Impression about MA International Relations
Tunji, Happy New Year. I hope that you are enjoying your studies with Staffordshire University. We are really proud of our MA International Relations and of the achievements of so many of our students on the course across the world .I have provided some brief answers to your questions below. I have enjoyed answering your questions.
To begin with how has your time being in Staffordshire University as VC compared to your time in Sheffield Hallam and Derby universities respectively as DVC?
The role of a Vice Chancellor is different to that of a DVC and provides different opportunities and challenges. I am privileged to be in this role and will never under-estimate just what an honour and a responsibility it is. As I joined Staffordshire I had the opportunity to shape our new Connected Strategy and to set a clear vision for the University. It has been an exciting journey launching the strategy and continuing to develop and enhance our provision. Our strategy is focused around three key themes: innovative and applied learning, talented people and connected communities. These resonate in the University and have really helped to shape our work and our thinking.
I enjoyed working in my previous Institutions and learnt a lot from each experience, working with some great colleagues and students. I am clear that Universities transformlives and are a force for good. I will always follow the achievements and developments in those Universities in which I have worked and be proud to have been a part of their community.
Why was your inauguration held deliberately on the international women's day.Has it got to do with feminism?If yes,what do you consider as the greatest challenges facing women and children globally?
Yes my inauguration was planned to coincide with International Women’s day and to be a part of the celebration of successful women in our society. In Staffordshire until very recently we had a female: Chief Constable, Chief Fire Officer, Chief executive of the
Chamber of Commerce and Vice Chancellor. Something of which I think that Staffordshire can be rightly proud.
I believe in inclusion and equality and ensuring that each individual has a fair chance in life and is recognised for their individual attributes, skills and experience. There are still millions of girls across the world who do not have access to education and many places where girls and women are not allowed to work. Not only are they not prepared for the world of work but they are not equipped with life skills and social resilience. I am conscious therefore that we need to be supporting change across a wide spectrum, from those with little or no chances in life to those who are highly skilled and able trying to move on in professions where there are still barriers associated with being ‘a woman’.
As a co-chair of opportunity area partnership board.How far have you gone in making sure
Staffordshire University graduates have better job opportunities than they currently have?
The Opportunity Area Partnership is specifically focused on schools and improving the life chances of our children and young people in schools in Stoke-on-Trent. One measure of success would be an increased percentage of our school leavers progressing into University.
However, improving the job opportunities for our graduates is a key performance indicator for us and there are many initiatives that support this aspiration. We are aiming to provide all students with work related experience during their studies. This ranges from one year placements to live project briefs. Building strong relationships with local through to international employers is key to this. Our courses are designed to support students to not only acquire relevant skills and attributes, but to be able to articulate effectively how they can demonstrate these through a range of activities and experiences. We have strengthened our careers service which provides support in developing relevant skills, preparing applications and job interview skills and connects with employers and links students to opportunities. We also have flexible study modes some of which enable greater engagement with employers such as the new apprenticeship programmes or enable students to enter the world of work more quickly in under-taking a 2 year fast track degree. Our on-line courses provide the opportunity to earn and learn and we hope to continue to grow this provision.
You often state that you want Staffs to be among the to 10 ranked universities. So was that part of the reason the conventional Faculty style was jettisoned for six Schools?And is the idea responsible for the school ratings going up or something else?
One of our KPIs is to achieve a gold rating in the Teaching Excellence Framework rather than specifically to be amongst the top 10 universities. Position in the league tables is impacted by a whole range of metrics and not always the best target for us, although I do indeed want to see an improvement in our achievement and wish to be in a position that I think better reflects the quality of the experience that our students have. What is important to us is that we continue to enhance the student experience, providing the best teaching that we can and building a positive learning environment. To achieve this we need to ensure that we also have excellent pastoral support and grow opportunities for extra-curricular activities that further enrich learning and life-experience.
We moved away from the more traditional faculty structure to re-align our subject areas into more coherent subject groupings and to produce a more lean management structure improving communication and enabling managers to work more closely with staff and students.
On a final note does Professor Barnes still have time for the gym,considering your background as a PE teacher.And by the way are you also one of those Mathematicians who cant understand why some one cannot do a simple calculation without the use of a calculator?
I am still a great advocate of exercise and its value for health and well-being and yes I try to get to the gym regularly – although I need to do better! As for maths I think it is an important skill for all to be able to do mental arithmetic so that we are readily able to appreciate numbers and figures and make sense of them and recognise where the numbers don’t quite seem to add up.
This has no doubt being an interesting encounter,and we hope you enjoy reading it.Till we come your way another time,and do keep an eye on our blog,au revoir!
