News

Making a difference through Volunteering

Well done to Francesca Oh who has recently received the Surrey Lifewide Learning Award and has been named one of the winners of the prestigious regional ‘Vinspired’ volunteering awards for the South East. Francesca volunteered in Mukono, Uganda in 2009 and is also a founder member of the USSU Volunteering Society. To see more CLICK HERE

 

Another group of students volunteered in the same region in Uganda this summer, see their video or read an article written by Lucy Nathanson about their experience and how much they learned through it. Read more about students' views on Volunteering on the student view website CLICK HERE

Award Ceremony November 2010

On 8th November 2010 the first students to successfully complete the Surrey Lifewide Learning Award received their Certificates at an Award Ceremony held at SCEPTrE. These pioneering students have helped to pave the way for others to continue through the Award and have demonstrated exceptional capabilities in many lifewide learning experiences.

 

The Award was attended by a number of staff and students, many of whom are currently working towards their own Lifewide Learning Awards. The certificates were awarded by Professor Shirley Price, Chair of the Award Board and Associate Dean FHMS and John Watkins, External Auditor of the Award and Director of Learning and Development PKF Accountants and Business Advisors. 

To view a video of the full event CLICK HERE

Award students attend Shared Thinking Workshop

This week a group of students taking part in the Award helped the SCEPTrE team to gain a greater understanding of students' views on the Award, by sharing their thinking and understandings in an innovative workshop. The workshop involved using voting technology to help to express the values, benefits and challenges of reflecting on experiences.



 

Lifewide Learning Award Re-Launch Event

 On Thursday 21st Oct the SCEPTrE team organised a successful Lifewide Learning Award event to raise awareness and promote the Award to new students. One of the main features of the day was a huge multi-coloured jigsaw that extended from the wall out on to the floor through the lecture theatre concourse. Many people contributed to this intriguing installation and it represented the variety of activities that students at Surrey are involved in, in addition to their academic studies that help to make their own education more complete. It included a wide diversity of examples from learning a language and dance classes to being part of a society or club and many more!

 

  

For more images CLICK HERE

October 19th First Graduates for the Surrey Award

One of the best things about working in higher education is watching students work hard and achieve great things. This week we held the first Lifewide Learning Award Board under the Chairmanship of Professor Shirley Price Associate Dean Learning and Teaching for the Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences. We are deligted to announce that 6 students achieved the award and 5 students achieved the Learning through Work Certificates. The two external auditors employed by the university to check on standards were full of praise for the way the team was supporting the award and for the students' achievements. Watch a video clip of them talking about the award.
 
 
Photo shows the the two external auditors John Watkins PKF Accountants and Business Advisors and Professor John Cown Napier University Edinburgh flanking Professor Shirley Price
 

Freshers Fair 2010

The Award team have been out working hard to let everyone know about the Surrey Lifewide Learning Award. Talking to people at the Freshers Fair, Health and Social Fair and Pre-entry days which has generated lots of new interest in the Award.

       

September 28th- Surrey Award goes Global!

News of Surrey’s Lifewide Learning Award has spread quickly and this week SCEPTrE hosted a three day study visit from 12 members of staff and local business representatives from Siauliai University in Lithuania. The visitors attended SCEPTRE’s symposium on educating for the real world and participate in two days of discussions about the way Surrey promotes learning from extra-curricular experiences. The visitors appreciated the opportunity to learn about the Lifewide Learning Award and went away with lots of ideas!

 

September 20th- 'We can work it out' Times Higher Education article, 2 September 2010

As graduates struggle to find employment, universities are having to think more creatively about how to prepare them for the workplace, says Rebecca Attwood. As graduate numbers have grown in recent decades, so too has universities' emphasis on equipping students with the skills to succeed in the jobs market. In the UK alone, well over a hundred reports have discussed what employability skills are and why they matter. With the arrival of recession, the focus is now stronger than ever.

 

Read More

September 16th Health & Social Care Exhibition/Welcome Fair

Nursing, midwifery and ODP students expressed much interest in the Lifewide Learning Award stand at the Exhibition and Welcome Fair. Charlie did a good job in selling the award and over 40 students signed up for the introductory workshops.

September 2nd John Watkins a critical friend with an employer perspective joins Lifewide Learning Award Board

John Watkins is the Director of Learning and Development at Accountants and Business Advisers, PKF (UK) LLP. The role gives him responsibility for overseeing the development of the firm’s 1,400 partners and staff across 23 offices and involves him delivering a number of courses and workshops aimed at enhancing people and other management skills. John also contributes to the recruitment process and oversees the professional studies of the firm’s trainees

 

Its great to have an employer representative on our panel of assessors. Employer views are important to provide assurance to students, parents and employers that what we are doing is relevant to the world of employment. John is passionate about providing education that develops the whole person and you can hear his views on it by clicking on this video link.

