Annual Review 2010-2011

MAKING. HISTORY.

Bath Spa University Annual Review 2010-2011

00:

01

Introduction

02

Looking to the future

04

Academic highlights

06

Staff successes

08

Research expertise

12

Student and graduate achievements

16

Working with business

18

Spotlight on the arts

20

Community links

23

Going for green

24

Influence in the region and beyond

27

Update on Human Resources

28

Facts & figures

29

Governors and senior staff

I am delighted to introduce this review of the activities and achievements of Bath Spa University over the past academic year.

:01 Bath Spa is a distinctive, vibrant and creative university where students are encouraged to achieve their academic and personal potential. As a ‘teachingled’ university there is a particular emphasis on teaching quality, but much attention is paid to the whole student experience – and this includes ‘extra-curricular’ activities such as volunteering, work experience, and participation in clubs and societies. All of the 850 staff working at Bath Spa University contribute to this student-centred ethos, and my thanks go to them for their professionalism and dedication.

Bath Spa University is a popular and highly rated university, with applications per place among the highest of the 65 modern universities. National indicators confirm our success in high levels of student satisfaction; the employment skills we help our students to gain; and high completion rates.

The University is particularly proud of its strong record in what is termed the social agenda: places filled by students from the widest range of backgrounds; action on widening participation and inclusivity; partnership with FE colleges to offer routes into higher education on a more localised basis.

In the past year Bath Spa has continued to enhance its academic reputation through improved research output and extended taught course provision. It has also cemented its position as one of the best teacher training providers in the country following an Ofsted inspection that rated all three of

its programmes leading to qualified teacher status in primary, secondary and further education as ‘outstanding’. This outcome is virtually unique in the UK. The University’s profile and standing will be further enhanced from 2012 by a major development of academic facilities, social amenities and student residences at the Newton Park campus.

The development will be innovative and sustainable and will be in harmony with the unique and historic setting.

Our close links with business help provide a range of opportunities to ensure that students have the best preparation for their future careers, despite the current difficult economic climate.

Industry mentors guide students in fulfilling their career ambitions; entrepreneurs-in-residence provide advice on start-up companies and freelancing careers, and a range of experts-in-residence in different disciplines help students to develop a deeper understanding of the employment market.

Bath Spa is committed to making a significant contribution to the prosperity of Bath and the wider region. Our partnerships with Bath and North East Somerset Council and other agencies in Bath are many and varied, and have a cultural as well as an economic impact on the region.

The University is also proud of its strong profile in both governance arrangements and finance. With regard to the latter, Bath Spa University is one of only several universities (of a total of over one hundred) that has no borrowing on its balance sheet; the financial strength is the bedrock which enables academic development and quality.

Bath Spa University is particularly well placed to embrace the opportunities and challenges of the future.

Professor Frank Morgan Vice-Chancellor

Bright.

Future.

Notwithstanding this regional contribution our global connections are important to the success of the University and to the experience of our students, and our international links have strengthened and expanded in the past year.

02:

LOOKING TO THE FUTURE

PROF CHRISTINA SLADE

New Vice-Chancellor appointed Prof Christina Slade has been appointed as the new Vice-Chancellor of Bath Spa University. Professor Slade, Dean of the Schools of Arts and Social Sciences at City University London will take up her post at Bath Spa from January 2012, following the retirement of the current Vice-Chancellor Prof Frank Morgan.

Before joining City University London in 2009, Prof Slade was Dean of Humanities at Macquarie University, Australia and Professor of Media Theory at the University of Utrecht, Netherlands.

Prof Slade said she was delighted to be joining Bath Spa University: "Universities are under increasing pressure to prove their worth and deliver outstanding value to students. Bath Spa is a unique university in a wonderful setting.

While I'm sad to be leaving City University London, I'm excited about leading Bath Spa to take advantage of the opportunities that the current climate creates."

Stella Pirie OBE, Chair of the Board of Governors, expressed 'great pleasure' in making the announcement: "Prof Slade has impressive experience both internationally and in the UK. I am sure this experience will be invaluable for the University's development including its student-centred approach and research and estates strategies. “Prof Slade will be able to build on the significant achievements made

by Prof Morgan and I have every confidence that she will lead the University well through what will certainly be the greatest changes for a generation in the way UK universities are financed."

Plans move ahead for campus development In July Bath and North East Somerset Council granted permission on a planning application for a substantial re-development of the University’s Newton Park campus, following a lengthy process of stakeholder consultation and design development. The Council's Development Control Committee voted unanimously in favour of the proposal, and congratulated the University on the quality of the proposal and on the exemplary nature of the consultation process.

The plans are for a new academic building and energy centre, and represent the first phase of a Masterplan that also includes new residential accommodation for up to 600 additional students on campus in the first phase of development.

ACADEMIC BUILDING FRONT LOBBY

:03

The campus improvement project is the most important buildings development at the University in the last 20 years, and will provide considerably improved academic facilities for future generations of students. The development will transform the central part of Newton Park, providing a visually stunning building that will blend sympathetically into the existing estate to form a unique blend of modernity and history. The superb new learning and social facilities for students are an important element of Bath Spa’s response to the new university funding regime where students will in future pay higher tuition fees - but will expect an improved student experience.

Fees approved Bath Spa’s planned tuition fees for courses starting in September 2012 have been approved by the Office for Fair Access (OFFA). The University intends to charge £9,000 for all campus-based honours degree programmes and between £6,000 and £7,800 for Foundation degree courses. However in measures designed to help ensure students from lower income backgrounds will not be put off applying to university, Bath Spa will introduce a support package of widening participation initiatives and financial assistance worth some £2.3 million in 2012/13 – more than double the amount it will spend in 2011/12.

Thinking.

Ahead.

Vice-Chancellor Prof Frank Morgan said: "The new development will provide the best facilities for teaching digital media-related courses in the south-west, and this development confirms Bath Spa as an exciting, ambitious and creative place in which to work and study.

It is also a significant boost for the local creative and cultural industries."

The new building has been designed with the highest criteria of sustainability, in keeping with Bath Spa's impressive environmental credentials.

The next stages in the campus development project are to obtain approval from the landlord (the Duchy of Cornwall) to commence building and then seek tenders from building contractors before a final recommendation is made to the University’s Board of Governors.

OFFA, the independent body responsible for safeguarding fair access to higher education, has now approved Bath Spa’s plans or ‘access agreement’. It gave the go-head to individual access agreements for a total of 139 universities and colleges across England. Figures published by OFFA for all these institutions show the estimated average fees per student after allowance for financial support including fee waivers and bursaries. The estimated average cost per student in Bath Spa’s case, when all these factors are included, will be £8,177.

ACADEMIC BUILDING

Bath Spa University’s Vice-Chancellor, Professor Frank Morgan, said he was delighted with the approval from OFFA for the new tuition fee levels: “We already have an excellent record for recruiting students from lower income backgrounds.

In our submission to OFFA we wholeheartedly met the Government’s criterion for widening access to a university education through a range of increased financial support.”

04:

ACADEMIC HIGHLIGHTS

Top marks for teacher education Bath Spa University has received a resounding endorsement for its Teacher Education programmes from the quality regulator Ofsted.

Following a week-long inspection by 17 Ofsted inspectors in May the University has been graded as ‘outstanding’ in all three of its programmes leading to qualified teacher status in primary, secondary and further education.

The rarely achieved ‘straight Grade 1’ accolade for overall effectiveness in all three programmes has only been afforded to one other teacher education provider, and on these measures Bath Spa is not only the best teacher training university in the South West, but among the very best in the country.

During the visit the inspectors visited 70 students (Bath Spa Teachers) on placement in 70 schools and 10 lecturers in FE colleges and two health service trainers at Weston, Bridgwater and Wiltshire Colleges. The Ofsted report heaped praise on the University, noting its “extremely good reputation”, its “very clear and well-articulated philosophy, which has the needs of learners at its heart”, the “outstanding” school-based elements of the training, and the fact that the training and assessment are “universally highly regarded”.

Boost for biology

New postgraduate research funding Bath Spa has received an award worth some £300,000 to provide financial support for postgraduate students. The award is from the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), and was granted following a competitive bidding process to the AHRC by universities across the UK. In a major boost for the University's Master's level courses the studentships will cover tuition fees and student maintenance allowances for arts and humanities subjects - Fine Art, Fashion and Textiles, Investigating Fashion Design, Ceramics, Creative Writing, Writing for Young People, Scriptwriting and Songwriting.

The studentships cover the period 2011 to 2014, and Bath Spa has also been awarded additional funding for PhD studentships in Creative Writing from 2012 to 2014.

