VISIT TO THE UNIVERSITY OF SUSSEX

First step towards best practices.

2011-04-10T11:09:00.001-07:00

The University of Sussex announces the dates of academic and non academic activities well in advance and accordingly executes them in a very professional manner. The academic terms till 2019-2020 of the University have been announced on the website. The prospectus of the University is available for the academic year 2012-13. Admissions to different degree programmes for the year 2011-2012 are on. E-learning resources along with the list of reading material, web resources and individual time table for students are available before the term starts. The time table is never disturbed in spite of other activities on campus. The website of the University is very resourceful. We need to learn such good practices from leading Universities like Sussex.

Last week, we planned uninterrupted academic programmes for first term of Hr. Secondary Section and semesters I, III and V of College section. These will commence from 6^th June and 15th June respectively for the academic year 2011-12. We will have all other activities in the evening.

Planning the Work Schedule

2011-03-31T18:44:00.001-07:00

It is more than a week since I returned from the University of Sussex. I liked the work culture at Sussex. The people there are expected to take prior appointment if they want to meet somebody. I used to do the same if I had to meet anybody in the University. This helped me as well as the person whom I met in terms of time and planning. Prior appointment helps to plan the work schedule. In fact, all of us should adopt this practice of taking prior appointment. I want to start this practice from my side first. If I wish to meet anyone in the College, I will ask for appointment. I also expect the same from others who want to meet me.

Please send an e-mail for appointment. Shortly, there will be a provision on the College website www.chowgules.ac.in to seek appointments to meet the Principal/ Vice-Principal.

Returning to Goa

2011-03-18T10:36:00.000-07:00

Returning to Goa
The spring term of the academic year of Sussex University ends on 18th March 2011. The students will have four weeks Easter break from 19th March 2011 to 26th April 2011. After the Ester break the summer term will start from 27th April 2011 to 1st July 2011. But the teaching in summer term is going to be only in first four weeks unlike autumn and spring terms. The students will answer their examinations from 25th May 2011 to end of June 2011.
I have decided to leave Brighton on 19th March 2011 for Goa. Since last two days I am busy packing my things. I feel very happy because I successfully completed the task assigned to me. I kept myself busy attending lectures, practicals, seminars and tutorials of different courses in Arts as well as Science during these six months of my stay. I also met the faculty and the staff of the Sussex University . By staying here for two terms I understood the system of higher education in UK in general and of the Sussex University in particular. I liked the system at Sussex University because everything is pre-planned and well organised. The students are given more time to learn and less contact hours. The assessment methods develop different skills of the students. The technology is used to the maximum extent. The courses are revised every year based on the feedback. The University always looks forward to improve the standard of education by providing new and innovative courses to the students.
I am grateful to the University of Sussex for giving me an opportunity to learn their methods of teaching, learning and assessment. We can definitely adopt some of these best practices in our system of higher education.

Museums in London......contd.

2011-03-17T10:32:00.000-07:00

Science Museum

Blue line

British Museum

Has outstanding collection, which illuminates the story of human culture from its beginnings to the present day.

The British Museum was established in 1753 and is now home to over six million artefacts, ranging from small archaeological fragments to massive objects from past and contemporary cultures. There are one hundred galleries which are organised by geography, history and theme. There is no right or wrong way to visit the British Museum. Every time you visit, you will discover something new.

The great court provides a focal point for any visit to the British Museum.

Africa, Oceania and the Americas-these galleries represent the cultures of people in three major regions, past and present.

Asia- holds the richest collections of Chinese antiquities in Europe. The Chinese collections range from the 4^th century BC to the 19^th century AD. The sculpture collections from the Indian sub-continent are the most representative. There are some of the finest Islamic pottery, Japanese collections-from prehistory to the present.

Britain and Europe:

There are important collections covering the cultures and long history of Britian and other parts of Europe. Important prehistoric objects are displayed.

Egypt and Sudan:

The British Museum houses one of the greatest ancient Egyptian and Sudanese collections, illustrating every aspect of ancient Nile Valley culture from Neolithic times. The major sculptures and the mummy displays can be found on the ground floor.

Greece and Rome:

The Greek and Roman galleries contain objects from the Greek world, Italy and Rome from the beginning of the Bronze Age, and from the whole of the Roman Empire except for Britain.

Museums in London

2011-03-16T11:27:00.000-07:00

After visiting the Eden Project, while returning from St. Austell, Cornwall to Brighton, I thought of visiting Museums in London. I visited three Museums viz. The Natural History Museum, the Science Museum and the British Museum. I could not visit the Victoria Albert Museum even though it was very close to the Natural History Museum. All these museums are very close to the London underground railway stations. I travelled from St. Austell to Paddington by express train and Paddington to South Kensington by underground circle (yellow line). Around the South Kensington railway station there are three museums - Natural History Museum, Science Museum and Victoria Albert Museum. After visiting the first two museums I left for Tottenham Court Road railway station from South Kensington station to see the British Museum.

From the Tottenham Court Road, I returned to Brighton via London Victoria. Since the train services in UK are excellent it was possible for me to visit three museums in a very short time. All museums in London are very big and each of them require at least half a day to visit.

Natural History Museum

The Natural History Museum has more than 70 million specimens and these are arranged on specific themes in four galleries/ zone- Orange, Blue, Green and Red.

Blue zone: This is zone depicts the age of Dinosaurs, human biology, Fishes, amphibians and reptiles. Images of nature, marine invertebrates, mammals.

Green zone: Giant sequoia, Primates, birds, creepy crawlies, ecology, fossil Marine reptiles, minerals, evolution Fossils are arranged.

Red zone: Earth today and tomorrow, Earth’s treasury, Earth and natural forces/ disasters shape the planet. We can experience the earthquake and impact of volcanic eruptions.

Please visit my next blog to see the pictures of Science Museum and British Museum.

Eden Project- A Reclaimed Mine

2011-03-15T06:54:00.000-07:00

The Eden Project is constructed in a 160-year-old exhausted china clay- Kaolinite (Kaolinite is a clay mineral with the chemical composition Al₂Si₂O₅(OH)₄) quarry at Bodelva, near St. Austell, in Cornwall, UK. It was established as one of the Landmark Millennium Projects to mark the year 2000 in the UK.

The project was conceived by Tim Smit and designed by architect Nicholas Grimshaw and engineering firm Anthony Hunt and Associates (now part of Sinclair Knight Merz). Davis Langdon carried out the project management, Sir Robert McAlpine and Alfred McAlpine did the construction and MERO designed and built the biomes. Land Use Consultants led the masterplan and landscape design. The project started in 1999 and it took 2½ years to construct and it was opened to the public on 17 March 2001.

The complex is dominated by two gigantic enclosures consisting of adjoining domes (biomes) that house plant species from around the world. Each enclosure emulates a natural biome. The domes consist of hundreds of hexagonal and pentagonal, inflated, plastic cells supported by steel frames. The first dome emulates a tropical environment, and the second a Mediterranean environment.

At the bottom of the pit are two covered biomes: Tropical Biome and The Mediterranean Biome.

The Tropical Biome, covers 1.56 hectares (3.9 acres) and measures 55 metres (180 ft) high, 100 metres (328 ft) wide and 200 metres (656 ft) long. It is used for tropical plants, such as fruiting banana trees, coffee, rubber and giant bamboo, and is kept at a tropical temperature and moisture level.

Inside the artificial biomes are plants that are collected from all around the world. With help from Reading University over 83,000 tonnes of soil was prepared. The mineral component came from local mine wastes: sand from IMERYS china clay works and clay from WBB Devon Clays Ltd. In the Biomes, composted bark provided the organic matter component because it needed to be long lived.
The rapid growers in the Rainforest Biome needed a rich organic soil capable of holding lots of water and nutrients while the slower growers in the drier Mediterranean Biome used a sandy mix which held less of both. A specialist nutrient-free mix was used in the South African Fynbos, where fertile soil is toxic to some of the plants.

For outdoors, composted domestic green wastes was used. The ingredients were mixed with a JCB in a nearby clay pit, and Wiggly Wigglers worms helped dig and fertilise the new earth. This showed the regeneration of soil is possible.

In the first two months of construction since it rained every day; 43 million gallons of rainwater drained into the pit. This prompted the engineers to come up with a magnificent subterranean drainage system that now collects all the water coming on to the site. it used to irrigate the plants and flush loos, while rainwater that falls on the Biomes is used to maintain the humidity inside the Rainforest Biome. The only main pipe (tap) water used is for hand washing and for cooking. Water needs are met from water harvested on site.

The complex also uses Green Tariff Electricity — the energy comes from one of the many wind turbines in Cornwall, which were among the first in Europe.

The covered Biome climates are constantly monitored and are controlled automatically. In the Rainforest Biome automated misters moisten the air (90% relative humidity at night, and down to 60% in the day) and ground-level pipes irrigate the soil so you don’t have to put up with the rainforest’s 1,500 mm (60 inches) of rain a year. The huge waterfall uses recycled water and keeps humidity high. In the Mediterranean it is keept drier. Vents are often open, even during cool periods, to reduce humidity and therefore fungal problems. The main heating source for both Biomes is the sun. The back wall acts as a heat bank, releasing warmth at night. The two layers of air in the triple-glazed windows provide insulation. Extra heating comes from the big grey air-handling units which also help circulate the air on hot days.

Around 1 million plants of just under 4,000 taxa (species and cultivars) have been planted. Most are not rare, except for the few that need for conservation, neither were they taken from the wild. Many were grown from seed in the nursery, others are from botanic gardens, research stations and supporters, mostly in Europe and the UK.

The Mediterranean Biome covers 0.654 hectares (1.6 acres) and measures 35 metres (115 ft) high, 65 metres (213 ft) wide and 135 metres (443 ft) long. It houses familiar warm temperate and arid plants such as olives and grape vines and various sculptures.

The Core is the latest addition to the site and opened in September 2005. It provides the Eden Project with an education facility, incorporating classrooms and exhibition spaces designed to help communicate Eden's central message about the relationship between people and plants. Accordingly, the building has taken its inspiration from plants, most noticeable in the form of the soaring timber roof, which gives the building its distinctive shape.

