of you who attended the presentations and for the comments posted onthe Haveyoursay@glam.ac.uk website. The overall feedback has been positive on our strategic direction,with some helpful suggestions on specific ideas for future developments and cost savings.

As you may recall, a key theme of my addresses focussed on the need to continue building theUniversity’s reputation and profile to our external audiences. During the summer we undertook abenchmarking exercise to find out how external stakeholders view the University, involving a wide rangeof stakeholders from across Wales and SW England. I thought you might be interested in some of thevery positive findings: 74% of those surveyed said that the reputation of the University had improved inthe last three years and 74% of the schools and colleges surveyed said that they were more likely torecommend us as an institution of first choice now than they were three years ago. The survey alsoindicated that the most positive responses were from those who had been in direct contact with staff ofthe University. This is a good base to build upon and indicates the need for us to be ambassadors forour high quality activities and spread the word further, wider and louder than ever.

Elsewhere, we have been engaging heavily in a number of consultations with HEFCW in July andAugust, as well as contributing to the development of regional HE plans and to the Frontline ResourcesReview. The consultations, regional plans and reviews are the enactment of Welsh educational policy,where HE has been charged with continuing to improve access to higher education, whilst also playing asignificant role in the economic regeneration of the country. However, with the financial pressures facingthe public sector, we also expect to see a cap on full-time undergraduate recruitment introduced fromSeptember 2011 and changes to our funding arrangements in subsequent years. More importantly,there’s the publication of the Browne Review on Fees on 11th October and the outcomes of theComprehensive Spending Review on 22nd October to consider. The reaction to both in policy andfunding terms will undoubtedly create seismic shifts in the landscape of higher education as we manageunprecedented reductions in public spending and a probable move to an unregulated fee environment.These changes and their consequential impacts on the University, its students and key stakeholders willbe a major consideration in the setting of operational plans and budgets for the period 2011-2015.

I remain confident in the ability of the University, with the support of the Board of Governors, to weatherthese changes and remain a major provider of higher education in Wales and beyond. The importance ofdeveloping sustainable income streams from sources other than the UK Government over this period willbe vital for managing these significant changes and continuing to invest in staff and facilities.

Finally, I cannot close this piece without reference to the great new facilities opening this term. InJanuary 2006, during my interviews for the post of Pro Vice-Chancellor, I used my downtime to visit theformer Treforest SU building. Frankly I found it a depressing experience and was therefore delightedwhen David Halton asked me to lead a group looking at the development of SU facilities. The new Unionis all that we could have asked for – an iconic building that demonstrates our commitment to ourstudents and to the role of the SU within the life of the University. We are also lucky enough to welcomethe opening of the new £4m Glamorgan Sport Park this term, a major plank in the development of theGlamorgan Sport brand and a major enhancement to our growing sports course provision andreputation for sporting excellence. My congratulations to all those involved in the design, constructionand realisation of both these fantastic new facilities, that are worthy of our students and will no doubt go far in adding to the reputation of the University.

Julie LydonVice-Chancellor

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Contents

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18

11

15

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What do you think?Tell us what you think of Staff Room and find out how to submit an article atwww.inform.glam.ac.uk/staffroom

News 5-7

GBS -- HaSS merger 8

Open for Business 10

www.glam.ac.uk/you 12

Welsh Language Scheme 13

Social Media 15

Professor Philip Gross 16

Staff Development 18

ELTA Awards 2010 19

Admissions goes global 20

Getting to Know… 22

Staff Room is produced under the guidance of theeditorial board: Jeremy Atkinson, Robert Baker,William Callaway, Rob Payne and Maggie McNorton.

Editor: Mike NormansellDesign: Glamorgan Print

For more information, contactmnormans@glam.ac.uk or call 01443 482889.

Staff Room MagazineMarketing & Student RecruitmentUniversity of Glamorgan, Treforest, CF37 1DL .

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staffroom 5

news

A permanent base for palliative care in BlaenauGwent has moved a step closer with the unveilingof the master plan for the Hospice of the Valleysin Ebbw Vale.

The plan has been developed by the Centre forEngineering Research and EnvironmentalApplications (CEREA) at the University ofGlamorgan after being appointed by the Hospiceof the Valleys as the lead design and projectmanagement consultant for the development.The Hospice will be built on a suitable plot withinthe reclaimed former Steelworks Site at EbbwVale.

Currently the Hospice of the Valleys teamprovides specialist palliative care at home forpatients living within the borough of BlaenauGwent. The Hospice has outgrown its presentoffices and needs a new, purpose built HospiceCentre that will more adequately cater for itscurrent and future needs.

Read the full press release athttp://news.glam.ac.uk

Hospice of theValleys moves a step closer

Bwcabus is a brand new on-demand fullyaccessible local bus service, tailored to theneeds of passengers and operating in responseto pre-booked requests. Passengers don’t needto look at a timetable; they need only to phonein advance of when they want to travel to booka journey.

The project is run by Carmarthenshire CountyCouncil in partnership with Ceredigion CountyCouncil. Stephen Pilliner, Transport Manager atCarmarthenshire County Council said, “It hasbeen a privilege to be able to work as part of amultidisciplined team to take this innovativeproject from concept to delivery. It is anexample of how collaborative workingbetween academia, the public and privatesectors can deliver schemes thatrevolutionise passenger transport toimprove access to services for ruralcommunities, thereby reducingisolation and reliance on the motorcar.”

Owen Clark, Research Fellow at theWales Transport Research Centreat the University, said, “Making itinto the top ten alongside some ofthe UK’s most notable schemes is ahuge achievement and reflects all the hardwork of the partners in getting Bwcabus fromconcept through to delivery and the hugesuccess of the scheme to date.”

Following the success of the pilot scheme inWest Wales, it’s hoped that further schemes canbe established elsewhere in Wales and beyond,so that other rural communities can benefit fromthis pioneering service.

For more information go to www.traveline-cymru.info/bwcabus/

Bwcabus, the pioneering project created atthe University of Glamorgan, has won twoprestigious awards for its efforts in helping toimprove transport links in rural communities.

Since its inception in 2009 the scheme hascarried over 8000 passengers from acrossotherwise remote areas of rural West Wales.

The project took ‘Most Innovative TransportProject’ category at the Transport TimesNational Awards in Manchester in July, beatingoff a strong field of national and regionalinitiatives from across the UK. It was alsoawarded ‘Best Partnership’, earlier this year bythe Chartered Institute of Logistics andTransport Cymru. This national recognition forBwcabus comes as the project turned one yearold in August.

Developed by the Wales Transport ResearchCentre, Bwcabus is the brainchild of transportexpert Professor Stuart Cole of the GlamorganBusiness School.

Bwcabustimetabled for success

6 staffroom

news

More news...Glamorganbuilds globalprofile withiTunes U

Glamorgan’s iTunes U site(http://bit.ly/bhsTwH) has recorded over athird of a million downloads (340,000)and over 600,000 visitors since it waslaunched in March. The 344 items ofcontent are seeing an average of 13,087downloads per week.

iTunes U is packed with recordings oflectures, examples of students’ work,interviews with lecturers and fascinatingfacts about the University. The video,audio and PDF content can bedownloaded as ‘tracks’ onto a computeror mobile media player and is available tousers anywhere in the world.