The announcement coincides with the University's expansion of its existing postgraduate portfolio to include new Master's level courses in Applied Neurosciences, Heritage Management, Filmmaking, Nature and Travel Writing, Performing Shakespeare, and Business and Management.

The University’s Biology BSc award has achieved recognition by the Society of Biology. Bath Spa is one of only four new universities to have been given this status by the UK’s professional body for the subject. The recognition will demonstrate to potential employers a commitment to being a professional biologist.

Graduates will also be able to use the distinguished post-nominal letters AMSB (Associate Member of the Society of Biology) after their name. They can then apply for full membership after appropriate work experience and take advantage of the support and continued professional development the Society offers.

Association for

Nutrition New recognition for nutritionists The BSc Human Nutrition degree at Bath Spa has been accredited by the Association for Nutrition, the professional body for regulation and registration of nutritionists. This is a great achievement for the Food and Nutrition team since only 18 universities across the UK have gained this accreditation status.

Accreditation means that graduates of the BSc Human Nutrition course at Bath Spa will now be automatically eligible to join the Register with Associate Nutritionist status and can use the post-nominal letters A.Nutr. They can then apply for full registration after three years of appropriate work-based experience.

New partnership with ICT professional body The School of Education has agreed a new partnership with Naace, the subject association for ICT professionals. It means the School now recognises Naace professional CPD qualifications as a way of joining the Professional Master’s Programme with advanced standing – in particular a qualification called the Certified Naace Professional (CNP). This will be equivalent to a third of a normal Master’s degree, so is very significant. The partnership with Bath Spa was launched by Naace at its annual national conference in Reading. Naace now represents all ICT professionals working in schools, government and local authorities throughout the UK and beyond.

Health and the media The portrayal of health issues in the media was debated at an international symposium held at Corsham Court. It was the first event organised by members of Bath Spa’s new Media Futures Research Centre. The ‘Health and the Media’ symposium explored this area of pressing public and political concern in terms of representation, journalistic news practices, engagement with the public and the role of emerging technologies.

Design Buddy Curriculum development A number of new Master’s courses were added to the portfolio during the year, significantly boosting the University’s postgraduate provision.

MA Business and Management provides the knowledge necessary to gain a broad understanding of the complexities associated within modern day organisations and their effective management, along with specialist pathways in Marketing and Creating and Developing Your Business.

MA Heritage Management is designed to reflect on and respond to the challenges currently confronting the heritage sector, including how it shapes its future.

MA Travel and Nature Writing is ideal for writers seeking advanced skills in creative non-fiction inspired by the natural world and contemporary journeying.

:05

Graphic Communication students this year benefitted from a new scheme designed to give them a unique taste of industry as part of their course. Participants in Design Buddy - a successful mentoring scheme created by the South West Design Forum, with the support of Universities South West and National Council for Graduate Entrepreneurship – partnered students with design professionals throughout the year, providing them with one-to-one support from industry experts. Adding a new dimension to their course, students reported that it built their confidence in networking with business and provided new opportunities to learn about the design business. Our industry partners also found the experience to be beneficial through their own personal and professional development and gained a greater understanding of the university’s approach to learning in the creative industries. A number of students secured placements – and subsequently employment – following their Design Buddy experience and the pilot programme will be repeated in 2011/2 and rolled out to other subjects, with students across the university set to benefit from this exciting, new mentoring initiative.

Top. Awards.

The one-day symposium included a keynote talk from Prof Jenny Kitzinger, of Cardiff University, and more than 20 papers by academic speakers from the UK, Spain, Finland, Germany, Italy, Canada and Australia. Topics ranged from news coverage of swine flu and stem cell research to HIV/AIDS and obesity. Among the speakers from Bath Spa were senior lecturers in Media Communications Dr Daniel Ashton and Dr Rebecca Feasey, who presented their research on celebrity cancer stories in the tabloid press.

MA Feature Filmmaking gives students an industry-focused education in the business and practice of modern low-budget feature filmmaking for fact or fiction.

MSc Principles of Applied Neuropsychology examines the uses of neuropsychology in the clinical world and looks at social cognition as well as the emerging field of the neoropsychology of psychopathology.

Three further programmes are planned to start in 2012: MA Performing Shakespeare; MA Theatre for Young Audiences; MA Visual Communications.

06:

STAFF SUCCESSES

HATTIE NAYLOR

The first collection of poems by Bath Spa lecturer Carrie Etter won the London Festival Fringe New Poetry Award 2010.

Carrie’s volume, The Tethers, was published by Seren Books and has been widely and positively reviewed. Carrie Etter is an American poet and senior lecturer in Creative Writing at Bath Spa, where she has taught since 2004.

She is also a regular reviewer of contemporary poetry for the TLS and various periodicals.

Nomination for Prof Rob Mears Professor Mears has accepted the nomination to be the next President of the Association for Teachers of Social Sciences.

Writer in Residence

David Bevington Award Head of English Literature and Cultural Studies Dr Tracey Hill has won a prestigious academic prize for her recent book about the Lord Mayor’s Show in London, DAVID BEVINGTON AWARD

Ivan and the Dogs is based on the astonishing but true story of a four-year-old Russian boy who walked out of his family home in Moscow in 1996 and lived on the streets with a pack of wild dogs.

The drama was first broadcast by BBC Radio 4 as an Afternoon Play in November 2009. Hattie has also written a stage version of Ivan and the Dogs, which was shortlisted for a Laurence Olivier award.

CARRIE ETTER

Writer and lecturer Hattie Naylor won a national award for one of her radio plays. She received the Tinniswood Award for best radio drama script with Ivan and the Dogs, broadcast on BBC Radio 4.

The judges chose her drama from a shortlist of five for the prize, which is awarded by the writers’ and broadcasters’ professional body the Writers’ Guild of Great Britain. Hattie, a part-time lecturer on the MA Scriptwriting course, has written 40 radio plays, mainly for the BBC.

JULIA GREEN

Radio drama award

London poetry prize

Pageantry and Power. The David Bevington Award for best new book in early drama studies is conferred by the US-based Medieval and Renaissance Drama Society.

Pageantry and Power is the first full and in-depth cultural history of the Lord Mayor’s Show in the early modern period. Dr Hill’s book covers the late sixteenth to mid seventeenth centuries, when the Show had reached its absolute peak of splendour and influence.

Julia Green, Course Director for the MA in Writing for Young People, became Bath Children’s Literature Festival the first official Writer in Residence at Bath Children’s Literature Festival. Julia, a well-known novelist herself, was delighted to be offered this new role. Throughout the 10-day festival in late September and early October she kept a blog about her experiences going to events and meeting other authors, readers and writers of all ages. Julia’s own most recent novels, for teenage readers, are Breathing Underwater and Drawing With Light (published

by Bloomsbury).

DR SNEZANA LAWRENCE

Religious education in Zurich Prof Denise Cush, Head of Study of Religions, was invited to speak at the University of Zurich Institute of Educational Sciences as part of a conference on ‘Religious Education in Public Schools’.

The Canton of Zurich has recently introduced a new approach to teaching religious education in a non-confessional and multi-faith way, as a response to increasing religious and cultural diversity.

Prof Cush was invited in order to share the English and UK experience of taking this approach to religious education and looked at the lessons learned in the light of the latest research.

DAVEY RAY MOOR

Davey Ray Moor co-writes Carl Barat album Commercial Music subject leader Davey Ray Moor enjoyed considerable success with four

Maths lesson for HRH the Prince of Wales Dr Snezana Lawrence, PGCE Course Leader for Secondary and KS2/3 Mathematics, sat next to HRH the Prince of Wales at a teachers’ workshop that he was observing. The event formed part of a schools programme day in London in July 2011 organised by the Prince’s Teaching Institute.

Dr Lawrence has been Mathematics Subject Leader for the Prince’s Teaching Institute since 2009, working with the Institute to raise levels of achievement in Maths and to inspire teachers of the subject nationwide. During the schools programme day the Prince joined a workshop on the history of Maths, where he talked to Dr Lawrence and other teachers.

It was his first visit to such an event as a participant.

DR IAIN HAYSOM

PROF DENISE CUSH

songs he wrote with Carl Barat of the band the Libertines. The songs all feature on Carl Barat’s solo album and include the lead single Run With The Boys, along with three other songs co-written by the pair - Carve My Name, Shadows Fall and Death Fires Burn At Night. The Libertines star had invited Davey to join him in a song-writing collaboration.

