Population Time Bomb Threatens Education
The Great Bustards Have Landed
Stirling Students Head to the Olympics
University Marks 10th Anniversary of Director's Death
Sportscotland Serves up Ace Grant for Stirling
Are Trade Unions Agents for Social Change?
It Pays Others to Give as you Earn
Stirling's New Approach to PE Teaching
New Science Academic Fellowship
Scotland’s First International Film Festival for Children and Young People
Population Time Bomb Threatens Education
Date released:
Tuesday 3 August 2004
The future of many Scottish schools, colleges and universities will
be under threat if the Scottish Executive does nothing about population
decline, a leading education expert has warned.
Professor John Field, Director of the University of Stirling’s
Division of Academic Innovation and Continuing Education, said:
“Scotland’s population time bomb is ticking away in
the corner of the classroom. It is quite obvious that if there are
fewer young Scots, then fewer will be entering schools, colleges
and universities, and fewer will be coming out with the skills and
qualifications that the country needs. This is an entirely predictable
change because we are talking about very clear population trends
that are already well established, yet if we fail to plan and act
now, the results will be quite explosive.”
The number of 17-year-olds, the age at which most young Scots enter
Higher or Further Education, is predicted to fall by over a tenth
in the next ten years and by a quarter in the next twenty years.
“Assuming that one half of all 17-year-olds enter Higher Education,
the fall over the next twenty years will be around 8,500 Scottish
students or the equivalent of the undergraduate population at Paisley
or Aberdeen. Universities and colleges will find themselves having
to compete with employers to attract able school-leavers,”
said Professor Field. “High schools and primary schools will
of course also be affected by closures or mergers as the number
of young people drops.”
Professor Field is urging the Scottish Executive to review its policies
for Further and Higher education, in particular its commitment to
50 per cent participation.
“We must develop lifelong learning strategies to make the
most of the skills and talents of our existing population and, in
order to free up enough young people to meet the needs of the labour
market, much more Further and Higher Education will have to be taken
part-time in combination with work and family commitments,”
said Professor Field. “Scotland’s universities and colleges
will also have to do their bit to attract talent to Scotland, whether
from overseas or from the expatriate community.”
Lesley Pollock
Media Relations Manager
(01786) 467058
For further information:
| contact us
> > > |
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|---|---|
Professor John Field University of Stirling Stirling FK9 4LA UK |
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Tel: + 44 (0) 1786 467946 or 07818 046827 |
The Great Bustards Have Landed
Date released:
Tuesday 3 August 2004
Europe’s heaviest flying bird returned to Britain last night,
nearly 175 years after it died out.
Conservationists hoping to re-introduce the Great Bustard to the
UK flew into London Heathrow yesterday with 30 chicks, having overcome
weeks of difficulties with Russian bureaucracy.
After being checked over, the chicks were taken to Salisbury Plain
in Wiltshire - the bird’s former stronghold - where they will
be reared in confinement before being released into the wild.
The trial re-introduction project, initiated by the Great Bustard
Group and the University of Stirling, aims to create a sustainable
population of Great Bustards over the next ten years.
Scientific advisor to the Great Bustard Group, Dr Patrick Osborne
of Stirling University said:
“Bringing this bird back is a great challenge to ornithologists.
It’s a large, spectacular, beautiful bird - a real flagship
species for grassland conservation. However the survival rate for
Great Bustard chicks in the wild is not great - 75 percent of them
may die in the first year.”
Previous conservation projects in Russia have failed because the
chicks were bred in contact with humans and were not able to survive
when let out into the wild.
To improve the UK project’s chances of success, Dr Osborne
has helped the Group develop specialist isolation-rearing techniques
for Great Bustards. The chicks have been reared in Russia without
regular human contact and taught to feed as if in the wild. People
who have had contact with them have been disguised by special costumes
to prevent imprinting and the birds have been taught to feed using
a glove puppet with an artificial bill. In Britain, the chicks will
undergo predator awareness by exposing them to potential predators
in controlled conditions.
In the autumn, the birds that pass health checks and behave normally
will be released onto Salisbury Plain when the British public will
be able to view them for the first time since 1830.
Lesley Pollock
Media Relations Manager
(01786) 467058
For further information:
| contact us
> > > |
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|---|---|
Dr Patrick Osborne University of Stirling Stirling FK9 4LA UK |
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| Tel: + 44 (0) 1786 467058 |
| or > >
> |
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|---|---|
David Waters Great Bustard Group |
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| Tel: + 44 (0) 1722 710779 |
Stirling Students Head to the Olympics
Date
released: Thursday 12 August 2004
Five students from the University of Stirling travelled to Athens
this week to compete in this year’s Olympics.
