InsideBU
Autumn 2015
[Heading One] Contents page
Page 2: Fusion Investment Fund/Take your BU degree global adverts
Page 3: Contents and message from John Vinney
Pages 4 – 5: News from around BU/Chloe’s Column
Pages 6 – 7: Where are they now?
Pages 8 – 9: The pen is mightier than the sword
Page 10: A student story of an underwater Equador
Page 11: Vice-Chancellor’s Staff Awards 2015
Pages 12 – 13: BU students go global
Pages 14 – 15: We Meet…Tara Douglas and Dr Bronwen Thomas
Pages 16 – 17: BU’s research goes global
Pages 18 – 19: Introducing your global BU
Page 20: Voice of Vietnam
[Heading Two] Message from John Vinney, Vice-Chancellor
Welcome to the latest edition of InsideBU– the magazine that keeps BU’s community of students and staff up to date with what’s going on around the university.
This issue looks at the different ways BU is going global, under the leadership of Dr Sonal Minocha, Pro Vice-Chancellor for Global Engagement. It comes at a time when BU has entered the elite Times Higher Education top 500 universities in the world for the first time.
Now that we’re underway with another academic year, I’d like to welcome all the new students and staff, with a particular mention to our international students who joined us at the inaugural international commencement ceremony recently. I’m really proud to say that BU is the only UK University to welcome its new international students in this way and you can read more about it on page 5.
With global engagement at the heart of our powerful fusion of research, education and professional practice, it’s fantastic to see BU’s global community continually expanding. You can find out more about our ambitions for Global Fusion on page 18, where Sonal talks about our exciting plans for the future.
I hope you enjoy this issue and if you feel inspired to share your ideas about the topics raised please email .
[Heading Three]News from around BU
[Sub-heading] Bournemouth UniversityInternational College Opens
The Bournemouth University International College on the Lansdowne Campus opened its doors to students and staff in September 2015.
The building – an educational collaboration between BU and Kaplan International Colleges – will eventually welcome up to 600 international students every year. It will offer preparation programmes which will give students the academic and English language skills to go on and study undergraduate and postgraduate degrees at BU.
The Bournemouth University International College – now the highest building in Bournemouth – has panoramic views out to the Isle of Wight, Old Harry Rocks, the Purbecks and the New Forest. It will host opportunities for shared learning such as workshops, guest talks, film nights, clubs and societies.
The building was officially opened by the Mayor of Bournemouth in October.To find out more, head to
[Sub-heading] Global Buddies
September saw thelaunch of GlobalBUddies - a new projectwhich matches newstudents in smallgroups with someone ofa different nationality.
It aims to increaseintegration between UKstudents and internationalstudents on campus, helpingstudents to build a networkof new friends from allover the world and developvaluable skills in the process.
For more information, visit
[Sub-heading] BU students take part in theSalzburg Academy
Over the summer BU students joined over70 others from 20 countries at the SalzburgAcademy on Media and Global Change, todiscuss how digital media can tackle issues oflocal and global concern.
With the United Nations Development Program, theRed Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre and GlobalVoices – and led by academic, development andmedia experts – the students sought to developinnovative media tools to better understand medialiteracy and address challenges from climate changeto women’s rights.
Find out more about the SalzburgAcademy on Media and Global Change atmedia-academy.salzburgglobal.org.
[Sub-heading] BU on the up
BU has risen in four majorUniversity league rankingsthis year.
Following three UK league table risesin 2015, the university has now enteredthe ranks of the top 500 universities inthe world for the first time, accordingto the latest Times Higher EducationWorld University Rankings. BU is one ofonly four post-92 UK institutions withinthe worldwide top 500, demonstratingthe progress the university has made inrecent years.
BU has also risen in all three major UKuniversity league tables this year, witha rise of 11 places in the CompleteUniversity Guide to 54th nationally. Arise of six places in the Sunday TimesGood University Guide takes BU from88th to joint 82nd, while in the GuardianUniversity League table 2016 BU was upeight places to 63rd nationally.
[Sub-heading] A warm #belongatBU welcome
Over 500 new BU international studentsenjoyed a very warm #belongatbuwelcome from Professor John Vinney at theBournemouth International Centre (BIC) atthe start of the term.
