Skip to main content

Day: 3 March 2014

Success for University’s Model United Nations society at London conference

Written by Haider Saleem on . Posted in News.

Students from the University of Manchester Model United Nations society (ManMUN) competed at the London International Model UN (LIMUN) conference last weekend, the largest annual university level Model United Nations (MUN) conference in Europe.

The aim of the conference was to ‘build an understanding of global challenges amongst young people that crosses borders of background, culture and nationality’, according to their official website.

1500 delegates from 53 different countries took part in this three-day conference — discussing, debating and writing resolutions relating to international challenges that the UN faces today.

Delegates from The University of Manchester represented different countries such as Afghanistan and Brazil, on various committees that make up the United Nations.

Heena Mohammed, President and Head Delegate of ManMUN and a third year Politics and International Relations undergraduate, represented Brazil on the Disarmament and International Security council. She has trained and led the society over the year and was awarded outstanding delegate at the closing ceremony.

She said: “LIMUN is always my favourite conference because it’s where I started my MUN career. LIMUN is the largest MUN conference in Europe, so there’s never a shortage of interesting people to meet!”

Naa Acquah, Vice President and Religion and Theology student, took the role of Minister of foreign affairs in the crisis committee in the Turkish cabinet. She was awarded best prepared delegate in her committee in the closing ceremony.

Naa said: “I thought the conference was great. We worked through interesting topics, met amazing people and made me even more excited to try and pursue a career on a foreign affairs and diplomacy.”

The next conference ManMUN will embark on its at the Harvard World Model United Nations (WorldMUN) in Brussels, Belgium March where 15 delegates who batted for a space, will spend 7 days in the capital of the European Union.

World MUN is the biggest annual MUN conference in the world, which attracts 2,000 college and graduate students from more than 60 countries.

Union exec officer calls for North Campus bus route

Written by Aidan Gregory on . Posted in News.

The Students’ Union executive is in talks with Transport for Greater Manchester to create a new bus route from Withington to the North Campus.

The campaign to introduce the new route is the brainchild of Diversity Officer Omar Aljuhani. It aims to improve the provision of transport for students living and studying on the north campus, and to ensure student safety and disabled access.

In an interview with The Mancunion, Aljuhani outlined his reasons for demanding the new bus route.

“I was a student in the north campus for the last four years. I’d been living in different accommodation on the campus, and [I] found that the north campus is really disconnected with the south campus,” he said. “Transportation is an obvious problem.”

Aljuhani also explained that he does not see the current situation as being fair for disabled students living on the north campus.

He added, “University is a full experience, and one of the university’s targets is to provide a ‘great student experience’, and I feel that the North Campus has been completely disengaged from that.

“Logically transport should be provided by the University, not even just from the station to the Students’ Union, but to Fallowfield as well. Am I asking for a lot? I don’t think so.

“The 147 is not doing its job.”

Aljuhani has launched a petition on change.org., attracting a large number of positive comments, and over 200 signatures.

One supporter, Roxanne Neall, argued that “as a student at North Campus I know that many of the students who study there live in Fallowfield…and take a convoluted route to Sackville Street, a bus route would just make sense for the students. Piccadilly Station would also be convenient for all Manchester residents as it would be much shorter than the other options at the moment.”

Anna Thorne wrote in support, “I want to stay safe when getting the bus to and from university and it will make travelling a lot more convenient and quicker.”

Another student, Arplan Saluja, wrote on the petition “I live near Sackville Street so this initiative would prove very beneficial for me as I spend a lot of time in Alan Gilbert learning commons till late and I will not have to walk alone in the dark at night after studying. Furthermore, I would love for there to be a direct transport from my place to places such as Fallowfield and so on.”

The Mancunion also spoke to students who frequently have to commute to the north campus.

Hannah Razlin, who studies mechanical engineering and lives in Withington, told The Mancunion she was, “definitely in favour of it”, describing the current bus route as “a pain. It’s so busy.”

