News

Seeing triple

Staff in Sports Science could be forgiven for their confusion at the start of term, with three sets of identical twins on the same scheme!

The twins, who are studying for their BSc in Sports and Exercise Science along with 82 other students, are Jackie and Joy Crossley from Ipswich, James and Scott Fitzgerald from Tiptree, and Chris and Robert Hopgood from Chelmsford.
Scott Fitzgerald said: ‘We didn’t consciously decide to study at the same university but have the same interests and both felt that the degree in Sports Science offered by Essex was one of the best available.’

The Crossley sisters with the Fitzgerald brothers

Jackie Crossley agreed: ‘The advantage of staying together is that you always know you have someone to go to. As well as this, I’ve met twice as many people because random strangers come up to me, saying they know me when they have mistaken me for my twin. I then feel rude as they might think I’m ignoring them, when really I have no idea who they are!’

According to the Office for National Statistics, the number of twins born in the UK has increased over the last twenty-five years. In 2004, one in 34 babies was born a twin or triplet, compared with one in 52 in 1980.

AFM proves a popular choice

The University’s Department of Accounting, Finance and Management has just over 1,000 full-time registered students - making it the largest academic department at the University.

Founded in 1988 the Department has seen a steady increase in student numbers over the past few years.

Today there are 874 undergraduate students registered, with degree schemes in Accounting and Finance, and Business Management proving  popular. In addition there are 178 postgraduate students, and almost half of its total student population originates from overseas.

Head of Department, Professor George Cairns, said: 'AFM is delighted to have achieved this status but is aware of the pressures it brings in terms of maintaining academic and student contact, and sustaining numbers in a competitive international market.'

Honour for Nepali activist

An Essex human rights graduate has achieved the highest honour from the New York-based international monitoring group Human Rights Watch.

Nepali lawyer Mandira Sharma is one of three 2006 Human Rights Watch Honorees for exposing ‘disappearances’ and indiscriminate attacks against civilians in Nepal.

In 2001, the year she obtained her LLM in International Human Rights Law, she helped found Advocacy Forum. This Nepali human rights organisation has played an instrumental role in defending the rights of Nepali people caught in the civil war between Maoist rebels and the Royal Nepali Army.

Despite threats and harassment by government forces, Mandira continued to file lawsuits on behalf of victims of torture, investigate deaths in government custody, and file petitions to free illegally detained prisoners.

Sam Zarifi, Asia research director for Human Rights Watch, said: ‘Mandira and her colleagues showed remarkable personal courage by standing up to forces with horrendous records of abuse.’

Also in the printed December edition of Wyvern:

• Choosing a new VC
• US nursing students visit Essex
• Pallas moves to Essex
• An Essex childhood
• Remembering the Holocaust
• Around Essex
• New fund promotes intrapreneurship