Petition Tag - university

Dear Reader,

The University of Canberra has proposed to cancel the Japanese Language Program. As a current student of the program I urge everybody to help convince the preservation of such a great university course.

With many students in the middle of their degrees this cancellation would cause so much stress and many problems. Especially for the ones who decided to go to university to specifically learn the Japanese Language.

The Japanese Program has allowed many students to learn the language and culture, which is important in the current globalizing world and especially in our very multicultural Australia. It has helped create great friendships with many Japanese students on exchange at the university and also while benefiting local students, it is a very attractive course for international students.

The university has agreements with several universities in Japan and while we have students anticipating going on exchange in Japan, we also receive many Japanese students to learn English. This is a great way to represent our university and our country.

Please help us maintain this excellent, well developed language course with the best, most encouraging teachers by signing this partition.

The past students, current students and future students appreciate your help.

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If you are a student at any University, you will already know the amount of effort that your tutors put in to get you the mark you want.

What you may forget, however, is the amount of effort the University's staff put in to make sure our seminar rooms, lecture theatres and recreational spaces are clean and safe for both work and societies.

From cleaners to security guards to admin staff, the amount of leg work that goes into keeping a university functioning is colossal. With fees set to triple in the next academic year, many universities are still not paying these staff a living wage. To the point, the University of Leicester still has 595 staff who it does not pay the living wage.

The living wage is both a figure and a set of principles:

• If you work full time in our University/Student Union you ought not to be poor.

• Low paid Staff often have to work long hours or work several jobs to make ends meet. This means they have to choose between living in poverty and spending less time with their families.

• Research suggests that to provide the basics for a family of 2 children, someone working 40 hours a week would need to earn £8.30 an hour in London and £7.20 an hour elsewhere.

• To earn enough to support their family at the National Minimum Wage someone would need to work 56 hours a week in London and 48 hours a week outside of London.

• The University can pay a living wage if it chooses to. It is a question of priorities and whether it believes that paying its staff a decent wage is important. You need to consider what you would say if asked by the University “what wouldn’t you prioritise?”.

• One in five children currently grows up in poverty despite living in a family where their parent or parents work. This is nearly two million children, roughly double the number of children living in poverty in in-work families in 1979.

• Paying the Living Wage will reduce poverty, household debt, stress and illness and improve family life for university staff.

• It also means greater productivity and improved quality of service from more motivated staff. It is also more efficient for the university with staff staying in their jobs for longer, saving on the recruitment and training costs.

• Paying the Living Wage is the right thing to do. Everyone should be able to afford what it costs to live and to bring up a family

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The University Challenge Society of the University of Dublin are seeking to convince Granada Studios to allow Trinity College to compete in the television gameshow 'University Challenge'. Trinity competed relatively successfully in this competition until about 30 years ago when interest for it lapsed.

In the last couple of years, interest has emerged once again and contact was made with Granada studios about admitting Trinity. This application was rejected on the basis that we are not a UK university, even though we were founded under Royal Charter and have competed in the past.

This year we want to have another crack at gaining entry and are thus asking for support to launch our "Let Us Play" campaign.

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We have recently started a campaign to stop the closure of the Philosophy department. So far we have started Facebook, Twitter and a society.

This is still a fairly new campaign but we have shown already to have massive support.

The first two days of a written petition saw well over 1000 signatures, I am hoping to have this much success with the online petition.

http://twitter.com/#!/search/realtime/%23savephilosophy

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Όσοι και όσες υπογράφουμε αυτό το κείμενο πιστεύουμε πως το δημόσιο πανεπιστήμιο χρειάζεται υπεράσπιση και ουσιαστική μεταρρύθμιση με άξονα το δημόσιο συμφέρον και την προοπτική ανάπτυξης της χώρας.