Glamorgan’s presence on iTunes U hasraised the University’s profile across theglobe, joining some of the world’s topinstitutions in sharing knowledge andoutput, and even attracting the attentionof Hollywood screenwriter Diane Lake.

Best known for work on the multi-Oscarnominated 2002 drama Frida, Diane Lakegot in touch with CCI students earlier thisyear to offer her services, after listeningto their work on ITunes U.

A “full-blooded” radio dramatisation ofthe gruesome tale of Sweeney Todd, themurderous barber of Fleet Street, wasproduced by CCI staff and students atthe Atrium and posted on the iTunes Usite.

Ms. Lake, who has written for Columbia,Disney, Miramax, Paramount and NBC,was so impressed with the radio dramashe contacted Richard Hand, the CCIprofessor behind the radio play, andoffered her services in writing a radioscript based around a traditionalcharacter in crime fiction, super-sleuthViolet Strange.

Professor Hand duly accepted her offerand in August, Ms. Lake, who is aprofessor at Emerson College in Boston,crossed the Atlantic to watch the playbeing created. The play is now availableto listen to on iTunes U.

If you are new to iTunes U, visit our portalwebsite for details of how to get startedhttp://itunes.glam.ac.uk/.

A new social learning space for students andstaff will open soon in the area formerlyoccupied by Blackwell’s bookshop, in HirwaunBuilding.

The room – dubbed the Business SchoolLounge – is expected to have a relaxed,contemporary design with soft seating areas,work benches and connectivity for laptops andother media devices including wireless internetaccess.

Social learning spaces have become animportant feature of the University’s campuses;in recent months facilities have been created inseveral locations, including room H130, the

concept classroom, and in the new Students’Union in Treforest as well as in the Zonerestaurant and Matrix in Glyntaff.In response to these initiatives, a paper onSocial Learning Spaces was submitted to theEstates Strategy Steering Group in September2010.

The paper provides a framework for a ‘hub andspoke’ system of social learning spaces atGlamorgan, with the hub being the TreforestLRC, focussing on the learning aspect, and anumber of ‘spoke’ facilities dotted throughoutthe campus to provide appropriate spaces forthe social aspect of learning to take place.

Social learning on the rise

Blackwell’s still on campus

Glamorgan’soverall resultin the 2010National StudentSurvey showedthat 78% of our

students agree or strongly agree that they aresatisfied with the quality of their course – a 1%fall since the 2009 survey. While this is clearlydisappointing to all those who have workedhard to improve student experience this year,the bigger picture is not as black and white.

For instance, on 15 of the survey’s 22 measures,Glamorgan’s students are more satisfied thanthey were in 2009. On a further five measures,students are equally as satisfied as they werelast year. Small drops in satisfaction arerecorded on just two of the 22 measures.

At a subject level, there is much to celebrate.We have learned that five courses have a 100%satisfaction rate, while another 23 courses havesatisfaction rates of 90% or above. Many moresubjects achieve 100% satisfaction on specificmeasures, other than ‘overall’. The University’scommittees, faculties and groups will now belooking in detail at the results and trying to planactions which will, for example, take whatever isso good about these top scoring courses andapply it to lower-performing areas. Facultyaction plans will review the effectiveness ofwhat was tried last year and aim for moreenhancements for 2011.

The full results of this year’s National StudentSurvey were released to institutions in July andwere subsequently circulated to faculties.Colleagues also have the option to run tailoredreports from an online database.

Our students speak out - NSS results 2010

Blackwell’s bookshop has reopened in its newhome, based in L313 in Treforest LRC. They willbe open Monday to Friday, 9.30am – 4.30pm.

Please let them know any book recommendationsfor your students and please continue to supportthem with your custom.

Treforest SU social learning space

Phase one of Portfolioproject complete

Phase one of the Academic Portfolio Review projectconcluded with a one-day conference on the 6th

September following extensive consultations across allcampuses. Around ninety colleagues took part andreviewed the project’s research, consultation andrecommendations on issues such as strategic planning.

Existing opportunities for curriculum development werealso presented, including Welsh medium provision, Work-

Based Learning, UHOVI programmes and opportunities fordevelopments with renewable energy companies.

Phase two of the project is now underway with the first drafts of faculties’curriculum plans having been considered by a special panel meeting onOctober 5th. The panel included PVC Helen Marshall, APVC MelindaDrowley, the Dean of each Faculty and Mr Steve Kenny (Pro ViceChancellor at Liverpool John Moores University).

Final plans for the curriculum for 2012 will now be considered at a secondpanel meeting on 5th November. Project Leader Melinda Drowley says,“The timescales are a challenge for everyone, but it’s critically importantthat we achieve our goal in order to provide clear recruitment informationfor 2012’s entrants.” A summary report of phase one is available onrequest from Denize McIntyre in Directorate (dmcintyr@glam.ac.uk).

GBS and ‘Gross NationalHappiness’

The Glamorgan Business School (GBS) visited the Kingdom of Bhutan –a tiny country nestled in the Himalayas between India and China – recentlyto explore the possibility of delivering an MSc Strategic ProcurementManagement to the Bhutan public sector from 2012.

Chris Lee, newly appointed divisional head of GBS, visited the RoyalInstitute of Management in Bhutan, the Royal University of Bhutan, theMinister of Labour at the Royal Government of Bhutan and the ProjectMonitoring and Evaluation Committee (PMEC), to scope the potential forpartnership activities.

During his visit, Chris also explored the possibility of other activities, suchas student and staff exchanges and joint research activities.

Chris said, “In many ways Bhutan is similar to Wales; they share thedragon emblem with the Welsh and have their own language andspectacular countryside.

“The Royal Government of Bhutan considers procurement as the maincatalyst for the future economic and social development of Bhutan.Procurement and supply chain activities, plus international partnershipswith private and public sector organisations and academic institutions isessential to their Government’s plans to deliver transformational change inBhutan, without conflicting with their ideology, which is underpinned by thequest for ‘Gross National Happiness’”.

For more information about Glamorgan Business School’s postgraduateprogrammes please visit http://bus.glam.ac.uk/postgraduate

news

staffroom 7

UGCS secures prestigiouscontract University of Glamorgan Commercial Services (UGCS), working with stafffrom the Division of Chiropractic, has recently been successful in obtaininga £345,000 contract with the General Chiropractic Council, the regulatorybody for the chiropractic profession.

The 18-month contract is for the development and testing of a revalidationscheme for the Chiropractic profession, in line with the UK government’spolicy that mandatory schemes of revalidation should be developed for allregulated health professionals, subject to the proviso that there must be arobust business case for any such scheme.

The 2010/11 campusmaps are now availablefeaturing the newly --opened Students’ Unionin Treforest and theGlamorgan Sport Park.To order copies of themap, please contactKelly Hughes on 4345 or e-mailkhughes5@glam.ac.uk

Bringing easy media richness to BlackboardIn September LCSS introduced improvements to Blackboard to make iteasier and quicker for you to use and added some interesting new features.

