KEELE TO PILOT NEW NATIONAL STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT REPORT

Keele is to trial a new approach to representing the achievements of students at the end of their degrees as part of a national pilot scheme.

The Measuring and Recording Student Achievement Steering Group has recommended introducing a single document, to be known as a 'Higher Education Achievement Report' (HEAR), which would be the key vehicle for measuring and recording student achievement.

Following consultation and development work, the Burgess Implementation Steering Group is now working with a wide range of universities across the UK - with support from the funding bodies of England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales - to trial the new approach. Initially, the HEAR will be tested on data relating to recently graduated students to ensure that it is compatible with student record systems. It will then be trialled early in 2009 with existing students, alongside current methods of recording student achievement.

The trials, at 18 institutions, will initially take place in four main subjects – English, Biology, Accounting and Creative Arts. The target for institutions to generate formal HEARs for their students remains 2010/2011, subject to the success of the trialling.

Director of Academic Services, Dr Allan Howells, said: "We were keen to take part in the pilot because of the uniqueness of Keele's dual honours systems, where students study two subjects in equal amounts for three years. It is very important that we can accurately portray the achievements of dual honours students when they enter the job market."

PROGRESS ON RESTORING THE TOP LAKE

Wrekin Construction has now commenced draining the top lake as part of the work for the Lakes and Valley project. The objective is to dredge, clean and restore the top lake by Keele Hall and to repair the weir so that sufficient water is held to maintain the integrity of the lake. This work is fundamental to the improvement of the drainage as well as the ornamental function of the lake system. Testing of the ground around the weir has also begun to identify appropriate improvements. The work means that the path from Keele Hall to the bottom of the lakes has been closed temporarily to pedestrians. The work can be observed from the east bank of the top lake.

As part of the project the former boathouse, currently consisting only of a brick foundation, will be rebuilt, with financial support from The Friends of Keele. The White Well has been drained and is also being restored, with the Minton tiles visible for the time in decades. At the same time the outlet of the spring will be repaired to make it fully functional again.  Wrekin Construction is restoring the White Well as a sponsorship project.

Future enhancement projects may be supported by alumni donations to the Keele Key Fund Heritage and Environment.

KEELE MEDIC IS RUNNER-UP IN TOP INNOVATION COMPETITION

A Keele academic has won a £10,000 prize in a national business competition with his revolutionary new way to monitor assisted childbirth and abolish the risk of serious injuries to mothers and babies.

Led by Dr Khaled Ismail of Keele University Medical School, PRO Medical Innovations Ltd has developed Safeceps, a more sophisticated take on traditional obstetric forceps which could improve the experience of childbirth for more than 50,000 women each year.

The Safeceps software system provides real-time feedback from the forceps and in addition warns of potential dangers and approaching hazards. The software is constantly 'learning' – cross-referencing real-time data with historic data to give the most accurate analysis of the situation.

The team were runners-up in the Research Councils' 2007/2008 Business Plan Competition, which initially attracted 140 entrants. Finalists presented their ideas to a panel of experts as viable business propositions worthy of investment at Chelsea Football Club this week.

Dr Ismail, the Stoke-on-Trent and North Staffordshire Citizen of the Year Award for Innovation in Medical Technology and Development last year, said: "It was a very competitive and prestigious award particularly as we were competing with teams from different disciplines that included mathematics, computers, electronics and astronomy."

SYMPOSIUM EXPLORING COLLABORATIVE LINKS WITH JAPAN

A Japan Symposium, "Anglo-Japanese Collaboration and Funding Opportunities", was held at the University this week. The aim of the symposium was to explore, and identify, future collaborative links for Keele with Japan.

Professor Yuko Furukawa, Director of The Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, and Professor Marie Conte-Helm, Director-General from The Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation, were welcomed to Keele by the Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Rama Thirunamachandran. The event included presentations from both visitors and question and answer sessions.

The Deputy Vice-Chancellor said: "I am pleased to welcome both Professor Yuko Furukawa and Professor Marie Conte-Helm to Keele. I am currently working with a number of colleagues to develop strategic links with international partners to support the development, and implementation, of The International Strategy at Keele. I am sure this event will lead to strengthened links with Japan in the future."

KEELE SELECTED AS PARTNER INSTITUTION
 
Keele has been selected as a partner institution in a major programme of work being undertaken by JISC (Joint Information Systems Committee) to support Business and Community Engagement.

The project will consider the ways in which institutions are changing their business processes in order to improve their engagement with business and/or their local community, and FE/HE Institutions across the UK were invited to apply to take part in this project. Dr Katherine Birch, Senior Lecturer and Medici Fellow HUMSS, led the bid, supported by colleagues from Research and Enterprise Services. Only five institutions from across the UK have been selected to take part in this initiative and Keele was chosen from what was described as 'a large number of high standard applications'.  In addition to participation in the review itself, which will take place over the next year, Keele will also provide input to a major new resource for the sector.

STUDENT NURSES UNDERTAKE ELECTIVE CLINICAL PLACEMENTS IN AUSTRALIA

Four student nurses from the School of Nursing and Midwifery have recently returned after six weeks on a clinical placement at the Gold Coast Hospital, Queensland, Australia. They spent time in a wide range of clinical areas, paediatric, respiratory and rehabilitation wards, community interface programmes and outpatient clinics. Wynne Thomas, International Placement Facilitator at the School, received regular feedback from the students and also their placement mentors.