:07

Channel 4 food show Dr Iain Haysom, Course Leader in Diet and Health, became the microbiology expert on Channel 4’s show Food: What Goes in your Basket? The series of six hourlong programmes, in autumn 2010, looked at every aspect of what we eat, including food storage and spoilage. The show’s producers invited Iain to develop a ‘Rotting Room’, where a range of foods were left at room temperature for up to four weeks and the decomposition filmed with time lapse cameras.

Six different boxes of foods were used – bread, fruit and veg, meat, fish, dairy products and takeaways.

Iain’s role was to oversee this experiment, take samples of the bacteria and mould for laboratory analysis and discuss the results on camera. His ‘Rotting Room’ resulted in some very graphic images of natural decomposition and advice from Iain to viewers on how to store their food safely at home.

People.

Power.

08:

RESEARCH EXPERTISE Comprehensive schools and social mobility Claims that children are worse off if they go to a comprehensive rather than a selective state school were disputed by new research from academics at Bath Spa and the University of Oxford. The study, published in the British Journal of Sociology, was carried out by Dr Vikki Boliver, from the Department of Social Sciences at Bath Spa, and Dr Adam Swift, from the Department of Politics and International Relations at Oxford.

They found that those who went to comprehensive schools were not disadvantaged in terms of social mobility compared with those who attended grammar schools and secondary moderns.

Education researchers are investigating how to develop a primary school curriculum that is designed by schools and their local communities. The new curriculum would be based on sustainability and the relationship between each school and its local environment.

A team from the Children and Environment Research Centre in the University’s School of Education, led by Prof Robert Barratt, won a grant of £30,000 from the AstraZeneca Science Teaching Trust to carry out the study. The researchers have joined forces with eight primary schools in the Bath and Bristol area to help each one develop a place-based environmental curriculum and associated teaching strategies of its own.

PROF ROBERT BARRATT

New approach to primary school curriculum

The researchers analysed data from the National Child Development Survey, which tracks all children born in Britain in a particular week in 1958. Some of these children were among the first comprehensive school pupils, during the transition away from a selective system. Unlike previous researchers Boliver and Swift not only compared the social mobility of children who attended comprehensives with those from grammar schools, but also included secondary modern schools in their analysis. The study measured children’s subsequent progress in terms of income and class and found that overall the selective schools gave no advantage.

DR JAMES NICHOLLS

:09 DR DANIEL ASHTON

Emotion coaching

Understanding alcohol issues Dr James Nicholls, senior lecturer in Media and Cultural Studies, was awarded a British Academy Mid-Career Research Fellowship, worth almost £80,000, to investigate the portrayal of alcohol issues in the media over the past decade. The competition for the Fellowships was very strong and only 10% of applications were successful. The title of James’ award is: ‘The altered state - public discourse on alcohol in England and Wales since 2000’.

In his research Dr Nicholls will be looking at media news reporting on alcohol over that period alongside an analysis of national policy documents and parliamentary records. He will also interview key figures in alcohol policy to find out their views on the role of media reporting in shaping public debates on drinking.

Dr Nicholls has set up a new Alcohol Culture Exchange forum as a 'knowledge transfer' project, funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council in partnership with the South West Alcohol Improvement Programme.

James’s purpose is to bring together licensing authorities, health workers, GPs, police, charity workers and academics to discuss drinking cultures in the UK and how understanding them can shape policy on alcohol at a regional level.

Education policy experts Richard Parker and Dr Janet Rose are pioneering a new strategy to improve relationships between children and young people and their communities. They have introduced a technique known as ‘emotion coaching’ in Wiltshire.

The scheme, funded jointly by Bath Spa and the local Community Area Board, was piloted in Melksham for six months from January 2011.

It aims to develop a coherent approach to children and young people across all ages and services.

‘Emotion coaching’ originates from the United States. It focuses on understanding the reasons for an individual’s behaviour, working with them to develop alternative responses to their difficulties and enhancing their confidence and self-esteem. Schools involved in the pilot project include a secondary school (Melksham Oak) and two primaries (the Manor, Melksham and St George’s, Semington). The University anticipates this will provide a model for other schools and communities and will be seeking funding for an expansion of the scheme in future.

The Jade Goody effect Two senior lecturers in Media Communications, Dr Daniel Ashton and Dr Rebecca Feasey, teamed up with a national cancer charity to investigate how young women responded to the media coverage of reality TV star Jade Goody’s death from cervical cancer. They were researching what has been termed the ‘Jade Effect’ - the massive surge in the number of young women who came forward for cancer screening after daily coverage of Jade’s illness for weeks in the tabloid media.

The researchers worked with Jo’s Trust, the only UK charity dedicated to women and their families affected by cervical cancer.

Their aim was to find out what young female tabloid readers and cervical cancer sufferers, in particular, think of Jade’s portrayal in the media. The Bath Spa team are examining how disclosures about the illness of a celebrity can influence public understanding of that disease, how celebrities are used to communicate health messages to the public, and how those messages are interpreted by different people.

Team.

Work.

10:

RESEARCH EXPERTISE

Motor cycle hearing loss The research of Dr Nigel Holt from the Psychology Department at Bath Spa University and colleagues at the University of Bath received widespread international media attention. The studies, funded by the Leverhulme Trust have looked at how the sound experienced by the rider can be dramatically influenced by the motorcycle helmet. The research aims to provide guidance on motorcycle helmet design and data on how the noise experienced influences the cognitive performance of the rider.

The group presented their work in April at the largest acoustics conference in the world, that of the Acoustical Society of America in Seattle where it was well received by academics and press.

OSKAR FISCHINGER - ‘FRAMES’

Abstract cinema pioneer Dr Joseph Hyde, who is MA Composition course director, was awarded a £40,000 Fellowship grant from the Arts and Humanities Research Council for a study on the work of film-maker Oskar Fischinger. He was a pioneer of abstract cinema and animation, working in Germany then the United States, mainly between the 1920s and the 1940s.

Dr Hyde’s interest centres on Fischinger’s concept of ‘visual music’ - musical ideas being expressed through visual means which had a big influence on later artists and musicians. Many of

his films were essentially ‘music videos’, in which pieces of music are accompanied by tightly integrated animation. Dr Hyde will carry out his project over five months, from February to June 2012. Part of it involves travelling to California and visiting the Oskar Fischinger Archive, which has recently been made public for the first time, under the curation of the Center for Visual Music in Los Angeles.

:11 Cross-gender casting Performing Arts and Drama lecturer Dr Terri Power presented her research on cross-gender casting in Shakespeare at a major conference in the United States.

She was a speaker at the 25th anniversary conference of the Association for Theatre in Higher Education (ATHE) in Chicago in August. Dr Power presented a paper entitled ShakesQueer: Bearded Women, Men in Tights.

This discusses representations of cross-dressing in the Full Tilt Theatre Company’s production of The Taming of the Shrew, which she directed in 2009.

AHRC Award Dr Ellen McWilliams, Senior Lecturer in English Literature, was awarded a AHRC Early Career Fellowship (October 2011 - June 2012).

Media.

Attention.

In her version of the play male actors played the women and females played the men. The production gained favourable reviews locally and on a UK tour, which included the Edinburgh Fringe.

In her paper Dr Power looks at whether cross-casting men in female roles elicits performances of camp or depth, and whether placing women in male roles offers more dynamic characters and performances than in ‘traditional’ casting.

Living Religion

A Bath Spa team that have recently completed their ‘Living Religion’ project, aimed at extending and improving the use by university Theology and Religious Studies departments of experiential placement learning in religious communities. The project – involving Prof Denise Cush, her colleague Dr Catherine Robinson and Publishing Lab technician Gavin Wilshen - was funded by the Higher Education Academy Philosophical and Religious Studies Subject Centre.

It builds on Bath Spa’s pioneering work in this area over several decades. The week-long placement in a religious community has been a special feature of the Study of Religions programme at Bath Spa for many years.

As well as researching the extent to which UK universities provide such experiences for students in Britain and abroad, the Bath Spa team have created a website containing research and resources to facilitate fieldwork placements and encourage dialogue between religious communities, tutors and students. The Bath Spa staff visited several of the communities themselves and interviewed the hosts about their experiences of our students.

Folger Shakespeare Library

Dr Ian Gadd, Senior Lecturer in English Literature, was awarded a Bath Spa University sabbatical for 2010-2011. From January to August 2011, he was based at the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, DC, as the Director of a semester-long seminar on the Stationers' Company, and the Charlton Hinman Research Fellow.

12:

STUDENT AND GRADUATE ACHIEVEMENTS Lauren Nixon, an English Literature student at Bath Spa and guide at the Jane Austen Centre in Bath, has written a book about the famous author’s novels and life story, being published in autumn 2011.