Key amongst these is ‘Mashups’ for simple and immediate access to onlinevideos (via YouTube), photographs (Flickr) and slideshows (SlideShare).These can add richness to your modules and to your students’ learningexperience.

You can add any of these media directly into your module from withinBlackboard — you’ll find them under ‘Build Content’ when you have the‘Edit Mode’ switched on. To see our online video guides about Mashupsand more, visit http://lcss.glam.ac.uk/blendedlearning/improvedblackboard/

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KEYTreforest1. Gatehouse & Main Reception2. Tŷ Crawshay (A Block)3. Brecon (B Block)4. Cynon (C Block), Student Services

5. Kidwelly (K Block)6. Dyffryn (D Block)7. Glynneath (G Block)8. Aircraft Maintenance Centre9. Hirwaun (H Block)10. Johnstown (J Block)11. Ferndale12. Wenvoe (W Block)13. X Block14. Health Centre (T Block)15. Glamorgan Conference Centre16. Students’ Union and Shop17. Centre for Sport, Health and Exercise18. Treforest Woodland Walk19. Stilts Food Court 20. Childcare Services21. Learning Resources Centre22. Glamorgan Print23. Prayer Room24. Accommodation Reception25. Glamorgan Court A-V26 & 27. Halls of Residence – Under Construction28. 2-7 Forest Grove29. 8 Forest Grove30. Academic Registry

31. HR (3 &14 Llantwit Road)32. Chaplaincy (20 Llantwit Road)33. Prospect House34. Innovation House35. Academic Registry36. Welsh Institute of Chiropractic

Lower Glyntaff37. Anzani House - Reception/Security lodge38. Tramsheds39. Elaine Morgan Building40. Learning Resources Centre41. Welsh Institute for Health and Social Care42. Aneurin Bevan Building43. The Family Institute

Upper Glyntaff44. Professor Bernard Knight Building45. Alfred Russel Wallace Building46. George Knox Building

Glamorgan Sport Park47. Main Hall48. The Pavillion49. Groundsmans’ House50. ATP Floodlit

51. 3G Pitch

Treforest

Upper Glyntaff

Lower Glyntaff

To Glamorgan Sport Park

To Glyntaff

To Treforest

To Upper Glyntaff

To Lower Glyntaff

48

4750 51

49

Glamorgan Sport Park

Reception

Main Entrance Parking

Bus Stop

Bike Rack

Recycling Points Cycle and Pedestrian RouteCoffee Shop

Places to Eat

Treforest Railway Station

Glamorgan Business School - 01443 482955Advanced Technology - 01443 482540Humanities and Social Sciences - 01443 483403Health, Sport and Science - 01443 654576Cardiff School of Creative & Cultural Industries, ATRiuM,Cardiff - 01443 668541

BS

AT

H

He

CCI

Faculty Advice Shops

New campus maps

Chiropractic -- backing regulation

’’‘‘

8 staffroom

opinion

It was with both pride and sadness that theUniversity said goodbye to Professor RodDubrow-Marshall at the end of August.However, this has created an opportunity tocreate a new 21st century faculty designed tomeet the contemporary issues which we facein delivering HE in a regional, national andinternational context. I feel extremely proudthat Directorate colleagues have entrustedthe leadership of this new faculty to me and Ihope that, in time, staff in the new faculty willfeel that this trust has been well placed.

I very much appreciate that staff in bothfaculties face the uncertainty that thisintegration has created and this is why we aremoving quickly to complete the process overthe next six months. As our Vice-Chancellorcommented, the decision has been taken asshe feels it is “the best way to secure thefaculty’s long term future given the difficultfunding environment and the managementoverhead costs vis-a-vis the courserecruitment profile of the subject areas”. Thenew faculty will be designed on a basis whichdelivers long term sustainability and toachieve this we collectively need to build anintegrated faculty that not only offers highquality, viable courses, but at its core isrenowned for the quality of the studentexperience. We have many of the buildingblocks in place to achieve this with muchgood work already taking place across bothfaculties and this, along with the portfolioreview exercise provides us with this uniqueopportunity to bring the best of HaSS and theBusiness School together.

I have every confidence that staff in bothHaSS and Glamorgan Business School willcontinue to give their best in ensuring the

quality of our new and returning studentexperience. This is essentially what we areabout and, as leader designate, myphilosophical stance is that students will be atthe heart of our new faculty. I know that thiswill be shared by colleagues.

I very much look forward to working with DrCath Jones as Associate Dean of the newFaculty and to getting to know staff in HaSSover the coming months. Cath and I intend toadopt an open and consultative approach tothe new faculty and to the principles on whichwe will operate. This will apply equally to thestructures which we will design to build onthe agreed approach. We very much lookforward to engaging faculty staff and widermembers of the University in supporting thisprocess. Helen Marshall is chairing the smallsteering group which has been established toensure that the process is fair and equitablethroughout.

Cath and I will be meeting with the Director ofMarketing to agree a formal communicationsstrategy and advice in relation to this willfollow on Inform etc. Again, we hope that thiswill facilitate wide engagement and fullconsultation at all stages.

I look forward to serving the new Faculty asDean and seek the support of all colleaguesin managing an effective transition over thenext six months.

Monica Gibson-Sweet, Dean Designate

New faculty willhave students at its heart...Monica Gibson Sweet on the integration ofthe Faculty of Humanities and SocialSciences and Glamorgan Business School

Monica Gibson-Sweet

Cath Jones

As I ponder this column (yes, on a train, again – I really don’t spend my life on trains, though, honestly) mynotebook has two open documents, External View and the Review of Academic Administration. The ExternalView document is limited to a few hundred words, the review is not, so better to start with this one I think.

Today’s Times Higher is dominated by the magazine’s own World University Rankings. Let’s take a moment tounpick that: the front cover, a whole supplement and a number of articles in our only periodical focussing onhigher education in the UK, is focused on its own rankings.

Why? I assume that this must be because rankings sell magazines and papers. This seems to make sense, asmost broadsheet newspapers in the UK also trumpet, sometimes quite loudly, their own version of universityrankings. So, we have established that league tables benefit the magazines and papers that produce them.

Who else benefits? Do potential students or their advisers (parents) benefit? I’m not sure. All rankings usedifferent ciphers to try and reduce quality to a numeric. They use research assessment outcomes, numbers ofcitations, UCAS tariff points, NSS scores, drop-out rates, employment rates and degree classifications. Oneleague table even uses the hugely scientific (I don’t think) measure of ‘head teachers’ opinion’. Are these goodciphers? Well let’s forget head teachers’ opinions for now. Is the NSS a good cipher for teaching quality?Probably not. The NSS records the opinions of final year student on their perception of their experience. Anunscrupulous university management might try to improve ranking by improving outcomes. Increasing themarks by 10% might improve the perception of satisfaction, as well as the degree classifications and theemployment outcomes, but have you improved the quality of either the experience or the teaching?