The feedback was on the students' learning experiences, clinical skills acquisition, personal and professional development. The students kept a reflective diary on their experiences and will feedback to students and staff within the School. The four students have recently been successful in passing their nursing programmes and are now qualified nurses working in a variety of hospitals.

KEYNOTE ADDRESSES IN CANADA

Professor Andrew Dobson, Research Institute for Law, Politics and Justice, gave two keynote addresses last week in Vancouver, Canada.  The first was to the Western Humanities Alliance on the topic of 'Democracy and Nature: speaking and listening', and the second was to the Association of Graduate Liberal Studies Programs annual conference.  The theme of the conference was 'Culture, Consciousness and Nature - A Context for Climate Change', and Professor Dobson spoke on the topic of 'Environmental Citizenship: a route to sustainable development'.

FALSE MEMORY FOR BRANDS

Data from a research project at Keele titled "False memory for brand names" has been presented at two conferences. The Nuffield Science Bursary enabled an undergraduate from Bath University (Emily Moran) to work with Dr Sue Sherman, Research Institute for Life Course Studies, for eight weeks over the summer.

They investigated whether they could create false memories for brand names using the DRM (Desse-Roediger-McDermott) paradigm. They presented participants with lists of related brand names, e.g., Morrisons, Sainsbury's, Asda, Waitrose, etc. to see if they would falsely remember 'Tesco'. They presented some of the lists in a normal Times New Roman font and some in their normal brand font to see if this would affect the results.

They found participants falsely recalled non-presented brand names up to 25% of the time and this was reduced when items were presented in a brand appropriate font. They also found that when asked to identify which items had been presented from a list of items, participants falsely recognised 46% of items but this fell when items were presented in a brand appropriate font. The research is still in its infancy but in addition to the theoretical implications for models of memory, there are potential implications for advertising.

Keelelink at Times Higher awards

Keelelink, Keele's Schools and College Partnership Programme, was among six finalists for a Times Higher Education Award last night in London.  The Keelelink programme was shortlisted for Widening Participation Initiative of the year.

Keelelink has gone from strength to strength since its conception three years ago. The programme now boasts nearly 140 school and college members. As it has grown it has been working across a number of areas in the University to deliver exciting partnership opportunities for its members.

Opportunities available under the widening participation hub for which the programme has been nominated include campus-based events, access to award-winning new media materials, locally-based after school homework clubs, undergraduate subject based placements and e-mentoring.

Although Keelelink did not win, being shortlisted was a major achievement. More than 130 institutions submitted 500 entries in the 18 categories of the awards this year.

Research grants

Dr. Joanna Collingwood, Research Institute for Science and Technology in Medicine, was recently awarded £94,500 in beamtime at the Diamond synchrotron in Oxfordshire for projects examining iron and other metals related to neurodegenerative diseases. Co-investigators include Professor Jon Dobson (Research Institute for Science and Technology in Medicine), Dr. Chris Exley (Research Institute for the Environment, Physical Sciences and Applied Mathematics), and collaborators from the universities of Cambridge, Leeds, Newcastle and Florida.

Robert Reid, Research Institute for Humanities, has been awarded a British Academy grant of £7,040 for a joint project with the Institute of Literature, Bulgarian Academy of Science, titled "The Nineteenth-Century Russian Literary Canon: Constitution and Revision: Dostoevskii, Tolstoi and Chekhov".

Open days on campus

Open days on campus last weekend went well with more than 1,300 visitors attending over the two days.  Student guides were kept busy offering tours of campus and opening their rooms for viewing. A student life talk, given by Talah Omran, SU President, and PG student Hannah Bayley, generated a lot of questions from visitors.

Academic Registry will be contacting those who attended, and reminding those who booked but didn't attend, that they can find out information from the web.

A parent, who attended the event, was particularly impressed and rated Keele "10 out of 10 in all aspects of presentation and organisation", with a final comment: "Well done to everyone concerned and other universities could learn a thing or two from you". Thanks go everyone involved in the open days and any comments or feedback can be sent to Mandy Firth in Academic Services.

The School of Nursing and Midwifery hosted an open weekend for prospective applicants for nursing, midwifery and operating department practice programmes at the Clinical Education Centre, City General Hospital, together with a stand at Keele campus.

The weekend was very well attended with 127 prospective applicants on Saturday and 108 prospective applicants on Sunday (with many more visitors including families and friends).  The event featured talks with admissions staff, programme tutors and tours of the facilities. The weekend was very successful, with many prospective applicants expressing intentions to make applications to the School's programmes and undertake their studies at Keele.

Outdoor learning conference

The Institute of Outdoor Learning held its National Conference and Professional Development Event at Keele Management Centre last weekend. The event was oversubscribed with over 120 delegates and staff received many positive comments from the guests.  Speakers came from Edinburgh and Cumbria Universities as well as Buckinghamshire Chilterns University College to enhance a packed programme.

Faculty of Health widening participation event

The Faculty of Health recently hosted its annual Widening Participation event, attended by 143 secondary school children and their teachers.

The event featured a campus tour hosted by the WP unit, talks from Professor Andy Garner, Dr Paula Roberts and Charlotte Greenwood, from the WP unit, together with a range of talks and interactive sessions hosted by the four Faculty Schools. Both pupils and teachers said they really enjoyed the event and it greatly enhanced their understanding of potential careers in health.