End-of-term festival shows the best FACE of Brunel
MOBO founder entertains Brunel at HSBC lecture
May 2009’s Festival of Awareness, Creativity and Expression (FACE) brought the campus to life over a week of performances, sports, stalls and activities. The Festival, staged jointly by the Students’ Union and the University, aimed to improve the accessibility of sport and physical activity and promote cultural exchange and integration.
November’s HSBC-sponsored lecture featured the founder of the Music of Black Origin (MOBO) Awards, Kanya King MBE, who discussed the challenges she overcame to become a successful entrepreneur with the flamboyant interviewer and TV presenter Russell Amerasekera.
As the driving force behind one of Britain’s most successful music awards, Kanya (pictured above) gave an inspirational insight into what pushed her to succeed. Her first ‘business’ was selling whistles, food and drink at carnivals, and she puts her success down to “passion, more passion, and passion again”. She offered the following advice to anyone wanting to start their own business: “I do believe that if you do whatever it takes, for however long it takes, and refuse to quit, success is only a matter of time.” Kanya was impressed by how Brunel has encouraged enterprising activities amongst its students. “I spoke to two very entrepreneurial and driven [students] earlier who were already looking for a job from me and I thought, ‘what fantastic training they’ve had here!’”
Brunel tops London chart for disabled access Brunel University has the best university facilities for disabled students in the London area, according to a recent report by the Muscular Dystrophy Campaign.
6 | Brunel Link 2010
The University also held a special ceremony before the lecture to confer the honorary degree of Doctor of Education upon Lord Sainsbury of Turville, businessman, politician and former Chair of the Sainsbury’s supermarket empire. Lord Sainsbury was awarded the degree for his services to national and international communities. He was the first Briton to donate more than £1 billion to charity, largely through the Gatsby Charitable Foundation which he founded in 1967. He is also a champion of the teaching of science in schools, and was the Minister for Science and Innovation from 1998 to 2006. Speaking at the ceremony, he said: “I am delighted to be associated with Brunel University, which I think has carved out a position for itself as a university which combines academic rigour with the practical and entrepreneurial approach pioneered by Isambard Kingdom Brunel.”
Brunel scored 94% overall (the second highest score in the UK) in the University Challenge report, which explored accessibility issues within UK universities. The undercover report was carried out by more than 100 Trailblazers, a network of young campaigners for the rights of disabled people, who investigated the challenges facing disabled students applying to and studying at university. Brunel’s Disability and Dyslexia Service (DDS) has worked exceptionally hard over the last few years to ensure that the University provides the best support service possible. This is not the Service’s first accolade: last year the team received the Times Higher Education Award for Outstanding Support for Disabled Students.