Campus News
Starting a new chapter with the Nottingham Reading Programme
September 20th, 2016
This year, the University is giving all new students the opportunity to pick up a free copy of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, by Douglas Adams.
The books are special editions customised especially for the Nottingham Reading Programme, which aims to give students something to talk about in their first weeks at university. Undergraduate students based in catered and self-catered halls will receive the books in their accommodation. New undergraduates based in private accommodation and postgraduates will have the opportunity to pick up a copy in libraries.
The Nottingham Reading Programme aims to give students a conversational ice-breaker as they settle into a new place, encourage reading for pleasure and ultimately build a sense of community among new students by providing a shared experience. Later on in the term, reading groups will be set up to bring students together to discuss The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. The programme is supported by Impact: the Nottingham Campaign and was launched in 2015, when new students received copies of The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald.
Find out why the University is running the programme once more in the video below.
You can also watch a video from Amy and Laura, two of the University’s student video bloggers, to see what they thought of the book.
Find out more about the Nottingham Reading Programme on our website.
Tags: Blackwell's, book, Impact, Impact: The Nottingham Campaign, Libraries, Nottingham Reading Programme, reading, science fiction
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Student from the University of Nottingham recognised by “Junior Nobel Prize”
September 20th, 2016
The Undergraduate Awards (UA) has announced the winners of the 2016 programme, including the Highly Commended Entrant from the University of Nottingham, Kathryn Harris.
Cited as the ultimate champion of high-potential undergraduates, and often referred to as a “Junior Nobel Prize”, The Undergraduate Awards is the world’s largest international academic awards programme, recognising excellent research and original work across the sciences, humanities, business and creative arts.
The Undergraduate Awards received a record number of submission in the 2016 programme, totalling a massive 5,514 papers from undergraduates in 244 institutions and 121 nationalities. Highly Commended Entrants are those who were ranked in the top 10% of submissions in each category.
Congratulations to the Highly Commended Entrant from the University of Nottingham, Kathryn Harris in the Languages & Linguistics category.
Speaking about this year’s Winners and Highly Commended Entrants, CEO of The Undergraduate Awards Louise Hodgson said “This is a huge achievement for the University of Nottingham and its student. UA received the highest number of submissions to date with only the best papers making it through the judging process – the competition was extremely tough and the Judges were astounded at the high quality of undergraduate research in the programme this year. Congratulations to this year’s successful entrants”.
Highly Commended Entrants are now invited to meet their fellow awardees at the annual UA Global Summit, taking place in Dublin, Ireland on November 8th-11th. The attendees will be addressed by the likes of NASA Astronaut Dr. Mae Jemison, Shiza Shahid of the Malala Fund, MacArthur Fellow Kyle Abrahams, among many more speakers and facilitators.
Tags: highly commended entrant, junior nobel prize, undergraduate awards
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Explore National Student Survey results with new tool
September 20th, 2016
A new National Student Survey (NSS) Results Explorer is now available, allowing staff to analyse and understand feedback from our students at University, school and subject levels.
The NSS is an annual survey across all publicly funded Higher Education Institutions in the UK which asks final-year students their views on a range of questions relating to their university experience. It is a useful way for us to understand what our students value and how we can ensure that they have an outstanding university experience. It is also a significant component in determining overall position in the UK league tables.
As a result of the efforts of colleagues across the University, the NSS 2016 results are our best to date and the strongest year-on-year improvement since the NSS began. Most notably:
- We achieved our highest ever level of ‘overall satisfaction’ of 89%, and 24 subjects scored 90% or above.
- The corresponding score for overall satisfaction (question 22) was 4.29 – again the highest Nottingham has achieved and which exceeds the University’s Strategy 2020 target of 4.28.
- Our average score across all questions was also our highest at 4.16, placing Nottingham at 9th within the Russell Group (as compared to 17th in 2015).
There are, however, areas where we can improve further and doing so is central to the University’s overall strategy and priorities.
How the NSS Results Explorer can help you
The NSS Results Explorer is an important tool which will allow you to see and delve into NSS results at University, school and subject level, for the last five years, down to the individual questions. You can also see results for any subject at any other university, to understand better NSS performance in a competitive context. The Explorer also includes all open comments, which are now searchable.
