Life-Long Learning and Adult Education

For the beginning of a new year, and especially in the light of all that is happening around COVID, I want us to start a debate within the University on the nature, purpose, and delivery of life-long learning. What is it that we really want to do in this space,…

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The Value of Role Models

Over the last few weeks there have been a number of events that have focused on the idea of the role model. The Gutsy Welsh Women event featuring Hilary and Chelsea Clinton’s latest book brought together a small number of prominent women to discuss their own experiences and the need…

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Thoughts from Thessaloniki 2

It now seems some time since I travelled around Greece at Easter, ending at Thessaloniki for a week. In my last blog I wrote about genocide. The other issue that struck me particularly during this trip was the way in which different museums choose to engage with their publics. Greece…

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Thoughts from Thessaloniki 1

As part of my annual leave this year, I spent a week in Thessaloniki, as we wanted to explore the Byzantine churches, frescos and mosaics. While we were there, we had the honour of being invited to join the Armenian community in the city to commemorate the anniversary of the…

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The Gift of Inclusivity

What did you get for Christmas? Among all the shoes, books, hand knitted jumpers, umbrellas and chocolates, I received one gift just before Christmas that was very different from all the others. I was asked if I would be happy to receive an inclusivity badge from the University. This is…

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On Travelling in Cameroon

It is now just over a week since I got back from two weeks in Cameroon, and I am still adjusting to the cold. It was a great visit and there was so much to learn and to enjoy. The people of Cameroon were so welcoming and friendly. The first…

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Measuring Excellence in Learning and Teaching

On Wednesday of last week, I had the pleasure of attending an event at which many of the winners of our Excellence in Learning and Teaching Awards (ELTA) for 2018 gave short presentations on their work. It was a very inspiring event and I was asked to provide an introduction…

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The Beginning of a New Academic Year

We are once again at the beginning of a new academic year, my fourth here in Swansea, and we are expecting all the students back very soon. Fresher’s week is planned and many of us are thinking about the teaching that will be starting in the next few weeks (if…

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Meeting Student Expectations 8: Reducing Student Stress

All the issues that I have raised so far could, in theory, be introduced by any programme across the University who wished to move in that direction within the next academic year. We own the rules and regulations. We can change them to make some of these more experimental approaches…

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