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.
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.
Concerns over University of Wales degree changes – BBC news analysis
University of Wales to stop validating degrees from other institutions - Wales Online article
Welcome back to Leigh Abbott, now returned from maternity leave to her post as Librarian of the University of Wales Online Library.
Leigh can be contacted on l.abbott@wales.ac.uk
Congratulations to Bronwen Blatchford who has just been appointed to the new post of full-time librarian for the Online Library, working with Leigh.
Bronwen can be contacted on b.blatchford@WALES.AC.UK
From BBC News Wales:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-12433322
“An agreement to form a new “super university” in Wales has been described as a “radical” move which “bridges educational boundaries”.
University of Wales Institute Cardiff (UWIC), Swansea Metropolitan University and Trinity Saint David in Carmarthen will merge as The University of Wales.
The University of Wales’ history is as a federal body with colleges in Bangor, Aberystwyth, Swansea and Cardiff.
But they have largely separated from the University of Wales recently.
BBC Wales education correspondent Ciaran Jenkins said that for the institution to become a working institution incorporating at least two post-1992 universities is an extremely significant development.
The three institutions in the new merged body may be joined at a later date by University of Wales Newport and Glyndwr University, Wrexham. That would make the new university the biggest in Wales.
In December Education Minister Leighton Andrews challenged universities to “adapt or die”.
The university said its leadership would be “fundamentally different from traditional structures”.
It will be led jointly by Prof Marc Clement, currently vice chancellor of the University of Wales, as president / pro chancellor, and Prof Medwin Hughes – current vice chancellor of Trinity Saint David – will be rector / pro chancellor.
It said each man would have “clearly defined and separate roles”.
“This is a radical step change which bridges educational boundaries and delivers the minister’s vision of providing a joined up approach to the planning of further and higher education across Wales,” said Dr Hughes.”
Posted in news, Welsh universities
Tagged merger, Swansea Metropolitan, Trinity Saint David, University of Wales, UWIC
The National Library of Wales is currently seeking to fill a new Chair in Digital Collections, funded by the University of Wales.
“An opportunity for an outstanding individual from any relevant academic background, with a passion for the digital.
You will be expected to undertake and lead research based on the latest developments in your chosen field of expertise, while applying your findings to the large digital collections housed at the National Library of Wales. You will have a world-class research profile in any aspect of digital curation: the creation, provision, investigation, interpretation and conservation of digital collections – encompassing legal issues, the management of data, innovative research methods, and technological developments in access, search and exploitation.”
http://www.llgc.org.uk/fileadmin/documents/adDisSwyddSaesPrifysgol.pdf
Closing date for receipt of applications: 9 August 2010.
Leigh Abbott, from the University of Wales, will go on maternity leave from the end of November 2009. Bronwen Blatchford will be covering for Leigh as part-time Librarian for the University of Wales Virtual Academic Library (UWVAL). Bronwen has previously worked for the Welsh Development Agency and Deloitte but has left her management consultancy days behind her and is now pursuing a career in libraries. Bronwen is a former Aberystwyth University Graduate Library Trainee and worked with Swansea University on their RFID tagging project last year. She is currently studying for a part-time MSc in Information Science and is excited to be undertaking her first professional library position.
