Annual Report 2009 - St Mary's University College

More documents

Recommendations

Info

St Mary’s University College Twickenham London Annual Report 2009 www.smuc.ac.uk St Mary’s University College Twickenham London Annual Report 2009 www.smuc.ac.uk Estates Professional Short Course Unit Approved: New Sports Building 2009 saw the introduction of a new cyclical painting and decorating Master Programme for St Marys. Included within it are also external repairs and attention to backlog maintenance. As well as looking at the external decorations and maintenance, Estates have combined the programme to make use of the contractors on site during poor weather and included internal decorations to common and shared areas. A programme of improvements and works to roads and paths was also initiated that has seen several improvements to access, as well as the creation of new pathways, such as those adjacent to L and K blocks. There are further proposed works to improve pathways, including the installation of a new path adjacent to the road to J block, together with new lighting, and the existing path to R block. The New Lighting Programme has also been introduced that will address the standardisation and improvements of fittings and styles to the campus’s lighting system over the coming three years. These more strategic long term works have been complemented with bespoke projects, such as improvements to the SU shop, a new SMUC radio station, completion of the Shannon corridor and WC suite, modifications to drainage to the LRC to combat potential flooding, site-wide electrical testing and repairs, energy conservation improvements to the chapel, major conversion works to provide new academic office suites in G block, refurbishment of the Waldegrave Suite, as well as major campus moves for numerous staff. With the additional creation of a new hundred seat lecture theatre and annexed offices to what was the old kitchen area within N block, the past twelve months have seen a great deal of work and change under way across the site. This could not have been achieved without the ongoing help, assistance and cooperation of various departments, groups and students. Energy and conservation is always high on the agenda, which is why we have recently been in discussion with energy providers to look at the use of renewable energy for our sites, including the possible installation of automated metering systems that will help us identify and better manage energy resources across our campus, as well as contributing to a reduction in C0 2 emissions and running costs. With planning approval granted to build a new Sports Building and successful tender negotiations currently underway, 2010-12 is set to offer even more challenges and allow us to deliver better facilities for staff and students. Campus Improvements In January/February last year the Professional Short Courses Unit started credit bearing courses in coaching with CPD (Continuing Professional Development). These were so popular they are being run again this year. We have focused on our strengths in the School of Human Sciences, using existing expertise to create one day courses for coaches in Strength and Conditioning. We have offered First Aid for Coaches, which gives the regular First Aid qualification, but one which is applied specifically to whatever sport the individual course members were involved with. There have been courses offered on Nutrition, focusing on hydration and carbohydrates, and these have been developed further this year. We have also added a course on Coaching Children and Teenagers, because coaching methodology should be different for younger participants and coaching qualifications normally do not focus on children. Student numbers have averaged 465 a year. We are seeking to acquire funding from the Learning Skills Council to allow us to develop these courses further. The Unit participates in local charitable events, where we can demonstrate the work we do on our courses and this aids us in promoting our services to the wider community. We participated in our own charity event, the SMarts festival, and staff from the Unit also visited several schools in the local area. One of our recent students has set up a very successful clinic based on the work she had done with us on the ITEC Diploma Course on Holistic Massage, now called Body Massage. Professional Short Courses and Continuing Professional Development training Free Taster Sessions 18 19
St Mary’s University College Twickenham London Annual Report 2009 www.smuc.ac.uk St Mary’s University College Twickenham London Annual Report 2009 www.smuc.ac.uk Information Services and Systems Sport St Mary’s This has been a year of change within ISS. Máire Lanigan, who had been Director for about nine years, left in December 2008 to take up a role at City University. Interim arrangements were put in place pending a review process and Martin Scarrott became the Acting Director of ISS. The department has continued moving forward and making improvements to services during the past year, which has been a challenging one, with tougher challenges to come. We have been concentrating upon listening to our users, especially students. We conducted a student survey and held focus groups, making sure that we reported back to students what they had told us and what actions we were taking. There were many positive comments about the service and about staff. One of the major concerns was about study space. Fifty percent of students wanted more silent space and fifty percent wanted more group study space. As a result we have redesigned our zones to try and make them clearer and we have successfully bid for funding to begin to create additional study space by replacing some of the old wooden library shelving with compact shelving. Further feedback was received through the National Student Survey. This revealed some concerns about the library stock. In response we successfully bid for a one-off amount of money to spend on text books. We have made considerable improvements to the way in which students and staff access our online resources. Self-service online password management was implemented and the same username and password are used to access most of our online resources and systems. This was an essential part of adapting our services to meet the needs of the distance learning students who joined us in September 2009. A major challenge for us has been the rising cost of library resources. Many university libraries are having to cut the number of printed and online journals to which they subscribe and reduce the number of books they buy. St Mary’s, however, has committed itself to maintain all library subscriptions for the academic year 2009/10 and the expenditure on books will be increased slightly. Information Services and Systems The academic year started with a highly successful torch relay to mark the handover of the flag for the Paralympic Games to London by Beijing. The relay was organised jointly with Richmond Borough and Richmond upon Thames College (RuTC) and involved teams of staff and students visiting eleven primary and secondary schools in the Borough. They were set off from St Mary’s by the Principal, Dr Naylor, the Mayor and the Principal of RuTC, Kevin Watson, and schools organised their own receptions for the arrival of the torch, ranging from a whole school assembly on an Olympic theme, to drama and music productions. Probably the highlight of the year, though, was the decision by the South African Sport Commission and Olympic Committee to base their Pre-Games training camps for the London 2012 Olympic Games at St Mary’s and the Lensbury hotel complex. The team will stay at Lensbury and train at St Mary’s and other South London venues and visits may start as early as 2010, building to a full training camp in 2011 and then a holding camp immediately prior to the Games itself. In partnership with our South London colleagues in Go South Go, discussions are also underway with other teams that might be interested in coming to St Mary’s. In a very different, but complementary way, St Mary’s has played a role in the development and launch of the John Paul Foundation for Sport, which will promote the idea of value and virtue in sport and will encourage volunteering and leadership. St Mary’s is playing an important role in helping schools to engage with the programme, which may well feature in the Pope’s visit in 2010. In sport in general, St Mary’s enjoyed a high profile year as the main shirt sponsor for Harlequins Rugby League, which has led on to discussions around several exciting community initiatives in collaboration with the Rugby Football League. St Mary’s was designated as the lead for all London universities in the government’s Talented Athlete Sport Scholarship Scheme and now co-ordinates support for over sixty athletes in these institutions, many of whom are students here. Community sport, especially for young people, remains a priority, and the Youth Sports Trust designated the Regional Multi Skills Academy held at St Mary’s as a model of good practice, whilst the Simms Sport programme expanded and had another successful year offering opportunities to many local families and schools. Sport St Mary’s – Simmsport – 2012 20 21
Page 1 and 2: St Mary’s University College Twic
Page 9: St Mary’s University College Twic

Annual Report 2009 - St Mary's University College

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?