Sculptures include a giant bee, cow, driftwood sculpture of a horse by Heather Jansch, at the main entrance of Eden and towering robot called RSA WEEE Man created from oldelectrical appliances.

The Land trains are used to reach the Biome site.

The domes provide diverse growing conditions. The computer-controlled environmental control system that regulates the temperature and humidity in each dome was designed and installed by HortiMaX Ltd. who are also responsible for ongoing maintenance of the environmental control and monitoring systems on both the Biomes and Glasshouses at their production site.

Visit to Eden Project

2011-03-12T13:47:00.000-08:00

The Eden Project is located to the south west of England, five kilometres away from St. Austell, Cornwall, UK. It took me about seven hours to reach St. Austell from Brighton by train. I took a train at 7.49 from Brighton railway station to London Victoria and underground trains from London Victoria to London Paddington. As per the prior announcement, some engineering work on the underground railway track (green line) is going on today and tomorrow (Saturday and Sunday). I took Victoria (blue line) from London Victoria to Oxford Circus and Bakerloo (brown line) from Oxford Circus to London Paddington. From London Paddington there was a direct ‘first Great Western’ train service at 9.42 to Penzance. The train reached St. Austell railway station at 14.51 (scheduled time). The train fare from Brighton to St. Austell is £ 95. I like the train services in England.

The Eden Project is an educational charity and social enterprise. The clay mine (‘Kaolinite’ china clay- silicate mineral) has been transformed into a global garden. This place is well known not only for tourists but also for plant/nature lovers. Please visit my next blog for more information and pictures. I am staying in Best Western Cliff Head Hotel at St. Austell. The room rent is £ 50 per night. The location of the hotel is very good and it is a suitable place to spend the weekend.

Finance Division

2011-03-11T09:00:00.000-08:00

Please post your comments on the organisation of Finance Division, student accounts, Cashiers, Credit Control, Direct Debits, Payments Management, Finance Procurement, how to source suppliers and place an order.

Administration

2011-03-10T10:15:00.000-08:00

Please post your comments on the organisation of the University, various Policies and Procedures laid down by the University with respect to admission, leave, records retention, records management, recruitment and selection, terms and conditions of service, examinations and award of degrees.

Course Evaluation

2011-03-09T10:05:00.000-08:00

The Course Evaluation Questionnaire (CEQ) is administered online to the students for all the courses taught at Sussex as soon as any course is completed. It contains a set of quantitative University level, School level and Course level questions. There are seven University level questions and five each School level and Course level questions. The questions are set on a 1-5 scale – ranging from ‘strongly disagree’ to ‘strongly agree’. It is the responsibility of the individual School to decide the dates for administering the CEQ. The School sets the CEQ in week 6-7 of the term; CEQ appears in Sussex Direct in week 8 for the students to complete and the convenors of the course/s encourage the students to complete by week 11. They also frequently check the response rate. The convenor prepares the report and submits it to the Head of the Department/ School for approval. Students’ responses to the CEQ are released in week 5 of the following term. The responses (average score, distribution of responses) to the University level questions are published on the website through Sussex Direct. The School communicates the responses to the School and course level questions to its colleagues and students’ representatives. The seven University level core questions are:
1. The course was well organised and ran smoothly.
2. The course matched my expectations; the content was in line with the course description.
3. Lecturers were good at explaining things.
4. Feedback on my work has helped me clarify things I did not know.
5. Clear information about the assessment of this course and the marking criteria, was provided.
6. The learning resources for this course, including for example Study Direct, the Library and any special equipment and facilities met my needs.
7. Overall, I was satisfied with the quality of this course.
Similarly, the School level and Course level questions are set on teaching and learning, laboratory work, generic skills, goals and standards, assessment and feedback, e-learning resources, support and advice and learning resources.

Feedback on Introduction to Programming

2011-03-08T10:21:00.000-08:00

Please post your comments on teaching, learning, assessment methods and resources used in this course.

Feedback on Philosophy Courses

2011-03-07T10:22:00.000-08:00

Please post your comments on teaching, learning, assessment methods, use of resources and technology in Philosophy courses offered by Sussex.

Feedback on Sports at Sussex

2011-03-05T09:41:00.000-08:00

The University of Sussex offers a wide range of sports opportunities for students and communities. Joining different sports clubs, training/coaching and scheduling of fixtures are well organised. Please post your comments.

Estates and Facilities Management

2011-03-04T10:02:00.000-08:00

Please post your comments on the services provided by the EFM in facilities management, maintenance, projects and development.

Feedback on Human Resources

2011-03-03T10:47:00.000-08:00

Please post your comments on the services provided by Human Resources of the University and its role in recruitment, development and welfare of staff.

National Student Survey (NSS) 2011

2011-03-02T10:21:00.000-08:00

The National Student Survey (NSS) is an online activity conducted every year from January to April at the national level since 2005. All publicly funded Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) in UK participate in the survey. The survey has been commissioned by the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) which has a statutory role in ensuring the quality of teaching in higher education. It believes that students’ views are an important part of the assessment of institutions of higher education. The survey is fully supported by the National Union of Students (NUS). Final year undergraduate students are eligible to provide feedback on their courses in a nationally recognised format. There are 22 questions, relating to the following aspects of the student learning experiences:

1. Teaching on Course 2. Assessment and Feedback

3. Academic Support 4. Organisation and Management

5. Learning Resources 6. Personal Development

7. Overall satisfaction.

It takes less than five minutes to fill the questionnaire and the students are also given the opportunity to write positive and/or negative comments on their learning experiences as a whole at their institutions. Nearly one million students have participated in the survey since 2005 and 82% students are satisfied with their experience. The survey is administered by www.ipsos-mori.com an independent market research agency. The agency keeps the students’ responses confidential. The data collected is published in the form of statistical summaries on http://unistats.direct.gov.uk/ . This data is used by prospective students and advisors to choose the best institutions and courses available. The data is also used by the institutions to facilitate best practices and to enhance student learning experiences. The anonymous comments are used to identify the areas of weaknesses of the institution and to take corrective measures to improve in the future.

The University of Sussex is one of the participating institutions in UK. Its students have already started sending their learning experiences to the agency. The decision to keep the library open for 24 hours was taken by the University based on the earlier feedback.

Feedback on IT Services

2011-03-01T09:59:00.000-08:00

Please post your comments on the IT services provided by the University of Sussex to the staff, students, researchers and visitors.

Library Services

2011-02-28T09:57:00.000-08:00

Please post your comments on services offered by the Library of the University of Sussex.

Student Volunteering Week 2011

2011-02-26T10:33:00.000-08:00

The University of Sussex Students’ Union observed the tenth anniversary of Student Volunteering Week from 21^st– 25^th February 2011 as a part of the National Student Volunteering Week to enrol students for volunteering with the union and local community. The Students’ Union offers a wide range of volunteer positions in Union Computers; ‘Front of House’, Events Teams and with the local organisations. Roles, commitment, responsibilities and benefits of all volunteer placements have already been set.

Union Computers is a new non-profit venture set up by the Students’ Union. This is run and led by student volunteers to develop the venture into a fully functioning computer and laptop repair service for students. A volunteer here is required to work for a minimum of 4 hours per week during working days of the term. The responsibilities of the volunteers are- provide professional and friendly services to the staff and students; identify, diagnose and solve wide variety of software and hardware problems. These volunteers will be benefited by the training provided by the union in Customer Service Skills, Confidentiality and Data Protection, Computer diagnosis, custom-builds and parts handling, Applications of and using various operating systems. At the end of the year, the volunteers also receive a certificate and reference for CV.

I had the opportunity to visit Union Computers as my laptop had developed some MS software problem. IT Services of Sussex directed me to Union computers and the volunteers did an extremely good job. I really appreciate the service rendered to me by the volunteers.

The ‘Front of House’ team responds to students’ enquiries via e-mail, over the phone and in person at the reception. A volunteer is required to work for a minimum of two hours per week. The responsibilities of the volunteers are – attend staff, students and other visitors’ enquiries appropriately and complete the administrative tasks given by the Students’ union. The volunteers will develop communication skills, interpersonal skills, IT skills, learn administrations and proof reading by associating with the Front of House. In addition to this, the volunteers will have free entry to events including night clubs and other events organised by the Students’ union.

The members of the events teams help the Students’ Union throughout the year in organising events. A volunteer can play several roles – Co-ordinator, stage manager, door manager and event runner. Skills developed by volunteering are event management, time management, interpersonal skills, team building and complete experience in running an event.

Volunteering at the Students’ Union provides excellent opportunities to meet students and gain experience to further strengthen CV.

Over two hundred volunteering opportunities are available in the local community. Project V is the name of the Students’ Union Community volunteering Scheme. The main aim of this scheme is to provide safe and supported volunteering opportunities which will benefit both students and the local community. The organisations which have registered with Project V bear the travel expenses of the volunteers. International students need to have Tier 4 Student Visa to be able to work as volunteers in UK. Students with ‘student visitor visa’ cannot work as volunteers in UK.

Feedback on Geography Courses

2011-02-25T10:15:00.000-08:00

Please post your comments on teaching, learning, assessment methods and resources used in two courses in Geography which you witnessed today.

Students’ Support Services

2011-02-24T10:27:00.001-08:00

You have witnessed the courses and workshops conducted by the Centre for Language Studies to improve English language. Please post your comments.

Degree Programmes in English

2011-02-24T10:26:00.000-08:00

You have witnessed the courses offered by the School of English under different degree programmes. Please post your comments.

Course on Introduction to Programming

2011-02-23T09:59:00.000-08:00

The School of Informatics offers a course of 12 credits on ‘Introduction to Programming’ for the first year in the autumn term. It introduces Java which is a basic course and used for all assignments of the first year courses offered by the School of Informatics. The course introduces basic programming concepts and techniques, including the design, testing, debugging and documenting of programs. The BlueJ Java development tool is used in this course. There are two lectures and two practicals per week. The duration of lectures and practicals is one hour each. Programming requires skill and this can be developed only through practice and solving exercises. The students are required to work minimum ten hours per week. The course is assessed by exercises (assignments) on programming (50%) and unseen examination (50%).
On successful completion of this course, students will be able to-
1. carry out the edit-compile-run cycle of software development in an appropriate software development environment.
2. use fundamental programming concepts such as variables, conditional statements, looping constructs, and methods (procedures).
3. understand the distinction between objects and primitive types in Java.
4. write a simple Java application involving about half a dozen or so simple classes.
5. understand the basics of object oriented concepts such as encapsulation.
6. use simple built in data-types such as arrays, strings, and some of the Collection classes.