EVIE WYLD

SAMANTHA HARVEY

Two graduates from the University's creative writing courses have been included in a list of the most important new voices in British literary fiction.

MAUDIE SMITH

Evie Wyld has already won the John Llewellyn Rhys literary prize with her debut novel After The Fire, A Still Small Voice. Samantha Harvey's first novel The Wilderness was shortlisted for the Orange Prize for Fiction 2009, longlisted for the 2009 Man Booker Prize, shortlisted for the Guardian First Book Award and won the 2009 AMI Literature Award and the Betty Trask Prize.

She will have her Opal Moonbaby series, for children of seven upwards, published by Orion from early next year. Maudie, who writes under that name but is known at Bath Spa as Amanda Smith, has been studying on the MA Writing for Young People this year. The course has an excellent track record of graduates achieving publication. However it is rare for students on any university creative writing course to have their debut work accepted by a publisher before graduation.

LAUREN NIXON

Evie Wyld and Samantha Harvey were identified by a panel formed by the BBC's Culture Show in a programme broadcast as part of World Book Night celebrations in March. The panel examined the debut novels of writers published in the last two years and narrowed their final selection to just 12 writers.

Creative writing student, Maudie Smith, has secured a publishing deal for three children’s books.

21-year-old Lauren used the knowledge gained from her course and from working at the Jane Austen Centre to compile her book, Jane Austen: a Celebration of Her Life and Work. She has been a guide for visitors and gift shop assistant at the Centre throughout her studies. Her illustrated book is aimed at the general public, combining biography with essays on each Austen novel, their successful portrayal on screen and a selection of her letters. The book is being published by Worth Press to coincide with the 200th anniversary of Austen’s first published novel, Sense and Sensibility.

Fo Th

GRADUATE FASHION WEEK

JO HOWE

Fashion students’ catwalk successes English PhD student, Jo Howe, has been awarded full funding by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) for her research.

Jo is one of only six students in the whole country doing PhDs in English to gain AHRC funding.

She is working on a scholarly edition of an early 17th century play by Samuel Rowley called When You See Me You Know Me. It is a chronicle history of Henry VIII, dramatising key events of his reign.

Bath Spa’s budding fashion designers made a big impression at Graduate Fashion Week (GFW) at Earls Court in London before taking their catwalk show to the Assembly Rooms in Bath in June.

An amazing array of collections showcased expressive prints, clean-lined tailoring and loosely draped fabric. Among them was Hannah Harwin Barclay’s collection of dark scooped skirts, with tight tropical orange and yellow reptile skin prints; Isabella Kent Webb’s collection, providing smart outfits with a nod to vintage for the modern woman; Victoria Rich’s “Urban Poacher? range;

rward. inking.

:13 Music student Alfie Pugh had his own composition performed by a London orchestra.

He won a composing competition run by the London-based orchestra Charities Philharmonia, which is a non-profitable organisation that raises money for charity through its concerts. The competition was also run with the charity Dreams Come True, which grants wishes for terminally and seriously ill children, and Classic FM. Entrants had to write a piece for full orchestra lasting 10-20 minutes for an audience of young children. Alfie's piece, entitled Vasilisa the Beautiful, retells the old Russian fairytale of the same name. The judging panel deemed his composition to be the most well-written and appropriate entry.

The piece was played by the Charities Philharmonia in June at a concert in St Paul's Church, Covent Garden, where Alfie received his award.

Sophia Hallam’s army-inspired garments utilised soldier motifs as ‘camouflage’; and Emily Booker’s collection for men, inspired by technical bike wear.

ALFIE PUGH

14:

STUDENT AND GRADUATE ACHIEVEMENTS An art installation designed

by Creative Arts student Jane Sargeant has been chosen to hang in Bath Abbey to mark this year’s Advent.

Jane won a competition to design a decoration for the Abbey in the four weeks before Christmas.

Her piece, which resembles a glass-effect chandelier was selected by a judging panel that included Bath Abbey’s Vicar Theologian Dr Alan Garrow.

The competition, open to all students on the University’s BA Creative Arts course, attracted 14 entries and Jane was commissioned from a final shortlist of five.

Author Lucy Christopher, who is a creative writing graduate from Bath Spa, was shortlisted for the Costa children’s book prize.

Her second novel, Flyaway, made a shortlist of four for this prestigious literary award.

Lucy graduated from Bath Spa University with a Master’s degree in Creative Writing in 2004, having earned a distinction on the course.

She is currently undertaking a PhD at the University, where she also teaches part-time. In 2010 Lucy’s first book, Stolen, won the Branford Boase Award, given annually to the author of an outstanding debut novel for children. It was written as part of her studies at Bath Spa.

Her chandelier-like structure wide at the top and narrow at the bottom - is intended to reflect some of the Abbey’s interior architecture, especially its fan vaulting, and will have an Advent theme of darkness turning into light.

A group of England football fans enlisted the help of students from Bath School of Art and Design to give them a new ‘identity’.

Eight third year Graphic Communication students were each asked to design a logo for London England Fans, an organisation within the official England supporters’ club.

The project was arranged by senior lecturer Tim Vyner. In a competition between the students each gave a five-minute presentation to a panel of the fans, while being filmed by Sky Sports News for a programme about England friendly internationals that was broadcast in March. The judging panel chose a logo created by one of the students, Sarah-Jane Griffey. It will be used by London England Fans on all their T shirts, flags, postcards, lapel badges and even beer mats.

A recent Sociology graduate from Bath Spa, Fleur Dewsnap, has had her research published on crystal healing, which she undertook for her final-year dissertation.

LUCY CHRISTOPHER

Prize.

Winner.

Lisa Hartung, a student on the new MA Curatorial Practice, was awarded the Elizabeth Perkins Fellowship in Museum Practice and Research at the Museums of Old York in the American state of Maine.

The prestigious three-month fellowship provides aspiring humanities professionals with an opportunity to experience museum work and conduct original research. The internationally recognised scheme attracts undergraduate and graduate students from all throughout the world, who compete for selection.

It appears in the online Reinvention: A Journal of Undergraduate Research. Fleur decided to investigate why some people invest time, money and faith in crystal healing, even though the practice is discredited by mainstream biomedical professionals. Her interviews with people who attended crystal therapy workshops or healing sessions revealed that they associated crystals with ‘wellbeing’, including feelings of relaxation, protection, confidence and support. It was notable, however, that despite appearing to believe in the therapeutic power of crystals, commonly these respondents did not reject mainstream medicine.

Bath Spa’s student polo team took first place in the Schools and Universities Polo Association Summer National Championships.

:15 UK YOUTUBE ‘PATH TO STARDOM’ WINNER

James Gambs, Harry Hall and Lexi Dyer exceeded all expectations by winning their section of the competition. The fact that none of the players had even attempted the fast and furious sport of polo before coming to university made their victory over more experienced players even more remarkable.

The polo tournament was one of the biggest in the world with 103 teams taking part. The Bath Spa team did exceptionally well by winning every single match and not conceding a single goal.

Graduates Khyan Mansley and Ciaran O'Brien were amongst the eight winners of the UK YouTube NextUp competition, which aimed to identify talented film-makers with the potential to follow a ‘path to stardom’.

Bath Spa Textiles student Henrietta Scholes won the Graham & Brown graduate design award at the New Designers exhibition.

The prestigious competition looked for ‘a designer who has a fresh, creative, inspirational approach along with personality and passion’. Henrietta, who has just completed her Textile Design for Fashion and Interiors degree course, won the award of £1,000 cash and a three-week studio placement at Graham & Brown for her innovative lace embossed wallpaper design. Her beautiful wallpapers were produced by combining traditional embroidery techniques with a creative use of laser ‘plotter cutter' equipment, more generally used for signwriting applications.

They first worked together when they were students at Bath Spa University, producing video as part of their Creative Writing and Creative Media Practice courses.

Since graduating they have been developing their creative output on YouTube, and have established a successful and growing YouTube channel http://www.youtube.com/Khyan1.

The pair joined an elite group of 25 European winners of the 2011 NextUp competition, and their prize included the opportunity for personalised training and mentoring from leading industry and YouTube experts, significant online promotion to boost their future careers, and €20,000 prize money.

Introduction of university-wide student prizes This year saw the introduction of a series of prizes for students in order to recognise excellence and specific achievements both in academic success and to reward effort and excellence not otherwise captured through degree programmes. A total of 48 prizes were awarded covering the majority of subject areas and embracing all academic year groups. Celebrated at this year’s graduation ceremonies, the prizes were sponsored both by external organisations and university departments and included: The Oxford University Press Achievement in Biosciences Prize; The British Psychological Society Undergraduate Award; The Pilgrim’s Choice Outstanding Textile Design Student Prize and The Bath Philharmonia Prize. Businesses are already committing to sponsor more prizes for next year and will further contribute to recognising student achievements in this way.