Our new arrivals had the chance to talk tocurrent students and alumni over dinner anddrinks, and learn more about the UK andDorset.The event was our first ever InternationalCommencement Ceremony. Students foundit particularly fitting to be starting theirBU journey at the BIC, where they’ll begraduating in a few years’ time.
[Sub-heading] Associate Deans forGlobal Engagement
We’re pleased to welcome threenew Associate Dean’s to BU’sGlobal Engagement team. They’lllead the faculties throughdelivery of our plan to expandBU’s academic footprint and takeit global.
• Dr Lucy Lu, Associate Dean -Global Engagement, Faculty ofManagement
• Dr Malcolm McIver, AssociateDean - Global Engagement,Faculty of Health & SocialSciences
• Dr AngelosStefanidis,Associate Dean - GlobalEngagement, Faculty ofScience & Technology
• The Associate Dean – GlobalEngagement for Faulty ofMedia & Communication willbe announced soon
Meet the full Global Engagementteam on the Staff Intranet:staffintranet.bournemouth.ac.uk/aboutbu/globalengagement/globalengagementteam
[Sub-heading] Celebrating NSS Success
Vice-Chancellor ProfessorJohn Vinney recentlyheld a special event to recognise and celebratethe achievements of staff working on courses thatperformed particularly well in this year’s NationalStudent Survey (NSS).
15 courses in total scored above the sector average while the Marketing,Physiotherapy and Social Work courses were presented with a ‘You’re Brilliant’award by SUBU’s Vice-President Education Ellie Mayo-Ward, as they achievedoverall student satisfaction scores of 100%.
Despite some outstanding results, BU will continue working towards higherstudent satisfaction levels to achieve greater consistency across all courses.
The NSS is a national survey, which asks UK final year undergraduate studentshow satisfied they are with various aspects of their studies. Results are publiclyavailable to prospective students to help them make informed choices ofwhere and what to study.
[Sub-heading] Chloe’s Column
SUBU has a whole range of culturalsocieties and networks from all over theworld. They are great opportunities for themany cultures we have at BU to be able tointegrate with each other, and for studentsto make friends globally. This year they cametogether to put on eventssuch as One World Day,where the different culturalsocieties showcased wherethey were from by offeringfood samples from theircountries and performingtraditional dances.
At SUBU we’ve also electedInternational Officers –both EU and non-EU – whoare here to represent our internationalstudent community at BU. This year theyhelped with the September and Januaryinductions, giving talks to students aboutlife at the university and meeting studentsat the International Welcome events. They’vealso been working on the Global BUddiesscheme for new international students.
RAG, our fundraising arm provides a greatopportunity for students to go global.
Thechallenges that RAG offer include Leggit,where students have 36 hours to hitchhikeas far away from Bournemouth as possible,without spending a penny. Students travelall across Europe – withsome even reaching theSahara Desert! Otherchallenges that RAG offerinclude trekking MachuPicchu, building schoolsin Ghana, cycling Londonto Paris and the BarcelonaMarathon.
Find out how you can getinvolved by heading to
[Heading Four] Where are they now?
BU has a hugenetwork of over70,000 alumni,with over 11,000living overseas.InsideBUfindsout what someof them havebeen up to sincegraduating…
[Sub-heading] Aakanksha Devi, graduated in 2009 with a Master’s in Multimedia Journalism
Current location: India
As part of my degree, we wererequired to do an internshipwith a media house. I did twostints with the BBC initially, but India,where my family is from, gave mean opportunity to work on digitalplatforms for ESPN-Star-Sports. It’sthe exposure to different cultures andpeople which ultimately gave me theconfidence to take on any project.
Currently, I’m a senior reporter andassistant editor with The New IndianExpress. I write and edit for a lifestyleweekly called Indulge – a glossymagazine. The job sees me living it upin Bangalore.
I believe that studying or workingoverseas drives home the point thatyou’re capable of adapting to a newsituation which employers no doubtnotice. It’s reassuring as an employerto know a person has worked in aplace outside his or her comfort zone– it shows you’re confident enough topush boundaries and if you believe inyourself, others are almost obliged tofollow suit!
