Annual Report 2009 - St Mary's University College

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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 School of Communication, Culture and Creative Arts Following the success of the Research Assessment Exercise (RAE 2008), the School has begun to establish a Centre for Joseph Conrad Studies in the University College. This will be a major and highly prestigious acquisition for the University College. The Centre will be run by Dr Allan Simmons and Dr John Stape, who will be acting as Joint Editors. The Centre will be an international base for research into the works of Conrad, overseeing the production of new volumes of his novels, based, for the first time, on the original texts, free of the editorial alterations which were present in previous publications of his work. Major scholars in the field will contribute volumes – three volumes are due to appear in 2010, two in 2011 and with two or three volumes appearing annually after that. The School will continue to develop the research expertise in Drama and in English and Linguistics and, in addition, it is planned to establish a centre of research in Media Arts. Planning for a new MA in Sports Journalism has proceeded through the University College committee stages and the course is due to start in September 2010. Because the course will be run in collaboration with an existing Sports Agency, Sportsbeat, it has received accreditation from the NCTJ, the National Journalists Training Council. It is envisaged that this new course will be a successful recruiter. Focus on Performing Arts – In the field of Performing Arts there has been continued engagement with the local community, through work in schools, as well as work on a national level with a number of companies, including The National Trust. We have maintained and developed our partnership with the Creative Learning Department at Richmond Theatre, who continue to help us highlight specific schools within Richmond Borough where our work might make a significant impact. We also have a partnership with The Comedy School in Camden and some of our students have attended workshops there. This association could provide a useful and productive outlet for those students who do not necessarily work well in text based drama, or who do not necessarily work well in devised physical work, but who are very good storytellers. Often these are quite individualistic students who would not fit comfortably into company-focused productions, and this approach to comedy could well provide them with a niche and future employment. We have worked with Spiral in La Rioja in Spain. It is an Anglo Spanish company and we have been supporting some very interesting work there, working with a group of Senior Citizens, all in their 80s, creating a performance from their memories of the civil war. We are also working with their teenage grandchildren. This work will come to fruition in December 2009. Matthew Hahn has been working on his Robben Island project. That work is focused on the time when Nelson Mandela and his comrades were in the Robben Island prison. One of the men, Ahmed Kathrada, smuggled a copy of the complete works of Shakespeare onto the Island, disguised as a religious text. The prisoners used annotations in the text to pass on messages. Working in association with the Royal Shakespeare Company and John Kani, the great South African actor, actors performed a reading of the work in progress at Richmond Theatre for local schools and colleges. Drama “The Drama course took me on an important journey. We learnt an incredible amount about community theatre, and working as a company. We were able to work closely with established theatre companies as part of our course and it was a great opportunity to use Drama outside of campus.” D Drama St Marys blog School of Communication, Culture and Creative Arts – Centre for Joseph Conrad Studies 06 07
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 School of Education Physical and Sport Education The main area of development in the past year has been the major expansion of the Master’s degree, with a large increase in numbers recruiting to the course. Work has begun with the Richmond upon Thames Local Authority to tailor make the Master’s modules to the needs of new teachers beginning work in the Borough. One hundred NQT applicants are ready to embark on this project. The teachers make the application to the University College through the Borough. The Aquinas Centre has continued to expand its activities. There have been significant developments with Professor John West-Burnham launching the Aquinas Centre and leading a conference for the Three Universities Project. The work initiated by Prof. Pat Wade, the former Head of School, in developing a Master’s Programme in a township near Cape Town has progressed well and the first graduates received their degrees in January 2009, but were unable to attend the Winter Graduation ceremony. In September 2009 Dr Mary Eaton and staff from the School of Education visited Cape Town and held a graduation service for the ten successful graduands at St Mary’s Cathedral, Cape Town. This moving and inspiring ceremony was the culmination of this wonderful venture and is a fitting tribute to the excellent and dedicated contribution made to the School by Prof. Wade. Focus on Physical and Sport Education – This year has again showed a continued increase in student numbers in the Physical and Sport Education Programme. 2008/09 had a First Year enrolment of 105, which constitutes a very large Programme. There has also been a significant increase in the number of students who change their status from their original choice to Single and Major Honours with us. We think that this is due to the way in which we engage with our students. Our courses are approached from an applied humanistic perspective, rather than a scientific one, which distinguishes our course from Sport Science. Master’s students We have also developed partnerships with schools and sports communities through work-based modules. An example of this is one of our students working at Chelsea FC to look at sport development. During the year, assessment procedures have been revised in order to improve further the tracking of students through the course. The programme carries out a great deal of profiling of our students, so that any issues can be identified. The tutor support they receive has been commented on by the External Examiners as being extremely good, as is the range of assessments we have in place. A new Master’s Degree, entitled Education; Pedagogy and Professional Practice in Physical Education, started in January 2010. This degree is open to serving teachers, trainee teachers and people who have Sport Science degrees, PE in the Community, or other related degrees. It is either a community, or school based degree and we have twelve students in our first cohort. “Lecturers give you guidance for all of your work, as well as help to choose your desired pathway be it teaching or coaching. I have been on a number of work experience modules including schools, leisure centres and sport centres allowing me to apply my knowledge to the work environment” School of Education 08 09
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