16:

WORKING WITH BUSINESS

Cheesy dresses and shoes Bath Spa design students grabbed the national headlines with their range of dresses, shoes and accessories made from cheese.

Fifty first-year students from the BA course in Textile Design for Fashion and Interiors were commissioned by a Somerset cheese manufacturer, Pilgrims Choice, as part of a national ‘cheese couture’ competition for the Royal Bath and West Show.

One student, Lisa Dillon, crafted her ‘Jimmy Cheese’ shoes from Cheddar and bread, sculpting the heel from a block of Cheddar and using a stale cheese sandwich for part of the platform sole. They also made a collection of stunning dresses from Cheddar and Red Leicester, before modelling them on the catwalk at the Shepton Mallet showground. The design students spent hundreds of hours making five dresses for the occasion. These included a ball gown encrusted not with jewels, lace and embroidery but with a delicate montage of melted and carefully crafted cheese.

Student entrepreneurs romp to success An enterprising student start-up business called ROMP beat four other finalists to win £1,000 from the University’s annual Business Plan Competition.

Speedy students In May 2011 over 20 students enjoyed a speed-networking experience in Bath, orchestrated by the Bath Spa Employability team in association with Creative Bath. Eager to establish contacts in publishing, copywriting and advertising, the students met with representatives from Bath's creative sector - including Future Publishing, the Bath Chronicle, MediaClash, Attinger Jack and Marcom PR. Each student had just three minutes to pitch their talent and impress an employer, before moving on. The quick turnaround ensured everyone got a chance to meet and, as the final whistle blew, the evening continued with more informal networking.

Benjamin Jackson-Cook, Adam Rockall, Adam Vooght and David Goosen, who are all studying Commercial Music, will invest the prize money in their live music promotions business. ROMP brings student audiences to small venues around the country. It also runs Romp Comp, a competition for unsigned artists to showcase their talent, and Romp Tour, which is a five-day European tour for the winning artists from Romp Comp.

The runner-up in the competition, ethical clothing business Bodhi Image, was awarded a £500 prize.

Set up by Psychology and Environmental Science students Joshua Taylor and Michaela Coote, this is a Bath-based fashion initiative, sourcing beautiful silks and cottons for its garments and using small family-run businesses in India for design and manufacture.

Bath Spa Business Club Spring 2011 saw the successful launch of the Bath Spa Business Club. Hosted by the Department of Business and Management within the School of Science, Society and Management, this new initiative offers students and staff across the University additional opportunities to interact with business leaders and practitioners to discuss contemporary business issues in an informal and interactive manner. Over 30 participants attended the inaugural event including students, staff and local

Industry Mentors Programme business practitioners. Keynote speaker was Professor Chris Bones, Professor of Creativity & Leadership at Manchester Business School who led an energetic discussion about the role of the contemporary leader in modern business life. Look out for more events sponsored by the Business Club in 2011/2012.

EMMA LILLEY

Student employee of the year Emma Lilley, a student who works part-time at the Priston Mill wedding reception venue near Bath, became Student Employee of the Year for the South West.

The competition, organised by the National Association of Student Employment Services, recognises the contribution and achievements of students who combine a parttime job with their studies. For the past two years Emma Lilley, who studies History at Bath Spa, has been one of a 40-strong team of students from the University employed as waiting staff at Priston Mill. Emma won Bath Spa’s own award for Off Campus Student Employee of the Year and went on to win the South West regional heat.

The University’s own award for On Campus Student Employee of the Year went to Creative Writing student Becky Holden. For two years she has worked part-time for the Employability department, assisting with events such as careers fairs as well as being an assistant in the Student Job Shop.

During 2010/11, Bath Spa’s Industry Mentors Programme contributed to the local community by acting as a catalyst for bringing people together, making networks mutually accessible and developing long-term relationships and follow on activities with the businesses that joined the scheme. To date, over 100 students have received expert advice, career guidance and access to business practices from businesses and organisations in their chosen field through individual work-related mentoring partnerships lasting up to six months. As organisations become more familiar with Bath Spa University’s range of expertise through the mentoring, the scheme has led to work placements, jobs and internships for students as well as the exploration of collaborative projects with academic departments.

Music students model for Burberry Two Bath Spa music students have been recruited as models by the Burberry fashion house.

Stephanie Ward and Sebastian Brice, who are both in Bath-based rock bands, were chosen by Burberry to showcase their music and the company’s luxury clothes.

Stephanie plays piano and sings for the five-piece band Kill It Kid, which formed at the University in 2008 while she was studying BA Music. Sebastian, who is just starting his final year on the BA Commercial Music course, is guitarist and lead vocalist for the band Avius.

:17 Stephanie and Sebastian have been modelling in fashion photo shoots to publicise both Burberry clothing and their own bands’ music. Stephanie Ward was spotted by Burberry when Kill It Kid were performing in Texas. The band’s two albums have s received widespread critical acclaim.

Sebastian Brice has worked mainly for Burberry but has also featured in campaigns by the Topman and Uniqlo clothing brands.

‘Graduate Success’ programme of career and business start-up support During the summer of 2011, the university’s employability team presented an exciting mix of monthly events, weekly clubs, online and face-to-face career development activities to support our students’ transition in to the world or work. The ‘Graduate Success 2011’ programme provided more opportunities than ever before for recent graduates to develop strategies on everything from networking skills and impactful CVs to succeeding at interview and developing business plans. Described by students as providing “a wealth of information” and, simply, “Phenomenal!”, the summer programme is an extension of the university’s yearround employability and enterprise support, which draws on the expertise of our staff and our links with local employers and industry professionals. A greatly valued part of the student experience, a wide range of free career development, self-employment and business start-up advice and support is available to students throughout their studies at Bath Spa and for up to three years after graduation.

New. Ideas.

18:

SPOTLIGHT ON THE ARTS EYE TRACKING, THE PUMP ROOMS

A whale of a time

More than 20,000 people saw the Illuminate Bath festival projections and events happening around Bath City Centre in November 2010.

Over 20 different events took place over two weeks (1 – 13 November), showcasing creative work by over 100 students, graduates and staff from the University. A further 100 volunteers and participants were also involved behind the scenes.

Shoppers in SouthGate Place were treated to some very special performances by musicians, poets and clowns on the last night of the festival.

Two members of staff from Creative Arts, Angela Cockayne and Nick Atkinson, have been collaborating throughout 2011 in a series of high-profile events with whales and Moby Dick as their theme. The Dominion exhibition, featuring Angela’s artistic work across a wide range of media, was the centrepiece of the Whale Festival at the University of Plymouth, which brought together science, art, music and literature.

It included Angela’s film Dominion, for which Nick composed the music. At the festival Nick led a concert performance of his music for another film by Angela, Rachel’s Orphan. Nick also delivered a conference paper For Those in Peril: Music, Melville and Charles Olsen.

Illuminate Bath is organised by Bath Spa University and Relays, a London 2012 legacy project based in universities across the southwest of England that aims to inspire young people to volunteer, try new sports and be creative.

The festival team is now looking to build on this year’s success with the second Illuminate Bath festival planned for early 2012.

THE LUXARBOURSCOPE

Angela has co-curated with author Philip Hoare the Moby Dick Big Read, which celebrated the 160th anniversary of Herman Melville’s great novel in a unique and exciting way. An extraordinary array of people were invited to read aloud the entire book, a chapter each, to be recorded and streamed online. Contributors include not only celebrities like Tilda Swinton, Andrew Motion Laurie Anderson, Simon Callow, Stephen Fry and Patti Smith, but also the general public.

A design lecturer, Dr Jo Turney made an exhibition of herself and her clothes – quite literally.

In Dr Jo Turney: A Wardrobe Study, at the Sion Hill Gallery in November, she put on display hundreds of her own garments – in fact the entire contents of her wardrobe. She also encouraged visitors to the exhibition to try on some of her clothes in a changing room and make comments about them. Meanwhile Dr Turney dressed herself in clothing borrowed from friends and colleagues in Bath School of Art and Design for the occasion.

This unique interactive event, which took place over five days, could also be seen via a live webcam feed from the gallery to the School’s website. Visitors to the exhibition and online viewers were also invited to give their opinion about the Turney dress sense. Dr Turney said the five-day event was not intended as an art installation but as a cultural study of a contemporary wardrobe.