Living abroad helps you look at thingsfrom a birds-eye point of view asyou’re a bit of an outsider. It givesyou a different perspective on things,which I find very stimulating andmotivating. After all, you must proveyourself to others in these differentlands!
[Sub-heading] TijaniAdavize, graduated in 2014 with a Master’s in Post-Production Editing
Current location: Nigeria
After completing myundergraduate degree inNigeria, I still didn’t feelparticularly confident in my abilities.I decided I needed to gain adequateskills that would give me the edgein a field I was passionate about –post-production editing.
BU was my number one choice,as the Faculty of Media &Communication was ranked highlyand offered very specific courses,which is what I was after. Theknowledge and skills I gained wereinvaluable; BU gave me confidenceto trust my own abilities.
I now work as a Promo Producer atTelevision Continental News, a Pan-African TV station based in Lagos. Icreate promos for programmes aswell as news items for the station; Ido the final editing of every promoincluding adding sound effects,recording and adding voiceovers andlogos before presenting the finisheditems to programme producers.
As well as the knowledge I gained atBU, I also improved my photographyskills, something I’m really interestedin. Now I’m no longer living in theUK, heading out to Bournemouthbeach to take pictures is something Ireally miss!
[Sub-heading] JuditMaireder, graduated in 2005 with a Master’s in European Tourism Management
Current location: New Zealand
Gaining my Master’soverseas was key tomy future career. Myexperiences fundamentallychanged and influenced mycareer, my attitude, perspectiveand world view, includingcultural understanding.
Part of my Master’s took placein Spain, so I lived and studiedin Madrid as well as the UK aspart of my degree. By living intwo different countries duringthis time, I learnt somethingnew every single day.
Since graduating I’ve workedin international media andadvertising agencies aroundthe world as a digital strategist,consulting international brandssuch as McDonalds, Visa, Rolex,Lufthansa and Air New Zealand,among others.
For the last four years I’ve beenliving in Auckland. At the startof this year I founded a brandand storytelling consultancycalled Y Brand - We workwith a network of creators andresearchers helping brands tofind their purpose.
I truly believe that studyingand living abroad broadenedmy perspective and helped meunderstand different cultures- an advantage in business aswell as my personal life.
[Heading Five] The pen ismightierthan thesword
Dr Yeganeh Morakabati, anacademic in the Faculty ofManagement, tells us about hertime as a lecturer in Kabul – astory of apprehension, academia,alliances and armoured cars.
I’m the type of person who’s always keeping an eye open for newand exciting opportunities - wherever they may take me - so I wasintrigued when I received an email from a university in Kabulasking if I would be interested in a short-term teaching position.
Education can change people’s lives and it’s my belief that thosefrom poor countries need education more than anything else.Helping people from underprivileged areas is one of my passions,so I immediately applied for the role.
I was over the moon when I was offered the position. Thereactions from friends and colleagues were mixed but not entirelyunexpected – they thought I was either brave or crazy. The securitysituation in Afghanistan stops most of us wanting to go there andwestern education is prohibited by Taliban law. Being a female onlymakes its worse, but nothing could stop me from wanting to go.
Being picked up in a bullet-proof Land Cruiser at Kabul Airport wascompletely surreal. Although the streets were quiet and looked tiredfrom the war, it also looked as though people were getting on andliving their lives – and my life there was just starting.
I found my first couple of days teaching intense and exhausting.Aside from the unusual hours – 5am to 8am, followed by eveninglessons – it was important I built the students’ trust, as theirperception of teachers from overseas is that they may not bequalified to teach at degree level.
The concept of noise there is different andspeaking over one another is part of the culture, sokeeping them quiet long enough to engage themwas challenging.
Slowly I built my relationship with them. Studentsthere are very bright and read you well – theyhave to in orderto survive in thatenvironment.They were friendlyand constantlychallenged andquestioned me,which I foundrefreshing. Althoughlessons started atdawn, they werealways keen andwell prepared. Mostof my studentshad full-time jobsduring the day andmany had familiesto support.
I had preconceivedideas about Afghan culture and was proved wrongon many levels. For example, I assumed mostyoung women would be married. However, thefemales I taught were in their 20s and single. Morethan that, you’d think in such a culture that girlswould remain silent in a large crowd of noisy boys.But to my astonishment, far from encounteringtimid, shy girls, I found tigers standing before memaking their presentations in English! These arethe women of Afghanistan and I’m very proud toknow them.
