Wednesday 28 March 2018

Student Newsletter issue 65

Dundee ranked among UK’s best for student experience

The results of the 2018 edition of Times Higher Education’s Student Experience Survey were published last week and once again made good reading for us at Dundee. The University was ranked 2nd in Scotland and 14th in the UK, out of the 116 universities included.

Professor Sir Pete Downes, Principal and Vice-Chancellor said, “This is another very good result for the University and shows that we continue to offer one of the best student experiences in the UK. It is testament to the efforts of the entire University community, students and staff.

“Combined with our Gold rating in the Teaching Excellence Framework, and the many other accolades that the University and the city have received in the past year, this demonstrates once again that Dundee is one of the best places in the UK to live and study.”

Within our overall ranking are some impressive results. We ranked top in the UK on questions relating to 'Centralised/convenient facilities' and 'Cheap shop/bar/amenities' and were in the top five for 'Good students’ union' and 'I would recommend my university to a friend'. We also had notable rises on questions including 'High-quality staff/lectures' (up 31 places to 10th in the UK) and 'Helpful/interested staff' (up 31 places to 11th in the UK).

On the vast majority of questions we ranked in the top 3 in Scotland.

The full tables can be seen on the Times Higher Education website.

Do we have all your up to date contact information?

It is important that the University has the correct information for you, should we need to contact you in an emergency.

Please take a moment to check your information via eVision. Click on the My Contact Details tab.

If you have any queries, please contact studentrecords@dundee.ac.uk.

Join the Malaysian Society in the Lake District

If you'd like to visit the Lake District 4-6 April, including transport, hotel, meals and activities, for £240, take a look at the Malaysian Society Facebook event.

Radio 4's The 3rd Degree

Well done to our students, Sam Ryan, Mary Am Jabir and Georgia Timpson, who took on the staff team of Chris Spray, Janice Aitken and Paul Campbell for Friday's recording of the Radio 4 programme The 3rd Degree, hosted by Steve Punt. The quiz matches students against staff from the same subject area, and on this occasion the staff team came out winners.

Listen out for the broadcast coming in June/July.

Students answer the web's most searched questions

We asked two of our students to answer the most googled questions about Dundee, find out what they said on YouTube.

Saturday Series - Against All Odds (Sat 14 Apr)

Anuja Dhir graduated in English and Scottish Law in 1988, after which she moved to London with a Gray’s Inn Scholarship to sit her Bar finals. She practised at the bar for 23 years, prosecuting and defending in serious criminal cases and appeared in cases involving national security and human rights.

In 2010 she was made QC, and in February 2017 she was appointed as the youngest and first non-white judge to the Old Bailey.

In this public lecture she’ll discuss her career, how it all started in Dundee and the challenges she has faced along the way.

Book tickets

Restoration of The Glasgow School of Art (Wed 18 Apr)

Wed 18 Apr 2.30-4pm venue City Campus tbc

Director of the Glasgow School of Art and former Dean of Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design, Professor Tom Inns, will be back in Dundee to give an insight into the project to restore their Mackintosh Building.

This event is organised by the University of Dundee Former Staff Club, and there will be a charge of £5.

More information

Book by email before Fri 30 Mar a.pass@dundee.ac.uk

Nursing and Healthcare recruitment fair (Wed 25 Apr)

Wed 25 Apr 11am-2pm Bonar Hall

An excellent opportunity for students to speak directly to a range of employers, with a free bus from Kirkcaldy campus.

Find out more, and book at https://www.dundee.ac.uk/careers/fairs/nursing/

Unsure if it's for you? Watch the video from last year.

Due to sit exams after Easter? Need help or advice?

Have a look at the new ‘Exam Bites’ – a group of short videos and presentations on planning and organising your revision, study strategies, what to do during the exam and how to cope with exam nerves.

Submit a photo of your room / flat to win

We’re looking for authentic photos of our halls to use for promotional purposes (prospectus etc), rather than the very staged ones we currently have (no offence to our two student models!)

We want to see your “home from home”, and are offering one £25 Amazon voucher for the “best photo of your room” and one £25 Amazon voucher for the “best photo of your kitchen”.

How to enter:

• send your photo(s) by email to photocompetition@dundee.ac.uk
• include your name, and which halls you are in
• deadline 9am Friday 30 March (extended).

Rules:

• only students in University of Dundee halls 2017-18 can enter
• you must have copyright of the photo
• only include people in the photo with their permission
• judging panel decision is final
• you give the University of Dundee permission to use your photo for publicity purposes.

The winners will be announced on Tuesday 3 April in halls facebook groups.

Participants wanted for study on conversations about colour

The Digitally Augmented Research Lab is looking for participants with and without impaired colour vision in an experiment on the perception of, and conversation about colour.

If you are interested, please contact us and we will provide you with additional information about the study before you decide whether to participate. You will be under no obligation to take part.

If you know someone with impaired colour vision, please pass this information on.

To join the study and for any further information please contact m.mauderer@dundee.ac.uk

SANE dog statue

Thanks to all who contributed to the competition to choose a name for our dog statue.  There were almost 100 entries and Mark Beaumont, University Rector, chose the name Hope.  Congratulations to the winners Melanie Wightman, Sharon Kelly and Susan Walker.

Can you design Hope's coat?  Template and dimensions, and submission details are available from: https://www.dundee.ac.uk/disabilityservices/sanedog/

Closing date for entries is Friday 20 April.

From the Web Team blog

Design Sprints - get involved in redesigning the University website

Read about one of our recent design sprints - and if you haven't been along to one, consider booking onto one in the future. All students are welcome to take part.

From the student blog

Why Dundee

"Dundee is definitely one of the smaller, more student friendly Scottish cities. It may take a little while to grow on you but I’m so glad I’ve gotten to spend my university days here..." read more from Sandhya.

Meal tips

Read Navin's tips for eating well when you're busy.

If you wish to communicate around the University, this fortnightly newsletter is just one way to do that. Please check our Methods of Internal Communication webpage, and feel free to get in touch if you have any questions.

The next newsletter will be distributed on Wednesday 11 April - the deadline for information to be included is 4pm on Friday 6 April.