 

Read More

20th August 2010 Lifewide Learning Award Critical Friend

We are delighted to announce that Professor John Cowan who teaches at Napier University Edinburgh, has accepted the invitation to be our critical friend. John will be able to provide us with an objective and totally independent view on the Lifewide Learning Award Framework and the learning that we are recognising through the scheme. It is important to have such an independent view in order to substantiate our claims that this is a valid way of recognising students’ personal development. John is highly respected amongst educators and he has a passion for learning. He practices what he preaches and he is a champion and exemplary role model for lifelong and lifewide learning. We are fortunate indeed to have his assistance

 

Read Johns own life story

22nd July 2010

Congratulations to Dan Pugsley who is the first person to have completed the requirements and process of the Lifewide Award! He has submitted his final reflective account with details of the activities that have helped him to learn and develop the key capabilities the Award seeks to recognise.

What are the key capabilities? Please click here

July 12th 2010

 New Lifewide Learning Graduate Certificate launched

 Once a student has graduated, many universities see their educational job done. But the University of Surrey is so committed to ensuring that our graduates remain the most successful in terms of gaining graduate employment that we are offering a Lifewide Learning Graduate Certificate aimed at helping students gain recognition for the capability they are developing to find a job in a highly competitive job market.

Russ Clarke Head of the Careers Service said thatgraduates of the University of Surrey  are welcome to use the services offered by the Careers Service - now, or at any time in the future and the Graduate Certificate will add a new dimension to the support we can offer our new graduates.

July 5th Employer’s perspective

July 5th  Employer’s perspective

John Watkins Director of Learning and Development at Accountants and Business Advisers, PKF (UK) LLP says that while a good degree is essential to gain employment with his company, graduates need to offer much more. This is the time of the year when graduates enter the job market and those who can demonstrate and articulate the sorts of capability that the Lifewide Learning Award is helping to develop, will have the edge.


June 18th New Learning through Work Certificate launched

Surrey students now have an opportunity to gain recognition for the employability skills they develop through part time work. The Certificate which is part of the Surrey Lifewide Learning Award will help stydents demonstrate to employers that they have developed and used their communication, team working and problem solving skills in a real work environment.


Theatre Studies students play their part in the Lifewide Learning Award Pilot

SCEPTrE is delighted to be working with Dr Stuart Andrews and a group of his Theatre Studies students to use the LifeWide Learning Award as a way of providing a context for helping them to develop their personal and professional goals and aspirations and examine their career aims.


Students compete for life-wide learning prize

The annual competition to discover students who have shown exception commitment making their education more complete by engaging in rich experiences for learning in addition to their academic or research programme attracted nearly 50 students. The quality of essays was excellent and a selection of essays and interviews will be published here.
 
WINNERS
 
Undergraduate
Frances Boswell (Maths) (winner £250 prize)
Scot Marsh (Business Management) (runner up £50)
Vedika Dalmia (Computer Science)   (runner up £50 )       
 
Postgraduate
Pessi Honkasalo (Law) (winner £250 prize)
Chaudhry Usman Mumtaz (International Business Management) (runner up £50)
Hafiz Ali) (Mech, Med & Aero Eng) (runner up £50)


May 6th New Life-wide Learning Award Launched

With little fanfare the pilot for the new Life-wide Learning Award was launched through an email and poster campaign. Professor Norman Jackson (SCEPTrE’s Director) said that over 50 university’s in the UK had similar schemes to recognise the learning and development gained by students through the things they do in addition to their academic programme. But Surrey’s scheme was distinctive in that it recognised the efforts of students to become the people they wanted to be by making their own education more complete.

May 2nd Surrey students tell the world

Sarah Campbell, Mahesh Satiapillai and Mark Sheppard gave excellent presentations at a national conference organised by SCEPTrE to discuss the idea of life-wide learning. Video clips

 

May 1st Wedding Bells Chime

May 1st Wedding Bells Chime

Scheme coordinator Charlie Rickett ‘tied the knot’ on Saturday May 1st and entered a new stage in her own lifewide learning when she married Colin. Always looking for a challenge, she has chosen to spend her honeymoon in a Yurt! (a traditional Mongolian hut) on Bodimin Moor.
 

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