DR JO TURNEY’S INSTALLATION

Illuminate Bath festival

Wardrobe study

PROVENANCE

:19

House of Fairy Tales

Bath School of Art and Design’s new Sion Hill Gallery is establishing itself as a venue for exhibitions by leading artists. In October 2010 several of the most innovative and prominent figures in contemporary art took part in an international exhibition there and at Corsham Court. The Provenance exhibition showcased work by 14 artists, including Gavin Turk and Mat Collishaw. They are both original members of the group known as Young British Artists which dominated the art scene in Britain during the 1990s.

Established artists from Britain and continental Europe created installations alongside those of emerging artists, including highly talented graduates from Bath School of Art and Design.

The dual site exhibition was curated by one of the participating artists, Angela Cockayne, who also lectures in Sculpture at the University. The theme of her exhibition, which explored the history and ethics of collecting natural specimens, was inspired by a re-discovered natural history collection originally used for Bath Academy of Art drawing classes at Corsham Court in the 1950s.

Bath Spa Live This year’s Bath Spa Live programme of nearly 60 performing arts and music events has earned praise from an ever growing public audience.

One of this year’s highlights was a site specific dance project created in the new Southgate Underground car park. Dance students spent a week working with Kristin McGuire of Cirque du Soleil and Jessica Cohen of Earthfall to develop a dynamic 30 minute piece, which was performed accompanied by live music.

BURDALL’S YARD

Leading artists exhibit at Sion Hill

The Sion Hill Gallery followed up its Provenance exhibition with an equally impressive display of work by leading international artists.

These included Sir Peter Blake, Cornelia Parker, Paula Rego, Kiki Smith, Gavin Turk and Rachel Whiteread. They were among 23 artists who each produced a print inspired by fairy tales, resulting in a fascinating collection of images that went on show at Sion Hill in December 2010. The new works had been commissioned by an arts education project, the House of Fairy Tales.

Roof, which combined the talents of both Music and Drama students.

Both these events presented a tremendous challenge for performers and production teams alike and gave students a fantastic opportunity to showcase their abilities to sell-out audiences.

The University’s new Burdall’s Yard venue opened its doors to the public for the first time on the opening night of Bath International Music Festival. Over 250 people – including the then Mayor of Bath, Cllr Shaun McGall – enjoyed live music and film in a beautiful candle-lit setting. Burdall’s also hosted the first Creative Music Technology Degree Show which featured audio, multimedia, interactivity and live performance pieces.

Live.

Action.

FIDDLER ON THE ROOF

Provenance was launched with a one-day symposium at Sion Hill, sponsored by the Henry Moore Foundation. It discussed some of the controversial issues raised by Provenance, such as taxidermy and the use of animal parts in works of art. Speakers included artists Gavin Turk, Tessa Farmer, Mariele Neudecker and Jochem Hendricks, award winning writer Philip Hoare and leading curator James Putnam.

Two of the largest scale events presented this year were the Music Department’s double-bill opera performance of Puccini’s Suor Angelica and Gianni Schicchi and a performance of Fiddler on the

Bath Spa University Choir received glowing accolades for their performance with Bath Philharmonia Orchestra at Wells Cathedral. Students from both the BA Music and MMus programmes performed Brahms’ German Requiem alongside the soloists Gavin Carr and Gweneth-Ann Jeffers.

20:

COMMUNITY LINKS

COUNCILLOR SHAUN MCGALL, DR JOHN ROBB

Open Learning Week

Places for the public at each lecture were limited, bookable on a ‘first come, first served’ basis via the University website. Open Learning Week aimed to provide a snapshot of life in a modern university for people from the Bath area with no recent experience of higher education.

Symbolic new trees were planted at ceremonies in Bath’s Alice Park and Royal Victoria Park on International Women’s Day itself, 8 March, and at Newton Park.

During the week lectures on suffragette activity in Edwardian Bath and nationally were delivered

by Dr Cynthia Hammond from Concordia University, Montréal, Dr Katherine Bradley of the Open University and Professor June Hannam from the University of the West of England. Throughout the week Bath Central Library exhibited historic archive photographs, supplied by Bath in Time, of the suffragettes and planting of the original arboretum.

DR BOBBY ANDERSON, DR ELAINE CHALUS

Among many who took up took up the offer was the then Mayor of Bath, Councillor Shaun McGall, who is a former student at Bath Spa. Cllr McGall studied Geography back when it was called Bath College of High Education. For his return visit he chose a two-hour lecture given by Dr John Robb, subject leader for Geography, who used to teach him on the course until his graduation in 1993.

Staff from the University teamed up with Bath and North East Somerset Council and the photo archive Bath in Time for a weeklong series of events marking the joint centenary of International Women’s Day and the planting of a local arboretum by suffragettes.

The week’s events in March, all free and open to the public, centred on symbolic tree plantings to commemorate the original arboretum. This was created in the grounds of Eagle House at Batheaston between 1909 and 1912, when more than 60 female campaigners for women's voting rights were guests of the Blathwayt family. The arboretum has since been destroyed.

BATH CENTRAL LIBRARY ARCHIVE

Bath Spa opened its doors to the public for a week, inviting people to get a taste of university by sitting in on student lectures.

The University’s first ever Open Learning Week, in February, involved a whole series of lectures on subjects ranging from History to Drama, and Philosophy to Food.

A total of over 30 lectures were available, all scheduled undergraduate classes.

Suffragettes in Bath

Pu Re

Oral history project expanded An oral history project by the University, recording the memories of older residents in Keynsham, is being expanded throughout Bath and North East Somerset. The scheme, involving History students from the Humanities Department led by senior lecturer Dr Roberta Anderson, began three years ago.

They have been gathering the reminiscences of people who moved to Keynsham from Bristol after the Second World War. Now the students are joining forces with Bath and North East Somerset Council, the Holburne Museum, Age Concern, the Bath Preservation Trust and the Museum of Bath at Work to do similar work in communities across the B&NES area. The whole project now forms part of the History degree programme at Bath Spa University. The students’ oral history research has been assimilated into their studies as a new module, History at Work.

:21

Olympic Games Bath Spa students have developed a free resource to help primary schools teach young children about the Olympic and Paralympic Games - with a unique focus on Bath and the South West of England. Five History undergraduate students have prepared ten practical activities designed to be fun, creative and educational. The activities provide opportunities for pupils to learn about the Olympic values, Greek mythology, cultural differences between countries competing and local athletes.

The students visited Longwell Green Primary School in Bristol to pilot a selection of the activities and have sought advice from education professionals. The next phase of the project will involve the students working with a designer to bring their ideas to life. The resource will then be piloted further in local schools, before it is made available free of charge to primary schools across the region in 2012.

Heritage Open Week The University teamed up with Bath and North East Somerset Council for the annual Heritage Open Week in October. Our students helped out as volunteers at a number of Bath museums, while BSU’s Centre for History and Culture co-hosted with B&NES Heritage Services a series of public lectures on local history and heritage, Bath: Past, Present and Future.

The talks, by experts from Bath Spa and several museums including the Holburne, the Roman Baths, the American Museum and No.1 Royal Crescent, looked at the competing demands on heritage organisations in the city and the challenges they face.

ublic. elations.

Student volunteers

Student volunteers played an important part in a big win for Bath Rugby off the field. The Bath Spa students have been involved in the rugby club’s ‘Playing for Success’ programme, which won the notfor-profit category of the Bath and North East Somerset Council Chairman’s Business Awards.

The project is supported by RELAYS and Team West of England, but has been fully led by the students themselves.

RELAYS is a London 2012 legacy project based in universities across the South West that aims to inspire young people to volunteer, try new sports and be creative.

The volunteers acted as teaching assistants and mentors to local secondary school pupils who attend after-school classes in English, Maths and IT Skills at Bath Rugby. They provided one-to-one support for children struggling in these key subjects and ran practical learning activities with a rugby theme.

The University’s Volunteering department, Just V, nominated Bath Rugby for the B&NES awards, which recognise businesses making a positive contribution to their local community.

PRIMARY SCHOOL RESOURCES

The development of Heritage courses in the University’s History study programme has been a key initiative at Bath Spa over the past year, in close collaboration with the museums.

22:

COMMUNITY LINKS Holburne books homeward bound A new kind of Rotary Club

Students help create nature trail for school Pupils from Moorland Infants and Junior Schools in Bath are benefiting from an exciting new nature trail – thanks to the help of student volunteers from Bath Spa. The project is the brainchild of Environmental Science student Neale Warr, who saw the potential value the school’s huge natural space could offer the children, and decided he wanted to help.

He applied for funding to the University’s Tony Dewberry Memorial Fund, which was set up to help environmental projects in memory of Bath Spa’s former Deputy Vice-Chancellor who died in January 2010.

