Student event raises over £3,500 for the Poole Africa Link

Posted . Filed under News, Student Experience.

 On Friday 22 March 2013,  five Bournemouth University Event Management students successfully organised a wonderful evening full of food, music, dance and fundraising at The Haven Hotel, Sandbanks. The black tie dinner and auction was in aid of the locally based charity, Poole Africa Link, who send out doctors and nurses to the Wau district of South Sudan to improve the health care currently being provided.

The James Bond themed event included a fantastic array of entertainment, from an auction and raffle, including Bond inspired prizes, to international champion dance performances and a great live show by four-piece jazz band, The Brightside Band. The group of five had an extremely successful evening, raising over £3,500 for the charity. Team leader, Francesca Gorvin said “We would like to thank everyone who helped make this event possible: our sponsors, Unicorn Training and Pennyfarthing have been extremely generous, and to all our guests for making the night such a fantastic success”.

To view a selection of photos from the night please visit: Dorset Society – Poole Africa Link event photos

Final Year Students take on the High Ropes as part of the STEEP Programme

Posted . Filed under News.

This week 20 final year students went to Avon Tyrrell to undertake high ropes activities, archery and pioneering as part of the STEEP programme.

The student’s first had to take part in the high ropes challenge where they were kitted out with helmets and harnesses before they scaled the trees. The students had to complete the course that was around 40ft up in the air which included climbing a wobbly balance pole and hanging upside down at one point.

Throughout the group supported each other to overcome each obstacle.

After the high ropes, the students took part in some Archery, which a lot of them had never done before. The Archery encouraged team work but also individual competition.

After a hot meal the group were split into 3 for the pioneering challenge.  After being given 4 large wooden poles, rope and a bungee cord each team worked together to figure out how to make a self-supporting structure that would outperform the competition.

Final year student Camilla Larkan commented on the experience “It has been a fantastic day filled with challenges and so many more laughs, our activity guides were excellent and perfectly encouraging.

I definitely think that these STEEP activities should continue, they are so much more than a fun day out, and so valuable during this time of year when the pressure is mounting as we are able to escape the desktop and academic theory and apply logic and open minded thinking to real life challenges. 

 Today was a breath of fresh air!”

 The High Ropes Challenge was the last STEEP activity offered this year. The programme will re-open next year for final year students.

UG-PG Review

Posted . Filed under News, Student Experience.

This week the School was involved in the Periodic Review of all its Undergraduate and Postgraduate Programmes which involves academics from other universities and representatives from all the industry sectors covered by the School. Following an excellent event involving staff and students 6-year approval was awarded to all School Programmes. Particular thanks must go to the students involved who impressed immensely the Panel on Wednesday and were considered a credit to BU and the School.

 In particular the Panel commended ‘active fusion between education, research and professional practice’, ‘integration of guest speakers, visits and field work’, ‘placements/experiential learning/employability and ‘clear and substantial evidence of the commitment of teaching teams to students’.

Event Management Students Dragon’s Den Event becomes a reality at the Captain’s Club Hotel

Posted . Filed under News, Student Experience.

On February 17th, the Captain’s Club Hotel in Christchurch hosted an event that had originally been an idea of 4 Bournemouth University Event Management students.

Last year, the students, Oliver Jones, Takara Patrick, Joanna Mitchell and Michael-Aaron Loftus, had to pitch a new event idea to the Captain’s Club in a Dragon’s Den style presentation as part of their first year.

The Captains Club liked the idea that that was pitched to them so much that they decided to actually host the event.

The students pitched “A Night on the Titanic” evening where guests were treated to a menu that would have been served on the Titanic, as well as entertainment and a string quartet.

All profits of the event when to the RNLI in Mudeford.

Joanna commented “It was a great opportunity for us to be given the chance to host the event after only speaking about it in theoretical terms.

 The Captain’s Club were great help and allowed us to complete many tasks for the event such as writing and sending out the press release, finding a printing company, looking for props and costumes and finally entertainment.

 Although parts were challenging we all learnt a lot and enjoyed hosting the event. We were lucky to be given the opportunity and support of The Captains Club and were happy with the end result with guests seeming to have enjoyed themselves thoroughly.”

 Managing director of the hotel, Tim Lloyd said: “When the group pitched the idea we felt they had the enthusiasm and commitment to put theory into practice.

“It may have been courageous on our part but we felt the hotel was already suitable to host such a grand occasion.

With the entire hotel’s crew fully behind the students in helping to re-create this special night, it really was a great celebration.”

Congratulations to the students on this achievement!

Bournemouth University visits Nepal

Posted . Filed under News, Research.

Four senior academics from Bournemouth University are on an official three-day visit to Nepal during February 26-28. They are: Prof. Dr. Holger Schutkowski, Acting Pro Vice-Chancellor of Bournemouth University and Deputy Dean of the School of Applied Sciences, Dr. Richard Shipway, Associate Dean: International Engagement in the School of Tourism, Prof Dr. Edwin van Teijlingen, Professor of Reproductive Health Research and Dr. Ana Adi, Head of International Development for the Media School.

 Facilitated by the UK-Nepal Friendship Society, the visit aims to establish and expand the academic and research collaborations of Bournemouth University with leading universities in Nepal. The academics will visit Tribhuvan University, Lumbini Buddhist University, Pokhara University, Patan Academy of Health Sciences (PAHS) and the Nepal Sanskrit University meeting with the institutions’ Vice-Chancellors and senior academics and staff. The team is also expected to meet with high dignitaries of Nepal including the Prime Minister, Tourism Ministry, Health ministry and Education Ministry.