The books and other web resources recommended for this course are:

i. David J. Barnes and Michael Koelling Objects First with Java: a Practical Introduction Using BlueJ. Fourth Edition. Prentice-Hall. ISBN 0-13-197-629X
ii. A web-site for the book can be found here: http://www.bluej.org/objects-first/
iii. Ken Arnold, James Gosling, and David Holmes The Java Programming Language (4th Edition). Addison-Wesley
iv. The Java Tutorial is available to download: http://java.sun.com/docs/books/tutorial/

Feedback on Behavioural Ecology

2011-02-22T10:15:00.000-08:00

Please post your comments on teaching, learning, assessment methods and resources used in the course.

Feedback on Psychology Course

2011-02-21T10:39:00.000-08:00

Please post your comments on teaching, learning, assessment methods, discussion forum and resources used in one of the courses in Psychology which you witnessed today.

Feedback on Computer Science Course

2011-02-19T10:57:00.000-08:00

Please post your comments on teaching, learning, assessment methods, discussion forum, feedback and resources used in one of the courses in Computer Science which you witnessed today.

Feedback on Physics Course

2011-02-18T09:59:00.000-08:00

Please send your comments on teaching, learning, assessment methods and resources used in one of the courses in Physics which you witnessed today.

Postgraduate courses in Psychology

2011-02-17T10:00:00.001-08:00

The School of Psychology offers postgraduate degree (M.Sc.) programmes in Psychology. The programmes are of one year (fulltime) and two years (part-time) duration. The total credits of each programme are 180. Full time and part-time students are required to take 60 and 30 credits respectively in each term of an academic year. The programmes are-

1. Applied Social Psychology, 2. Foundations of Clinical Psychology and Mental Health,

3. Cognitive Neuroscience, 4. Experimental Psychology, 5. Health Psychology,

6. Psychological Methods and 7. Substance Misuse.

The entry requirement for all the programmes for students from India is First class undergraduate degree in Psychology. In addition to this, the student should meet the English language requirements i.e. Internet TOEFL overall score 90 including 24 in Speaking and 25 in Writing. The fees are £ 13,900.00 per programme.

Postgraduate courses in Geography

2011-02-16T10:00:00.000-08:00

The Department of Geography offers a number of interdisciplinary master degree programmes, both full time (one year) and part time (two years) . The programmes are

1. M.Sc. in Applied Geomorphology, 2. M.Sc. in Climate Change and Policy,

3. M.Sc. in Climate Change and Development, 4. M.A. in Environment, Development and Policy,

5. M.A. in Migration Studies.

The programmes have 180 credits each and students are expected to take 60 credits in each term. In autumn term there are two compulsory core courses; in spring term there are four courses and two are to be selected; these courses are 30 credits each. In summer term there is a course on research methods (15 credits) and dissertation (45 credits) of 15,000 words. The entry requirements for Indian students to any of these programmes are first class undergraduate Degree in geology, geography, environmental or earth science, natural science or civil engineering and TOEFL score 90.

Fees: £14,064 for all students.

Post-Graduate Programmes in Informatics

2011-02-15T10:39:00.001-08:00

The School of Informatics offers postgraduate Degree (M.Sc.) and Diploma (Dip. PG) programmes in 1. Advanced Computer Science, 2. Evolutionary and Adaptive Systems, 3. Human-Centered Computer Systems, 4. Information Technology for E-Commerce, 5. Intelligent Systems and 6. Multimedia Applications and Virtual Environments. These are offered as both full time (1 year) and part-time (2 years) programmes. The programmes have 180 credits each and the students are required to take 60 credits per term. There are core and optional courses under each programme and the student choose two courses each from optional and core courses (total 4). There are 15 credits per course. In the summer term, the dissertation has 60 credits. The passing grades are: Excellent -70% and above, Good- 70-60%, Satisfactory- 60-50% and pass 50-40%. The entry requirement for the programme is first class or second class undergraduate honours degree in Computer Science for the students of UK. The Indian students should have minimum first class at graduation in Computer Science.

Courses to improve English Language

2011-02-14T10:35:00.000-08:00

The Sussex Centre for Language Studies offers a number of courses for students to achieve a very high standard of English language. Students, who would like to pursue their higher studies at Universities where the medium of instruction is English and those who intend to improve their skills in English language for career purposes join such courses. The courses are-1. Pre-Masters English, 2. Pre-sessional Courses, 3. General English and 4. Summer at Sussex. All are full time courses.

1. Pre-Masters English: This course is designed for international graduate students who would like to improve their command over English language for post-graduate studies at Sussex. The students should have a minimum score of 4.0 in IELTS or 39 in TOEFL for admission. The duration of the course is one year i.e. ten weeks in each of the three terms (autumn, spring and summer). Students can choose either 15 or 21 hours of tuitions per week depending on their level of English. The tuition fees per term for 15 hours and 21 hours are £ 1,680.00 and £ 2,350.00 respectively. The course focuses on reading, writing academic texts, attending lectures and research seminars, actively taking part in discussions and note making; effective use of facilities such as library and computer resources.

2. Pre-sessional Courses: The course is accredited by British Council and offered only to those students who have the offer letter to study at Sussex and English is not the first language. There are two pre-sessional courses – a ten week course and a five week course. The student is required to choose the course depending on the level of his/her communication skills in English language and the level of language requirement for the degree programme. The course fees for the five weeks and ten weeks programmes are £ 1325.00 and £ 2650.00 per term respectively. The minimum IELTS score required is 5.0 for ten weeks and 5.5 for the five weeks programme.

3. General English: This is similar to the Pre-Master English course in terms of duration, hours of tuitions per week and course fees. The focus of this course is on grammar (10-20%), reading and vocabulary (10-20%), writing skills (10-20%), listening and speaking skills (20-30%), supervised personal study programme (10%) and research project (10%). The main aim of the course is to improve communication skills – writing and speaking.

4. Summer at Sussex: This is a general, full time, ten weeks, summer (July to September) course for the visitors to UK who want to spend time improving their English. It is a ten weeks programme. In addition to the areas of teaching mentioned in the general English course, a component on British Life and Culture has been included. The fees are £ 2,625.00.

Academic support

2011-02-12T10:28:00.000-08:00

The University of Sussex provides academic support to overseas students if English is the second language and if they are entering the British University system of education for the first time. Those students who have registered for full time degree programmes are eligible for the academic support which is available free of charge. The academic support consists of workshops and tutorials.

The workshops will focus on academic and English language skills which include subjects such as note-taking, summarizing & paraphrasing, structuring an essay, understanding & writing essay titles, paragraphing, referencing & writing a bibliography, introductions and conclusions. Writing workshops are also conducted and the students are expected to bring written essays/materials. This written matter is discussed, analysed and suggestions are made for improvement.

The tutors in the tutorials advise the students on issues related to study like essays, oral presentations, seminars and dissertations.

In addition to this there are ‘Drop-in sessions'.

Online Elections of the Full time Office bearers of USSU

2011-02-11T10:14:00.001-08:00

Any registered student of the University can nominate themselves for the full time office bearer’s posts of University of Sussex Students' Union (USSU). There are six posts- President, Operation Officer, Communication Officer, Activities Officer, Welfare Officer and Education Officer. All the students of the University automatically become members of the Students’ Union and are eligible to vote. The University uses an online voting system which permits eligible students to vote from any computer machine with access to the internet during the voting period. The University uses Single Transferable Vote (STV) system to calculate the winner. This system allows the voters to rank election candidates in order of preference. There are personal benefits and responsibilities being an office bearer of the Students’ Union. They are elected to work in a paid position in the Students’ Union for an academic year. Nominations were opened to file for the posts of Office bearers from the first day of spring season i.e. 11^th January 2011 and closed at 4.00pm on 26^th January 2011. The event called ‘Meet the Candidates’ was held on 3^rd February 2011 and the opening speeches of the candidates were available to the students later through You Tube for viewing. The contesting candidates started campaigning from 3^rd Feb.2011. Online voting started from 8^th Feb. 2011 and ended at 4.00pm on 10^th February 2011. The results were declared at 6.00pm on the same day. Altogether, 2638 votes were casted. Any objections to the results of elections must be submitted to the Returning Officer on before 14^th February 2011. The elected office bearers will resume their office in July 2011.

Teaching and learning Methods

2011-02-10T10:37:00.000-08:00

The teaching and learning methods are different at Sussex. The methods of teaching and learning provide ample opportunities to develop critical, analytical and problem solving skills for students. The students cannot rely totally on class room teaching. The system of teaching expects the students to take the responsibility of study and be successful in the examination. The teaching methods include lectures, seminars, tutorials, field work and practicals. The teaching hours depend on the courses. Science courses have more teaching hours because of practical. Overseas students feel that the class room teaching hours are less. Here the students are expected to study independently, spend more time in reading, writing essays, solving problems/questions, preparing for seminars/tutorials and reviewing the lectures. The students are expected to know the effective way of time management.

In the class room the tutor introduces the topic to the students and students cannot expect everything from the tutor. Prior to the delivery of the lecture in the class room, the tutor makes available the lecture notes/power point slides, list of books for reading and links to the sites as web resources on Study Direct which are an online learning resources of Sussex. The students are expected to read and prepare for group discussions in seminars, workshops and tutorials.

A seminar method of teaching helps the students to make presentations, gain further knowledge in the topic, develop communication skills and build self confidence. Active participation in the seminar is very important and is considered for assessment. The tutorial method promotes students to develop problem solving and analytical skills. The students sometimes work in groups and sometimes individually for practical. Each student is expected to write a report/assignment independently and it is considered as a part of assessment. The number of practicals is less but they are mainly based on the concepts of theory what the students have learnt in class room. The writing of essays of 2000-6000 words makes the students to learn the method of writing essays, improves writing skills, creates awareness about plagiarism and learns to write bibliography.