Callum Hunt however, also studying mechanical engineering, is sceptical. He explained that “I will support the proposition of a bus route between Fallowfield and the North Campus but I do not see it as necessary because it is only a small walk between getting off the bus and reaching the North Campus.

“There is already a bus that stops at the North Campus which is the 147, free for students to use, but it would require a change over at the Students Union.”

Students take to Manchester’s streets to ‘Reclaim the Night’

Written by Anna Phillips on . Posted in News.

 

Students took to the streets for the annual ‘Reclaim the Night’ march in Manchester to demonstrate against street harassment and sexual violence towards women.

A flood of women and men took to Wilmslow Road and marched from Owen’s Park, through the streets to the Students’ Union last Thursday evening. The march was led by a self-defining women’s only group, and was followed by a mixed group of demonstrators open to all genders.

Marchers carried signs which read: ‘no consent, no nothing’, and ‘whatever we wear, wherever we go, yes means yes, no means no’.

The event, organised by the University of Manchester Students’ Union is an annual march which has taken place for 17 years at many Universities around the country, in frustration at the dangers felt by women when walking alone at night and the anger towards ‘victim-blaming’ in cases of reports of sexual offences.

In a 2010 report by the National Union of Students, it was revealed that more than a third of female students felt unsafe when walking alone at night, due to fears of harassment or attack.

Hayley Dallman, a first year at University of Manchester who attended the march also admitted to sometimes feeling unsafe at night, “I feel like I never want to leave my friends alone on a night out. That’s why I think the march is such a good thing”.

Between the months of September 2013-January 2014, the amount of reported sexual offences was a total of 26. The previous year the number of reported offences amounted to 14, an 86 per cent increase.

Greater Manchester Police have also explained that in January alone there were seven reports, and five were attributable to one perpetrator who has since been arrested.

University of Manchester Students’ Union Women’s Officer Tabz O’Brien-Butcher explained the importance of the annual march, “It is empowering for people who go on the march to be around other people who think that violence against women and street harassment isn’t okay. It is empowering for people to recognise that their frustrations and anger about the injustice is normal and other people do feel that way too.”

She also said, “If tonight has made a few people think this isn’t okay, and want to stand up and say we shouldn’t be treated like this then it has all been worth it.”

Reclaim the Night’s events continued in the Students’ Union until late, with a celebration of female talents. The party saw performances from groups such as Bhangra Society and Women Matta Choir, and a DJ set from Typical Girls, as well as live comedy, arts and crafts and community stalls.

 

Exec ignore voters, nix paid Mancunion editor

Written by Michael Williams on . Posted in News.

The full-time Editor position of The Mancunion has been indefinitely postponed – despite the fact the position was passed into policy by an All-Student Vote.

Mancunion staff were not informed, even though discussions about the change were held by the Exec Team as early as November last year.

The change was also omitted from a rationale document outlining Union cuts – due to the Union’s £0.5 million budget deficit – forwarded to The Mancunion.

General Secretary Grace Skelton defended the oversight.

“As the salaried editor role does not exist, it does not constitute as a cut [sic],” she said.

Mention of the decision was also absent from all Exec Committee meeting minutes, despite the fact that The Mancunion was specifically discussed at length in a meeting on Monday 18th November regarding a separate issue.

The editor of The Mancunion was to become a full-time paid position after 68 per cent of students who voted were in favour. The motion was passed into policy on the 17th May last year, and remains policy for three years.

The editor of The Mancunion was a paid, sabbatical position – similar to the Exec Team roles – until September 2012. The current editor, as his predecessor was, is a student volunteer juggling the demands of a third year degree and editor duties.

This will now continue to next year and potentially beyond.

“We are committed to implementing the wishes of our students and with the budget changes that the Students’ Union has made, I wholeheartedly believe that next year we should be in a position to implement the policy,” said Grace.

The Students’ Union has been forced to make cuts after it was revealed they have a budget deficit of over half a million pounds.

