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Welcome
We extend a big welcome to new students. We hope you enjoyed Welcome Week and that you have found the New Students website and your Exeter Memory Card helpful. We look forward to your feedback (via the New Student Survey).
Top 200
Exeter has been recognised as a ‘truly world class’ university after being ranked in the Times Higher Education's top 200 universities worldwide for the first time. The University was ranked 184 in the 2010-11 THE World University Rankings. This year’s league table was produced using new methodology that places less importance on reputation and heritage, and gives more weight to research, teaching and knowledge transfer. The University has also been moving swiftly up the domestic league tables, rising from 34 to 12 in ten years in The Times Good University Guide.
Admissions update
The University was very successful in recruiting undergraduates for 2010 entry, with 39 per cent of home/EU A level entrants achieving one or more A* grades. We closed up slightly on the planned intake of 2,931 with an expected 3,018 entrants, spread broadly across Colleges and subjects. This was achieved without using clearing or adjustment.
Best student union
The Students’ Guild has been officially recognised at the best student union in the UK in the 2010 NUS Awards. The award recognises best practice in the way a students’ union is led by its student members, high levels of student participation and the positive impact students have both on and off campus.
Learn a language
Online enrolment at the University’s Foreign Language Centre is now open for the Evening Language Programme. Courses are offered in Arabic, British Sign Language, French, German, Greek, Italian, Japanese, Latin, Mandarin Chinese, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish and Turkish. Courses begin week commencing 11 October at Streatham and St Luke’s. Student discounts are available. Please visit the Foreign Language Centre for further details.
Nearly £1m for library research resources
The library has acquired over 300 more journal back files, almost 200 new e-books and a key interdisciplinary archive to support research at both campuses. The investments include: 120 electronic journal back files from Emerald, covering business, management, law, education and social sciences; extending the Oxford Scholarship Online Politics e-books collection to nearly 400 titles; and the Victorian Popular Culture archive which provides 24/7 access to source material in America, Britain and Europe from 1779-1930. Links and information can be found at the Electronic Library and Library Catalogue.
HEFCE Modernisation Fund success
The University was successful in a bid for £3.1m from the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) Modernisation Fund. The modernisation fund is a new £152m initiative to support additional student places. The funding is providing an extra 250 full-time new entrant places in 2010-11. For more information, please contact Sophie Hewitt.
Bioblitz launch
The University will launch its Birds & Bees Campaign (Biodiversity Enhancement Plan) in partnership with Devon Wildlife Trust, Exeter Wild City, Ambios and others with a Bioblitz on Saturday 9 October. The event, from 1 to 4pm, will bring students, staff and the public together at Streatham to find, identify and record as many plants, fungi, insects and other species as possible. Wildlife presenter and naturalist Nick Baker, an Exeter graduate, will lead a team of experts.
University a leader in student satisfaction
The University has one again performed strongly in student satisfaction in a key national survey. It was ranked sixth among full service public universities in the National Student Survey, the main annual study of student satisfaction. Our overall mark, of 90 per cent, is the same as last year. For personal development, Exeter jumped to 10th against its peers, up from 25th last year, and to fifth, up from 14th, for assessment and feedback.
D bus and cycling improvements
Following staff and student feedback, the University has worked to improve sustainable travel options. As of today, D bus sizes have increased, the out of term service frequency rises to every 15 minutes, and the route extends to Cowley Bridge Road. There will also be an improved evening service with the final bus leaving Streatham for the city centre at five past midnight. The University is subsidising the improvements. It has also invested in new cycle parking spaces. There will be more than 1,000 new spaces, in locked and unlocked facilities by the end of the capital programme.
ESI approved
The new Environment and Sustainability Institute has won formal approval, securing £30m in investment from the European Regional Development Fund, the South West RDA (Regional Development Agency) and the University. Construction, on the Cornwall Campus, will commence in February, with completion due mid-2012. The Institute will help put the region at the forefront of environmental and climate change technologies.
ELE goes live
The project to replace WebCT with the Exeter Learning Environment (ELE) is nearing completion. ELE has been successfully launched in the MyExeter portal for both staff and students and can also be accessed directly by visiting http://vle.exeter.ac.uk. The new online resource provides access to materials developed to support University courses and creates a space where students and tutors can interact beyond the lecture theatre, seminars and tutorials.
Come and find the Yurt
The Multifaith Chaplaincy and Support Services have a Yurt by Queen’s Drive until Friday 8 October. There is a rich mix of events taking place daily. For the full programme, please visit the The Multifaith Chaplaincy website.
Peerage for Chancellor
The Chancellor, Floella Benjamin, was made Baroness Benjamin of Beckenham in the Dissolution Honours List. She was nominated by the Liberal Democrats.
Main Library entrance move
The Main Library entrance has been closed and a temporary public entrance opened at the rear of the building on Stocker Road. This is due to the redevelopment of the library as part of the Forum project. The new entrance is set to remain until the project is completed in December 2011.