Με το «σχέδιο νόμου» που παρουσιάστηκε πρόσφατα από το Υπουργείο Παιδείας, παρά τις επιμέρους θετικές ρυθμίσεις, η κυβέρνηση έρχεται να επιβάλει ένα ολιγαρχικό και δεσποτικό μοντέλο διοίκησης και διαχείρισης των πανεπιστημίων.

Έστω και την ύστατη ώρα, το υπουργείο οφείλει να προσέλθει στο διάλογο με σκοπό τη δημιουργία ευρύτερων συναινέσεων. Οφείλει ν’ ακούσει του πανεπιστημιακούς που επιθυμούν την ουσιαστική μεταρρύθμιση των ελληνικών ΑΕΙ. Οφείλει να ακούσει όλους όσους ανησυχούν για την επερχόμενη κατεδάφιση των ακαδημαϊκών θεσμών, που κυοφορείται από το παρόν σχέδιο νόμου.

Eνώστε τη φωνή σας με τη δική μας!

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The Gold Coast City Council needs to proactively support any proposal that would encourage growth in the local economy, particularly at this difficult time.

King International have proposed to develop a university in Southport, right on the light rail line. This is exactly the sort of stimulus the local economy needs.

The Gold Coast City Council however, have failed to support the proposal and instead have flatly refused to waive/reduce the $133k in application fees. This is a petty, short sighted decision that has resulted in King looking elsewhere and could have devastating, long lasting effects on the Gold Coast's already tarnished reputation.

I am in no way affiliate with King and only read this article in this morning's news. Enough is enough. It's time Council started being held accountable.

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Colette Webb has been managing the Transnational Resources Centre for 4 years. In the last months the board of a review of the TRC, which involved representation from the departments of French, German and Italian, have decided not to renew Colette's contract in favour of an IT technician on a lower salary, as it is felt that this will enhance the technology within the resource. Colette will be forced to leave her job at the end of this term.

This outrageously overlooks both the hard work that Colette has put into running the TRC over the last years as well as the massive popularity of the resource, as the feedback forms within the unit demonstrate. Instead the move demonstrates the distance between the staff and the reality of the resource, its use, and its users, where and for whom Colette’s amicable nature and well informed advice are entirely responsible for its success. The decision moreover symbolizes a concentration on cost over value which is typical of Warwick PLC or Warwick University Ltd., as E. P. Thompson viewed it (Penguin, 1970), not to mention the current government and its attitude towards education as business.

We, the past and present users of the Transnational Resources Centre, call for Colette’s contract to be renewed, and for the University and the departments to understand the simple facts: the TRC needs someone with the attitude and experience of Colette Webb if it wishes to remain successful and used, but it also needs to be supported, not ignored, by the three languages departments as was originally intended by the founders of the resource. Management skills are required to make sensible use of the spaces of the TRC, and linguistic to keep the DVDs and the database organized as well as communicate sufficiently with the departments. A new staff member with technological in addition to managerial and linguistic abilities, willing to work on a low pay scale, will be difficult to find.

We also ask that the departments and Faculty of Arts recognize that technological problems at the TRC are twofold: simple computer issues, which mimic a university-wide IT services incompetence, and audio-visual, which require specialist training. In light of the above, we ask that the departments and the Faculty reconsider a more valuable and all-around beneficial division of labour which will keep Colette at the TRC but also make space for audio-visual expertise, for instance on a part-time contract. Otherwise it is perhaps time for the Faculty/departments to face up to the fact that they must eventually acknowledge: technology requires money, not man power, to remain updated and functional. If the board had more fairly and comprehensively reviewed the TRC this year, they would already be aware of this.

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A coalition is when two or more parties in government work together, either because of similar ideology or to achieve an elective majority, theoretically reaching compromises on important subjects to achieve a roughly even legislative record (issue #1 goes to party A, issue #2 goes to party B in exchange. It's not ideal, but both parties get something they want).

This coalition fails in both of those regards.