This is the second year this tool has been provided, and this year’s has many improvements and new features based on feedback on last year’s version and dialogue with colleagues, including:
- For any school or subject, select a custom set of competitors to compare results with.
- For any school or subject, compare results at question level against competitors.
- See the five-year trend for any school or subject, as scores and as % agree.
- A portal page – so you jump directly to any analysis.
Downloading the NSS Results Explorer
You can get the NSS Results Explorer from the ‘SPP Tableau Catalogue’ in the Strategy Support Centre.
A Tableau Reader is available via UoN Applications. You can find it by searching for ‘Tableau’ in the Windows Start menu on your PC desktop. A Free Tableau Reader page download link is also provided in the Strategy Support Centre.
Further support
The NSS Results Explorer is provided by Strategy, Planning and Performance (SPP). SPP welcome feedback on the features available, usability or anything else you think might improve it.
If you have questions about any substantive aspects of the NSS Results or the NSS Results Explorer, please contact SPP directly; if you have questions or issues about installing the free Tableau Reader, contact the IT Service Desk.
Tags: Global Strategy 2020, league table, league tables, National Student Survey, NSS, staff, Strategy Planning and Performance
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Summer developments across the University
September 20th, 2016
Over the summer, a number of developments and refurbishments took place across the University of Nottingham, with the majority now completed and ready for the start of term.
The new David Ross Sports Village
Opening in Autumn 2016, the new £40m David Ross Sports Village will create an outstanding, inspirational and accessible sports infrastructure for all. The state-of-the-art centre offers a huge range of facilities for all including a 200-station fitness suite, martial arts dojo, archery salle and sprint track. As well as supporting our elite athletes to perform at the highest level, it will also allow us to offer even more opportunities for everyone on campus to enjoy staying active.
You can sign up for your sports and fitness membership now for only £189 (until 9 October) which allows access to the David Ross Sports Village as well as our facilities at both Jubilee and Sutton Bonington campuses.
Developments to Portland Building
Many redevelopments have been taking place at the Portland Building to improve the student experience and provide a 24/7 communal space to relax, socialise, study and engage.
These improvements include the refurbishment of Mooch, the creation of an outdoor terrace area and the installation of a large outdoor television screen facing Portland Hill.
George Green Library
Most of the stock moves in George Green Library have now been completed and we are focusing on getting the new study areas ready for the start of term.
There is a fantastic choice of open areas for both group and silent study, as well as 12 group study rooms and 20 bookable individual study rooms. A silent study area on F floor is reserved for postgraduates and academic staff, there are four language labs and we are also preparing an assistive technology room to complement those in Hallward Library and the Djanogly Learning Resource Centre.
We are hoping to have most of the building open for week one but there are likely to be delays in some areas on level A following recovery work from the flood in June.
The GSK Carbon Neutral Laboratory
The GSK Carbon Neutral Laboratory for Sustainable Chemistry (CNL) has completed on Jubilee Campus.
The impressive building, which sits on Triumph Road, aims to have a zero carbon footprint over the first 25 years of its existence. The state-of-the-art laboratories, will house up to 150 co-workers once fully occupied, and is mainly constructed from renewable materials, most notably engineered timber.
Professor Peter Licence, Director of the CNL, said: “We are delighted that the CNL is now open for business. The building offers highly efficient laboratory facilities that are almost entirely powered by renewable energy, providing an environment that offers world-class facilities with as small a carbon footprint as is possible.”
Tags: David Ross Sports Village, George Green Library, GSK Carbon Neutral Laboratory for Sustainable Chemistry, Portland Building
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Increased traffic on University Park
September 20th, 2016
This weekend, there will be increased congestion on University Park as students return to the University of Nottingham.
On Friday 23 September, Broadgate Park (BGP) will be welcoming students back. To facilitate this we are opening the grassed area between Cut Though Lane and Jubilee Avenue. This will mean increased traffic during the day on the East side of Trent Building and on the West Entrance entry and exit to the Campus. This will be managed by Staff from BGP and University Security staff but may lead to some delays around the West Entrance.
On Saturday 24 September, BGP and the University Catered Hall will be receiving students back into Hall. This will mean increased traffic at the West and North Entrances on both the entry and exits as well as the East side of Trent Building.
Security Staff will be deployed along Beeston Lane and around the Halls to manage the traffic flow and also the parking.
