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Day: 16 February 2012

After the quake

When the earthquake tore through Tohoku in March last year, I was in a bar in Osaka drinking with friends. One of them, Japanese, read out a message on his iPhone. There had been an earthquake fairly close to Tokyo. Japan being a country prone to frequent minor seismic activity, none of us were too concerned, and continued to drink sake and eat yakitori in blissful ignorance. The next day, news of the Tsunami reached Kansai, and the full extent of the damage became clearer.

At Kyoto University library, students were glued to their screens as they watched entire towns in Iwate prefecture being obliterated by tidal waves. NHK, Japan’s main news channel, was showing footage of cars being washed down the street, only interrupting its coverage of the disaster to allow a strained-looking Naoto Kan, then Prime Minister, to mumble a few strained-sounding words of reassurance.

Manchester student Michael Harris, who was in Tsukuba University in Ibaraki, describes his experience.

“During the first major quake I was in the lab. I thought that it would just pass since we had small ones at least once or twice a month, and we used to get them a lot when I was living in Kobe. However, it just got stronger and stronger, and all the lights in the room started falling and exploding. It was completely pitch black, and I hid under the lab bench. I genuinely thought at that point that the growth chamber was going to collapse and I would be stuck in there. I didn’t sleep for about 3 days because of all the aftershocks.”

2011 for Japan was a year of crisis. Japan suffered an earthquake reaching an astonishing 9.0 on the Richter Scale, followed by a tsunami, and an ongoing battle to restore control at Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant. The incident reinforced the anti nuclear sentiment within Japan and in Western countries. A poll by the Japanese paper Asahi Shinbun found that by June last year, of 1, 980 Japanese asked, 74 percent were in favour of a total decommissioning of Japan’s 54 nuclear reactors.

Within Europe, Germany’s coalition government has also pledged to end German dependency on power plants by 2022, an extreme measure that many see as a direct response to the Great Tohoku Earthquake. At present, the World Bank estimates the cost of reconstructing Japan at somewhere between £75bn and £145bn, and the death toll is thought to exceed 15,000.

But, despite the scale of human tragedy and the world of Tokyo Electric and its murky accountability, there are people working hard in the reconstruction effort. Yuichi Tomita, a Japanese language tutor at the University of Manchester, is one of those involved. “Voices From Japan” is an educational project established by former staff members of Fukushima University.

“The main purpose of the project is to produce educational material for primary school children in the UK. Mainly written material, including photographs, pictures and actual letters written by the Japanese children,” explains Tomita.

“After six months, almost no information is given to British people, especially young people. We felt it was not good. Because the people suffering from the earthquake are still in trouble.”

Do you feel that Japanese people are still aware of the problems facing people in affected areas?
“It depends…for example, in the western area, and the south area, I guess …many of them are beginning to forget the tragedy. Which is a very sad thing.”

And what about the areas closer to the incident?
“In the northern area, or eastern area, they still have problems with radiation. So for example in Tokyo, which is about 300 km from the power plant, they are scared of the radiation problem. And of course in Fukushima and Tohoku area, they…are very worried.”

How do Japanese people feel about the way in which the state has dealt with the reconstruction?

“I think they are trying hard to make the situation better but it costs a lot… and of course the radiation and nuclear power plant issue cannot be solved so easily. It may take ages. I think they are trying hard, but when I talked with the people there, they seemed to feel that our government is not doing enough.”

“For example they have a problem with mortgages. Some of them built their houses by borrowing money from the bank, have lost their houses, but have to continue paying their mortgages. That kind of thing still happens there.”

Around ten months on from the earthquake, Manchester’s students have returned safely. Some had been forced to relocate away from the affected areas, while some had returned home early. My last few months in Japan had a melancholy feel; as I passed certain areas of Kyoto I would see anti nuclear demonstrations, and fund-raising posters displaying images of the wreckage. And Tokyo was eerily empty in comparison to the last time I had visited.

The next stage is to rebuild and help the families affected. In the words of Tomita, “The important thing is we should continue paying attention to those people. We should not forget them, and continue to contact them and listen”.

Download your Lady Bunting template

lady bunting graphic (only use graphic from page 1)

In order to download your lady bunting template, use the link above and make sure you print it out A4 size to ensure you have the correct sized template.

For this International Women’s Day on Thursday 8th March, the University’s Oxfam Society has created a Craftivism project dubbed ‘Lady Bunting’. To be used as a backdrop for all the events that will be taking place on the day; the idea is to create a giant length of bunting made from little fabric ladies individually made then collectively joined together, to be hung around the university on the day in support of women everywhere!