The Memorial Fund is used for student projects that have a lasting impact on the environment – either in the local community or at the University, and reflects Tony Dewberry’s keen interest in environmental matters.

Neale’s project involved developing the school grounds into a nature trail that would be used for educational purposes, teaching different aspects of ecology, biology and environmental management in different seasons.

Following a successful initial breakfast meeting at Bath Spa University in March 2011 and its official launch in July 2011, an active group of local business professionals (including a number of university staff) has been working to develop a fresh, modern and relevant forum in which to network, build personal and professional links and make a positive impact on the local community. The Rotary Club of Bath Spa – the fourth club in the Bath area – has been designed to be fun, inclusive and interactive and appeal to wide range of people with busy lives who still want to make a difference in the community. The University not only hosts meetings and shares its name with the Club, but is also developing a number of placement, mentoring and other student opportunities through its support and involvement, particularly with its inaugural president as Susan Hammond, Student Development Co-ordinator of the University’s Students’ Union. The Club meets every other Thursday at 7.30am in Main House, Newton Park.

Student safety Following the tragic death by drowning of one of its students, James Bubear, the University has been working in partnership with a number of agencies to help keep students safe in Bath. A campaign branded ‘Don’t make it a night to regret’ has been launched supported by B&NES Council, Bath Spa University and the University of Bath, both University Students’ Unions, police, fire service and ‘nightwatch’ (a group of around 50 city centre businesses, including bars and clubs).

Under the watchful eye of librarians from Bath Spa a small army of volunteers helped return a valuable collection of around 3,000 books to the city’s newly re-opened Holburne Museum.

Although better known for its fine and decorative art, the Holburne Museum also possesses book collections that provide a valuable resource for university researchers and other enthusiasts.

However the collections have been difficult to access as none were catalogued. Now, following a year’s painstaking work by the volunteers, the books have been catalogued on the University Libraries online catalogue, making them easily accessible to a wide audience, before being returned to the Holburne.

The cataloguing took place at Corsham Court with the help of a team of volunteers from the local community. A celebratory lunch for the volunteers took place in June at Corsham Court.

Support for primary science and technology teaching Staff in Education and Geography secured funding from AstraZeneca Science Teaching Trust to work with several local primary school communities to develop innovative, locally-orientated and environmentally conscious aspects to the curriculum through the use of science and technology.

GOING FOR GREEN

Green League

The University has an ambitious Carbon Reduction Management Plan in operation, detailing projects that will reduce its carbon emissions by 50% by 2020.

In the past five years its carbon emissions have fallen by 21%, whereas across universities nationwide they rose by an average of 7.4% over the same period.

is currently 65% - up from 60% in 2010. Last year the University acquired the Rocket food waste composter, which has helped divert food waste from landfill to be turned into compost and used on the Newton Park grounds.

Bath Spa has also launched its new environment brand called ‘Green Focus’. This is helping to raise awareness of the University’s environmental activities and initiatives.

ROCKET FOOD WASTE COMPOSTER

Bath Spa University has again been awarded ‘first class honours’ for its environmental performance in a national league table. It made the top ten out of 142 UK universities in the People & Planet Green League 2011. Bath Spa was ranked seventh overall – four places higher than last year – for its environmental policy and performance in areas such as carbon emissions, waste recycling, energy efficiency and water consumption.

:23

Eco. Friendly.

Bath Spa’s performances on water use, carbon reduction and reduction of waste to landfill have improved considerably over the past four years. Its recycling rate

Success in the Green League follows Bath Spa’s achievement of the EcoCampus Platinum award in 2010 – the highest accolade under the EcoCampus scheme.

At the same time Bath Spa became the first UK university to gain the International Standard for Environmental Management (ISO 14001) accreditation through the EcoCampus award scheme.

24:

INFLUENCE IN THE REGION AND BEYOND TIM LOUGHTON MP

Minister at child protection conference The Minister for Children and Families, Tim Loughton, addressed a major conference on child protection held by the University.

The conference, in June 2011, was the third on safeguarding children to be hosted by Bath Spa at its Newton Park campus. As a keynote speaker at the event Mr Loughton outlined the Coalition Government’s perspective on the protection of children from abuse.

Speakers also included Tessa Munt, the Liberal Democrat MP for Wells. She is a member of the Education Select Committee, with a particular interest in safeguarding children. The conference brought together politicians, employers in the children’s workforce sector, child protection agencies, the police and academics to explore current and future policies on this key issue at national and regional level.

Bath Spa offers the wider children’s workforce a new child protection qualification, in partnership with David Niven Associates. The training programme of six modules allows non-graduate staff to build towards a degree while still working full-time. The minister praised the work of the University in raising the quality of training in this important area of work.

Training for parent volunteers The children and family services charity First Steps (Bath), in partnership with Bath Spa University, launched a new training course for parent volunteers. It was a pilot project to support the groups run by First Steps for families with young children in the Bath communities of Twerton, Southdown and Moorfields.

‘Stay & Play’ groups are a safe and fun environment giving parents the chance to spend time with their young children up to the age of five and meet other local families. The sessions are supervised by experienced family support workers, but are so popular they can sometimes become very large and crowded, which lessens their effectiveness.

Local parents expressed interest in becoming volunteers to run groups in partnership with staff, so that more groups could be offered.

The seven weekly sessions were led by staff from First Steps Family Services and from the University’s School of Education. The training for parents included ideas on how to run groups and the importance of play, health and safety. Parents who so wished could submit work for accreditation with Bath Spa and all received a certificate of participation from the University.

Network for languages Bath Spa has expanded its support for modern languages teaching in the region. In 2009 the University was selected as the South West Regional Centre for Links into Languages, a government sponsored project to provide modern languages training for teachers in all primary and secondary schools. Earlier this year funding for all the centres was withdrawn because of government cuts. However the South West Centre, led by its Director, Philip Campagna and its Manager, Denise Martine, has been able to continue as a self-funding business located at the University’s Culverhay Annex, providing an invaluable resource for teachers.

Glo Con

:25

Recognising achievement Honorary awards were presented by the University to two worthy recipients with links to the region: Joanna MacGregor and Tom McCaw. Joanna MacGregor, one of the most versatile and innovative musicians of her generation, has been Artistic Director of Bath International Music Festival since 2006. Joanna has performed in over 60 countries, often appearing as a soloist with many of the world’s leading orchestras. Known for her wide-ranging interests in jazz, world and contemporary music, she created her own record label SoundCircus in 1998. Joanna made her debut as a conductor in 2002 and regularly directs her own orchestral projects. The University has awarded her an honorary DLitt (Doctor of Letters) degree.

Links with China

JOANNA MCGREGOR

Business and Management has formed partnerships with two colleges in China; Shanghai Electronic and Information Vocational College and Shanghai Sipo Polytechnic. Students who pass exams equivalent to the HND in Business and Management in Shanghai are able to attend the summer Business English Pre-University course which leads to the final year of the BA Hons Business and Management undergraduate programme at Bath Spa University. Our International students now have the opportunity to progress to the recently launched MA in Business and Management.

A further 14 students recently arrived from Shanghai and commenced the programme in June 2011.

Tom McCaw was formerly Land Steward of the Duchy of Cornwall, which owns Bath Spa’s Newton Park campus. He served in that role from 1988 to 2008, with responsibility for the Duchy’s rural properties in the Bath area, Wiltshire, Dorset, Somerset, Gloucestershire and Oxfordshire.

He is a trustee of Wiltshire Wildlife Trust and of Community First (Wiltshire’s Rural Development Council).

International partnerships Bath Spa University continues to expand its cornerstone partnerships with leading international universities which allow us to share expertise and develop collaborative projects.

In 2010 - 11 the University signed cooperation agreements that will lead to the development of shared research, pedagogy projects, and staff and student exchanges with Multimedia University in Malaysia (MMU) and Queensland University

of Technology (QUT) in Australia.

MMU is working with the School of Humanities and Cultural Industries to facilitate the overseas residency of the School's new MA in Travel and Nature Writing and is also in discussion with the School of Education regarding a development programme for school teachers. QUT is developing plans for a joint PhD in transmedia writing with the School of Humanities and Cultural Industries and is discussing student-led collaborative projects with the Commercial Music programme in the School of Music and Performing Arts.

During 2010 – 11 the University continued to work on projects with its US partner Columbia College Chicago. Professor Gerard Woodward spent part of the year on a teaching exchange delivering workshops at Columbia College.