The Lib-Dems do not, and should not, have even a remotely similar political ideology to the Conservative Party. Similarly, the Tories have little to nothing in common with the Lib-Dems, and compromises on major issues have been non-existent. Instead, only a series of humiliating concessions have been made, and the Prime Minister has seen fit to lend his weight to sabotaging even these, as has been made clear with the referendum.

This is not a coalition, it is a Tory government masquerading as a coalition, pinning the blame for their actions on the Liberal Democrats whilst slowly eating their electoral base.

It is a state of affairs that cannot continue, and thus the Liberal Democrats must salvage what is left of their reputation and leave this ship of government before they are nailed to the mast. They do not deserve the criticisms aimed at them, and if they are to avoid decimation at the next election they must realise their mistake early, pull out, and assume a campaign of coordinated blocking of the government's supposed-reforms until concessions are made on major points of Lib-Dem policy and tangible results are produced as a result.

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On the 22nd of March 2011 the University of Glasgow tried to evict the students occupying the Hetherington Building.

This was met with considerable resistance by those within the building and a large police presence was required to keep things under control.

After this, protesters moved to the Senate Rooms to begin a new occupation. The protesters have called police actions 'heavy handed'.

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On Thursday 10 March 2011, the Faculty Association of
Vancouver Island University (VIU) commenced a strike in
relation to their collective bargain agreement with the
university. As a result, students have been unable to
attend classes and finish their semester. The process of
mediation with the parties has not been successful to date.

The student body of constitutes over 19,000 members
with over 8000 enrolled in full-time studies. The cessation
of classes against their will affects them collaterally in
terms of damage.

The student body contribute significant funds to the
university through tuition, and are the purpose of the
institution's function. While not an immediate party
involved in the dispute, they are a party holding a primary
interest in the dispute and their position should be
considered paramount.

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The Federal Government decided recently to abolish the Australian Learning and Teaching Council (ALTC) in order to fund its flood reconstruction package. Following deals with the Greens and Mr Wilkie, the Government performed a half-backflip by restoring $50 million in funding and transferring some as yet unspecified functions of the ALTC to the Department of Education.

This is a solution that satisfies no one. The ALTC plays an extremely valuable role in improving the quality of the learning and teaching experience for one million students and academics in Australian universities. For the sake of “saving” a few million dollars each year, all this work and all the accumulated expertise and corporate knowledge will be lost. Meanwhile the Department of Education is clearly under-resourced and not experienced enough to perform the ALTC’s functions.

The decision to restore the ALTC would not be a difficult one to make. But the window of opportunity is closing, as the 2011/12 Federal Budget approaches. From then on, it will be much more difficult to save the ALTC – it is much easier to ensure that a pot is not broken, than to try to put its shattered pieces back together.

That is why the Government, and Minister Evans in particular, need to be made to understand just how important this issue is to the university sector. Minister Evans has to listen and stand up for the key constituency he is meant to represent.

PLEASE NOTE: Please put the name of tertiary institution you work for (if applicable) under the "street address" field.

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We welcome the signatures of all those who are against the proposed cuts to higher education.

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I, Tim Porter have been organizing an retrospective, dedicated to an important time period in Horror Cinema & British Film History. The Video Nasties (as they were named by the press) created a mass of moral outcry. These movies were released on a new technological device that could be used at home: The VHS Player.

Videos were un-certified and figures such as Mary Whitehouse and the Conservative government decided to draw up a list of titles to seize and prosecute these movies as they were deemed evil and repugnant. This caused a ripple effect with the British Board Of Film Classification (BBFC), as similar films were heavily censored.

This retrospective focuses on the events of the 1980's. I plan to screen 16 of the so-called nasties. These screenings will include special guests ranging from film critics, filmmakers and academics. We plan to debate and discuss in a broad context the impact that this time period has made, whether the films were as harmful as first thought and a general discussion on censorship. We will also highlight recent films such as: A Serbian Film (2010) as a prime companion to the response from the media and censors about the film's content.

