The free magazine for The University of Manchester 5 October 2009 UniLifeIssue 1 Volume 7 Students MAP out their futures Features Letter from the President Given that my monthly UniLife pieces should probably reflect what is at the top of my own personal agenda, I will keep returning to the urgent News need for the University to give the utmost priority to Chemical improving the quality of the learning experiences Engineering gets offered to undergraduates here in Manchester. £30m boost Manchester’s performance in undergraduate page 3 education is patchy. In some Schools undergraduate students enter a supportive, intellectually rewarding learning environment enriched by frequent, meaningful interactions with teachers, both formally (in small groups) and informally, through timely, informative feedback on their work and through other forms of constructive personal engagement. Research Such Schools and programmes are exemplary. New clues in Easter But although the academic community cares deeply Island mystery about undergraduate learning, and all Schools contain individual teachers whose dedication, experience, I was struck recently by the relevance of page 7 creativity and passionate commitment to their an article that Derek Rowntree wrote about his own students are beacons of excellence, Manchester, as institution, the Open University (THE, 25 June - an institution, falls well short of what any of us 1 July 2009). should regard as satisfactory. How was it, he wondered, that a University with According to the most recent National Student Survey student:staff ratios of 150:1 could achieve a higher (NSS), Manchester is still ranked embarrassingly low in level of student satisfaction in the NSS that “any terms of overall student satisfaction. other publicly funded university in Britain”? When all the excuses have been made and all the His answer was simple and compelling. “Excellent Profile statistical shortcomings of the NSS highlighted, the course materials” were supported by “personalised fact remains that we have a problem. teaching”. Dr Roland Ennos It is not a uniquely Manchester problem, although it “Someone needs to interact personally and page 10 is magnified for us by the sheer scale of our frequently with each student, confirming or undergraduate activities. It is a problem of scale correcting their developing understanding, leading created by the emergence over half a century of them on to new insights and assuring them that they mass higher education. have a supporter who cares about their learning.” The highly inconvenient truth – already upon us - is Rowntree recognised, significantly, that these that for too many of our undergraduate students, personalised learning relationships could be the learning experiences we provide are inconsistent conducted “from telephone, e-mail and web Contents with the kind of university we want to be. contact” as well as “face-to-face sessions”. We know that the richest learning experiences are By this means, he concludes, “Each OU student [my highly interactive, personalised and purposeful. emphasis] is provided with far more written 3 News We know that they provide students with formal feedback from his or her tutor than are most and informal opportunities to engage in students on similar courses in other universities – 6 Research meaningful learning relationships with other perhaps even 50 times as much.” students and with teachers, testing ideas, 10 Profile: Dr Roland Ennos We don’t want Manchester to mimic the OU; challenging assumptions, heightening appreciation indeed, our campus-based learning community of the difference between fact and opinion, and 12 Feature: MAP to success gives us immense comparative advantages to developing skills of critical inquiry and expression as exploit. But we do need to face up to the arresting well as analysis and synthesis. 14 Feature: Distinguished fact that the OU’s students are more satisfied than Achievement Awards 2009 We understand, at least in principle, that formative ours in critical respects. assessment along the way is devalued by the In particular, we need to reconsider the balance 16 What’s On absence of accompanying feedback that is detailed, between the breadth of our curriculum (and all considered, helpful and timely. All of us who have the direct and indirect workload demands that 20 Discover the Whitworth taught very large undergraduate classes (one of 800 breadth entails) and the fundamental importance in my own case) understand the frustrations of of making sure that we have time to devote to trying to maintain interactive, personalised learning providing all our students with personal learning in the face of daunting student:staff ratios. support and feedback. We must turn such frustrations into transformational As a university we should be giving priority to creativity, for the unthinkable alternative is mediocre helping colleagues become educational undergraduate education in a country famed innovators, and to encouraging students to internationally for the quality of its graduates. become informed champions of interactive, In Manchester, the UK’s largest single campus personalised, purposeful learning. university, the results of thinking creatively will mean doing things very differently. It will demand on- going changes in undergraduate curricula. It will mean a shift from lecturing to mentoring. It will require academic teachers to learn that personal engagement with the “Facebook generation” of students may happen as meaningfully in cyberspace Front cover: Undergraduates Ashley as face-to-face. Wallis and Aaisha Akhter Professor Alan Gilbert Reflecting on the sheer importance of re- President and Vice-Chancellor personalising the undergraduate learning News Chemical engineering gets £30 million building boost Plans have been announced for a new £30 million state-of-the-art facility for the School of Chemical Engineering and Analytical Science. The proposed five-storey building will accommodate research facilities and teaching laboratories for post graduates and undergraduates, as well as enquiry based learning facilities (EBL) and academic offices. The construction, measuring around 11,500 square metres is set to take place in two phases. Work is scheduled to start on a £11.5 million initial phase in May 2010, to be completed by Summer 2011, followed by an £18.5 million second phase. The building, which will house a sophisticated industrial pilot plant, is part of the University’s overall £650 million construction programme – considered to be the biggest ever carried out within the UK Higher Education sector. The new structure will stand on the corner of Booth Street East and Upper Brook Street – just a short distance south of the site where the School of Chemical Engineering and Analytical Science is currently located. It is planned that the current pilot plant and teaching laboratories will relocate first, followed by group of elite Chemical Engineering departments complex systems – particularly industrial, biological, the remainder of the School. within the UK. and instrumentation – and apply chemical engineering in a 21st century context. The new building will accommodate 70 academic “Our success capitalises on the synergies and professional services staff. between chemical engineering and bioscience, “We are delighted to be embarking on a journey Professor Mike Sutcliffe, Head of the School of chemistry, mathematics, and analytical and – underpinned by an excellent RAE result – that Chemical Engineering and Analytical Science (CEAS) measurement science. will provide the fit for purpose facilities required for outstanding chemical engineering research said: “The recent Research Assessment Exercise “Our broad research base enables us to study the and education.” (RAE) confirmed our position as one of a small design, operation and integration of different Project aims to adapt cities to climate change A project which aims to protect Greater Manchester against the impacts of global warming was launched in the summer by The University of Manchester. The Eco Cities Project has transpired due to a partnership between the University and office provider Bruntwood and will provide a blueprint of how Manchester can successfully adapt to climate change. A joint commitment has been signed by the University and Manchester City Council promising From left: President and Vice-Chancellor Professor Alan Gilbert; Micahel Oglesby; Sir Richard Leese, to find ways for urban areas to change. Manchester City Council Professor Simon Guy, Eco Cities Director, said: "Climate change is one of the greatest challenges of the 21st century and, as home to over half the “I am delighted to support the Eco Cities Eco Cities will explore how to modify the City to world's population, our cities and towns must be initiative, which embodies the shared objectives use trees, parks and green roofs to intercept and prepared to adapt. of The University of Manchester, Manchester store rain to avoid flooding, heat stress and ground City Council and our funders Bruntwood instability which will be caused unavoidably by "Eco Cities is an international initiative that and The Oglesby Charitable Trust, to develop global warming. recognises the need for local adaptation a robust response to the impacts of Excitement surrounding the project was expressed responses to climate change impacts. Work in climate change.” Manchester will provide a living laboratory to test by everyone at the launch as it could prove to be adaptation methods and develop transferable