During my free time, I struck up a friendship withthe lady who cleaned our apartment, and it wasan amazing opportunity for me to learn first-handabout ‘ordinary’ life in extraordinary Kabul. She hadlived through the Taliban regime and gone fromliving a comfortable life to becoming the mainbreadwinner for six children. Although many ofher family had beenkilled during the war,she had such a soft souland was so dignified andhardworking; her biggestwish was to see all ofher children at universityone day.
My trip has definitelychanged me; I findteaching easier now,as working in such achallenging environmenthas increased mythreshold. On a personallevel, I grew significantlyin confidence.
The war in Afghanistanhas been costly in so many ways, although the lossof so many innocent lives dwarves the significanceof any financial burden it may have placed onthe taxpayer. But I believe it’s up to us to helpbuild a more educated Afghanistan and since myexperience teaching in a war-torn country, the oldsaying that ‘the pen is mightier than the sword’ hasnever been truer or had more meaning.
Find out more on Yeganeh’s blog:yegmorakabati.wordpress.com
[Heading Six] A student story of anunderwater Ecuador
The BU Global Horizons Fund helpsstudents to co-finance study-relatedactivities overseas such as placements,volunteering projects and field trips.Applied Geography student Theo Clitherowshares his Ecuadorian experience.
Theo visited Santa Elena, a coastal region ofEcuador, as part of a Student EnvironmentalResearch Team project in marine conservationled by BU lecturer, Dr Rick Stafford.
As part of the scuba diving team, Theo exploredcoral reefs, rocky outcrops and mangroves, groupingtogether species like algae, noting different typesof fish, the environment where they were found andthe abundance of each species in each location.
“The main idea of the project,” Theo explains “wasto create user-friendly predictive models for marineenvironment management, showing how localfishing, tourism and other human factors couldinfluence marine species.”
Another way Theo helped the project was withhis language skills, as none of the others in theproject group spoke Spanish. “It’s one of my lifeambitions to be fluent in Spanish so I’ve beenon exchange trips and I also practice Spanishthrough conversation classes at BU. My languageskills got us by, and I could explain to localdive guides what we needed, as well as generalthings, like sorting out where to live. It was goodto talk to local fishermen to get their opinions onillegal fishing in nature reserves.”
Theo applied for Global Horizons Funding and wasawarded £1,200. “The amount they gave me wasreally generous and it massively helped becauseI wouldn’t have been able to do this projectwithout it”. Theo was also successful in getting anInternational Travel Grant award.
All BU students have the option of taking aplacement during their course. “I’d say it’s the bestthing about my course. Other people did marineconservation in Thailand, and various other placesaround the world. They’re really good experiences.”
When it comes to his future, Theo says “I want togo on to do a Master’s, so I thought this would bevery useful way of putting everything I’ve learnedinto practice.”
Find out more about BU’s research atresearch.bournemouth.ac.ukGlobal Horizons Funding:
[Heading Seven] Vice-Chancellor’sStaff Awards 2015
This year’s Vice-Chancellor’s Staff Awards has seenmore nominations than ever before. InsideBUrevealswho has been shortlisted for all awards, including thebrand new GlobalBU awards.
The Vice-Chancellor’s Staff Awards2015 take place after an incredibleyear for the university. Since theprevious Awards, BU has entered theworld’s top 500 universities for the firsttime and risen in all three major UKleague tables.
The fantastic new Student Centreand Bournemouth University InternationalCollege have also opened to muchacclaim in the last year.
All of this – and more besides - has beenachieved thanks to the hard work andsupport of our staff.
The annual Staff Awards are anopportunity for us to celebrate the passion,achievements and professionalism ofour staff; individuals and teams whoreally have gone that ‘extra mile’, perhapsfor a particular project or on a dailybasis; people who demonstrate serviceexcellence in all they do.
[Subheading] Individual Achievement – Academic staff
• Professor StellaFearnley, Facultyof Management
• Tom Goss,Kingston Maurward(Partner Institution)
• ProfessorElizabeth Rosser,Faculty of Health& Social Sciences
[Subheading] Individual Achievement – Professional & Support staff