“Due to the current financial difficulties faced by the Students’ Union, the Trustee Board, with assistance from the senior staff team, have had to make serious budget cuts,” said Grace.

“We have done this as fairly as possible and have made savings across the entire Union, including reducing departmental budgets and voluntary staff redundancies.”

Richard Crook, last year’s Mancunion editor, said that he was “not remotely surprised” at the Exec’s ruling.

“This was voted in, plain and simple,” he said.

“There’s a great irony that a group of students campaign against national cuts to reduce a deficit, and then do the exact same thing at their institution.”

Other Mancunion alumni, some of whom have gone to work at some of the world’s leading media institutions, expressed their shock at the Union’s decision.

Ian King, The Times Business & City Editor, said “It was disappointing to learn that the Students’ Union has decided against having a paid editor for The Mancunion. No other post communicates with the student body or the wider populace to the same extent. It is of immense value not just to the Union but to the University itself.”

Jennie Agg, commissioning editor at the Daily Mail and Mancunion editor 2009/10, said that the decision to take away the paid editor role “sounds like a mistake”.

“Why would anyone make the case for less student opportunity and activity? Not making it a paid position also risks excluding students who have to work part-time to fund their degree,” she said.

“A union is supposed to be about representation. You wouldn’t get rid of the general secretary or president because a permanent staff member was more efficient – the same applies for a paid student editor.”

Girish Gupta, one of Ms Agg’s News Editors in 2009/10 and now a celebrated New York Times and Reuters foreign correspondent, echoed her sentiments on the importance of the position being full-time.

“I struggle to see how the paper can continue to be both that springboard into journalism and, more importantly, a worthwhile read for students without an editor able to dedicate themselves to it full time,” he said.

Even Withington Councillor Chris Paul, who worked on the paper during his time at the University, was shocked at the Union’s decision.

“I was a member of the Mancunion collective for four years, with the team winning Guardian NUS paper of the year twice. We couldn’t have done that without a full time editor,” he said.

“In these days of huge fees and small or non existent grants it is a lot to ask anyone to sacrifice their studies and, in effect, pay to be editor.

“I know it’s tough because we’ve had to make big savings at the Town Hall. But I hope the Union will have a re-think and change that.”

The General Secretary, however, placed less importance on a full-time role.

“I am disappointed that there will not be a paid editor in role [sic] in September 2014 to maintain the high journalistic standards of The Mancunion,” she said.

“However, I am confident that the current system of voluntary editorship will ensure the quality of the publication continues.”

OFT considers detailed investigation into ‘non-competitive practices’ at universities

Written by Charlie Spargo on . Posted in News.

Following an investigation into value for money, the application process and the complaints system at universities across Britain, the Office of Fair Trading is considering launching an inspection into concerns about “non-competitive” behaviour.

A call for information from students and institutions was launched last year and the findings, along with plans on next steps, will be published in March.

Questions were asked about fees, applications, complaints and quality of education. The results of this survey will determine what action it will take next.

After the hike in tuition fees to £9,000 in 2012, the OFT may decide to investigate claims of collusion, price-fixing and poor value for money, as almost all British universities charge the maximum £9,000 or almost as much for most courses.

An investigation into these claims could lead to more regulation for universities and a wider choice of courses.

A change may also be required in the applications system which is currently limited to five institutions and stops students applying to both Oxford and Cambridge, in order to raise competitiveness.

Many have complained that the £9,000 per year they spend is going to waste. It has been reported that some degree courses offer students less than 40 minutes a week in tutorials, and there are worries about students not having enough contact with academics.

This statement comes shortly after the OFT made a statement to many universities across the UK, including Manchester, explaining that preventing students from graduating due to unpaid non-academic fines, such as library or parking, could be a breach of consumer law.

A spokesperson said that no decision has yet been made about what action will be taken.

Humanities faculty suggests drastic grading system change

Written by Charlie Spargo on . Posted in News.

The University of Manchester’s Faculty of Humanities has proposed introducing a revised marking scheme intended to be “clearer and more transparent,” turning away from the classic 100-point system.