- Todd Cooper (22), a Film and Media Studies
student, smashed the GB 100m butterfly record to make it into
the GB swimming squad. Todd has major games experience having
competed for Scotland at the 2002 Commonwealth Games and for Great
Britain in 2003 at the European Championships and at the World
Student Games.
Schedule
Thursday 19 August 2004 - Men's 100m Butterfly Heats
Saturday 21 August 2004 - Men's 4 x 100m Medley Relay Heats
- David O’Brien (21), an Economics student, will compete in the GB Olympic 4 x 200m relay swimming team. He has already competed at a major event in Athens at the 2000 World Junior Short-Course Championships.
Schedule
Tuesday 17 August 2004 - Men's 4 x 200m Freestyle Relay Heats
- Nick Neckles (24), an Economics student, will
swim for Barbados. He has broken 2 Caribbean records already this
year in the 100m and 200m backstroke.
Schedule
Saturday 14 August 2004 - Men's 100m Backstroke Heats
Wednesday 18 August 2004 - Men's 200m Backstroke Heats
- Mhairi Love (23), a Psychology student, has
been selected for the GB Paralympic team and will compete in a
number of freestyle events. She is currently ranked Number 1 in
the world for 400m and Number 2 in the world for 100m and will
be in contention for medals at this year's Games.
Schedule
Monday 20 September 2004 - Women's 100m Freestyle Heats
Sunday 26 September 2004 - Women's 400m Freestyle Heats
Monday 27 September 2004 - Women's 50m Freestyle Heats
- Graham Moodie (23), a History student, has
been selected for the GB Olympic Hockey Squad. Graham has spent
the past year in Australia, taking up the opportunity offered
to him via a University Sports Scholarship to defer his studies,
in preparation for the Athens Olympics. Graham has developed from
being a Scottish junior internationalist, with European Junior
Championship experience, to captaining the GB men's hockey team
during a tour of Thailand in early 2004.
Schedule
Sunday 15 August 2004 - Men's Preliminaries Pool A: GB v Egypt
Tuesday 17 August 2004 - Men's Preliminaries Pool A: Korea v GB
Thursday 19 August 2004 - Men's Preliminaries Pool A: GB v Spain
Saturday 21 August 2004 - Men's Preliminaries Pool A: Germany v GB
Monday 23 August 2004 - Men's Preliminaries Pool A: Pakistan v GB
The University’s
Sports Performance Manager, Raleigh Gowrie said:
“The University of Stirling is pleased to have helped these
students fulfil their dreams of competing at the highest level in
sport and wishes them the very best of luck in their respective
events.”
The University of Stirling is renowned for assisting talented student
athletes in combining high performance sport with higher education.
Lesley Pollock
Media Relations Manager
For further information:
| contact us
> > > |
|
|---|---|
Raleigh Gowrie University of Stirling Stirling FK9 4LA UK |
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| Tel: + 44 (0) 1786 466906 | |
| Tel: 07740500140 |
The Economics of Defence
Date released:
Wednesday 18 August 2004
Before 1914 Britain led the world in naval technology and shipbuilding,
but by the 1960s had become dependent on America for her nuclear
deterrent. This meant that those in power had to constantly adapt
to rapid changes in weapons systems in order to try to provide the
best possible national defence.
Professor George Peden of the University of Stirling has been awarded
an Arts and Humanities Research Board (AHRB) grant of £14,013
to explore how this was achieved during a period that also saw relative
economic decline.
“My study will combine the history of strategy with the history
of economics,” said Professor Peden. “The Government
ministers making these decisions would have had little technical
expertise in military matters, so they had to base their policies
on a variety of competing interests. I will explore how factors
such as technology, economics and military strategy affected their
decisions.”
The completed book will be one of the few to combine the fields
of strategy and economics and will shed new light on some of the
complexities of military history and its relation to international
politics.
Lesley Pollock
Media Relations Manager
(01786) 467058
For further information:
| contact us
> > > |
|
|---|---|
Professor George Peden University of Stirling Stirling FK9 4LA UK |
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| Tel: + 44 (0) 1786 467960 |
University Marks 10th Anniversary of Director's Death
Date released:
Wednesday 18 August 2004
The University of Stirling has teamed up with the Edinburgh International
Film Festival to mark the 10th anniversary of the death of Lindsay
Anderson.
