Committed to equal opportunities, quality and the development of its staff and students - potential, present and past - the University is always keen to provide the best possible support and regularly signs up to new initiatives in its endeavour to do this.
During this month...
In the month that saw the University's first ever science technician - Joyce Wilson - finally hang up her lab coat after 48 years' employment, the University won £340,000 funding as part of a project to develop staff over the next three years. The Mentoring Project, in partnership with Coventry University, aims to develop effective leaders and managers within Higher Education (HE) by identifying their development needs and setting future targets with mentors from the private sector.
In a separate initiative, it also joined forces with the Telford and Wrekin Education Action Zone to provide mentors for the region's school-children. Some 37 University students signed up to provide hour-long, one-to-one confidential sessions to pupils from the Lord Silkin, Orleton Park and Phoenix Schools. Final year Electronic Media and Human Resource Management student Matthew Gordon went on to be voted runner-up in the National Finals of the Toshiba Mentor of the Year Award. While the same month saw Angela Bonser, an Education graduate who now teaches at Bentley West Primary School in Walsall, presented with Regional Teacher of the Year Award for the West Midlands.
The University was awarded almost £200,000 to improve educational and career opportunities for the deaf community. With the largest number of profoundly deaf students of any HE institutions in Britain, it has considerable expertise in working with deaf people and teaching English as a second language to deaf students. The proposals will see development of a Guidance and Support Pack and Code of Practice for lecturers, a specialist British Sign Language glossary, an introductory year in English for Deaf Learners and a website using current Art and Design students and deaf practitioners to promote positive role models for deaf students considering HE.
The Harrison Learning Centre teamed up with West Midlands Police to launch a unique crime prevention helpdesk on campus once every fortnight, with officers on hand to offer advice and reassurance on any aspect of crime prevention on and off campus. And the University's Wolverhampton-based Higher Education Shop - which offers drop-in advice from its Lichfield Street premises on any aspect of higher education - opened its doors for regular Saturday opening for the first time on November 11.
