News
First Professorship at Southend campus
The University of Essex Southend has appointed its first
Professor thanks to funding from a number of key local stakeholders.
Professor Mitra
Jay Mitra, a Professor of Business Enterprise and Innovation, has
joined the University's business development centre in the town with the
aim of developing the academic profile for the proposed Business
Enterprise and Management School at the new Southend campus.
Professor Mitra's post has been jointly funded by Southend Borough
Council, the Government Office for the East of England, Business Link for
Essex, and the Thames Gateway South Essex Partnership.
Professor Mitra, who has held posts at the University of Luton and the
University of Central England, explained his plans for the new Business
Enterprise and Management School: 'Key elements of the academic profile
will include a strong research and development portfolio and a suite of
postgraduate programmes, including CPD and short courses concerned with
entrepreneurship, innovation, regional economic and business development
and internationalisation of small businesses.'
He added: 'I will be working closely with a range of stakeholders,
relating the 'third stream' of the University's work with industry and the
regional economy to academic excellence.'
Professor Mitra has over 2O years experience in small business,
entrepreneurship and economic development, as a policy maker, as an
academic and as an entrepreneur. Generating pioneering local
government-private sector partnerships, developing innovative academic
programmes, exploring new frontiers of entrepreneurship research, and
constant engagement with creative entrepreneurs, define his work
portfolio. He has also set up two new business ventures in London.
Linda Jones, Development Director of University of Essex Southend,
said: 'Jay's position has been funded by several stakeholders in south
Essex which I think shows that they are 100 per cent committed to
supporting business in the Southend area. All of us at Southend are
pleased to welcome Jay to the team and think he will make a significant
contribution to the work we carry out with the local business community.'
Don't be a statistic
Student safety is one of the first tasks for a problem
solving team set up under Colchester Crime and Disorder Reduction
Partnership, United Solutions.
The University, along with other Colchester-based agencies, is a member
of this partnership, which aims to deal with persistent problems by
enabling members of the public, agencies and organisations to identify
local issues, and help bring together those who can contribute in
partnership to its resolution. This group have been working to ensure the
campus and surrounding area remains a safe place to study, work and live.
At the same time the Home Office has launched an initiative
highlighting personal safety at universities.
As part of United Solutions, for the past few months, Colchester police
have stationed its mobile police office at Wivenhoe Park every other
Friday offering advice to students and staff about ensuring their safety.
Crime Prevention Officer, Steve May explained: 'Essex is a relatively safe
campus, but together the University and Colchester police are working to
ensure it stays that way.'
He added: 'National figures quoted by the Home Office state that 1 in 3
students can be the victim of crime. For many students this maybe their
first time away from home and they may not be familiar with the area. With
this in mind the purpose of bringing the mobile office onto campus is to
provide an initial point of contact for everyone - students and staff - to
find out more about their local police, and receive advice and support on
issues such as personnel safety.'
The office can also be the place to turn to report any concerns. As
Steve explained: 'In recent months, students in particular have
increasingly come forward, both to the University authorities and the
police, with any worries they have about their safety. This has been a
major factor in enabling us to respond directly to these concerns and do
something positive to reassure the campus that we listen and take action.'
As well as offering a mobile phone registration scheme, the mobile office
can provide an invisible marker to label valuable items such as computers.
The University has also taken a number of measures, installing additional
CCTV camera, and increasing campus patrols
For more information about the Home Office Good 2 B Secure campaign
visit www.good2bsecure.gov.uk. Tips about personal safety can be found on
the Student Support website at
www2.essex.ac.uk/stdsup/welfare/safety.shtm.
Have your say
If you would like to find out more about the collaboration between the
University, Students' Union and Colchester police, and have your concerns
about campus safety answered, there will be an open forum on 28 April at
12noon in LTB 8 with representatives of the University, Students' Union,
Police and local organisations present. Contact the Student Support Office
for more information.
Schools on campus
More than 100 students from the Colchester and Tendring
areas participated in a range of activities on campus during March.
The first of these was On Campus, the annual two-day programme for sixth-
form students aimed at developing essential skills required by employers
whilst introducing them to university life.
During their time on campus, the students were assigned to teams and
given a variety of tasks designed to develop key skills such as problem
solving, teamwork, communication and numeracy. Hilary Sellens, of the
North East Essex Business Partnership and one of the organisers of the
event, said: 'The programme enabledthe sixth-formers to work with staff
and undergraduates at the University and local business people whilst
giving them a better understanding of why key skills are important.'
Students finding out how animals keep warm in the
artic in the Department of Biological Sciences
The event concluded with a presentation evening, when the students
presented their findings to an audience of parents, local dignitaries,
senior University and business representatives, head teachers and Chairs
of Governors from participating schools.
The second event brought more than 60 pupils, aged between 14 and 15,
on campus for a day of scientific discovery as part of National Science
Week.
Six hands-on science sessions were on offer, including fitness tests in
the Centre for Sports and Exercise Science, instructing robots in Computer
Science and finding out how animals keep warm in the artic in Biological
Sciences.
Student Recruitment Assistant (Science) Lucy Nowak, who organised the
activities, said: 'Our National Science Week sessions have proved so
popular that the event this year's was bigger than ever, with more schools
and more University departments taking part. The range of experiments on
offer shows that science is fun, as well as being relevant to so many
aspects of daily life.'
National Science Week is organised by the British Association for the
Advancement of Science with the aim of engaging as many people as possible
in science-related projects. Last year, more than 1,000 events took place
across the UK.
Also in the printed May edition of Wyvern:
- Summer fit camps to tackle child obesity
- Essex first for pre-registration nursing masters degress
- Does Essex wildlife have a future
- Siddiqui lecture and award 2004
- Spin-out wins major deal