These screenings are proposed to go ahead at the University of Westminster: Harrow Campus. I am asking for your support as the university are hesitant about the event. This petition is to show the interest and a possible idea on audience numbers this event will attract.

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In the summer of 2010, John Calipari and the University of Kentucky basketball pursued Enes Kanter, a center from Turkey. In the last months, he has been declared ineligible multiple times. The cause, Kanter accepted a surplus in funds, 33k to be exact.

This fact has been agreed by both opposing parties, the University of Kentucky and the NCAA. However, multiple other players in similar situations very comparible to the Kanter's have been declared eligible. This petition calls for the NCAA to declare Kanter eligible in pursuit of consistent ruling in these types of cases.

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Each year universities such as Memorial University of Newfoundland hold Spring and Fall Convocations. While convocation can be an enjoyable time for students and family to gather during this ceremony it poses an inconvenience for students completing their degrees at the end of the Fall semester (December).

Students who may have met all the academic requirements and paid all outstanding fees still have to wait until Spring Convocation (Approximately 5 months) to receive their parchment.

According to Memorial University Regulations, section 49 of the Memorial University Act:

"The Chancellor shall be the Chairperson of Convocation and all degrees shall be conferred by him or her."

Basically put, you have to wait until the university's Chancellor give you your parchment.

However, students seeking employment and wishing to go overseas often require an original degree as a requirement of their employer or the foreign government.

Some universities agree to give you a "Pre-convocation Diploma" which is basically a parchment much the same as a degree to take the place of your actual degree, pending convocation.

If any university is going to go through the trouble of creating a "Pre-convocation" diploma then why can't they simple give students their degrees in advance of convocation?

If students have met completed the academic requirements for their degree and paid all fees associated with their education they have aright to receive their degree without delay.

As a representative from Memorial University's Registrar's Office stated in a recent email (December 8, 2010 2:50 PM), paraphrasing:

"it is my view that the process of conferring degrees at Memorial is not a regulation but stems from a longstanding practice or custom in place at universities generally"

Not a regulation but a tradition, and one that needs to change!

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If the Government’s plans for higher education go ahead it will be a disaster for students and the future of university education;

• students will be leaving university saddled with debts of up to £80,000;

• higher education will become a two tier system with only the rich going to the best universities;

• access to university will be based on bank balances not your academic ability;

• poorer students will be put off going to university if they have to pay £9,000 a year.

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No to increase of University fees to £80,000 in mainland U.K. and £60,000 in Northern Ireland.

Middle-class students face bills of £80,000 to go to university in the biggest shake-up of higher education funding for half a century.

They will bear the brunt of drastic cuts to university budgets through a triple whammy of higher tuition fees, costlier student loans and restricted access to grants.

At present, tuition fees are capped at £3,290 a year, and student loans to cover these charges and living costs are paid back at very low interest rates.

But fees are set to rise to take the cost of a three-year degree to £30,000 from as early as 2012, while increasing rates on loans could add a further £20,000 in interest payments. Living costs of about £30,000 would take the total to £80,000.

Universities would be required to use a proportion of their additional fee income to prevent the poorest youngsters being deterred from higher education, in what amounts to a significant levy on the middle-classes to subsidise those on low incomes.

The reforms could see tens of thousands continuing to make repayments well into their 40s.

Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1318987/80-000-degree-higher-fees-dearer-loans-fewer-grants-make-cost-university-soar.html