Even if they were good ciphers for something, would they be good for informing prospective students?Questions such as ‘which course?’ and ‘which university?’ are a lot more complicated than pseudo-scientificleague tables. A student interested in a particular specialism in their chosen field would be better offresearching the specialism of the department, rather than the league table score. A student might be bettersuited to the pedagogy in a former polytechnic than that of a more highly ranked research-intensive ‘old’university.

Do universities benefit? Well if you happen to be at the top of a league table, you might use it for marketingpurposes. But is this just increasing the tyranny of the tables? The drive to improve or, if you happen to be atthe top, to maintain position, takes effort. Is that effort appropriate? Well, I’ll leave you with this thought:should universities be striving to improve research and teaching quality, or should they be striving, as manydo, to improve the perception of quality by adopting the ciphers that league-table compilers commonly use?

One more thing before I sign-off: a shameless plug for the next staff development session, run by yourerstwhile columnist, on Wednesday 3rd November 2pm-5pm, B54. Entitled ‘Everything you wanted to knowabout HE but were afraid to ask…’ or more prosaically ‘An Introduction to Higher Education’. Details can befound on Inform and the staff development web pages.

William CallawayClerk to the Governors andAcademic Registrar

External View…

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opinion

10 staffroom

feature

Treforest Students’ Union

Congratulations on the new building! Iseverything up and running now?Thanks! Yes, everything is fine! We’re all stillgetting used to the building, but the front-lineservices are all in place.

What is there for staff to do?Loads! I’d like staff to see the Union as theirresource too: there’s a bigger shop than beforethat’s open from 8am and ‘Hair’ the new salon,open to staff and the local community (call 3534to book an appointment). We’re also very excitedthat a local businesswoman has agreed to open‘The Beauty Room’ next door to Hair, which willhave a nail bar and waxing and spray tanning

facilities. And don’t forget Reflections café andThe Randy Dragon for all your breakfast, lunch ordinner needs - eat in or takeaway!

How did the opening day and night go?After all the hard work over the past 12 months,it was amazing to walk in and see people havingguided tours and being excited about what wehave to offer. There was a real buzz about theplace.

So, what’s in the building?We’ve got a six-court badminton hall, two 40-seater lecture rooms, a 10-seat meeting room,a notational analysis room, strength trainingroom, fitness testing room, a large social areaand office space for the facility and academicstaff.

Will it be a busy facility?It’s going to be in constant use: there’ll beacademic teaching from Monday to Friday,8am-6pm during term and coach educationand performance teams using the centre in theevenings and weekends. Staff can use thebuilding too; meeting rooms are available if youwant a change of scenery and there’ll be staffsports sessions such as football available. TheCardiff City and Blues Academies are still withus too and both will have access to thefacilities, with our students on the Mastersprogrammes leading the sessions.

Glamorgan Sport ParkEnhancing our already excellent sport science facilities,

Glamorgan Sport Park places the University’s provision for sport and coaching among the best in the country adding

new lab testing facilities, high-tech teaching resources andnational-standard sporting venues to our repertoire.

Manager of the new facility, Steve Savage, took Staff Roomon a tour of the £3.7 million Sport Park.

Overcoming snow, wind, rain and asbestos, not to mention analmost impossibly tight 12 month deadline, the brand new £5million Treforest Students’ Union building opened right onschedule on 10th September. Staff Room caught up withStudents’ Union CEO, Sian Taylor, to find out how it’s going.

for Business

Outside our impressive new Students’ Union

Reception and chillout area, Glamorgan Sport Park

Main events arena,

Students’ Union

The newly-opened Glamorgan Sport Park

staffroom 11

feature

RWCMD buildin top flightStaff at the Royal Welsh College of Musicand Drama were given the chance to don ahard hat and take a tour of theconservatoire’s building site recently, to seewhere they will be working next year – andto start imagining that early morning latteand pastry in the marble-floored café,overlooking Bute park.

A Topping Out ceremony – so-named tomark the reaching of the highest point ofthe building – took place in July, to markthe completion of the concrete shell of the£22.5 million building project, which is dueto open in the Spring of 2011.

HaltonhonouredDavid Halton, former Vice-Chancellor atUniversity of Glamorgan, was among thosemade an Honorary Fellow of the RoyalWelsh College at their graduationceremony in June. Other honorariesincluded Academy Award-winningAmerican composer, Stephen Sondheimand Hay Festival founder, Peter Florence.

I decided to calm my first-day nerves by trying out the new salon, but was thwarted by anunscheduled fire alarm; standing outsideresplendent with wet hair, long gown and cutting collar was not my greatest moment!

What’s your favourite thing about the newStudents’ Union building?The Social Learning Suite – sponsored byEndsleigh. It’s a fantastic space and alreadyconstantly busy with students.

How do you feel now that it’s complete?Relived, excited and most importantly, proud –especially after the Director of NUS Wales, GailEdwards said, she couldn't think of a better SUbuilding in the UK!”

What do you think the building will do for theprofile of Glamorgan Sport? The Sport Park will massively aid the delivery ofsport sessions to our student teams andprovide a fantastic teaching environment forstudents on academic course based at thecentre, such as football and rugby coachingcourses. Having managed the playing fields for

eight years the indoor facility was much neededto aid our growth in academic sports courses.

The Sport Park will be officially opened onThursday 25th November by former paralympicgold medallist, Tanni Grey-Thompson.

‘Hair’ the new salon, Students’ Union

Reflections Cafe, Students’ Union

Conferencing facilities, Glamorgan Sport Park

Drag artist,

opening night

Students’ Union

Shower facilities,

Glamorgan

Sport Park

Main Sports Hall,

Glamorgan

Sport Park

12 staffroom

feature

Usability and You! An update on the Web Presence Strategy

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A lot or a little can change in four months andboth apply in the case of the Web Presencestrategy. We’ve made significant improvements,most notably with the launch at the end of June ofa newly designed University websitewww.glam.ac.uk, but there’s still a way to go andsome lower-priority areas have yet to receive thedevelopers’ treatment.

Based on bold imagery, increased use of screenspace and improved navigation, the new designprimarily addresses the struggle for homepage‘real estate’ – or as it was put in the Spring 2010edition of Staff Room, ‘the delicate balancing actof appealing to our many stakeholders from justone page’. The real trick has been doing this,whilst retaining a dynamic, modern design thatappeals to today’s prospective students, but thathas been only part of the story.

The redesign had to be responsive to user-trendstoo, as many of our website visitors bypass thehomepage by navigating directly to their requiredcontent via search engines and marketingmaterials; we needed an intuitive design thatvisitors could navigate through easily.

Our response was the five content areas: ‘Studywith Us’, ‘International Students’, ‘BusinessServices’, ‘Our Research’ and ‘About theUniversity’, each with their own landing pages,content and functionality developed to align withthe homepage. The timing of the launch, beingjust three months from the time the project wasestablished, means most of the initialdevelopment has focused around the key ‘Studywith Us’ and ‘About the University’ sections. Asdevelopment of these areas reaches a plateau,developers’ focus will now switch to the otherthree main content areas.