 Bournemouth University has already a long-standing reputation in health services research in Nepal through Prof. Dr. Edwin van Teijlingen, also a Visiting Professor at both MMIHS and Nobel College. Prof. Dr. van Teijlingen has published over sixty academic papers on health studies in Nepal, both in international journals and in English-language journals in Nepal. Bournemouth University is also the host of Dr. Laxmi Ghimire, a senior researcher and active member of the UK-Nepal Friendship Society.

 Further areas of interest and expertise of Bournemouth University in Nepal include Media Studies, Tourism and Archaeological Sciences.

Dr. Richard Shipway commented: “We see great opportunities in a wide-range of aspects of tourism research in Nepal, including eco-tourism.”  Dr. Ana Adi added: “Both the ‘old’ and the ‘new’ media are in an early stage of development in Nepal, there is a lot of scope for research here as well as a great potential for extended training and collaborations.”

 Uttam Bhlon, secretary for the UK-Nepal Friendship Society (Nepal Chapter) remarked: “We welcome the Bournemouth University team to Nepal and hope this is a start of long-term relationship.”

 

Barbara Neuhofer presents at the CAUTHE Conference 2013

Posted . Filed under News, Research.

PhD Researcher, Barbara Neuhofer has just returned from presenting at the CAUTHE Conference 2013 in Christchurch, New Zealand.

Barbara presented her paper that she co-authored with Professor Dimitrios Buhalis and Professor Adele Ladkin, titled “Experiences, Co-creation and Technology: A conceptual approach to enhance tourism experiences” at the conference.

Back in November, Barbara was awarded the PGR Development Scheme Funding by the Graduate School. This funding meant she had the opportunity to travel to New Zealand to attend the conference and present her paper.

Barbara commented “It was a highly beneficial conference and a great chance for me to share my PhD research, meet new academics, engage and extend my academic network to key universities and institutions in the Australasian region.

Overall it was a very enriching experience and I would like to express my gratitude to the Graduate School and the School of Tourism for giving me the financial support to attend CAUTHE Conference 2013.”

Congratulations to Barbara on this achievement.

Final Year Students learn basic first aid as part of the STEEP Programme

Posted . Filed under News.

Last week, 30 final year students got the opportunity to learn first aid as part of the STEEP programme.

The students were trained by the Ouch Training Team. Ouch training was created at the beginning of the 21st century. They offer fun and flexible first aid training across the UK.

The students were trained in first aid in the workplace and they will all now receive a DSE recognised qualification that lasts up to three years.

One student commented that Ouch “made the content fun and enjoyable. The practical tasks were a great practice for real life situations”

The STEEP programme (Student Talent Employability & Engagement Programme) is run every year for final year students. It aims to offer them opportunities to enhance their CV or gain new experiences that can be used to help find a future job.

Santander Intern Programme for Final Year’s and Graduates

Posted . Filed under News.

Santander has 8 part funded 3-month internships with SME companies available which need to be allocated by 8th March. Once decided, the internships will then be advertised to our students.

The Santander Intern Programme is a scheme which provides final year students and recent Graduates paid-for work experience with local business. Santander is contributing 50% of the funding for the internship with the other 50% being funded by the university, the SME or both.

 The internship will last for 3 months and the intern will receive £1000 per month from the Programme.

 For more information please contact the Bournemouth University Ambassador Kelly Noble knoble@bournemouth.ac.uk

Bournemouth University and Macau IFT Video Conference on World Heritage

Posted . Filed under Guest speakers, News.

On the 21st March, Bournemouth University will be hosting its annual video conference with Macau IFT. This year’s conference has the topic of World Heritage.

The first two guest speakers have just been announced:

Gde Indra Bhaskara,  a PhD student from the  School of Tourism at Bournemouth University will be giving a key note speech titled: The local community participation in UNESCO’s World Heritage nomination process: Jatiluwih rice fields, Bali, Indonesia

The second Key note speakers is Dr Jonathan R Edwards who is currently a Reader in Tourism in the School of Tourism at Bournemouth University titled: The second speaker: Title: World heritage Sites of the Silk Road in Central Asia – Opportunities and Challenges.

Any one is welcome to attend this conference.

The conference is being organsied by MSc Event Management student as part of their degree.

We will be bringing you more news over the next few weeks but for now please see the Facebook Page for more information

Sport Student’s Consultancy Project Presentation at Thruxton Driving Circuit

Posted . Filed under News, Student Experience.

Yesterday our Level H Sports students had their consultancy project presentations at Thruxton Driving Circuit.

The students have been working on 2 projects for Thruxton as part of their consultancy project.

One group, consisting of Faye Fisher, Nicola Page, Ben Gifford, Tom Deighton, Jake Roman-Capon, had to look at the driving experience that Thruxton offer and how they could enhance the experience for the customer.

Whilst the other group, consisting of Tim Donald, Scott Taylor, Adam Dover, Joe Moverly, James Burr, had to analyse the Karting Circuit also offered at Thruxton and come up with ways to market that more efficiently.

 Thruxton is a very successful business so it was quite a challenge for the students to suggest improvements.

However, yesterday both groups that took part in the consultancy project came up with some innovative ideas and impressed the people at Thruxton.

This was a great opportunity for the students to not only have the experience of a real life consultancy project but also potentially to make connections for future employment.