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The University plans to appoint a reader/professor in theatre and sack one lecturer specialising in film and one lecturer specialising in television. This is part of the University’s plans to both save money and to reshape the University ‘strategically’. The two lecturers who will be dismissed are most likely to be junior members of staff (the department has a high proportion of young lecturers) and the new reader/professor will certainly be on a much higher pay scale. Therefore, the cost saving objective behind this plan is not apparent. Neither does the ‘reshaping strategy’ (e.g. scaling back film and television while investing in theatre) have any clear reasoning behind it. Repeatedly, the University has claimed that the decision to favour theatre in the current plans is based upon perceptions of relative research strength. For example, early in the process of planning where to make cuts, the University management suggested that film performed less well in the last RAE (Research Assessment Exercise). It was pointed out that this was pure speculation (the RAE results are completely anonymous and do not identify individual lecturers let alone separate theatre from film or television) and they eventually retracted this claim (or, rather, stopped saying it). However, they continue to point to the perceived greatest value for the department of theatre as a research discipline as the basis for their decisions. Whenever they are questioned on the academic basis for their strategy, the University management is unable to point to any factual data, any objective or empirical evidence. We, the undersigned, point out that the University seems to be basing their continued strategy, which will destroy two careers, on gossip and innuendo.

Moreover, by singling out film and television specialists, the University is effectively undermining the interdisciplinarity of the department, which is one of its renowned features. For example, the BA in Film and Theatre is a single-honours degree. The disciplines are substantially integrated through the department’s teaching, both at undergraduate and postgraduate level, as well as through the department’s research. Moreover, the recently advertised post of reader/professor in theatre would be the replacement of a retired member of staff whose job title was ‘professor in film and drama’.

We note that the department has been unable to appoint at reader level or above in theatre on two separate occasions (the post was last advertised in August 2010 and the University was unable to draw up a shortlist of a sufficient calibre). In effect, this means that the University will fire two (almost certainly junior) academics in order to have the ‘research leadership’ of a person who they cannot find. This is not only morally indefensible but is also severely misguided. The department is a very young one (in terms of the age of its lecturers), the University having repeatedly invested in the long-term potential of junior staff. Neither the University nor the department has ever suggested junior staff are not fulfilling this potential, so they should have the patience to realise the long-term vision their previous appointments demonstrated and reward the excellence in teaching and research displayed by this vibrant department. The University has also invested in an £11 million building for the department (opening Easter this year), which will contain state of the art facilities for theatre, film and television, and we, the undersigned, suggest the University should better value the staff who will work in its new buildings.

In the current climate, many will feel that financial savings must be made at Reading and at other universities. However, here as elsewhere, savings can be made by voluntary redundancy and the non-replacement of staff. We do not accept the University pursuing a misguided and short-termist agenda that will destroy careers, staff morale, will weaken the diversity of research and teaching in the department and is part of a ‘strategy’ that is ill-conceived and lacks an objective grounding in fact.


Please read on...

To those signing the petition, we ask if you would please email as many of the senior members of the University of Reading management that you can in order to protest against its mistreatment of staff and to demand that it withdraw from its plans for a new appointment in theatre so that it can save existing posts.

The email addresses are below and we have also included a suggested template for the email at the bottom. Please use/don’t use as you see fit. We would be so grateful if you can show your support for the staff in Reading FTT in any way you can and protest against the sacking of two lecturers in order to get in a new, more senior member of staff. This is all part of a severely misguided (not to mention callous) management agenda.

Thank you so much for your support!

Gordon Marshall (Vice Chancellor): g.marshall@reading.ac.uk

Christopher Fisher (President of University Council): cfisher@penfida.co.uk

Tony Downes (Deputy Vice Chancellor): t.a.downes@reading.ac.uk

Rob Robson (Pro-Vice Chancellor for Teaching and Learning): pvctandl@reading.ac.uk

Sue Walker (Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Humanities): s.f.walker@reading.ac.uk

Jonathan Bignell (Head of School of Arts, English and Communication Design and member of FTT department): j.bignell@reading.ac.uk


Dear *,

I call on the University of Reading to withdraw its plans to make two lecturers redundant in its Film, Theatre and Television department (FTT) while appointing a new reader/professor in the same department. The University says that its ‘intention remains of course to avoid the need for compulsory redundancy where this is possible’ yet these redundancies are clearly avoidable here – a reader/professor clearly costs a lot more than the lecturers the University plans to dismiss. These redundancies will not only potentially destroy two careers, they will undermine the interdisciplinarity the FTT department is known for and the diversity and vibrancy of its teaching and research.