A perennial sticking point with most websites isthe search function and in the past, Glamorgan’shas been no exception. We looked for inspirationfrom search experts, Google, implementing a newwebsite search engine function, based on thesearch-giants’ own infrastructure. There’s stillsome development work to do to refine thisfunction, but users should already be seeing moreconsistent results, whether they are searchinginternally or externally for content.

Search isn’t the only area to benefit from recentactivity. ‘User experience’ has been a key focus ofthe strategy throughout and users should haveseen the effects of this recently with some of thenew value-added functionality launched onGlamlife for students, including the availability ofself-service council tax certificates and Courseand Module Information. Such developments willcontinue over the coming months as furtherfunctionality comes online.

Websites, by their very nature are dynamic andchanges are constant and to be expected if thegoal is user-relevant content. Quite rightly then,these developments should come as responsesto user feedback. As members of the Universitywe should all take responsibility for thiscontinuous development by feeding back bothpositive and negative comments whereappropriate using the established +Feedbackchannel.

Finally, Policies and Guidelines to accompany theabove developments and overarching Strategyhave been developed and can be located onInform (http://inform.glam.ac.uk/web-presence-strategy/ ).

In May, Staff Room reported on the launch of the Web StrategySteering Group created to oversee the implementation of theUniversity’s Web Presence Strategy – a project with the aim ofdeveloping a more innovative online presence for the University.Four months on, Project Manager Sarah Rees gives Staff Room thelow-down on what has happened since and explains some of thechanges that are yet to come.

staffroom 13

feature

Revised Welsh LanguageSchemeA unified Welsh Language Scheme has been introduced for the first timeacross the University of Glamorgan, the Royal Welsh College of Music andDrama and Merthyr Tydfil College. Previously, the three institutions hadtheir own separate Welsh Language Schemes.

The Welsh Language Board-approved scheme is the first example of a HEInstitution, FE College and Conservatoire joining forces to produce andimplement a Welsh Language Scheme.

The joint commitment was marked by a week of celebrations recently, witha formal launch event in Tŷ Crawshay on the 11th October attended bynumerous representatives from the fields of education and the Welshlanguage, with entertainment provided by students from each institution.Awareness raising activities at each of the Glamorgan Group’s campusesfollowed the launch.

A range of materials have also been produced to raise awareness of theScheme, including a booklet for staff explaining the implications of theWelsh Language Scheme for them. Posters and postcards were handedout during the week of activities and these are available on the website.

For more information on the Welsh Language Scheme email Alex Boucheron aboucher@glam.ac.uk or Non Stevens on nstevens@glam.ac.uk.

Cynllun Iaith GymraegDiwygiedig

Mae Cynllun Iaith Gymraeg unedig wedi’i gyflwyno am y tro cyntaf ardraws Prifysgol Morgannwg, Coleg Brenhinol Cerdd a Drama Cymru, aCholeg Merthyr Tudful. Yn flaenorol, roedd Cynllun Iaith Gymraeg euhunain ar wahân gan bob un ohonynt.

Mae’r cynllun hwn, a dderbyniwyd cymeradwyaeth Bwrdd yr IaithGymraeg, yn enghraifft gyntaf o gynllun o’r math, gyda Sefydliad AU, Coleg AB a Conservatoire yn uno i gynhyrchu a gweithredu Cynllun IaithGymraeg.

Marciwyd yr ymrwymiad hwn gydag wythnos arbennig o ddathliadau ynddiweddar, gyda lansiad ffurfiol yn Nhŷ Crawshay ar 11eg Hydref afynychwyd gan gynrychiolwyr amrywiol o faes addysg a’r iaith Gymraeg,gydag adloniant gan fyfyrwyr pob sefydliad. Yn dilyn y lansiad, cafwydgweithgareddau cynyddu ymwybyddiaeth ar bob un o gampysau GrŵpMorgannwg.

Mae ystod o ddeunyddiau hefyd wedi cael eu cynhyrchu i gynydduymwybyddiaeth o’r Cynllun, yn cynnwys llyfryn ar gyfer staff yn esboniogoblygiadau’r Cynllun Iaith Gymraeg iddynt. Dosbarthwyd posteri acherdiau post hefyd yn ystod yr wythnos o weithgareddau, ac mae’r rhainar gael ar y wefan.

Am fwy o wybodaeth ar y Cynllun Iaith Gymraeg, e-bostiwch Alex Boucherar aboucher@glam.ac.uk neu Non Stevens ar nstevens@glam.ac.uk

website, we’ve received hundreds of emails via the

very page of the site. We really appreciate people taking

lps us to keep the content of the website up to date.

improved thanks to your feedback:

you can find what you need wherever

ite

ch: more accurate results displayed in a

of displaying courses, clearer information

students

red home page

y appealing due to use of images

ell us what you like AND don’t like via the +Feedback link so

ue to provide a better user experience.

dback

14 staffroom

feature

Award for star-struck lecturerAstronomer and Senior Lecturer Martin Griffiths of the Faculty of Health Sport andScience has received the Planetary Nebulae award of the Astronomical League for hisobservations and imaging of planetary nebulae in the Milky Way galaxy.

The majority of the images cited for the award were taken by him using the FaulkesTelescopes in Hawaii and Australia, which are remotely controlled two-metre researchgrade instruments, now based at the University of Glamorgan.

These telescopes are used by schools and university research groups worldwide andGlamorgan enjoys privileged access to them as part of the BSc Observational Astronomydegree.

Martin said, “I am proud that the work here in astronomy at the University has beenrecognised by this international organisation. Astronomy is a lifelong passion and I’mconstantly inspired by its discoveries and applications. Observing, researching andimaging planetary nebulae brings home a sense of scientific inclusion, enabling us to seeour history and evolution as humans as a tiny and transient part of the universe weinhabit.”

A week ofwelcomes forinternationalsThe latest intake of international students joinedus for International Welcome Week in Septemberto settle into life in Wales ahead of the start ofterm.

225 new students from as far afield as Asia andSouth America arrived over the weekend of the11th/12th September to take advantage of theprogramme of support activities and eventsorganised to help them settle in.

As well as being among the first students toaccess the new Students’ Union building, theyhad access to a whole range of informationsessions to cover issues that they are likely toencounter during their stay in the UK, includingimmigration, accommodation and living andworking in Wales.

The week’s programme of events culminated asalways with the welcome meal, a regular highlightfor the students (pictured). International Welcomeweek is managed by the International StudentSupport Service team.

February intake

The International Office will also welcome asecond tranche of international students inFebruary 2011. This intake will include a numberof popular Masters programmes and top-upundergraduate programmes. The February intakeis designed to include international students fromcountries where exam results are published muchlater than in the UK. Also coming in January 2011is the International Foundation Programme (IFP)running for students who want to progress on toan undergraduate programme in September2011.