Tags: bgp, Broadgate Park, University Park
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Nottingham students face lowest crime levels in the East Midlands
September 19th, 2016
The University of Nottingham is the safest place to study in the East Midlands, according to new data released today by TheCompleteUniversityGuide.co.uk.
Students at The University of Nottingham face the lowest crime levels in the East Midlands, ahead of neighbour universities Bishop Grosseteste University, Loughborough University, Nottingham Trent University and more. The results also show rates for crime at individual campuses rather than one result per each university – Nottingham accounts for six of the nine campuses with the lowest East Midlands crime level.
Melanie Futer, Off-Campus Student Affairs Manager, said: “We are delighted with these results, which reflect our continued commitment to work closely with Nottinghamshire Police to keep our students safe as they live and study in our city. The University runs a number of campaigns each year to raise awareness of the steps students can take to look after themselves and their possessions, and it is great to see that crime levels affecting our students are the lowest in the region.”
Compiled from official police data, TheCompleteUniversityGuide.co.uk ranking gives the most authoritative picture possible of the crime rates for the most common offences affecting students at almost 130 universities and other higher education institutions in England and Wales.
Universities are ranked on the cumulative rate of three offences – burglary, robbery and violence and sexual crimes – occurring over 12 months in areas where students live in term-time. While these offences are the three which most affect students, the figures themselves are based on all victims in the locality, not just students.
For 2016, TheCompleteUniversityGuide.co.uk revised its methodology so that comparisons with earlier years are not significant. They no longer relate to areas within three miles of the designated main campus, but are instead derived from the term-time addresses given by students themselves.
For more information about the rankings, visit TheCompleteUniversityGuide.co.uk. You can also find out more about The University of Nottingham in the community by visiting the Off-Campus Affairs website, and following the team on Twitter and reading their blog.
Tags: community, Complete University Guide, crime, league table, Off-Campus Affairs, police, ranking, safety, student
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EEA/EU Staff Immigration Advice Seminar
September 16th, 2016
Places are still available on the EEA/EU Staff Immigration Advice Seminar on Thursday 22 September, 9.30-10.30am at Keighton Auditorium, University Park.
There is also a further opportunity to sign up for follow up workshops to be held later the same day. For further information and to book a place please visit the HR EU Referendum webpage.
If you have any questions or would like to register your interest for future dates please email hr@nottingham.ac.uk
Tags: EU referendum, Europe, HR, human resources, international, seminar, short courses, staff, workshop
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Participate in an online research study
September 15th, 2016
University of the West of England (UWE) are conducting a research study exploring academics’ experiences and perceived role in working with students with mental health problems, and would like to invite academics to participate in an online survey.
In recent years, there has been increasing awareness of mental health problems amongst university students, however, there is little research into academics’ perspectives of mental health issues amongst their students.
The survey will be anonymous and will take 15-20 minutes to complete and can be accessed here. Full details of the research are available here.
If you have any questions or concerns about the study, please don’t hesitate to contact Dr Sara Spear and Dr Yvette Morey (Faculty of Business & Law, University of the West of England) at sara.spear@uwe.ac.uk or 0117 3287658.
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Chilean partnership will bring University of Nottingham research to Latin America
September 15th, 2016
A new organisation will see greater research collaboration between The University of Nottingham and Chile.
The University of Nottingham Chile Fundacion represents a major advance in the University’s engagement in both Chile and the Latin American region and gives a legal status to research carried out in the country. It will also enable the University to play a more active role in the country’s research and knowledge transfer activities.
The opening of the Fundacion marks the culmination of a process that began several years ago, spearheaded by members of Nottingham’s Power, Electronics, Machines and Control (PEMC) research group and the Faculty of Engineering’s then director for internationalization, Professor Greg Asher. Leading Chilean researchers are already working with PEMC to deliver a number of dual degree programmes at MSc and PhD level.
Professor Pat Wheeler, the Fundacion’s first Executive Director, said: “This represents a landmark moment in our relations with Chile, which stretch back over 25 years.”
The University of Nottingham is already one of Britain’s most active universities in Chile, boasting on-going collaborations with over a dozen Chilean universities and research institutions, across an increasingly wide range of disciplinary areas.
Tags: Chile, latin america, research collaboration, the university of nottingham chile fundacion
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