In the current climate, the University management clearly feels that financial savings must be made. However, here as elsewhere, the savings can be made by voluntary redundancy and the non-replacement of staff. I contend that this would be a much less divisive and much less destructive way of coping with the current funding crisis and would therefore prove to be a much more effective management policy in the longer term.

Thanks for your time in reading this.

Yours *

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We are future midwives. So needed. So close to qualifying. We need your help.

The UK is dangerously short of midwives. The midwives surviving the profession are dedicated and hard-working. The women giving birth to their babies need competent healthy and loving midwives alongside them at this precious and potentially dangerous and awesome event in their lives.

The tax-payer is spending many thousands of pounds preparing future midwives.

One of these future midwives is 4 months away from the completion of a 3 year course demanding 150 hours a month of placement and lectures plus many additional hours of personal study.

She is a mother of 2 very young children. She is a partner, daughter, sister and friend. She has been wonderfully mentored and trained by dedicated, overworked midwives. She has lived near the poverty line, suffered ill health and lost many nights sleep to fulfill her dream of becoming a midwife.

She has personally and safely ushered women and infants into motherhood. A privilege that she has dedicated her all to train for and a role that she has been assessed on and performs more than competently.

She narrowly failed an essay on the public health role of the midwife 3 times.

4 months before realisation of her dream she has been kicked off the course.

Please could you 'like' this page and sign our petition in support of her appeal for a chance to complete the course so that many more women to come can have the benefit of this loving dedicated future midwife alongside them. The UK so desperately needs dedicated midwives. So much has been given by the tax-payer, mentors, lecturers and students already. Kicking her off the course at this stage would be a tragic, heartless, short-sighted and wasteful act.

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The academic tools and resources for ELEC3400, Signal Processing, have been poorly designed. Lectures are very easily understood and thus, makes the module seem easy. As for tutorials, insufficient relevant questions were given for practice and no answers were provided either. This makes us unaware of what we are doing is correct or incorrect.

We do believe that tutorials are the most critical part of any module as it is from there we can understand the concepts better, practice questions and prepare ourselves for the Final Exam. But it hasn't been this way so far. Tutorials have been largely a waste of time. Questions given for practise are not preparing us for the Final exam. Most of the students have failed the module due to the final exam. The questions asked are NOT RELEVANT to what was being taught in the module.

Solution : More tough questions to be given out for practice. Questions which meet the similar difficulty level asked during exams would provide better preparation and understanding of the module. Past Year exam samples to be given.

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Petition to Save the Centre for Research in Modern European Philosophy, Middlesex University and to get those students and staff who were suspended for their support reinstated

--------------------------------IMPORTANT UPDATE - May 23, 2010 --------------------------------

Bullying managers at Middlesex University have suspended two philosophy professors and several philosophy students for the crime of campaigning to save their own jobs and courses.

The suspensions come in the wake of international outrage at plans by Middlesex managers to shut down the university's world renowned philosophy centre. Students occupied the Mansion Building at Middlesex's Trent Park campus for 12 days in protest at the closure decision. Now the university bosses are threatening to suspend every student involved in this peaceful sit-in protest.

We must not let these bullies get away with trashing Middlesex University's academic reputation, shutting down successful departments and intimidating those staff and students who stand up to them.

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The abrupt closure of the Philosophy programmes at Middlesex University is a matter of national and indeed international concern. Not only does it flatly contradict the stated commitment of Middlesex University to promote 'research excellence', it represents a startling stage in the ongoing impoverishment of Philosophy provision in the UK.

The Centre for Research in Modern European Philosophy (http://www.web.mdx.ac.uk/crmep/) at Middlesex makes a significant and distinctive contribution to the teaching of philosophy in the UK. Its set of MA programmes is currently the largest in the UK, and Philosophy is the most prestigious and highest research-rated subject at Middlesex University.