Visits

The International Recruitment Team andAcademics from the University have a jam-packed overseas visits schedule for October andNovember to meet with prospective students whowish to study with us next year. Reading like thedepartures board at Heathrow, destinationsinclude: Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Ireland,Norway, Canada, Nigeria, Ghana, China, Mexico,Bulgaria, Kuwait, Bahrain, Oman, UAE,Bangladesh, Nepal, India, Egypt, Morocco,Turkey, Vietnam, South Korea, Taiwan, Romania,Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Greece, Cyprus, Mauritius,Botswana, Namibia, South Africa, Libya andMalaysia.

For more information on any of these items, or tofind out more about the international teamactivities, visit http://international.glam.ac.uk/

The 2010 International students settle in.

staffroom 15

feature

What is social media and why should we be using it? There are many definitions of socialmedia, but I would define it as any online activity that allows two-way communications with theaudience. Facebook is social because information is shared, commented on, linked to andpassed on. Twitter allows us to post messages and comment on other messages in a completelyopen conversation, visible to anyone. YouTube, Flickr and many other forms of social media haveone core element – they allow an interaction with your audience.

Most organisations these days are involved in social media, whether consciously or not - justbecause you aren’t taking part in a conversation, it doesn’t mean people aren’t talking about you!So it’s important that we’re pro-actively involved, because it’s probably the best way to engage withour stakeholders and to assess general feeling about our brand, our institution, our courses, facilitiesand services, and to respond accordingly. A coherent, strategic social media presence can have a farmore targeted and cost-effective impact than using traditional marketing alone. For example, theUniversity already has a number of Facebook profiles, including some specific to Faculties andcourses; the Students’ Union, and Glamlife also have their own. These are being used to have regularconversations with both existing and potential customers. We also have a very active Twitter presence,with our Research and International twitter feeds seeing a lot of popularity within a short period of time.CCI have a great Flickr feed and a couple of faculties have their own YouTube channels.

When is it a good time to get involved in social media? This is important to consider, because while it isvery easy to create a Facebook page or Twitter feed, it requires a real commitment to give it the regularattention it needs to become successful. Equally, without proper strategy and management, social mediacan be a waste of resources and can actually damage your brand.

So, if you do want to get involved, start by thinking about what you would use social media for. Studentcommunication, study groups, shared photo galleries, news, course promotion… the possibilities are vast.How often can you maintain it? Fewer than two or three updates a week is probably a waste of time. How willyou promote it? Our core Facebook and Twitter feeds have a few thousand followers between them, so wecan help promote your feed (if it fits in with our objectives), and once you’re a little established you could putthe link to your account on your web pages or literature – however, to keep people engaged you need to givethem a good reason to engage with you.

Whether you’re already involved in social media and are wondering what your next step should be, or if you’rejust starting out and debating whether social media can actually benefit you at all, the web team is here tohelp, so get in touch.

Alex Murphy (amurphy@glam.ac.uk).

Social mediaare you doing it?Glamorgan’s online marketing manager, Alex Murphy,looks at the benefits of social media

Social Stats� Facebook fans - 10,500� Twitter followers - 3,000� Twitter reach (last 50 tweets) - 57,000� Most popular YouTube video* - 14,000 views

Figures derived from top 5 university accounts. *”University of Glamorgan Location”

16 staffroom

main feature

An extraordinaryYear

staffroom 17

main feature

Q: Have things changed for you this year?In practical terms I’m rather scarily busy with theinvitations to readings and festivals andconferences that inevitably follow the receipt of alarge prize, but work in a writer’s life is fairlyseamless. Some of ‘this year’s’ poems might havebeen written three or four years ago, while thisyear I have been writing the poems which willappear in the next book, or the one after that.This year’s crop has ripened under veryfavourable conditions, but most of the jobconsists of mulching, planting, pruning and justloving what you do. The best consequence of thisyear, I hope, will be that a fair number of peoplewill look at my work again with better readingglasses on.

Q: Has achieving acclaim put pressure on youto deliver more of the same in your next works,or are you pleased to please yourself?I can see the danger of being so pleased that I’mpleasing people, I might want to please them inthe same way again. Whereas in fact these recentbooks come out of a period when I had noparticular expectations I’d be pleasing anyone.Fortunately I was already deeply plunged, by

circumstances, into the next piece of writing. Myfather is in his nineties, deaf and losing all butfragments of the four or five languages he hasspoken through aphasia. I have been close up toall this, and for a writer (not to mention for a son)it strikes such resonances.

Q: What are your main influences?Different people at different times - like differentnutrients in the diet. The real point is theconversation they have with each other in myhead. At the age of 13 I read T S Eliot’s WasteLand. I didn’t understand a blind word of it, but…wow!

Q: Did poetry come naturally to you or did youhave to work at it?I remember my first poem was something T SEliot-ish, with shades of Dylan Thomas. It went‘The tiger sea claws down the ages from thecliff…’ Need I say more? Please don’t make me!In fact stories came first for me. In my early teensI wrote a spy story in which the main characterwas a poet, so I wrote a poem for him… thenanother. Then I went on writing poems and thenovel, like the booster-stage of the rocket,dropped away.

Q: When did you decide on a career in writing?I knew I had to be a writer, because when I talkedto the language, it seemed to talk back, and saythings that I hadn’t been expecting. That’s not thesame as knowing I was, in some publishablesense, good. But it meant that I had to keepwriting.

Q: In The Water Table, you use such colourfulphrases as ‘hippo-fart’ – would you describeyour poetry as playful?Yes, seriously playful! Humour need not beavoidance. At best, it tricks and finesses us pastour defences, somewhat closer to the truth.

Q: Many of your poems are laced with thevisual and physical attributes of the movingtides – do you feel a certain affection withwater?I think that water is a colossal trickster, alwaysstirring it (and our responses) up. The affection isfor the people and images reflected in the water.But I’ve always lived by the sea – and water inmany guises – right from the start. I grew up inDelabole, North Cornwall – one mile from the sea(but more famously home to England’s oldestcommercial slate mine and the UK’s firstcommercial wind farm) then had spells inPlymouth, Brighton, Bristol and now Penarth.Rivers have played their part too, in Dartmoorand, more recently, the Taff.

Q: A number of your students past and presentare now published authors in their own right:can you teach writing talent or do you justdraw out an innate ability?We don’t teach talent. We can teach a measure ofself-understanding and self-management ofwhatever abilities anyone has, and the skills offeeding and refreshing and testing those abilitieswithout, at last, a tutor standing over you. We canput people in the way of challenges andstimulations which open their eyes to possibilitiesthey’d not considered before, and to theblockages, personal or cultural, which might begetting in their way. Helping them to realisethey’ve got to find the sound instincts inthemselves, and put that knowledge into articulate words, is what we hope to do.

2010 has been quite a year for Professor Philip Gross of the Faculty of Humanitiesand Social Sciences. In January he was awarded the prestigious TS Eliot Prize forhis collection of poetry, The Water Table; he received the Wales Book of the Yearaward in June (accompanied in the shortlist by one of his own students) for I SpyPinhole Eye and his newest book, a collection of poetry for children called OffRoad To Everywhere – which is also illustrated by Philip’s son, Jonathan Gross –got the Poetry Book Society’s Children’s Poetry Bookshelf ‘summer choice’ award.Staff Room caught up with the modest professor to talk hippo-farts and thepressures of fame.