Wednesday-Sports Day at Sussex

2011-02-09T10:45:00.000-08:00

Football match Sussex (black & white) V/s Chichester (yellow & black). Sussex won by 3-1.

Basket Ball Men: Sussex (red & black) V/s Brunel (white & black). Brunel was leading 16-11.

Counselling Services

2011-02-08T10:40:00.000-08:00

The Psychological and Counselling Services unit has nine part-time therapists, three administrative staff and twenty five trainee counsellors. The unit provides therapy to around 750 students every year. It provides individual and group therapy for students. The common problems which students experience on the University campus are: adjusting to university life, feeling low or depressed, feeling stressed or anxious, problems with self-confidence or self-esteem, drugs or alcohol, eating, studies and any other related problems. Any student who seeks help from the Counselling Services should take prior appointment to meet the therapist.

Course: Developmental Psychology

2011-02-07T10:28:00.000-08:00

This course is offered at level two (second year) and credits are 15. The course provides basic knowledge in the Developmental Psychology. The topics covered under the course are: communication in infancy, attachment, temperament, theories of cognitive development, social cognition, gender development, adolescent development and language acquisition. There is a convenor and two lecturers to conduct this course. The lectures are conducted for two days in a week and time (1 hour on each day) is specified by the convenor to the students for discussion on the course related matters. The students can also send an email to the convenor requesting for an appointment. The course material is available on the “study Direct”. An anonymous feedback form is available on the website for the students to comment on the course (course evaluation) and is considered very important. The feedback of previous years on the same course is also available to view on the web pages of the School. The response of the students on the course will be intimated to the students through the student representatives of the School.

The course is delivered through 18 lectures of one hour each, two seminars of one hour each and two practicals of two hours each by three faculty members in a ten week programme. The seminar topics are different from lecture topics. In the seminar the students are expected to critically evaluate research and brain storm on developmental experimental designs. This would help students to do research independently in the third year. Similarly there are four topics for practicals which are different from lecture and seminar topics. The text book and recommended books for reading are:

1. Smith P. K., Cowie H., & Blades M. (2007). Understanding Children’s Development, 4thEdition. Oxford, England: Blackwell.

1. Berk, L. E. (2006). Child Development. Boston: Allyn & Bacon.

2. Siegler R., DeLoache, J. & Eisenberg, N. (2006). How Children Develop, 2nd Edition. New York: Worth Publishers.

The course will be assessed on the basis of course work (30%) and final examination (70%). The final examination consists of 40 Multiple Choice Questions (MCQ) 40% and two essays 30%. The topics and dead line for submission of essays has been notified and there is penalty for late submission to the extent that no marks will be assigned and only feedback will be sent to the student. The entire schedule of the course with exhaustive list of books and links to the resources from web for additional reading/information are given in the course hand book.

US 50

2011-02-05T09:32:00.000-08:00

The University of Sussex was founded in 1960. Today, it has become one of the leading institutions in the world in its teaching and research. The academic year 2011-2012 marks the 50^th anniversary of the foundation of the University of Sussex.

The University has planned a series of events in 2011-12 which will reflect its past history, celebrate the milestones of its 50 years and look forward for its significant role in future of education and research. The events are under different categories - Academic, Culture and Legacy, Celebration and Engagements. Under the academic activities, eminent experts are invited for high level discussions on six research themes identified by the University. Five discussions will be held in London and one on the University’s campus. The six research themes are: Environment & Health, Digital & Social Media, Culture & Heritage, Mind & Brain, Citizenships & Democratisation and Global Transformation.

Under Culture and Legacy, the events will mark the milestones of 50 years culturally, leaving legacy of celebrations for future. In association with alumni, an exhibition on the University’s social history has been organised. This is linked to a project.

A two day celebration in September 2011 on the university campus has been organised to celebrate the achievements of the University which includes free seminars and talks, University boundary walk, live bands, party and good food. This will be an opportunity to meet friends and alumni.

All Schools, Departments, Clubs, Societies and Alumni can hold activities under engagements to celebrate 50 years of the University.

Six Gold Medals also will be awarded to the individuals associated with the University who have made the greatest Global impact in each of the University’s six research themes. Nominations are invited and the last date for submission of nomination for Gold Medals is 6^th May 2011.

The University will also award 50 fellowships in its 50^th year to those who are associated with the University and have made distinguished contributions in any field or activity since its foundation. The search for recipients has started and nominations will be accepted from staff, students, alumni and friends of University. The 50 fellows will receive their honorary titles at a special ceremony when the University celebrates its 50 years in 2011-2012. The dead line to submit the nomination forms in confidence to the University is 18^th February 2011.

Programmes and Courses in English

2011-02-04T09:43:00.000-08:00

The School of English of Sussex University offers single honours and joint honours undergraduate degree (B.A.) programmes. They are: B.A. in English- single honours degree programme and joint honours degree programmes in areas mentioned below.

Drama Studies and English; English and Film Studies; English and Media Studies; English and Art History; English Language and Literature; English and History; English and Philosophy and English Language and Language(s) (one or two languages from French, German, Italian or Spanish).

Those who opt for B.A. honours single degree programme the courses offered for them are: Text in Time, Critical Approaches and Reading Genre at level one. Traditions, Innovations and Genres: The Novel, Writing, Translation and Performance, Period of English Literature- post 1832 to the present at level two. Special author (any one); special subject (any one) at level three. Some of these courses are offered for joint programmes.

The courses offered under Drama Studies degree programme are: Reading Theatre Texts, Making Theatre, Theories of Drama and Staging Text at level one. Modern and Postmodern Drama, Approaches to contemporary Performance, Writing for the Theatre and Second year Performance Project at level two. Making Theatre Politically, Post Dramatic Theatre, Performing the Body, Theatre, Performance and Ethics, final year Performance Project, Early Modern Drama and Contemporary Theatre and Independent Research Project at level 3.

All courses are credits based and modes of assessments are oral presentations, course work exercises and essay writing of 4000-6000 words.

Geography Course

2011-02-03T09:58:00.000-08:00

The Department of Geography offers a course on “Industrial Change and Regional Development”. The course has 30 credits and offered at level 3. This is assessed entirely by essays and the students are expected to write three essays of which two essays are to be written in 2000 words each. This will form 50% of assessment of the course. The third essay has to be 3000 words and this is remaining part (50%) of assessment. The lecture and seminar methods are used in teaching this course. The essay topics are given to the students in the beginning of the term. The topics covered under this are:

Capitalism, globalization and inequality
Comparative modernizations: the case of Europe
The rise and rise of East Asia and China
The dynamics of inequality and development
Mobility, urbanization and development
Industrial change and regional and urban economic performance
Government intervention and spatial development

Fire Alarm

2011-02-02T09:56:00.000-08:00

The Careers and Employability Centre of the University of Sussex is conducting a series of events in the fourth week of spring term. Today, one of the events was on “Make it happen! Employer Panel” at 1.00 pm in the auditorium of Brighton and Sussex Medical School which is at the entrance of the University. Nearly 70-80 students, seven speakers and few staff members of the Careers and Employability Centre were present for this event. The event started on time with a formal welcome from the Director of the centre and at this moment suddenly fire alarm (siren) started and all of us had to leave the venue.

The University of Sussex has arrangements for securing fire safety and all the buildings are provided with Automatic Fire Detection (FAD) devices. These devices get activated by smoke or heat and the local siren of a building starts operating. The functioning of these units is regularly checked in every building on certain days in every week. This I had experienced from the beginning of my arrival to Sussex campus. But today I had an opportunity to witness the situation and how it is handled.

The University’s fire alarm panels are linked to the computer network and activation of any of the alarms will raise an alarm at the central security office. There are Fire wardens appointed by Deans and Directors of unit. It is the responsibility of the fire warden to evacuate the building. Every building has an assembly point and all of us assembled at this point. The security office informed the fire brigade and rescue team. The East Sussex fire and Rescue Service arrived within ten minutes. The team entered the building and checked. There was no fire and the cause of the alarm may be due to fault in the electrical system. Within half an hour it was declared by the warden that the building is safe to occupy. But mean while the Director of the Careers and Employability Centre had taken decision to shift the venue of the event to Falmer house.

Courses in Physics

2011-02-01T09:32:00.000-08:00

The convenors of following courses have been contacted. As soon as I get access to the course material, I will be able to discuss on the teaching, learning and assessment methods.

Course level credits

1. Physics Year 1 Laboratory 1 12

2. Applications of Mechanics 1 12

3. Skills in Physics 2 2 12

4. Practical Electronics 2 06

5. Advanced Electromagnetism 2 12

6. Quantum Mechanics 2 12

7. Advanced Condensed State Physics 3 15

8. Laser and Optics 3 15

Careers and Employability Centre

2011-01-31T09:49:00.000-08:00

The Careers and Employability Centre of Sussex has organised ‘Week of Events’ from 31st January 2011 to 4th February 2011 for the benefit of students. The events consist of talks/workshops and give opportunities to the students to meet people from diverse fields. The topics for talks and workshops are:

1. Develop your Networking Skills, 2.Job search strategies, and 3. How to impress employers with your skills and interviews. These talks are of one hour duration and are held in the afternoon at 1.00 pm.

The Careers and Employability Centre has also invited speakers and alumni of Sussex to speak on:

1. Careers in the Media, 2.Careers in Development, Charities and Not for Profit,

3. Careers in Science, and 4.Careers in Government and Public Service.

The students have wonderful opportunities to listen and to develop network with the speakers over a glass of wine in the evening between 5-7 pm.

Open Day for Undergrad.

2011-01-29T10:07:00.000-08:00

Today, 29^th January 2011, the University of Sussex organised an Open Day for the students who will seek admissions to the various undergraduate degree programmes of Sussex in the academic year 2011-2012. It was a one day programme from 8.30 am to 4.00pm. Parents, students and visitors were expected to report at 8.30am and help themselves to refreshments available on purchase at the various Cafes on the University campus. Between 9.30am and 10.00am all were expected to register and collect the visitor guide and prospectus. The visitor guide provided information about the University like University ranking, facilities on campus, Student support, students’ Union, housing and security, sports and fitness, IT services & the library, campus map, transport and Sussex attractions.