The suggestion, still in its early stages, would see students instead being assessed by a 14-level system, with zero equalling a very low fail and 14 a very high first.

The final grades, rather than being in the long-running undergraduate class system, would be presented in a way resembling the American system, with grades awarded ranging from A+ to F.

While the Faculty is still asking for students’ opinions on the subject, there is some suggestion that it could be introduced in September 2014 to students from all years.

The idea to change the system comes after dissatisfaction from students and staff alike over the marking discrepancy between quantitatively marked exams in many modules of subjects such as economics, and qualitatively marked exams that are sat in philosophy and others.

Many find the generally accepted view that essays and written answer exams are rarely given a grade above 80 per cent unfair in comparison to the possibility of getting 100 per cent in exams such as mathematics or economics.

This can be especially noticeable for those studying for joint honours degrees, where the result for one module may be drastically higher than for others purely due to its nature of examination.

However, joint honours students may not welcome the proposed change. Many students’ subjects span faculties and having different grading systems for different subjects could complicate matters more.

Many are concerned that concentrating 100 intervals down to 14 would hinder discernibility over how students perform, and that students currently in their first and second years would graduate with a potentially confusing range of grades.

The faculty said that “nothing has yet been decided.”

180 students’ unions demand universities fix international student fees

Written by Aidan Gregory on . Posted in News.

In an open letter to Vince Cable, David Willets, and Vice-Chancellors, over 180 students’ unions across the UK have called for in-course fee hikes for international students to be abolished.

A petition has also been launched online.

Daniel Stevens, international officer of the NUS, said, “The unpredictable increase in fees is unfair and exploits this group of students. They put the academic success of many international students at risk each year.

“International students already pay astronomical fees for the privilege of studying here. They are an important part of the social, cultural and academic make-up of university life and should not be treated as cash cows.”

Over half a million international students currently study in the UK – and with over 8,000, the University of Manchester has one of the largest populations, but also, in 2005, became one of the first universities in the UK to fix fees for international students for the duration of their degrees.

The NUS has demonstrated through its own research that “each year up to 175,000 international students in our campuses find their fees increase often without notice”, and that each year over half of universities withhold details of fees to international students.

The research has also shown students are one third more likely to consider dropping out if their fees go up by more than £1000 in the duration of a three year course.

Unlike with UK and EU students, universities have no restriction on the amount of money they can charge in international student fees. Some universities always increase fees in line with inflation, but they are under no legal obligation to do so.

Sebastiaan Debrouwere, president of Kings College London Students’ Union, in the last year has led a successful fight against fee increases of 15 per cent. He has called on all universities to support the NUS campaign.

“Unpredictable fee increases are not only unfair, they may also dissuade many international students from coming to the UK, or force students to drop out,” Debrouwere said. “As an SU, we try to make sure our university is a fair and accessible institution.”

 

Cambridge dons call for more female professors

Written by Aidan Gregory on . Posted in News.

Over 50 academics from the University of Cambridge have called on the government to do more to ensure that female academics are able to rise up the promotion ladder.

The proposals will soon be published in The Times Higher Education Supplement. They claim that the selection process for higher positions in academia is unfairly biased towards men, because it relies on too narrow a set of criteria, such as research grants and publications.

They go on to argue that, “a broader, more inclusive approach to success and promotion, where other academic contributions, including teaching, administration and outreach work are valued, would make it easier for women to advance.”

Despite 45 per cent of academics being female, at the moment, just 22 per cent of professors in the UK are women. Yet more women go to university in the UK than men. In the most recent UCAS applications cycle, over 58 per cent of applicants were female.

Professor Athene Donald, a well know campaigner for gender equality at Cambridge University, said, “Women seem to value a broader spectrum of work-based competencies that do not flourish easily under the current system.

“There will always be hardcore metrics for academics, such as grants, or prizes won, and books and papers published, and they are important. But there are opportunities to reward and embed different types of success, such as teaching, outreach and departmental support.”