The University will display rare and previously unseen material
from its Lindsay Anderson Collection in Edinburgh during the festival.
An exhibition of photographs, which span Anderson’s long filmmaking
career and show the director at work behind the camera, will be
displayed in the bar of the Cameo Cinema for the duration of the
film festival (18 - 29 August 2004).
On Saturday 21 and Sunday 22 August the film festival will screen
two of Anderson’s films, O Lucky Man! and The Whales of August,
and present a panel discussion about his life and work in the Filmhouse.
Prior to these events a selection of unique, previously unseen images
will be screened in the cinema as filmgoers take their seats.
To coincide with the film festival BBC 2 Scotland will be screening
a documentary on Lindsay Anderson as part of their Artworks series
at 7.30 pm on Sunday 22 August. The programme uses extracts from
Anderson’s diaries and photographs from the collection and
also includes interviews with friends and colleagues of Anderson
including Malcolm McDowell, Brian Cox, Brian Pettifer, Helen Mirren,
Gavin Lambert and Martin Scorcese.
Anderson Collection Project Archivist Karl Magee said: “The
Collection provides a unique insight into the life and career of
one of the most distinctive voices of British Cinema. As well as
personal and working papers, the University holds the diaries, photographs,
memorabilia and personal library of Anderson.”
The Collection is currently being catalogued and will be made available
to researchers later this year.
Lesley Pollock
Media Relations Manager
(01786) 467058
For further information:
| contact us
> > > |
|
|---|---|
Karl Magee Project Archivist University of Stirling Stirling FK9 4LA UK |
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| Tel: + 44 (0) 1786 466619 | |
| Email: karl.magee@stir.ac.uk |
Sportscotland Serves up Ace Grant for Stirling
Date released:
Wednesday 18 August 2004
The University of Stirling has been awarded £500,000 by the
Sportscotland Lottery Fund towards the development of a National
Training Centre for Tennis.
Based at the Gannochy Tennis Centre, the new facilities will include
two indoor acrylic and two outdoor clay courts to complement the
four existing indoor courts, as well as office space for performance
staff.
The project represents a successful outcome to several years of
hard work with partners from the University of Stirling, Tennis
Scotland and the Lawn Tennis Association and will provide a focal
point for performance training in Scotland by becoming the base
from which top class training programmes for players as well as
new performance coaches will be delivered.
Head of Sports Studies, Professor Grant Jarvie said: “It is
crucial for Scotland, British Sport and Higher Education that Scottish
universities are able to keep up to pace with the very best sporting
provision in English universities. Higher Education has a crucial
part to play in the delivery of and provision of sport in the UK.
Through the International Sports Scholarship Scheme and the Gannochy
National Tennis Centre Stirling University has been both a supporter
of and investor in Tennis for more than 20 years.
“This announcement and funding is a fantastic outcome and
all the partners are to be congratulated for staying the course.
The development of the National Tennis Centre at the University
of Stirling will help to consolidate Stirling’s growing reputation
as the natural Loughborough of the North.”
Lesley Pollock
Media Relations Manager
(01786) 467058
For further information:
| contact us
> > > |
|
|---|---|
Professor Grant Jarvie University of Stirling Stirling FK9 4LA UK |
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| Tel: + 44 (0) 1786 466490 |
Landscapes of the Mines
Date released:
Thursday 19 August 2004
Forth Naturalist and Historian’s 30th annual Man and the Landscape
Symposium will be held on Saturday 13 November at the University
of Stirling.
The theme of this year’s conference - Landscapes of the Mines
- addresses the rise and fall of coal mining and its impact on the
landscapes of Central Scotland. The event is being held in collaboration
with the Scottish Industrial Heritage Society.
A programme of six lectures will follow the formation of coal deposits
and mining in the industrial age to the industry’s later decline
and legacy in the landscapes of today. Recent developments in open-cast
mining and in environmental restoration will also be discussed.
In addition, the 27th volume of the Forth Naturalist and Historian
Journal will be launched.
There will also be a special display featuring paintings by Morag
Knight, a local artist who has recorded the impact and progress
of mining on the landscape, as well as exhibits on mining disasters
and open-cast mining.
Booking enquiries should be directed to Marilyn Scott, tel: 01786
467269 or e-mail: mbn1@stir.ac.uk A detailed programme will be available
shortly.