After registrations activities were organised separately for parents and students in lecture theatres and seminar rooms of various schools / Departments and academic buildings. The activities for the parents/guests were-

1. Free bus tour to Brighton: this was a forty minute bus tour of Brighton with commentary by one of the student volunteers.

2. Student Life Centre: visit to this centre gave information and advice on personal concerns, student funding, student mentoring and University procedures.

3. The admission process: half an hour talk (repeated twice) in the lecture theatre that gave an overview of the undergraduate admissions’ time frame.

4. The transition from College to University: this talk (half an hour, repeated) was on students’ expectations during the first year at University and some advice to parents.

5. Student finance: this gave information about the current student finance system, scholarships and Bursaries offered to students studying at Sussex.

The following activities were organised for the students.

1. School academic welcome: this was an introduction to the academic focus within the respective school of study. Every school of study stressed on importance of subject, methods of teaching, learning and career opportunities in the concerned subjects. The seminar method of teaching was demonstrated by involving the students who are seeking admission. This created interest in the minds of these students. Current students studying the same subject were also present to share their experiences with the future students.

2. Visit to Student Life centre:

3. Library Tours: there was a twenty minute guided tour of the Library and the facilities available.

4. Campus tours: this was a thirty minute guided walk to see the facilities and services available.

5. View Student accommodations: students and parents were able to see the wide range of students’ accommodation on the University campus available for first year students.

6. Meet Subject Tutors: students could interact with subject tutors. This gave the students more information on the degree programmes.

7. Sussex sports: there was a talk on sports teams, clubs, classes and training available on the campus. There was an opportunity for students to visit the sports complexes.

8. There were representatives from student Services including the housing office, career and employability centre, the students’ union and cultural studies.

I found that this helped the students and parents to know the place of study and degree programme before admission.

Feedback on Mathematics Courses

2011-01-28T09:38:00.001-08:00

Please send your comments on teaching, learning, assessment methods and resources used in some of the courses in Mathematics which you witnessed today.

Feedback on History Course

2011-01-27T09:31:00.000-08:00

Please send your comments on teaching, learning, assessment methods and resources used in one of the courses in History which you witnessed today.

Postgraduate Open Day

2011-01-26T09:59:00.000-08:00

The University of Sussex organised Postgraduate Open Day on 26^th January 2011 in Bramber House. The publicity and online registration for this event was available through the University’s website http://www.sussex.ac.uk/ . This was open from 11.00am to 2.00pm and the activities organised for open day were: 1. Presentations, 2. Talk to academics representing the subjects, 3. Subject talks and 4. School/Department tours. The postgraduate open day provides an opportunity to the parents and students to know more about the University, School/department and have one to one interactions with the faculty members.

Prof. Robert J. Allison the Pro-Vice-Chancellor of the University welcomed the admission seekers. In his welcome speech he highlighted on the achievements of the University in academics, research and its position (ranking) in the Universities of UK, EU and in the world. The other presentations were on funding postgraduate study and Doctoral research at Sussex.

The “talk to the academics” were separately organised in big halls for Humanities and Social sciences, and Science, Engineering and Management. The parents and students directly had interactions with the concerned faculty /ies of the School / Department.

In additions to this there were talks on the individual subjects in the seminar rooms. The duration of these talks was half an hour and during this period the faculty stressed more on the areas of research of their department which perhaps to create interest in the minds of students. The subject talks were going on simultaneously in different seminar rooms between 1.00 to 2.00pm.

There were student volunteers to help the University authorities and they were paid £ 7 per hour.

Teaching and Learning Development Unit

2011-01-25T10:45:00.001-08:00

The University of Sussex has a Teaching and Learning Development Unit (TLDU). This unit organises and runs courses and events to meet the needs of the faculty in teaching. There is a course on “Preparing to Teach” for the Associate Tutors (ATs). This online course provides information on the structures of Sussex and Higher Education in UK, the role and responsibilities of ATs. This course helps ATs for first and subsequent teaching sessions.

Preparing to Teach at Sussex online course consists of nine topics and under each topic there is a learning activity. The topics covered under this course are: 1. The University of Sussex and Higher Education in UK. 2. The Associate Tutors: employment, induction and expectations. 3. Your first teaching session. 4. Teaching and Learning. 5. Student Support at Sussex. 6. Teaching your subject. 7. Assessment, Marking and Feedback. 8. Next Steps. 9. How was it for you?

Similarly, there is another course on “Starting to Teach” training course. This training course is conducted separately for the ATs of Science subjects and Humanities and Social Sciences. Four workshops are conducted under this training programme which will cover the areas such as planning sessions and supporting students, teaching and learning activities, marking and feedback and evaluating your teaching and course.

Feedback on Sociology Courses

2011-01-24T10:15:00.000-08:00

Please send your comments on teaching, learning, assessment methods and resources used in two courses in Sociology which you witnessed today.

Courses in Geology

2011-01-24T10:10:00.000-08:00

The University of Brighton offers B.Sc. (Hons) programme in Geology. There are three different types of programmes- three years full time, six years part time and four years sandwich programme. The year wise syllabus for the programme is given below. Kindly go through this list and suggest me the year and the title of the course of your interest. I will contact the faculty in Geology Department of Brighton University.

Year 1
Principles of Geology
Mineralogy and Petrology
Igneous and Metamorphic Rocks
Interpreting Geological Maps
Geology of your Home Area
Quantitative Methods in Science
Field courses in South Wales and Devon

Year 2
Structure of the Earth and Global Processes
Petrology
Structural Geology
Geochemistry
Sedimentology
Earth Resources
Applied Palaeontology
Research Skills
Field course in Spain or Ireland
Optional industrial placement year

Year 3
Geohazards
Geology of Major Civil Engineering Projects
Hydrogeology
Exploration Geology
Oceanography
Palaeo-ecology
Evolution and the Fossil Record
Planetary Geology
Environmental Geology/Professional Practice
Field course in Cyprus
Geology project

Sussex Live

2011-01-22T10:22:00.000-08:00

The Students’ Union of University of Sussex organised “Sussex Live” an event of Art, Music and Culture on Friday evening at 7.30pm. This was one of the activities of Refreshers’ Fair and I attended this in the Corn Exchange auditorium in Brighton. The seating capacity of this auditorium is around 300. The entry tickets were available online as well as in the office of the Students’ Union for £ 12 to £ 13.

The programme was for two hours and the auditorium was full. The main objective of this programme is to introduce Sports Clubs and Societies through this entertainment activity. There are nearly 30 Sports Clubs and 150 Societies in the University of Sussex. The programme was stretched for two hours through dance, monologue, singing, playing band of Sussex and showing video recording of the participation of students of Sussex and Brighton Universities in the Copenhagen Climate Change Conference in 2009. All those who staged the programmes did well.

Feedback on Chemistry Courses

2011-01-22T10:05:00.000-08:00

Please send your comments on teaching, learning, assessment methods and resources used in one of the courses in Chemistry which you witnessed today.

Feedback on Economics Courses

2011-01-21T09:42:00.000-08:00

Please send your comments on teaching, learning, assessment methods and resources used in one of the courses in Economics which you witnessed today.

Feedback on Life Science Course

2011-01-20T09:59:00.000-08:00

Please send your comments on teaching, learning, assessment methods and resources used in one of the courses in Life Science which you witnessed today.

WEDNESDAY SPORTS DAY AT SUSSEX

2011-01-19T10:11:00.000-08:00

The sports activities at Sussex are organised on every Wednesday afternoon from 2.00 pm onwards. During this period no other activities are held including teaching. Today, Football, Hockey women and Basketball women (Indoor) matches were held.

Sussex (black & white) defeated Canterbury by 3-1.

Hockey was a practice match

Sussex (red) and Derby (black). The score was 3-21 at half time.

REFRESHERS' FAIR

2011-01-18T11:13:00.000-08:00

The Refreshers' Fair organised by the University of Sussex Students' Union (USSU) was really good. Please visit this fair by viewing pictures on my blog.

Psychology Society

Sussex Mountain Bike Club

Sussex University Rollerblading Society

Philosophy Society

University of Sussex Fencing Club

Photography Club

Housing Information

Refreshers Fair

2011-01-17T10:13:00.000-08:00

The students union had organised a Freshers’ Fair in the last week of September 2010 of autumn term. Those who missed this fair and even for others, the Refreshers’ Fair is organised tomorrow, i.e., Tuesday, 18^th January 2011 for spring term. Nearly eighty stalls will be put up on the library square of the University campus. The fair creates awareness among the students and provides an opportunity to the freshers to get involved in the Sussex life by joining sports, societies, volunteering and the Students’ union. There are 30 sports clubs viz. Archery, Badminton, Basketball, Canoe, Cricket, Fencing, Football, Golf, Hockey, Horse riding, Mountaineering, Netball, Rugby, Squash, Surf & wind surf, Table tennis, Volleyball and so on. Just £ 20 gets one membership to all the clubs. Similarly there are nearly 150 societies under different categories- Academic, Arts & Performance, community Action, Cultural Identity, Social Action, Specialised Interest, Spiritual & Religion. During the Refreshers fair “Housing Talks” are arranged to help the present on campus students for the off campus accommodation next year. In the evening, “Tuesdays’ Best student Night” drinking and DJ have been organised. The Students union has also organised a spectacular evening of Art, Music and Performances called “Sussex Live” on Thursday and Friday in Brighton. Look for pictures in next blog.

The University of Sussex has “Students’ Union”. It is housed in Falmer House and has a website www.sussexstudent.com. The annual turnover of the students union is £ 3 million and has around 10,000 student memberships. I have found that this is the most vibrant and important body of the University. The union functions with the help of elected students’ representatives of different Schools and Departments. There are six elected full time union officers (President, Operations Officer, Communications Officer, Activities Officer, Education Officer and Welfare Officer). The election to the full time officers will be held in week 5 of spring term and the elected officer will join the office of the students’ union in the first week of summer vacation. The contestants are either presently studying students who take a year break in their studies or final year students who join the office of the students union following their graduation. The period of office is one academic year. The elected Students union officers are paid £ 16,199 per year for their services. In addition to the six elected students union officers, there are 20-30 full time staff appointed by the University to run the students union.