’’‘‘I knew I had to be

a writer, becausewhen I talked to thelanguage, it seemedto talk back, and saythings that I hadn’tbeen expecting

Coming soon…

18 staffroom

staff development

Researcher’s EventsDeveloping Best Practice inSupervision with John Wakeford (27th October)

ICTFinance Online – Budgetary ControlStatements (1st December)Publishing Web Content Using Django(4th November)

Management DevelopmentManaging Change (27th October)Recruitment & Selection (12th January)

Learning, Teaching and AssessmentPresenting Course Materials UsingGlamlearn Content ManagementSystem (CMS) (22nd October, 24th November)

Information ManagementEffective Management of BusinessRecords (24th November)Information Compliance – Refresh YourKnowledge (22nd November)

Equal OpportunitiesEnriching Learning and TeachingThrough Inclusive Practice(16th November)Teaching Dyslexic Students Effectively(9th November)

Personal Skills DevelopmentBeing a Mentor (3rd November)Report Writing (2nd November)

The Glamorgan ProfessionalCommunication Skills (11th November)Organisation and Time Management

Visit the Staff Development pages on Inform to find an extensiveand varied range of training and development opportunities. Here’sjust a very small sample of some of the events coming up in thenext few months:

Designed for anyone considering retirement inthe next five years, the event aims to demystifythe process of retirement, giving practicalinformation and introducing specialists whocan provide financial planning expertise to helpyou make and support your lifestyle choices.

The event is split into two: the morning sessionincludes talks from specialists on theUniversity’s retirement procedures and how tomake the most of your pension, with speakersfrom both the Teachers Assurance PensionScheme and the RCT Local GovernmentPension Scheme. The afternoon sessionprovides an opportunity to meet for a one-to-one discussion with any of the specialists.Appointments can also be made for furthermeetings after the seminar.

To book, e-mail hrtraining@glam.ac.uk orcontact Helen Harries on extension 2538 formore information.

ICT Trainingoffer onlinesubmissionusing TurnitinThanks to a successfulcollaboration with CELT, ICTTraining is now providingregular interactive training onTurnitin – the (JISC funded)online submission tool withplagiarism detection

Turnitin helps educators check students’ work for proper citation or possible plagiarism and produce originality reports that help lecturers and students view potential matches to similar submitted text.

The application can support lecturers inmonitoring their students output to ensurethey produce original work and think forthemselves, whilst learning how to work with outside sources.

More details on the course can be found on the Staff Development pages of Inform. For available courses, e-mailicttraining@glam.ac.uk.

Planning for yourretirementA seminar for staff approaching retirement will be held at theUniversity again this year, due to popular demand.

staffroom 19

announcement

Winner of WinnersThe Excellence inLearning Teaching andAssessment Awardsrecognise and rewardachievement acrossthe Glamorgan Group.Here are this year’s five category winners,announced at theELTA AwardsPresentation on Friday17th September.

The ELTA Awards are administered byCELT. The 2010/11 awards programmewill be launched in January.

� Jennifer L. Austin Faculty of Humanities and SocialSciences – Excellence and Innovationin Learning and Teaching Practice

� Anna Solic and Jo DurnallCardiff School of Creative & CulturalIndustries – Excellence in StudentAssessment

� Huw SwayneCardiff School of Creative & CulturalIndustries – Excellence in AcademicLeadership

� Sue House Learning Resources Centre –Excellence and Innovation in Student Learning Support

� Richard OwenFaculty of Humanities and SocialSciences – Excellence and Innovationin Student Learning Support

� Dr Ian WilsonFaculty of Advanced Technology –Excellence in Research-InformedLearning and Teaching

Congratulations to all the finalists of the 2009–10 Excellence in Learning Teaching and Assessment Awards.

20 staffroom

focus on

Already, all of our undergraduate full-timeapplicants apply to the University online viaUCAS. Gone are the days of paper-basedapplications, mostly handwritten, often illegible;occasionally one would be typed if theadmissions staff were lucky. Now all forms aresent electronically to the University, and followingan overnight download from UCAS, appear onour own admissions system – ADMIT.

The work undertaken by LCSS and supported byFaculties, Academic Registry and the Enquiries &Admissions Unit has been focussed on ensuringthat the applicant experience is as seamless aspossible, through the efficient processing ofapplications, allowing the University to effectivelyrecruit suitably qualified students.

The developments have been wide-ranging: theinterface with UCAS has been overhauled and theadmissions team in E&A and Faculty staff nowhave full access to the completed applicationform, allowing information to be reviewed and

‘accept’ or ‘reject’ decisions to be made quickly.However this is only part of the solution. Gainingprocessing efficiencies on UCAS applicationshave undoubtedly assisted home undergraduaterecruitment, but what about part time,postgraduate and overseas recruitment?

One of the most significant developments of thesecond phase of this project is the ability for all ofour undergraduate and postgraduate campus-based students to apply for their course via theUniversity’s online application form. In the past, arange of weird and wonderful application formshave been used and sent to all four corners of theinstitution. The online application form that feedsdirectly into ADMIT allows all applications to beheld in one repository and also allows them to beviewed by all admissions staff in Faculties andcorporate departments, allowing colleagues toreview notes on the applicant, including theoutcome of interview decisions, conversationsand ultimately the decision on whether to acceptan applicant or not.

Most important is how this development will aidinternational recruitment. An applicant anywherein the world will be able to apply to the Universitydirectly online and we will be able to reviewcomplete applications, enabling us to speed upthe decision making process – a key factor whenrecruiting international students. With growingcompetition, an increase in targets and pressureto recruit more fee-paying students, thiscapability will put Glamorgan at the vanguard ofinternational applicant (and agent) servicedelivery.

While these developments will undoubtedly aidboth the recruitment of international and homestudents, the approach adopted by thedevelopment team has also enabled theUniversity to respond to external changes in boththe UCAS process and more challengingly, thechanges in immigration legislation initiated by theUK Boarder Agency – the UKBA. If you would likemore information, please contact Ioan Evans, E&Aon ievans@glam.ac.uk. Now read on to find outwhat ADMIT has improved since going live...

Admissions Goes 20 months after the start of the original project to update the University’s StudentAdmissions System, developments are now reaching a crucial stage towards thedelivery of a truly online student application process that will revolutionise theGlamorgan applicant experience.

Accept

Reject

Moreinformation

Interview

Online application

I’ll apply to

Glamorgan

Potential Student(anywhere in the world)

E&A make a quick decision

and e-mail student

All information received

Enquiries &Admissions Unit

Need more information

ADMIT

ProfessorialInauguralLectures 2010 - 2011Lectures are held on a Tuesday evening in the Glamorgan Conference Centreunless otherwise stated and start at 6pm. Refreshments are available from5.30pm.

All lectures are free and open to members of the public.