Lesley Pollock
Media Relations Manager
(01786) 467058
Student Follows Safari Dream
Date
released: Monday 23 August 2004
Student Sam Brownlee is on his way to fulfilling his dream of working
with endangered animals thanks to the support of the University
of Stirling.
The 33-year-old from Dollar near Stirling has recently completed
the University’s part-time year long Access Programme, designed
to prepare mature students for university study. He will begin an
Honours degree programme in Conservation Science this September.
During the past year, Sam, who did not have the traditional Higher
or A-level entrance qualifications for University, has completed
six different units to give him the academic credit required to
study for a degree.
Sam said: “I left school at 16 without any Highers and went
straight into the army, I never gave my education a second thought.
After six years in the army and eight years as a civil servant,
I found myself without a specific trade and felt like I was frittering
my life away. My dream was to work with endangered animals and that
dream is now becoming a reality.”
After hearing about a friend who had gone back to school to gain
the qualifications to go to University, Sam was spurred on to find
out what his local University had to offer. He began the Access
Programme last September.
“It has been difficult to be disciplined and turn down going
out with my mates to attend classes, write essays or study for exams,
but I know my efforts will pay off in the end,” said Sam.
Sam is currently working with rhinos and giraffes at Blair Drummond
Safari Park to support his studies. He has no regrets at leaving
University till later on in life.
“As a mature student I feel I have a lot more to offer than
if I’d gone to University aged 17, it wouldn’t have
been right for me then. My work and life experiences will definitely
enhance the benefit of my degree.”
The University of Stirling welcomes enquiries from anybody interested
in studying at University whatever their age or whether they have
qualifications or not. Please contact the Division of Academic Innovation
and Continuing Education (DAICE) enquiry line on 01786 467940 for
further information.
Lesley Pollock
Media Relations Manager
(01786) 467058
For further information:
| contact us
> > > |
|
|---|---|
Kevin Brosnan |
|
| Tel: + 44 (0) 1786 466143 | |
| or |
Sam Brownlee |
|
| Tel: + 44 (0) 1786 194711 |
Are Trade Unions Agents for Social Change?
Date released:
Wednesday 25 August 2004
The role that trade unions play in social change will be addressed
by University of Stirling industrial relations expert, Dr Gregor
Gall and Colin Fox MSP at an Edinburgh Festival Fringe lecture tomorrow
(Thursday).
Both speakers will argue that if unions are to thrive they need
to adapt to become a wider social movement for justice, dignity
and respect in the workplace and in society.
Dr Gall said: “This would mean that unions move away from
their primary and direct concentration on the workplace as the focus
of their organising work. Instead, by using community networks and
other social movements, unions could reach into many previously
unorganised workplaces in order to build up a presence there.”
Dr Gall added: “'It would also mean unions taking a more independent
position from any government and building up their industrial and
extra-parliamentary strength in order to be able to leverage out
of any political party which is in office the policies to protect
union members' interests.”
The lecture will take place on Thursday 26 August at 7.00pm in the
Roxy Art House, 2 Roxburgh Place, Edinburgh (Venue 115) and is organised
by Wordpower Books.
Lesley Pollock
Media Relations Manager
(01786) 467058
For further information:
| contact us
> > > |
|
|---|---|
Dr Gregor Gall University of Stirling Stirling FK9 4LA UK |
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| Tel: + 44 (0) 131 556 5064 |
It Pays Others to Give as You Earn
Date released:
Thursday 26 August 2004
The University of Stirling’s Give As You Earn (GAYE) charitable
giving scheme has distributed £19,950 to forty-three good
causes this year.
Beneficiaries include local and national charities such as the Children’s
Hospice Association Scotland, Bannockburn Riding for the Disabled
Association (RDA), Stirling Women’s Aid and Home Start Stirling.
Assistant Manager of Bannockburn RDA, Helen Kallow said: “It
costs us in the region of £70,000 per year to operate, so
we are very grateful for donations from individuals and groups.
We offer riding and driving sessions for over 120 children and adults
with special needs a week. For many of our clients this is the highlight
of their week. The educational, emotional, social and physical benefits
derived from contact with horses make it a very worthwhile activity.”
The scheme has also donated to Riders for Health, a charity whose
aim is to bring vital healthcare to people living in impoverished
communities across rural Africa.
Fundraiser for Riders, Liz Fredericks said: “In Zimbabwe support
such as this means that community health workers are now reaching
people living in villages normally isolated by poverty, distance
and harsh conditions. As a result, deaths due to Malaria and other
disease are being reduced by up to 20 per cent.”