Mathematics Projects at Level One.

2011-01-15T10:03:00.000-08:00

The Department of Mathematics of Sussex University offers a course on “Mathematics Year 1 Projects”. This course has six credits at the first year (level 1) and is assessed by an essay for 100 marks. There are six contact hours though the course runs for ten weeks. The topics for essays are announced along with the list of books and on-line material to be referred .The students are given the introduction about this course in the first week. In sixth week the students are asked to submit the project report in typed form. They have to work in groups of 4-5 students. Though the students are working in groups the project report should be written individually by taking care of the University rule on plagiarism. The length of the essay should be 3,000-4,000 words. The students are expected to use “LaTeX” for typing the project report. They are instructed to download MiKTEX and Winshell. What I liked here is that the first year students are using math symbol and generating mathematical formulae by using software which is available free.

HISTORY COURSE

2011-01-14T10:43:00.001-08:00

The Department of History at Sussex University offers a course on “Time and Place: 1642: English Civil War (V 1323) for the second year (level 2). The course has 18 credits and is spread over the spring and summer terms. The course is taught by lecture (one hour lecture/week) and seminar (two hours on alternate week) methods. It is assessed by assignments. The assignment is writing essays of 3500 words at the end of summer term. Today was a seminar day and there were three groups of students. Each group seminar was conducted at different time and I attended one such seminar session. Prior to this seminar the students had a lecture (yesterday). The topic for the seminar was “ King Charls His Tryal at the High Court of Justice sitting in Westminster Hall”. The students were asked to play a role as Lord President, the King and Attorney for the Common-Wealth. They were given the printed material to play their respective roles. This is how the students are made to learn and understand the subject. This method makes learning interesting for the students.

Cell and Molecular Biology

2011-01-13T10:41:00.000-08:00

The students of first year (level 1) who have offered Cell and Molecular Biology course have a topic on Proteins. Under this topic they study following. The contents of the topic are organized lecture wise and are available to the students through the ‘Study Direct’ on the website of the University of Sussex. The total credit of the course is 24 and waightage to this topic could be six credits though topic wise distribution is not shown.

Lecture 1: Introduction to proteins: Proteins in cells; R groups; introduction to structure; functions of proteins; transmembrane, globular and fibrous proteins.

Lecture 2: Protein Primary Structure: Chemical composition amino-acids; classification of amino acids according to R group; peptide bond; effect of amino acid changes on protein function.

Lecture 3: Secondary and Tertiary: Secondary and super secondary structure, hydrogen bonding and other interactions; globular protein structure.

Lecture 4: Quaternary Structure: Protein structural classes; non-covalent interactions; hydrophobic effect; protein-protein interactions.

Lecture 5: Protein Folding and Function: Anfinsen’s experiments; Factors that influence protein folding; chaperones; protein aggregation and disease; infectious proteins; techniques for studying protein structure.

IT TRAINING PROGRAMME FOR TUTORS

2011-01-12T10:31:00.000-08:00

The Information Technology Services (ITS) of the University of Sussex had conducted a training course for the Tutors. I also attended this training programme. The course contents were how to:

1. Print Registers and Timetables

2. Email students in a tutorial group

3. Record Student Attendance

4. Record Student Marks and Send Marks to the Convenor

5. Write Student Tutorial Reports

6. Create Non-Contributory Assessments

The one and half hour course was very useful. There were nine participants. The software is developed by the ITS staff of Sussex and it is user friendly.

LIVING IN BRIGHTON

2011-01-11T10:23:00.000-08:00

I left Goa on 1^st October 2010. I did not realise how these three months passed . It is all because right from my journey for Brighton till now, I received co-operation and help from everybody whom I came in contact with. The place where I live at Hove, Brighton has all essential facilities like supermarkets, shops, post office, bus stops, bars, clubs and sea beach. I stay in a flat which is well furnished. I prepare breakfast and dinner in the flat. I buy things which are required for breakfast and dinner either from ‘Waitrose’ or ‘Taj’ supermarkets. At Taj grocers we find the things similar to Indian/ Goan supermarket. In these two supermarkets fresh vegetables, fruits, fish, meat and readymade food items are available. I would say no body returns home without getting any item from here. I take lunch at the ‘Cafe Direct’. This is one of the eating houses on the university campus and very close to the Freeman Centre where I work. There are three women who run this cafeteria and these people are very kind to me and give me very good service. They say same services are extended to all their customers. I do my house keeping as well. I did not face any problem in cooking and housekeeping here as I was already familiar with these before I came here.

Cafe Direct

SPRING TERM COURSES

2011-01-10T09:56:00.000-08:00

Spring term will commence from 11^th January 2011 and I have contacted the course convenors of following courses. These are the courses going to be taught at the first,second and third year (Level 1,2 and 3) in spring term. These convenors should permit me to access the study materials of their respective course.

History:

1. The Making of the Modern World (V1228); level 1. Credits 36.

2. Time and Place: 1642; English Civil War (V1323); levle2; Credits 18.

3. Time and Place: 1930: Indian Civil Disobedience (V 1329); level 2; Credits 18.

Mathematics:

1. Mathematical Modelling; level 1; Credits 18.

2. Probability Models; level 3; Credits 15.

3. Applied Mathematics; level 2; Credits 30.

Philosophy:

1. Introduction to Philosophy; level1; Credits 12.

2. Elementary Logic; level 1; Credits 18.

3. Philosophy of Mind; level 2; Credits 18.

Physics:

1. Introductory Physics 2; level 1; credits 18.

2. Electromagnetism 2; level 2; Credits 12.

3. Thermal and Statistical Physics; level 2; Credits 12.

SPRING TERM COURSES

2011-01-08T10:32:00.000-08:00

Spring term will commence from 11th January 2011 and I have contacted the course convenors of the following courses and I will contact the convenors of the other courses (subjects) in due course of time. These are the courses going to be taught at the second year (Level 2) in spring term. The convenors should permit me to access the study materials of their respective course.

Biotechnology:

1. Marine Biology and Biotechnology-Level 2; 12 Credits.

2. Plant Science & Technology-Level 2; 12 Credits.

3. Statistics for Biologists-Level 2; 6 Credits.

Chemistry:

1. Bonding and Spectroscopy-Level 2; 12 credits.

2. Co-ordination Chemistry- Level 2; 12 Credits.

3. Introduction to Organic and Bioorganic Molecules and Reactions, Level 1; 12 credits

4. Introduction to structure and Bonding Level1; 12 credits

Computer Science:

1. Human Systems and Writing skills Development-level1; 12 credits.

2. Operating Systems and Networks, Level 2; 18 credits

English:

1. Language Acquisition-Level 2; 18 credits,

Geography:

1. Climate Change Science and Policy-Level 2; 18 credits.

2. Geographical Information Systems-level 2; 18credits.

Psychology:

1. Abnormal and Clinical Psychology- Level 2, 12 Credits.

2. Applied Cognitive Psychology-Level 2, 12 Credits.

3.Developmental Psychology-Level 2, 12 Credits.

Zoology:

1.Wildlife and Habitat Conservation-Level 2, 12 Credits.

2.Behavioural Ecology-Level 2, 12 credits.

3.Developmental Biology-Level 2, 12 Credits.

4. Advanced Molecular Cell Biology-Level 2, 12 Credits.

International Foundation Year Programme

2011-01-07T10:02:00.000-08:00

The International Study Centre (ISC) of the University of Sussex offers courses to the international (overseas) students who do not have the academic requirements to seek entry in to the undergraduate and postgraduate degree programmes. These courses are not available for home/EU students. The ISC conducts the International Foundation Year and Pre-Masters Programmes and prepares the students to continue the undergraduate and postgraduate degrees not only at Sussex but also in any UK university. After successful completion of the course the students will enter into the degree programmes of their choice.

The International Foundation Year is a three term programme in different subjects which also provides intensive training in English language and study skills to succeed in the degree programmes.

There are six Foundation routes and a student is required to choose any one route keeping in mind the future degree programmes in which they will pursue their further studies.

1. Business, Management and Economics

2. Computing and Mathematics

3. Engineering and Physics

4. Law, International Relations and Social studies

5. Life Sciences and Psychology

6. Media and Communications

All Foundation routes are modular in structure. The teaching consists of 16 hours lectures per week, 20 hours per week group seminar work and directed self study. The International Foundation Year course for the undergraduate programmes begins in September so that in the following September students can join the respective degree programmes.

Tuition Fees: £11,325; University accommodation: £ 80-100; and boarding.

Entry Requirements:

· Nationality: the International Foundation Year Course is available only to the overseas, non UK and non EU students.

· Age: 17 years.

· English language: IELTS-5.0; TOEFL-510 (180 computer based test and 64 internet based test)

· Academic qualifications: Country specific. For India- Standard 10 with 80% and above.

Admissions: On-line.

AWARD OF DEGREES

2011-01-06T10:53:00.000-08:00

The University of Sussex has Academic Frame work which states the rules and criteria for the various programmes run by the University. These are in parallel with the Frame Work for Qualifications of Higher Education Institutions in England, Northern Ireland and Wales. The University has set certain minimum requirements for awards of degrees. All courses are credit based and one credit is considered as ten hours of learning. The number of credits of a particular course is the credit volume which specifies the requirement for completing the course successfully. This includes the hours utilised by the student in attending the class room teaching, learning, revision and assessment. The credits at the first, second and third year (level 1, 2 and 3) level is multiple of six. But at the third year (level 3) the credit volume can be 15. The credits will be awarded on successful completion of the assessment, submissions and other requirements set by a particular course.

The University of Sussex offers five undergraduate degrees viz.

Single major- this degree programme is in a single main area of study. The student should have 240 credits out of 360 in the main area of study and at least 90 credits of these at the third (level 3) year.

Joint Major- this degree programme is in two main areas of study with equal weightage but each subject will contribute at 40% at each level of the programme.

Major/Minor-this is a degree programme in two main areas of study, where one area (major) predominates the other (minor) in a proportion of approximately 3:1.

