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NEWS
ISSUE 248 concrete.news@uea.ac.uk
www.concrete-online.co.uk
UEA LAUNCH FACEBOOK PAGE UEA have recently launched their official Facebook page. The page will be maintained and managed by the Marketing and Communications Division. The move will be seen as a step forward in the communication between students and the University, as well as being able to attract members of staff, future students and alumni. Students can check key dates and important deadlines, details of scholarship announcements, updates of the league table positions and NSS information. The page also includes contact details and includes links to further useful UEA Facebook pages. The page is already a huge success with 1,954 students who have ‘liked’ it in the first fortnight. Suzy Gook, Head of Marketing and Admissions, said: “The aim of the official page is to highlight our key activities, including our press coverage and research news, open days and public lectures, and aims to engage with a wide audience”. Lydia Chwarszczynski
MEDIABALL 2010 Concrete, Livewire1350 and Livewire TV are proud to present the first ever annual MediaBall. Taking place on Wednesday, December 1st in the Sainsbury’s Centre, UEA’s media societies promise a night of festive fun for all. With tickets priced at just £15, including a hot buffet, the night is sure to be one of the biggest in your social calendar. As well as the meal and some serious dancing, there will be a mystery gift for all attendees. The night will start at 7pm, and you can dance the night away until midnight, when we will head into town for what is sure to be an infamous afterparty. Suits and dresses - or whatever formal wear you fancy - are an absolute necessity, so get your glad rags on and kick off the festive season in some serious style. Tickets will be on sale every day in the Hive from 12-2, or in the Concrete office from 9am until 6pm. This event is guestlist only, so make sure you get a ticket! Davina Kesby
CLIMATEGATE: ONE YEAR ON Becky Hazlewood
News Reporter
A year has passed since UEA suddenly became the focus of global attention in the climate scandal that shocked the world. UEA was accused of having “threatened the future of the planet” when the private emails of Professor Phil Jones, scientist at the Climatic Research Unit (CRU), were hacked and leaked onto the internet in November last year. Students who were studying Environmental Science courses at UEA suddenly felt that the quality and prestige of their degrees were in jeopardy, as the integrity of CRU came under attack from all directions. The personal emails were used by sceptics to suggest that the scientists were manipulating their data to enhance the case for human activities being the cause of climate change. After a year of turmoil for Jones and the staff at CRU, everything
seems to have finally settled down. Professor Mike Hulme, lecturer in Environmental Sciences at UEA, believes: “The events of the past year have finally buried the notion that scientific predictions about future climate change can be certain or precise enough to force global policy-making.” The life of researcher, Phil Jones, took an unexpected and nasty turn for the worse following the event. He came under vicious attack, receiving over 400 abusive emails, some of which contained suggestions he should commit suicide. Worst of all, perhaps, were the criticisms of the media and US politicians, including the likes of Sarah Palin, who accused Professor Jones of faking his research. Jones stepped down from his post as head of CRU while investigations into the allegations took place. The inquiry, carried out by Sir Muir Russell earlier this year, found there to be no reason to doubt the integrity or honesty of the CRU
The Climatic Research Centre at UEA, which came under scrutiny a year ago
team. Showing resilience and determination, Jones has emerged from the trauma unscathed and has just completed his 34th year working at CRU. He continues to work with the Met Office on global temperature records and his work is likely to contribute to the next International Panel on Climate Change report in 2013. “It’s a relief [that] the uncertainties have been cleared
and UEA can keep its name as a world class research centre for Environmental Sciences,” said one ENV student. “It’s just sad people had to try and make a mess of the climate change negotiations. People chose not to believe in climate change because it’s easier for them not to come to terms with the reality, but that’s stupid, because if we don’t do something about it, global warming will bring much harder changes to our lives”.
UNION UNVEIL STUDENT EXPERIENCE REPORT Tim Bates
News Reporter
Tom Ward, the Pro Vice-Chancellor, officially received his copy of the 2010 UEA Student Experience Report last week, marking the first anniversary since the report was first published. The report, which utilizes the data of sources such as the National Student Survey and the Postgraduate Research Survey, provides the University management with advice on everything academic, from how funds should be handled, to how to improve the quality of feedback given for work received. On receiving the report from the Academic Officer of the Union of UEA Students, Rachel Handforth, Mr Ward said: “This is the next step in a great annual event, which reflects the very good practical relationship we have with the students here.” The 36-page report addresses each major academic concern of the modern student populace in detail, discussing such hot topics as the recent Comprehensive Spending Review’s effect on
higher education funding, with a mixture of general student trends in opinion, data from various surveys, and personal comments from members of the Student Union, along with a concise set of simple recommendations at the end of each section. Among the potentially controversial of these recommendations is the desire for sweeping structural changes both in the funding and academic support sections in order to provide students taking certain courses with more practical skills to fight unemployment. It also proposes the dismissal of certain University practices altogether, such as the policy of holding some exams on Saturdays. It highlights weaknesses, such as the clarity of feedback given on work, with only 59% of UEA students stating that the feedback given helps them to ‘understand things they did not understand’. However, it also highlighted key areas of improvement, such as the recently restructured library. The report’s conclusion details the status of the Union of UEA Students itself, detailing both its successes, such as the campaign
Andrea Lestrange
Pro Vice-Chancellor, Tom Ward, receives the Student Experience Report from Academic Officer of the Union of UEA Students, Rachel Handforth
to create a polling station that students could use on campus during the last General Election, and the creation of the Union Website, as well as significant plans for this coming year, including the lobby of local MPs to fight the rising costs of tuition fees. How many of this report’s guidelines and recommendations
the University will be able to follow is uncertain. Mr Ward was optimistic that the report would only help the experience for all UEA students and postgraduates: “There are things we agree about, things we disagree about, but the important thing is that we are all determined to improve the overall experience of the students”.