Brazilian gold, Cuban copper and the final frontier of British anti-slaveryProfessor Chris EvansProfessor of HistoryTuesday 12 October 2010

A journey through war and genocide: a personal odysseyProfessor Alan HawleyProfessor of Disaster StudiesTuesday 9 November 2010

Analytical science...your life in our hands!Professor Tony DaviesProfessor of Analytical ScienceTuesday 14 December 2010, Glyntaff Campus

Deterioration modelling and repair of concrete bridgesProfessor Abid Abu TairProfessor in Civil EngineeringTuesday 11 January 2011

Creative industries – an economic miracle or myth?Professor Peter RobertsonDean of the Cardiff School of Creative & Cultural IndustriesTuesday 8 February 2011, ATRiuM Campus, Cardiff

Knowledge organisation systems and information discoveryProfessor Douglas TudhopeProfessor of Information ScienceTuesday 8 March 2011

Mental health nursing research: what are the risks of that happening?Professor Paul RogersProfessor of Forensic NursingTuesday 12 April 2011, Glyntaff Campus

From despair to where? The many faces of economic development policyProfessor David PickernellProfessor in Economic Development PolicyTuesday 10 May 2011

The miner’s canary, may it flyProfessor Anthony BeddowVisiting Professor, Faculty of Health, Sport and ScienceTuesday 14 June 2011, Glyntaff Campus

To book your place please call 01443 483345 or emailjgarrett@glam.ac.uk

Seeds of ChangePhase one means we can:

• Receive complete UCAS forms electronically

• View the full UCAS application form electronically, including thepersonal statement and references

• Improve validation and audit trail processes

• Process mulit-year entry to allow us to better manage February/ March starts

• Improve international applicant processing by extending data captured, processing and sending letters more efficiently and interfacing with the UKBA automatically

• Add notes to applicant and choice records to assist in decision processing

Phase two will mean we can:

• Process home and international student applications online

• Move closer towards interface between ADMIT and Quercus+

• Establish workflows to track application processing between E&Aand Faculties, including enhanced note facilities

• Manage Interviews

• Manage Applicant Days

• Integrate Clearing Information

Global

E&A uses ADMIT to manage

admissions process

ADMIT Dashboard monitors and flags when a

response is received-- to speed up the process

Refer to Faculty

*Process simplified for illustrative purposes

This process* illustrates phase one and two ADMIT functionality.

22 staffroom

profile

Gettingto know......Ian AshmanEmployability Unit Manager (NVQ Programme Development)

Ian Ashman is the National Vocational Qualification(NVQ) Centre Manager within Glamorgan Business School, responsible fordelivering a variety of NVQ programmes commercially to business organisations.Ian recently completed the V2 Award: a professional qualification that allows himto externally verify the assessment decisions being made by any NVQ centrethroughout the UK -- prompting the role to often be referred to as ‘the guardian ofthe standards’. The qualification will enable Ian to not only visit other NVQ centresand verify their quality of assessment, but more importantly enables him to identifybest practice and possibly replicate this within the Business School centre.

What was your first part-time job? In 6th form I did a morning paper round every day, it was a killer in the winter,getting soaking wet and then having to get home quickly to change and go toschool.

What did you spend your first ever pay cheque on?Difficult to remember, but it was probably driving lessons. As an apprenticeengineer with Sony, the first year training was at Pontypridd College, which meantsitting on a bus for almost two hours a day from Bridgend. It soon became a bindand my priority was to get my own car.

What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever been given?To treat other people the way you’d like to be treated -- simple, but very goodadvice.

Do you have any hobbies?Football, I’m a season ticket holder for Cardiff City. I have two young sons who arealso football fanatics, there’s nothing better than watching football on a Saturdayafternoon with my boys either side of me. I also enjoy caravanning, we have atouring caravan and try to get away on weeks when Cardiff aren’t playing at home.

What’s the best thing about your job?Being able to offer advice and support to students, as well as converting new NVQprogramme enquiries into actual business. I really enjoy following up enquiries andleads, having the opportunity to meet and engage with employers and convertingthe enquiry into commercial business income for the university.

What’s your happiest moment? The birth of my two sons.

What car do you drive?I drive a green Volvo S60 which I love, but it simply drinks petrol for fun, looking tochange to diesel when I can.

Which one book and record would you take to a desert island?Knowing my luck I’d have to take a book on Strategic Management, as I have anassignment coming up on the MBA I’m studying. Otherwise, personally I like theauthor Wilbur Smith. If I had to take one record it would be a Beatles album.

Favourite tipple?Sangria.

What’s your worst overindulgence?Chocolate, I don’t usually eat chocolate, but if there happens to be a box in thehouse, with no one’s name on, then it’s not there for much longer. Once startedthere’s no stopping me.

Favourite food?Chicken curry

Complete these sentences…

I’m good at attention to detail, fixing problems and getting the job done.

I’m bad at cooking and ironing. My wife tells me the only way to get better isthrough more practice, but I’ve successfully managed to remain consistently bad at both.

’’‘‘Treat other people

the way you’d like to be treated -- simple,but very good advice...

University of Glamorgan

Prifysgol Morgannwg

Our team of skilled health professionals are on-hand toprovide you with a range of complimentary services tosupport your health and wellbeing requirements,including:

• Health and fitness testing• Lifestyle consultation• Work-life balance advice• Relaxation sessions• Complementary therapies• Chiropractic advice• HR support and advice • General Information, advice and support• WeightWatchers• Visits and Advice from Public Health Wales• Virgin Vie beauty demonstration• Specsavers on site, conducting eye tests and

hearing tests

Health promotion events

Open to all staff

For further information about any of our freeservices, or for an informal discussion about yourhealth and well being, look us up on Inform under‘Health and Wellbeing’, call us on extension 2242or e-mail us at safety@glam.ac.uk

The Occupational Health and Safety Services Department is pleased to present a calendar of freedrop-in health and wellbeing events, designed to offer a range of therapies, services and advicefor all staff. Each event promotes a theme led by a national health awareness campaign, helpingus to focus on the areas of health and wellbeing that matter to you.

October 2010 Women’s Health

November 2010 Stress Management

January 2011Weight Management Clinic

February 2011 40+ Health

May 2011Sun Awareness

June 2011Men’s Health

staffroom 23

Buy a BrickCampaignThere’s still time…

We’re aiming to raise £3,000 forNamatala, one of the slums ofMbale, in eastern Uganda, wherepeople live in extreme poverty,earning on average just 65p per day.

Please ‘buy a brick’ for £1.Your money will buy realbricks, to help the community in Namatala to build anursery and primary school, storage facilities andlatrines. They will receive 100% of your donations. For more information and bulk orders, contact Martin Lynch mlynch@glam.ac.uk.

You can also enter a team for the Charity Quiz Night inthe Randy Dragon, Treforest Students’ Union onFriday 22nd October and pit your wits againstDirectorate. To enter contact Lucie Thomas, HR(lethoma4@glam.ac.uk).

The Buy a Brick project is a joint initiative betweenPONT and the University of Glamorgan. PONT is alocal charity creating a bridge between Pontypridd/Rhondda Cynon Taf and the district of Mbale.

The campaign ends on the 22nd October.