Integrated Masters degree- this is a four year integrated undergraduate degree programme and Master degree is awarded at the end of final year. These are MChem/MComp/MEng/MMath/MPhys.

Sandwich Degree- this is a four year degree programme including a period spent outside of the university.

Credit requirements for programmes:

Three year undergraduate honours degree programmes should have 360 credits. Exactly 120 credits in the first year (level 1); between 120 to 144 credits in the other two years but minimum 90 credits or above in the third year (level 3).

Three undergraduate ordinary degree programmes should have 300 credits. Other conditions remain same like the three year undergraduate honours degree programmes except minimum 60 credits at level 3.

Integrated Master degree programmes have 480 credits. Exactly 120 credits in the first year (level 1); between 120 to 144 credits in the other two years but minimum 90 credits or above in the third year (level 3) and minimum 90 credits at level 4 (M).

Sandwich degree programmes have also 480 credits. Exactly 120 credits in the first year and sandwich year; Other conditions remain same like the undergraduate honours degree programmes.

Passing:

Minimum 40 % marks are required to pass in a particular course. Minimum 90 credits are required to move to the higher level.

The assessment cycle of a course consists of ‘sit’ (initial attempt) and ‘resit’ (second attempt). The resit is held in summer term before the start of next academic year. Resit examination marks are capped at the minimum pass mark.

The student failing to get 90 credits is required to repeat the year (cycle) i.e learning as well as assessment and this is decided by the Examination Board.

The class is awarded based on the performances in the second year (40%) and third year (60%).

First Class is above 70 %; Second division I below 70% and above 60%; Second division II below 60% and above 50% and Third class is below 50%.

Weald and Downland Open Air Museum, Chichester

2011-01-05T10:07:00.000-08:00

I visited Chichester, West Sussex by train from Brighton and the journey takes about fifty minutes to reach. The most interesting place to visit here is the Weald and Downland Open Air Museum which is one of the leading museums of historic buildings in England. The Museum is 40 years old and is located in north of Chichester, a distance of 10 kms. from the Chichester railway station. The open air museum has outstanding collections of historic buildings from the 13^th to the 19^th century in 40 acres of beautiful Sussex countryside. These buildings have been rescued from the destruction and are reconstructed based on the information available and the archaeological evidences. Here we can see the class room of 19^th century, houses, grinding flour mill, implements used in blacksmithing, masonry and wood carving during good old days.

Medieval cottage from Hangleton, Sussex

This reconstruction of a flint cottage is based on archaeological evidence from excavation of the deserted medieval village of Hangleton. The cottage was probably built in the 13th century and abandoned in the 14th century.

The other interesting site seeing places in Chichester are Chichester Cathedral,Chichester Festival Centre and Planetarium.

Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew

2011-01-04T10:21:00.000-08:00

I visited Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew by train from Brighton to London Victoria and from London Victoria station to Kew Gardens by London Underground District (Green line) train. The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew is still known for its collections of living and preserved plants and botanical information. It is an encyclopaedia of knowledge about the plant kingdom.

Underground train- District (Green line)

Victoria Gate of Kew

Kew Explorer

Entry fee to the gardens is £ 13.50. The Royal Botanic Gardens is spread over 132 ha. Or 326 acres of land. I took the Kew Explorer. This is a hop-on/hop-off land train which operates within the garden area for every hour. The Kew Explorer takes around the garden which is forty minute tour with commentary and I felt that this is the best way to have information about Kew garden. The Kew Explorer travel fee is £ 2.00 and this is in addition to the entrance fees.

The top four most popular attractions at Kew are- Palm House, Temperate House, Xstrata Treetop Walkway and Princess of Wales Conservatory.

Palm House

1. Palm House: I experienced a tropical rainforest environment inside this. This is Kew's most iconic building and designed to accommodate the exotic palms and now this has formed a miniature indoor tropical rainforest. The most diverse collections of palms found in a glasshouse are the peach palm (Bactris gasipaes), babassu (Attalea speciosa), queen palm (Syagrus romanzoffiana) and the coconut palm (Cocos nucifera).
Some of the palms housed here are threatened in the wild. Here we find a number of rattans (climbing palms) and also the coco-de-mer or double coconut (Lodoicea maldivica) with its seed – the largest in the world.

Oldest pot plant in the world (Encephalartos altensteinii) has lived through Kew's entire history as a Botanical Garden! This was one of the first plants to be moved into the Palm House in 1848.

2. Temperate House: The is home to possibly the world’s tallest glasshouse plants like, a Chilean wine palm (Jubaea chilensis), Livistona chinensis and Chamaeropshumilis.
In the South Wing and Octagon of the glass house are home to African plants, the main rectangular hall hosts sub-tropical trees and palms, while the North Wing and Octagon contain temperate plants from Australia, New Zealand, Asia and the Pacific. A boiler in the nearby Stable Yard helps to keep the temperature to a minimum 10°C all year round.

3. Xstrata Treetop Walkway: This is 18-metres high and 200-metres walkway provides spectacular bird's-eye view of Kew. It is ssupported by steel columns that blend with the natural environment; it provides opportunities for inspecting birds, insects, lichen and fungi at close.

Xstrata Treetop Walkway

4. Princess of Wales Conservatory:

It is the most complex conservatory at Kew, containing ten computer-controlled climatic zones under one roof. The two main climate zones are the ‘dry tropics’, representing the world’s warm, arid areas, and the ‘wet tropics’, housing moisture loving plants from ecosystems such as rainforests and mangrove swamps. The eight remaining microclimates include a seasonally dry zone containing desert and savanna plants. A huge variety of ferns, orchids, cacti and carnivorous plants from Asia are grown here.

Princess of Wales Conservatory

Desert flora

Orchids

Cacao-the tastiest plant in the world? Theobroma cacao known for products-chocolate

Carnivorous plants- Sarracenia

Carnivorous plants- Dionaea

Marine flora

Sea horse

Marine algae

Trees in Kew Garden:

Trees are defoliated due to season.

Maiden hair tree-Ginkgo biloba,one of the oldest trees 200 million years

This is Japanese pagoda tree one of Kew's 'Old Lions', this heritage tree was planted around 1760 and is one of the few remaining trees from the original nine acre botanic garden. Styphnolobium japonicum is an ornamental tree known for its beautiful hanging inflorescences.

Japanese Pagoda
The ten-storey octagonal structure is 163 ft high (nearly 50 m) and has 253 steps to climb the top.

DEVIL’S DYKE

2011-01-03T05:22:00.000-08:00

‘Devil’s Dyke’ is a valley near Brighton and well known spot for Eco-Tourism. The Brighton & Hove Bus Company operates busses to this beautiful place on week ends and holidays only. I travelled to this place by bus number 77 and the bus journey takes about 20 minutes from Brighton. The curved long (around 5 Kms.) and dry valley is about 700 feet in height and gives magnificent views of Sussex. The site has extensive areas of grass land and considered as the largest Dyke in the country. I spent my year end day here and enjoyed the walk as well as homemade lunch at the Shepherd & Dog. This place is very good for Hiking, Walking, Parachuting and Sky diving.

SIGHT SEEING IN BRIGHTON

2010-12-29T10:23:00.000-08:00

I visited few important places in Brighton. The Royal Pavilion is situated in the heart of Brighton city. This was a pleasure Palace built for Prince of Wales - George III and George IV. Queen Victoria stayed here for some time and sold this palace to the town of Brighton. This is 200 years old and now known for art work, furniture and objects. The long Gallery is richly decorated with a mixture of real and imitation bamboo. The elaborate Banqueting Room is magnificent and it is known for the most magnificent interiors in the Royal Pavilion. The central Chandelier in this room is very huge. It is nine meters in height and weighs one ton. The Great Kitchen is innovative and modern at that time. The copper vessels and other utensils used at that time still have been maintained well. The Music Room and Gallery are very well decorated which reflects George IV’s great passion for music, dance and concerts.

During World War I the Royal Pavilion was used as a hospital for Indian soldiers.

There are admission charges to see the Royal Pavilion and audio guides are free with admission which provides fascinating background and factual information as we walk inside the Royal Pavilion.

Photography or any recording is prohibited inside the Royal Pavilion.

Brighton Museum & Art Gallery

The is located within the Royal Pavilion estate. It houses-

20th Century Decorative Art & Design gallery
Mr Willett's Popular Pottery gallery
Brighton’s rich and colourful history in the Images of Brighton gallery and the Exploring Brighton gallery are the local history galleries. The galleries should be viewed in association with each other as they represent two very different sides of the city.
The Fashion and Style gallery explores fashion through the ages from Regency to modern day.
The Performance gallery brings the celebrations from around the world with puppets, masks, and costume and musical instruments.

Brighton Sea Life Centre

The Brighton Sea Life Centre is located close to the Brighton Pier. There are over 150 species in 57 separate displays covering all the aspects of marine life. This is the world’s oldest aquarium. The Sea Life Centre has an amazing Tropical Reef home to two giant sea turtles, black-tipped reef sharks and its own shipwreck. The spectacular views we get when we walk through underwater glass tunnel. Artificial Amazonia Jungle is full of deadly creatures which forms another interesting feature of this centre.

Christmas Day at Brighton

2010-12-27T10:08:00.000-08:00

Saturday, 25 th December 2010 was Christmas Day. As usual I came out of my flat at Brunswick Square, Hove, Brighton at 10.00 am and I was surprised to see everything was quiet. When I was walking on the main road -'Western Road' I was shocked to see the entire stretch was open and blank which is otherwise normally one of the busiest roads in Brighton. There was no public transport running. Brighton-Hove Bus Company runs city busses every day. But today, they had stopped operating and as a result Taxis on hire made a very good business.

I visited three churches viz. St. John's Church, St. Patrick's Church and St. Peter's Church. All these churches are on the main roads and are located in residential area. All these churches had displayed printed coloured paper announcing the Christmas eve midnight mass at 11.45pm and Christmas Mass at 10.30 am. I reached St. Patrick's Church at 10.15 am. The Church bell rang for fifteen minutes. A person from the church was waiting for the people near the main door. Only one person from that residential area entered the church for silent prayer. At 10.30 am the main door of the church was closed and then the prayer must have started. Then I proceeded further. All shops, bars, cafes, shopping centres, super markets and cinema theatres were closed. At 11.30 am I reached the St. Peter's Church. At that moment I saw a few people coming out of the church after the mass. I wanted to interact with the Priest of the church but he closed and locked the door from inside.