Streatham Court access
The main entrance to Streatham Court and to the student service centre has closed until the end of October for essential work to the Business School’s new building. The entrance off the path leading up to Cornwall House should be used instead. The doors from the courtyard will also be open to provide an extra route if the corridor becomes congested. Signage will be in place to direct all traffic and provision made for alternative fire exits. For further information, please contact Sue Hudson.
University hosts Peter Randall-Page sculpture
The University’s noted sculpture collection has been boosted further with the arrival of a piece by Peter Randall-Page, one of Britain’s pre-eminent sculptors. Flayed Stone II can be seen by the Northcott Theatre. It joins about two dozen other significant works on the campus and forms part of the Sculpture Walk.
Physics student wins top award
Neil Robinson, who graduated with a first class MPhys (physics) degree this summer, has won ‘Best Physics Student’ in the Science, Engineering & Technology Student of the Year Awards, the most important awards of their kind in Europe. Neil won for his research project: "Trapping Electrons in Graphene using Electric Fields", part of his undergraduate degree.
Student Community Guide
This year all students living off campus will receive a 'Student Community Guide”. The guidebook contains information about recycling, noise and safety, and aims to help students living in private accommodation. Guides will be delivered in early October. If you do not receive one, please contact streetwise@exeter.ac.uk.
Changes to bin collection schedule
Many students will be affected by changes to the City Council's refuse collection cycle. Some properties may also have received a new bin. If you are living off-campus and have queries regarding new collections in your area, please visit the student section of the City Council’s website or call 01392 665010.
Badminton exclusive booking
Badminton courts are available from 12pm-2pm on Thursday at Streatham Sports Park, with prices starting at £1.40 an hour (for staff sports park members). They are available at St Luke’s Gym from 12pm-2pm on Tuesdays for £2 a session. Please call 01392 724452 for Streatham bookings; no need to book at St Luke’s. For further information, please contact Jimmy Kelly, the University Badminton Officer. |
Until Fri 17 December
The Dhow, Mastery of The Monsoon: New exhibition brings together a wealth of material culture and images relating to dhows and the dhow trade around the Arabian Peninsula and on the East African coast, including full-size vessels. Please visit the MARES Project website for further information.
Location: Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies.
Mon 4 October, 7 for 7.30pm
Café Scientifique: Bats and Bat Care in Cornwall with Chris and Sue Harlow of the Cornwall Bat Group.
Location: Penzance Arts Club, Chapel St.
Thurs 7 to Sun 10 October
Exeter Poetry Festival: Several poets from the University’s Creative Writing Programme are participating, including Andy Brown, Director. More details on the festival website.
Location: Exeter Central Library.
Friday 15 October 6pm
LGBT Equality Group Social: All Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Trans Gender staff and students are invited to attend this social event to find out more about the University's LGBT Equality Group and also to meet and chat to members of the Exeter Pride Committee. For more details, please contact equalityanddiversity
@exeter.ac.uk
Location: Exeter Phoenix café bar.
Monday 18 October 6.15pm
Shaping The Future Lecture: Dr Dennis Gillings, CBE, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Quintiles Transnational Corp - "How the pharmaceutical industry will rise to the global health challenges of the 21st century". Lecture will be followed by Q&A and finish at 7.30pm with refreshments and networking afterwards. Further details of the lecture series on the Business website. To register, please contact Catherine Pierce, Events Officer on 01392 725052 or email: events@exeter.ac.uk.
Location: Newman A, Peter Chalk Building.
Thursday 21 October 5.30-7pm
Open Evening: Informal drop-in session for parents/carers at on-campus childcare facility rated ‘outstanding’ by Ofsted and now open 46 weeks a year. Chance to view facilities and meet staff.
Location: University of Exeter Family Centre
Wed 3 November, 6.15pm
Shaping The Future Lecture: Professor Robert Watson, Chief Scientific Adviser for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. Lecture will be followed by Q&A and finish at 7.30pm with refreshments and networking afterwards. Further details of the lecture series on the Business website. To register, please contact Catherine Pierce, Events Officer on 01392 725052 or email: events@exeter.ac.uk.
Location: Newman A, Peter Chalk Building.
Northcott Autumn Highlights
Tues 5 to Sat 9 October, 7.30pm
Thurs 7 and Sat 9 October, 2.30pm
Twelfth Night
Filter in association with the Royal Shakespeare Company presents Shakespeare’s much-loved comedy. www.filtertheatre.com
Sun 10 October
The Bug and The Butterfly
Peut-être Theatre presents dance theatre for audiences aged four and over, inspired by the poems of Federico Garcia Lorca.
English Touring Opera presents a season of operas set to texts by famous playwrights:
Fri 29 October, 7.30pm
The Promised End
A world premiere production of a new work by Alexander Goehr based on Shakespeare’s King Lear
Sat 30 October, 7.30pm
The Duenna
A comic opera by Richard Brinsley Sheridan
Sun 31 October, 8pm
Ardal O’Hanlon
New stand-up show from star of TV’s Father Ted, My Hero and Big Bad World.
For more information and to book online, please visit the Exeter Northcott Theatre website. |