GAYE raises money from regular, voluntary salary deductions.
Lesley Pollock
Media Relations Manager
(01786) 467058
For further information:
| contact us
> > > |
|
|---|---|
Dr Mary Taylor University of Stirling Stirling FK9 4LA UK |
|
Tel: + 44 (0) 1786 467722 |
Stirling's New Approach to PE Teaching
Date released:
Thursday 26 August 2004
The University of Stirling will launch a new Physical Education
degree in September 2005 for students who aspire to be a positive
influence on the lives of young people. The joint honours programme
combines academic study in Sport Studies and Education with vocational
training as a teacher.
The course will help the Scottish Executive combat Scotland’s
poor record for health and participation in physical activity by
producing graduates who are able to foster wider participation and
inclusion in schools.
Lecturer in Physical Education, Dr Will Kay said: “In June
2004, the Executive’s Physical Education Review Group recommended
the introduction of activity co-ordinators for every school and
set a target of 400 additional physical education teachers. By completing
the four-year concurrent degree at Stirling, students will be qualified
to teach physical education in both primary and high schools. They
will be ideally placed to meet the objectives of Scottish Executive
to make a positive difference to the lives of young people in Scotland.”
The programme combines the existing successful tradition of concurrent
teacher education with the excellent reputation of the Sports Studies
programme at Stirling. For further information log onto: <http://www.ioe.stir.ac.uk/ITE/Index.htm>
Lesley Pollock
Media Relations Manager
(01786) 467058
For further information:
| contact us
> > > |
|
|---|---|
Dr Will Kay University of Stirling Stirling FK9 4LA UK |
|
| Tel: + 44 (0) 1786 467634 |
New Science Academic Fellowship
Date released:
Tuesday 31 August 2004
The University of Stirling has won £125,000 from Research
Councils UK (RCUK) to fund an academic fellowship within its School
of Biological and Environmental Sciences.
The grant will provide a contract post-doctoral researcher in geoarchaeology
– the scientific study of soils that retain relict or fossil
properties of early human activity – with a stable path into
academia. The fellow will receive comprehensive research training,
will engage in outreach work in schools and will be guaranteed a
lectureship post at the end of the five-year fellowship.
Professor Ian Simpson said: “This prestigious award recognises
the University’s international standing in the fields of geoarchaeology
and environmental history. The new fellow will be an important member
of a strong research group where recent research projects have offered
new insights into how land was used and organised by early societies”.
A key focus of the School’s work over the past fifteen years
has been the creation of new geoarchaeologies for the North Atlantic
region. To complement this research it is anticipated that the fellow
will pioneer a new regional geoarchaeology for Sahelian (semi-arid)
Africa, which will provide a historical depth to current challenging
environmental issues.
Lesley Pollock
Media Relations Manager
(01786) 467058
For further information:
| contact us
> > > |
|
|---|---|
Ian Simpson University of Stirling Stirling FK9 4LA UK |
|
Tel: + 44 (0) 1786 467850 |
Scotland’s First International Film Festival for Children and Young People
Date released:
Tuesday 31 August 2004
DISCOVERY, Scotland’s First International Film Festival for
Children and Young People, will be launched at macrobert,
University of Stirling on Saturday 4 September by Billy
Boyd. The acclaimed Scottish actor, who appeared most recently
in Lord of the Rings, is patron of the festival.
The opening launch with Billy and macrobert’s
young consultants will commence at 10.30am with a celebration of
films made by young people followed by the film voted by local children
as their favourite movie.
The Festival, which runs from 4 – 19 September, will be based
in Dundee Contemporary Arts, Dundee and macrobert
before touring to venues around Scotland. A unique event, it will
showcase the very best of national and international film for and
by children and young people, and feature gala events, public and
school screenings, special guest appearances, workshops and discussions.
The festival will also hold a major day-long forum for film in education
at macrobert on Friday 17 September. Inspire – 21st Century
Literacies – Creativity and Ambition will consider the role
of moving image media education in the Scottish Curriculum. Internationally
acclaimed writer and film director Anthony Minghella will deliver
the keynote speech for the day.
Lesley Pollock
Media Relations Manager
(01786) 467058
For further information:
| contact
us > > > |
|
|---|---|
Lisa Campbell Senior Marketing Officer |
|
| Tel: + 44 (0) 1786 467161 | |
| Email: lisa.campbell@stir.ac.uk | |
| Web: discoveryfilmfestival.com |