However, in the evening I saw few people on the beach who had come for walk. But the number was comparatively less than the usual week end days or holidays. I was wondering how people must have enjoyed Christmas. On the Christmas day the weather was comparatively good though it was very cold (temperature was around freezing). It was sunny, bright, sky was blue and clear. But the cost of the Christmas tree was ranging from 30 pounds and above. People purchased and decorated the Christmas tree inside their houses. May be the weather conditions and architectural design of the houses and buildings do not permit them to do lighting and decorate their houses from outside. There was no sight of the Christmas Crib; instead there were boards outside the houses saying "Stop Santa here". I feel that everybody must be enjoying pre and post Christmas parties at their places with relatives and friends.

Next day Sunday, 26th December is a "Boxing Day". I was curious to know the significance of this day. So I asked one shop keeper about it. I learnt that in the past on the next day of Christmas, all the shop keepers were bringing down the prices of goods at rock bottom and as a result people used to enter the shops in large number and used to fight (boxing) to grab the discounted goods. But now it is seen that a few shops are closed. A few shopkeepers have opened their shops and reduced the prices of the goods to 50%.

St. John's Church

St. Patrick's Church

St. Peter's Church

En exception

Sea Front

Skating on Ice Rink

SUSSEX DURING CHRISTMAS VACATION

2010-12-23T09:06:00.000-08:00

After the completion of ten weeks autumn term, the students and faculty of the University of Sussex have four weeks Christmas vacation starting from 11^th December 2010 to 3^rd January 2011. The holiday (closure days) for other staff is from 24^th December 2010 to 3^rd January 2011. During this period the administrative offices, Schools and Departments, library, IT Services, all shops, Cafes and bars will remain closed. The Union Store at York House which sells fresh fruits & vegetables, fresh meat & poultry, chilled & frozen meals etc. will remain open from 9.30 am to 2.00 pm during this break except on 25-27^th December 2010 and 1^st January 2011. The Clubs and Societies of Sussex will not conduct any programmes during this period in the campus.I have decided to go visit Brighton and London.

I wish you MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR 2011.

OPEN COURSES IN MODERN LANGUAGES AT SUSSEX

2010-12-22T08:49:00.000-08:00

The University of Sussex offers courses in the following languages: Arabic, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Latin, Mandarin Chinese, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish and Swahili. Classes for these courses run once a week for 20 weeks. Classes for more intensive courses in French and Spanish are held twice a week. Students receive a University of Sussex Certificate of Completion at the end of the course.

The courses, are open to everyone i.e. staff, students and general public. Courses are taught by fully qualified tutors, mostly native speakers, including some who teach undergraduate programmes. All courses give the opportunity to progress language skills and learn about the country and customs concerned. Limited Grammar is included but no class is based entirely on grammar. The main aim is to help to learn how to communicate in the chosen language, making the learning experience as beneficial and enjoyable as possible.

Weekly courses are offered at lunchtimes from 12.15 pm to 1.45pm. or in the evening from 6.30 pm to 8.00pm. and each course meeting lasts for an hour and a half. Classes take place at the University campus and usually run for two terms autumn and spring (twenty weeks).

Fees: £ 200 for two terms.

The course may continue into the summer term for a further six weeks if there is sufficient interest. In this case, an additional fee is charged.

IT SERVICES AT SUSSEX

2010-12-21T10:13:00.000-08:00

This is the continuation of my previous post on IT Services at Sussex.

The IT Services Department is one of the main service departments within the University and it provides service for many of the academic and non-academic activities of the University. Its mission - “To provide those high-quality computing, networking and support services that are necessary to enable the University to fulfill its corporate mission and academic departments to meet their objectives”. ITS has set its goals and objectives and these are linked with the objectives and goals of the University.

IT Services staff work in the following groups:

Client Services who provide information, support and training to the staff and students who use IT Services. The staff in this group also support office computers for academic and professional services staff, the PCs and printers in cluster rooms and audiovisual equipment in general teaching space.

Corporate Information Systems comprises the Business Applications team (formerly BIS) who support the University's information and administrative procedures, and the databases that underpin these, the Projects & Business Analysis team who provide support and management to IT Services across its portfolio of projects and services, and the Learning Systems team who provide the virtual learning environment for the University and develop the audiovisual technology.

Infrastructure Services who are responsible for the design, development and day to day operation of the campus network, central data storage and related services, the design and deployment of staff and student workstations and the provision of external connectivity.

The IT policies of Sussex are:

a) University Policies: University of Sussex Ordinances & Regulations, Information Security Policy, Regulations for the use of Information & communication Technology, Information Security Website.

b) IT Services Policies: Policy on file space, Policy on Connection of personally-owned desktop computers to the Campus network, Policy on Communication.

IT surveys: IT Services invites all first year undergraduates to complete an online survey to get feedback on their first experiences of using IT at Sussex. Based on the feedback the decisions and actions are taken.

Problems: For any IT related problems/requests, user can contact by email- support@its.sussex.ac.uk or phone or visit ITS in person. Once it is reported to ITS, it automatically enters a job queuing and processing system called Request Tracker (RT). In such circumstances an automatic email will be sent acknowledging the request and showing a ticket reference - a unique reference to the request - in the Subject line of the email. The ticket reference looks like this:[sussex.ac.uk #nnnnn] where nnnnn is a number.

One can book a helpdesk appointment for any trouble with personally-owned computer; helpdesk advisors are available at IT Services. It is a 30 minute appointment with an IT Services Advisor and is free of charge. However if one fails to attend then s/he will be charged a ‘non attendance’ fee of £ 5.00, and person will not be eligible to receive any further support for personally owned equipment, nor will be able to attend any IT services training courses until this fee is paid. Appointments can be cancelled in advance either in person or by phone.

ITS News: “ITS News” is published in every term. It’s a 4 page (A4 size) news letter. Through this, information on new software, developments at ITS, programmes, feedback reports and staff news are communicated.

Training:

Information Technology (IT) training is available at Sussex to develop basic computing skills Courses are available for both students and staff and range from introductions for users with very little experience to more advanced topics. The courses are conducted at three different levels:

Level 1 indicates an introductory course
Level 2 indicates an intermediate/follow on course
Level 3 indicates an advanced/follow on course

Courses for staff:

Basic training in the use of audiovisual technology in the teaching rooms at Sussex.

Online resources:

There are a number of resources and online training courses which are useful for building knowledge in specialised areas.

Book a course: one can book for courses through Sussex Direct. Many courses are only run on demand. One's name is added to the waiting list and ITS will contact him/her when the course is scheduled.

IT SERVICES AT SUSSEX

2010-12-20T09:17:00.000-08:00

Once we are at Sussex, we have access to a wide range of computing resources and services. The University has the website: sussex.ac.uk/its/welcome which is especially dedicated to provide information on IT Services at Sussex. In addition to this, the ITS of Sussex has published a booklet which gives the information on services that are provided by them to the staff, students and visitors. Earlier this information was given through CD and now it is given through the booklet. During the Fresher’s week ITS induction programmes are held for the information of new students. Those who missed this opportunity information is available for them through You Tube channel and videos on the website of ITS. As soon as the students register, they are given an IT Services username and password as part of the online registration process. The username is usually made up of initials of user, followed by a number, such as: rvg20. After logged in for the first time the user is required to change the password and with this one can log into the webmail of Sussex, Study Direct (online learning management system if student has registered for the course), Sussex Direct and Library. The students get a gigabyte (1GB) of space to store emails. The students can use Sussex Direct for their results and feedback from tutors, finance and housing information, credit of printing account, Library loans and resources, additional skills training, submission deadlines, online registration, study timetable and FAQs and more.

The IT Services are open from Monday to Friday, from 9.00 am to 9.00 pm during term time and 9.00 am to 5.30pm during vacation. There are over 450 computers available on the campus for students to use. There are computer rooms also called cluster rooms and Kiosks at 14 different locations on the campus. Some are available for 24 X 7. Kiosk terminals are designed to allow students and staff quick access to the Sussex web pages without the need for logging in. In addition, by logging in with IT Services username and password one can also access: Sussex email using webmail, Sussex Direct, The Electronic Library.The students can print from all IT Services computers. There is a charge for printing. B&W (A4) single sided 5 pence; both sided 8 pence. and Colour (A4) 20 pence single sided; both sided 36 pence; Transparency (A4) 60 pence; Colour (A3) 40 pence.

The students can top up the printing account by using their credit / debit card or using coins.

The study rooms of students staying on the University campus are connected to the internet using ‘ResNet’. The ‘eduroam’ network is used as the single campus wireless network.

Once the staff and students are registered, then they have access to a wide range of software to download and install on their computer. Software available are Mulberry, Meeting marker, True Crypt, Stuff It, Open office, Filezilla, Kaspersky (anti-virus), Malware bytes, Spy bot, web drive, win SCP, PuTTY, Arachnophilia, Adobe Reader, Cute PDF, Notepad++, Abiword, 7-zip, Fetch, Clam XAV and so on. The programmes can be downloaded from IT Services, borrowed from the Library or purchased at special academic discounts from the suppliers.

Email - currently use Cyrus mail store for the central email systems. They are planning to introduce Microsoft Exchange (2010) for staff in the New Year. The students will continue to use Cyrus which is generally accessed using webmail (they use the open source web-based program Roundcube).

Study Direct - the virtual learning environment at Sussex is based on Moodle (currently they are using version 1.9) but it is customised for use at Sussex by a small team within IT Services.

Web sites - Apache web servers and PHP scripting (version 5).

Links for open source software in use at Sussex:

Cyrus http://www.cyrusimap.org/

RoundCube http://roundcube.net/

Moodle http://moodle.org/

Apache http://httpd.apache.org/

PHP http://php.net/

Disk space - Both the staff and students have 1GB of file storage when they join the University. This is in addition to 1GB of email storage. It is quite common for staff that the additional storage space will be given on request.

For more information please visit my next blog.