Welsh Libraries Marketing Innovation Awards 2012 – Swansea University wins again!

There must be something in the water in Swansea! It is the second year running that they have won the HE category in these awards supported by the Welsh Government.

This year the entry was the Celebrating Swansea University Authors project.  The project involved videoing academics talking about writing and the books that they have published, with posters to accompany.  You can see the videos on: http://www.youtube.com/user/CelebrateSUAuthors

Swansea were commended for creative use of the available technology and very clever use of the partnerships with academic staff.  ‘This type of offer demonstrates a clear understanding of the needs of the user and is fully sustainable and replicable.’  The use of QR codes works really well with the target audience and illustrates user insight really well.

UWIC changes name to Cardiff Metropolitan University

From 1 November, the University of Wales Institute, Cardiff (UWIC), will be known as Cardiff Metropolitan University.

Last month the institution rejected a call to form a super-university with the University of Wales, Newport and the University of Glamorgan.

In a statement it said it looked forward to a bright future as a strong, student-centred university.

Eleven thousand students from more than 125 countries attend the university which offers over 100 undergraduate courses.

More at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-south-east-wales-15534032

Welsh universities in the news

BBC Wales: After scandal, what happens now to University of Wales? 
27 October 2011 – Follow related stories links.

Wales Online: Hefcw are pushing an open door in asking Swansea University to work more with Cardiff
27 October 2011 – Follow related stories links.

Times Higher Education Supplement: We’re not dead, just ‘evolving’
27 October 2011 – University of Wales declares that reports of its demise are premature.

University of Wales launches new academic strategy

The University of Wales is to launch a new academic strategy, which will see the institution only award degrees to students on courses designed and fully controlled by the University.

The announcement was made by Professor Medwin Hughes on his first day as Vice-Chancellor of the University of Wales, which is in the process of transforming itself through a merger with Swansea Metropolitan University and the University of Wales: Trinity Saint David.

The transformed University will cease to be an accrediting body for other Universities in Wales. It will instigate discussions with these Universities to withdraw from awarding degrees to their students. The University will also bring to a close validated programmes offered at centres in the UK and overseas and introduce a new academic model.

Universities affected by the introduction of the new strategy will be offered a notice period of one year, before the changes come into effect at the start of the 2012 academic year.

Read the UW press release

Concerns over University of Wales degree changes – BBC news analysis

University of Wales to stop validating degrees from other institutions - Wales Online article

New University Librarian at Bangor

Sue Hodges will join Bangor University as University Librarian from the start of December.

Sue has been Head of Learning and Research Support and part of the Library Leadership Team at University of Salford. She has worked in senior roles at Liverpool John Moores University as Head of Business and Information Systems and as Technical Services Manager, as well as at Oxford Brookes University as a subject librarian. Prior to that she held a variety of roles in information services in the FE sector.

Sue’s family is from the North Wales region and we look forward to welcoming her to WHELF .

Coleg Cymraeg Cenedlaethol

The Coleg’s new website is up-and-running: http://www.colegcymraeg.ac.uk/en/
The Coleg will help to plan, support and develop Welsh medium education and scholarship at universities in Wales, and will begin its first full academic year in September 2011.

The Future Shape of Higher Education in Wales

In March 2011, the Minister for Education and Skills asked the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales (HEFCW) to provide him with advice on the structure of the higher education sector in Wales. In June, the Council submitted its report, which sets out very clear recommendations for the future of the sector.

 

Start of consultation: 13/07/2011

End of consultation: 05/10/2011

The need for universities with the capacity and critical mass to operate dynamically, effectively and efficiently is a long-established part of the Welsh Government’s policy for higher education.  For Our Future, our higher education strategy for Wales, identified the need for radical change in the shape, structure and provision of higher education.  

HEFCW’s sets out very clear recommendations for the reconfiguration of the higher education sector in Wales.  Representations from stakeholders and the public on these recommendations will be sought over the course of the summer. These will inform any decisions on the most appropriate structure for the sector in the future.

We would like to invite you to send us your views on HEFCW’s proposals.  In particular, we would like you to consider the following questions:

Question 1: What are your views on the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales’ (HEFCW’s) report, Future Structure of Universities in Wales?

Question 2:  Do you have any comments on the report’s proposals relating to specific higher education institutions?

Question 3: We have asked two specific questions. If you have any related issues which we have not specifically addressed, please use the space below to report these.

How to respond

Please submit your comments by 05 October 2011, in any of the following ways:

Email

HEPolicy@wales.gsi.gov.uk

Post

HE Policy Team
Welsh Government
Ffynon Las
Tŷ Glas Avenue
Llanishen, Cardiff
CF83 8WT

See the Welsh Government website for related documents.

Funding council re-affirms case for Welsh mergers

13 July 2011

http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=416836&c=1

Plans to merge Welsh universities to cut the total number of institutions from 10 to six have been backed by the education minister Leighton Andrews.

Mr Andrews said today that a detailed report published by the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales outlining a shakeup of the sector made a “persuasive case for change” and he accepted the “the broad thrust” of the recommendations.

The report recommends that the University of Glamorgan, University of Wales Institute, Cardiff, and University of Wales, Newport, should merge.

University of Wales Trinity Saint David and Swansea Metropolitan University will also come together, possibly also merging into the federal University of Wales.

Aberystwyth and Bangor universities have also been told to “develop a longer-term plan for merger”.

The Hefcw report accuses Welsh universities of being too numerous and too small.

Last December, Mr Andrews told Welsh universities to “adapt or die” and Hefcw has already said that the number of institutions should shrink from 10 to six, with no more than two in each region of the country.

Trinity Saint David and Swansea Metropolitan have been in talks since the beginning of the year, although the University of Wales Institute, Cardiff, pulled out of talks to join them earlier this month.

Since February, Bangor and Aberystwyth have been talking about a closer partnership, although John Hughes, Bangor’s vice-chancellor, said that they were too far apart to merge.

Glyndŵr University has been asked to develop “strong structural relationships with a range of further education colleges within a group structure led by Aberystwyth and Bangor.”

The report also suggests that Glyndŵr could share services with nearby University of Chester.

The Hefcw report also acknowledges that arguments over Welsh universities are far from new. “Debate on the structure of the higher education sector in Wales dates back to 1406, when Owain Glyndŵr sought support from the King of France for the rebellion against the English and for a plan to create two universities in Wales,” it says.

UWIC no longer involved in ‘super university’ plan

Plans to form a new “super university” in Wales appear to be dead in the water.

The University of Wales Institute, Cardiff (UWIC) said it was “no longer a participant” in merger discussions to establish a new University of Wales.

Last Saturday, the body representing universities, Higher Education Wales, recommended a reduction in the number of Welsh universities.

The body said Wales would benefit from fewer but stronger universities and the new approach would mean “further reconfiguration of the university sector”.

This may mean the number of universities falls from 10 to six and signalled there would be no super-university of Wales.

Swansea Metropolitan and Trinity Saint David in Carmarthen and Lampeter are already looking towards a merger.

UWIC is expected to look towards a parnership with another institution in south east Wales.

More: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-14021089

Vacancy – Head of Library Archives and Learning Resources, Bangor University

Please see the link below for the re- advertised post at Bangor for a Head of Library Archives and Learning Resources.

See http://www.bangor.ac.uk/corporate/vacancies/home.php.en?jobdetails=1&reference=11-10/169R&category2=Academic for details of the post, which are the same as last time but with different language requirements.