The CRMEP is now widely recognised as one of the most important centres for the study of modern European philosophy anywhere in the English-speaking world. Building on its grade of 5 in the 2001 Research Assessment Exercise, in the 2008 RAE Middlesex was rated first in philosophy among post-1992 universities, with 65% of its research activity judged ‘world-leading’ or ‘internationally excellent’.

More importantly, work carried out at the CRMEP is characterised by a unique emphasis on broad cultural, artistic and intellectual contexts, and a marked sense of social and political engagement.

Middlesex Philosophy is one of only a handful of programmes left in the UK that provides both research-driven and inclusive post-graduate teaching aimed at a wide range of students, specialist and non-specialist. It also happens to generate a substantial amount of revenue for the University, currently contributing close to half of its total income to the University's central administration.

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To express support and to help with the campaign email savemdxphil@gmail.com or join the facebook group.

If you would like to keep up to date on the progress of the campaign then please visit:
http://savemdxphil.com/
or follow us on twitter:
http://twitter.com/saveMDXphil

For various past press releases (which include pieces in the Guardian, Guardian CIF, the Telegraph, and BBC World Radio) please visit:
http://savemdxphil.com/2010/05/09/press-round-up/
or join our facebook group where all publications and future events are discussed:
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/group.php?gid=119102561449990&ref=ts

For more information on the financial arguments you can read our Finance FAQ -
http://savemdxphil.com/2010/05/01/faq-on-the-financial-situation-of-philosophy-at-middlesex/

PLEASE CIRCULATE THIS NEWS WIDELY - closure at Liverpool and cuts at KCL and elsewhere have been avoided and suspensions as Sussex have been reveresed due to protest. It IS possible to stop the demented venal idiocy of university management.

If you would like to show Dean Esche what you think of this decision then you can email him at e.esche@mdx.ac.uk, please send a copy and any reply to savemdxphil@gmail.com

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NSW Health recently decided that 3rd Year Nursing Students cannot apply for post-graduate Midwifery places for the following year.

Many students are just completing their nursing degrees in order to go into Midwifery, and will be forced into New Graduate nursing places instead of fulfilling their dreams. This will be very costly for NSW Health, as it is a significant use of resources to look after newly graduated nurses in their first year. These resources would be better spent on graduates who wish to be nurses, not those who were forced to use it as a stepping stone to midwifery.

With the new National Education standards about to come into effect, it is likely that these students will now have to endure another 3 years of study, in a separate Bachelor's degree, in order to become midwives. This is extremely unfair on them, and is happening only because they graduate in the middle of a messy, ill-thought out change in Nurse and Midwife Registration in Australia.

University of Newcastle Students learned this only weeks after learning that the Graduate Diploma had been cancelled at that uni, without their knowledge, a double whammy for these students - they can't go through their own university, and can't go into the correspondence course either! This also means there will be a 2-3 year gap in midwife graduates in the Hunter region - is this really what we want with the shortage of midwives?

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We, the students of University of Santo Tomas - Alfredo M. Velayo College of Accountancy (Management Accounting students), feel bad re the admin of our college. We VISIBLY WITNESS the discrimination against MA students. (e.g. SCHEDULE of CLASSES 4pm - 8pm).

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During the month of March a survey was conducted at the University of Lethbridge.

What Does the University of Lethbridge Community Think of Sodexo Food?

The objective of this survey was to receive an empirical answer to the question of what the University of Lethbridge (UofL) community think of Sodexo food services on campus. This survey was commissioned by the Service Employee’s International Union (S.E.I.U) after consultation with the University of Lethbridge Students Union (ULSU) and the Lethbridge Public Interest Research Group (LPIRG). If the answer was found to be a negative one then a second action-research projected would attempt to get better food service on campus.