Here we have provided a template for the sections and you can make your fabric lady as simple or intricate as you wish, but please attach your name to it somehow to show your support. You can use any fabric you have lying around, old clothes, anything

Workshops are taking place at the Union – Thursday 23rd, Room 3, 4-5pm and Thursday 1st March, Room 7, 4-6pm. Materials will be provided but donations of money to cover costs and also any unused fabric or old clothes would be very welcome!

If you cannot make the workshops or would prefer to make one at home, or want to hold your own crafty session with friends, there will be a drop off box in the Union’s Activities office where you can hand them in to be attached to the final piece.

If you have any suggestions or ideas about how to make this a success please get in touch with Jemma at [email protected].

Search Lady Bunting Craft Project on Facebook and join the group to see progress and updates on how it’s coming along – we look forward to receiving your ladies and seeing you at a workshop!

Students vote to name mascot after former student

Following an online poll of students, the previously unnamed University of Manchester Students’ Union penguin mascot will now be known as ‘Mike Joslin’, after a recent graduate of University of Manchester known for his political activism.

‘Michel Foucault’ attracted the second highest number of votes, with ‘Margaret Thatcher’ coming in third. The poll, held via the University of Manchester Students’ Union Facebook Page attracted nearly 200 votes.

The mascot is being displayed around students’ union buildings in order to promote the upcoming union elections.

Mr Joslin, who graduated in 2009 and currently works as head of Digital Campaigning for Ken Livingstone, told The Mancunion that he was “honoured” to have the mascot named after him, adding,

“I’d like to thank the ordinary students who put students first making an Incredible Union.”

Students’ Union Communication’s Officer, Jeremy Buck, told The Mancunion that anything that encourages students to get involved with the upcoming elections is a good thing,

“We need to people to stand in these elections, that’s what this is about, that’s what we’re aiming for.”

 

 

Plagiarism is a result of Faculties’ “inability to cater for international students”

While international students make up approximately 25 percent of the student population of The University of Manchester, they are accountable in some years for up to 64 percent of cases of plagiarism and 90 percent of known cases of exam cheating.

The University’s Annual Reports to Senate of Conduct and Discipline Cases reveal the number of formal cases of exam cheating and other academic malpractices each year.

The 2009-2010 report claims that there were 146 plagiarism cases in the year, 87 of which were involving international students.

Similarly, 50 official cases of exam cheating were brought before the Student Discipline Committee. Of these 50 cases, 40 were international students.

The annual report highlights that each year since 2003 over 60 percent of students caught for exam cheating have been international students.

However, Yousaf Sahibzada, the University’s International Students Officer says that these figures are often misinterpreted. The high numbers of international student plagiarism cases are not the fault of students but the University.

Most of the cases of plagiarism are within humanities subjects. Sahibzada says that while these schools emphasise to international students that plagiarism must be avoided, they do not explain how.

Many international students, having not written many essays previously in their education, fail to understand the use of references.

Sahibzada says that the University, especially the Humanities Faculty, needs to provide more information about plagiarism to international students. “The University does not tell international students how to avoid plagiarism, only how bad it is.”

The University’s 2007-2008 Annual Report recognizes the high proportions of plagiarism by international students. Rather than teach students the importance of referencing, it suggests:

“More time should be given during the admission and induction process to ensure that these students understand the expectations of UK education of them, and are given the opportunity to reflect on how this might be different from the system to which they are accustomed.”

The Engineering and Physical Sciences Faculty is currently the only faculty to provide a plagiarism workshop. As International Students Officer Sahibzada is currently trying to provide more similar workshops himself.

But this excuse does not explain the high percentages of international students caught cheating in exams.

While Sahibzada admits that this lack of confidence may be behind a few cases of exam cheating, it is not generally true. International students pay huge tuition fees and after returning to their home countries for the summer, are unable to afford to return to Manchester for resits in August if they fail. Cheating is a way to ensure that they will not have to.

Mike Mercer, the Deputy Head of Manchester University’s Student Services Centre says: “I think it is possibly due to parental and financial pressure to do well. Often they are not quite so confident and almost need it as a support.”

Mercer recognizes that there has been steady increase in the number of all students caught cheating in exams.

The most common method of those caught are ‘cheat notes’, small squares of paper (5cm by 5cm) crammed with tiny writing. He comments that they are often found in tissue packs and the inside of eraser cases.
“It is a shame as often the time taken to produce the cheat notes would have been better used revising.”

While exam invigilators are trained to spot cheating, Mercer notes that it is not uncommon and definitely increased this January exam period, for students to inform invigilators of others cheating. Students pass notes to invigilators during the exam or inform them when they take a toilet break and are out of the room.

He says: “I personally believe that we may see an increase in this type of notification as students pay more for their education, they feel insulted that a class mate is trying to gain a better degree or mark by unfair means.”