In February 2011 creative writing students from Bath Spa and Columbia College ran a writing surgery for the public as part of the Bath Literature Festival whilst novelist Dr Andrew Miller from Bath Spa's Research Centre for Contemporary Writing chaired a panel of writers from Columbia College Chicago as part of the festival for a discussion about the differences between British and American writing. Columbia College's TV Department agreed pedagogy projects with the Department of Film and Media at Bath Spa and the College’s Department of Art & Design is planning projects with the Bath School of Art and Design.

bal. nnections.

Mr McCaw has been made an Honorary Fellow of the University, in recognition of the consistent and substantial support he has given to the development of Bath Spa University during the years 1988 to 2008.

26:

INFLUENCE IN THE REGION AND BEYOND International research conferences Dr Heather Winlow (Geography) was invited to present a paper about her work in race, ethnicity and cartography at the 24th Internatonal Conference on the History of Cartography in Moscow.

Offering international expertise Professor Rob Mears was invited as an international expert to assist the Australian Sociological Association in developing Learning Outcomes for degree programmes as part of the work of the newly established Australian Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency (TEQSA).

Professor Dan Davies has been invited to collaborate with Umea University and The Swedish National Agency for Education on assessment of scientific enquiry, arising from the E-scape project.

E-scape worked with teachers from eight primary schools to develop assessment tasks based on the e-scape dynamic e-portfolio system, as an alternative to the discontinued Key Stage 2 Science SATs in England.

Professor Tim Middleton presented a paper at an international conference in Nantes.

He spoke at the Bienalle of the European League of Institutes of the Arts in October 2010. His paper 'Beyond the lecture hall new approaches to employability in creative subjects' showcased the work of the BA Creative Media Practice and highlighted the pedagogic thinking behind the new media facilities planned as part of the Newton Park campus redevelopment.

Professor Robert Mears presented a paper at the international conference‘ Work, Employment and Society’ at the University of Brighton in September 2010.

The paper will be published in 2011 in a book entitled Working Lives in further and higher education in the 21st century.

June Bianchi from the School of Education presented a paper on ‘multimedia technology for social participation: developing digital arts strategies with diverse learners through teacher education', at the World Conference on Educational Technology Researches, Near East University, Cyprus in June 2011.

Darren Garside, Senior Lecturer in Education Studies, presented a paper on Productivity, Phronesis and P4C at the International Council for Philosophical Enquiry with Children (ICPIC 2011) in Jinju, South Korea.

Jim Crawley, Programme Leader for Lifelong Learning, presented a paper on ‘Changing times, changing voices: the discrepancy between the 'official version' of teacher education and the lived experience of teacher educators’ at 2011 International Council on Education for Teaching (ICET) World Assembly, University of Glasgow.

Know Base.

UPDATE ON HUMAN RESOURCES

:27

Wellbeing Staff facts and figures The University is a significant local employer with approximately 800 staff including both teaching and non-teaching staff. We received approximately 1500 applications in 2010 for around 55 vacancies.

Equality and diversity The third annual joint Equality Forum between the University and the University of Bath was hosted at the University of Bath’s campus in April 2011. The theme was the Inclusive University, and included a lively panel discussion on various aspects of equality, and afternoon workshops. The University uses the Forum as an opportunity to engage with students, staff and members of the wider community, and the next event will be hosted at Bath Spa in 2012. In addition to the Forum, the University also participates in the Stonewall Workplace Equality Index, which is Britain’s leading tool for employers to measure their efforts to tackle discrimination and create inclusive workplaces for lesbian, gay and bisexual employees. While not being in the top 100, we continue to improve our score year on year and use the feedback to improve all of our equality work.

As part of the University’s Wellbeing Strategy, staff have benefited from courses on managing stress and wellbeing events that include campaigns to support Men’s Health and Back Care week, flu vaccinations and general health assessments. Joint working with students on events that promote wellbeing for all has begun. An Employee Assistance Programme, Lifeworks, has been in place for several years, and is used to offer additional support to employees and their immediate family.

Leadership for the future In July 2011, Bath Spa launched its leadership programme for University managers. The programme is being delivered by management development provider t-three, who were selected from a strong field which included over 70 initial expressions of interest.

The aim of the programme is to help managers meet the many challenges BSU will face over the next few years, supporting and developing them to make sense of how they and others may need to work differently in response to these challenges. t-three worked closely with the programme working group, as well as running scoping and launch sessions, to engage staff and

wledge.

inform the content and delivery methods. BSU managers will each benefit from four days of workshops, gaining knowledge and skills in coaching, managing change, communication, commercial awareness and managing performance that are highly practical and can be applied back in the workplace. Initial feedback to the first sessions has been very positive, and the programme will get back underway after the summer break.

28:

FACTS AND FIGURES

TURNOVER (YEAR ENDING JULY 2010) - £50,558,000 UNDERGRADUATE APPLICATIONS TO BATH SPA UNIVERSITY (TO JULY 2011) – 14,888 (14% INCREASE ON PREVIOUS YEAR) UNDERGRADUATE APPLICATIONS : PLACES RATIO (2010) – 7.0 : 1

TOTAL STUDENT NUMBER MODE OF ATTENDANCE

LEVEL OF STUDY

AGE ON ENTRY

GENDER

SCHOOL BREAKDOWN

8742 FULL-TIME

6068

69.40%

PART-TIME

2674

30.60%

UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS

5621

64.30%

POSTGRADUATE STUDENTS

3121

35.70%

UNDER 25 YEARS

5260

60.10%

25 YEARS OR ABOVE

3482

39.90%

FEMALE

6251

71.50%

MALE

2491

28.50%

BATH SCHOOL OF ART & DESIGN

1103

12.62%

EDUCATION

3618

41.39%

1555.5

17.79%

1263

14.45%

1202.5

13.75%

6951

79.51%

SION HILL/CIRCUS

861

9.85%

PARTNER INSTITUTIONS

930

10.64%

HUMANITIES & CULTURAL INDUSTRIES MUSIC & PERFORMING ARTS SCIENCE, SOCIETY & MANAGEMENT LOCATION OF STUDY

NEWTON PARK/CORSHAM COURT

What do Bath Spa graduates do?

• 90% of Bath Spa graduates were in work or further study, six months after graduation, according to latest figures.

• Of those in full-time employment, over two-thirds (69.3%) were working in graduate-level jobs.

• Despite the continuing pressures in the jobs market, 6.1% of Bath Spa graduates were seeking work at the time of the survey, compared to 7.6% nationally.

(Source HESA: Destinations of Leavers from Higher Education survey 2009/10)

GOVERNORS AND SENIOR STAFF

Team.

Spirit.

BOARD OF GOVERNORS

SENIOR STAFF

Stella Pirie OBE (Chair)

Vice-Chancellor Professor Frank Morgan BA MSc CPFA

Professor Frank Morgan (Vice-Chancellor) Inderjit Ahluwalia

Professor Judith Brown Andrew Harris Lynn Ludwell Mike Roy

Richard Bidgood Professor Tim Middleton Ian Phillips Julian Amey Professor Paul Luna

Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Clerk to the Board of Governors Alun Thomas BSc PhD Deputy Vice-Chancellors Jon Brady BSc Professor Neil Sammells BA PhD Head of Bath School of Art and Design Pradeep Sharma BA (Cantab) MA (Cantab) MA

Mary Toman Dr Alun Thomas (Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Clerk to the Board)

Director of Estates and Services Carolyn Puddicombe BSc FRICS Director of Library Services Alison Baud MA DipLib MCLIP Director of Human Resources Arlene Stone FCIPD Director of Computing Services Dave Hassall BSc Head of Marketing and Communications Tessa Griffiths BA DipM Head of Employability Adam Powell BSc PG Dip

Dean of School of Education Professor Stephen Ward BEd MEd PhD

Head of Corsham Court Centre Professor Ron George MA RCA DipAD

Head of School of Humanities and Cultural Industries and Dean of International Relations Professor Tim Middleton BA MA PGCE PhD

Head of Quality Management Katie Akerman BA MA PG Cert DipQ

Revd Prebendary Edward Mason Philip Parker

:29

Head of School of Music and Performing Arts Joe Bennett BA NTF FHEA Head of School of Science, Society and Management Professor Robert Mears BSc MSc PhD PGCE Head of Graduate School Professor Paul Davies BSc PhD Director of Student Services and Registrar Christopher Ellicott BA MA

Head of Finance Kevin Wright FCA Head of Information Services Jonathan Sebright BA

Newton Park Campus

Sion Hill Campus

Newton St Loe Bath BA2 9BN

Landsdown Bath BA1 5SF

Telephone 01225 875 875

Telephone 01225 875 875

enquiries@bathspa.ac.uk www.bathspa.ac.uk