Initially the goal was to collect 400 responses but with the survey approaching 250 a very clear trend had emerged and we decided we had enough data. With 244 surveys returned there was a very high (95.1%) completion rate.

The University of Lethbridge has a population of over 10000 including 8200 undergraduates and the survey has a 95% confidence rating that the results are accurate within 6points.

The clearest message from both the quantitative and qualitative data is that the price of food is too high for the quality received. 70% picked the worst category on the price of food in the quantitative section and in the qualitative section over 150 wrote that the food was too expensive.

Another significant statistical response was overall satisfaction with 48.5% rating it as “poor”. The comments section revealed a significant number are unhappy with the exclusivity contract, the mandatory residence meal plan, greasy food, the lack of healthy food and vegetarian options and choices for those on restricted diets.

Perhaps most significant though was that eight students reported getting food poisoning after eating at Sodexo establishments at the UofL. The results of this survey provide a very clear mandate for changes to food services at the University of Lethbridge.

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Currently proposed curriculum reform leaves no space for a language or criticism paper. We believe this move to be regressive, and lacking in proper student consultation.

Dropping Paper 1 would be detrimental to the University. Narrowing the course would limit the extent to which Oxford can attract and maintain the most capable and aspirational students and faculty.

Whilst aspects of the curriculum may warrant reform, losing Paper 1 in favour of maintaining space for the period papers is misguided. Learning how to analyse a text and to understand how a language can be unstable and changing brings you the confidence to approach even the hardest texts by actually beginning with the words on the page. Moreover, these skills enhance studies for the period papers.

There would be no literature without language. Scrutiny and investigation of the language we use, its history, and modes of application can only be worthwhile study.

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We, the students, staff and faculty of Florida Gulf Coast University, care about our health and the health of those around us. Therefore, we support efforts to make Florida Gulf Coast University a tobacco-free campus.

We are aware of the dangers tobacco use poses on those who use it and those who are involuntarily exposed to it. These problems are completely avoidable. Secondhand smoke is a known killer and a hazard that we prefer to avoid while entering or leaving our campus buildings.

We view this educational institution as a place where knowledge is shared, discussed and integrated into our daily lives, a place that accepts scientific proof and adapts with it, as needed. Yet, our current campus tobacco policy seems at odds with nearly all of the current scientific knowledge about tobacco use.

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The Philadelphia Student Newspaper, The Text, was cut from the University's budget for the 2009-2010 school year. This absence has left the University and it's students without an outlet to communicate and discuss campus and world issues.

A student newspaper is an integral part of any campus or city - it unifies students and serves as a voice, culture, and source of communication. This petition is to show that students and faculty of Philadelphia University want and need a student newspaper.

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For two years, the Shenandoah University Buzzin' Dozen Hornet Pep Band has been performing at Shenandoah Hornet Athletic events and other campus occasions (the Grand Marshall Parade of the Apple Blossom Festival, freshman orientation, pep rallies, etc). The band has increased attendance to these events, raised enthusiasm from both players and spectators alike, and performed fun-loving, upbeat music for all to enjoy.

On Thursday, Feb 4, the Pep Band was suspended indefinitely; and their director, graduate student Eric Price, was fired. This occurred after a humorous email from Price to the band was taken out of context and administrators were notified.

Price was not given any sort of warning, nor was he given any written notification of his termination. The band was notified in a email that failed to mention why it (the band) was being suspended.

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City University has closed the prayer room that the Muslim students have been using for over a decade now and intend to move the Muslim students to a Multi-Faith prayer room located in the basement of the main building. (next to the kitchens)

The problems are the following:-
- Room is far too small compared to the current room
- Room is a multi-faith prayer room which Muslims cannot pray in as other gods are worshiped in the same room.
- The washing facilities are inadequate to cater for the needs of a Muslim which are essential before the prayer.
- Booking of the room must be done prior the use which clearly limits the time and duration of the prayer.
- It is a violation of the Human Rights Act 1998 in particular to the right to freedom of religion

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