News cont...
Fish for jobs on the Net
Universities and other institutions of higher education currently spend in excess of £30 million pounds on staff recruitment advertising each year. The increasing use of the internet as a communications medium, has presented higher education with an opportunity to substantially reduce this figure and, eventually, to channel this money back to universities to be spent on education. With this end in view, a purchasing consortium of higher education institutions has established a new national recruitment website as a convenient way for staff and students to look for suitable job vacancies. The website carries advertisements for vacant posts, fellowships and scholarships at a significantly lower cost than is feasible in the daily or weekly press.
The site can be found at http://www.jobs.ac.uk. It has been live for four months now and has carried adverts for over 2,000 academic positions, ranging from research posts and lectureships through to chairs and senior administrative staff. Over 110 institutions, including Sussex, are currently supporting the venture and more institutions are joining each week. According to Helen Scott, Deputy Personnel Officer, "The more widely jobs.ac.uk becomes known amongst staff and students, the sooner it will become a viable alternative to expensive newspaper advertising."
The case of the missing robot
Have you seen this robot? Matt Quinn and fellow researchers at the Centre for Computational Neuroscience and Robotics have "mislaid" three khepera robots (similar to the one pictured above). It seems that after an excursion to the Powerhouse::uk exhibition in London, some of the hi-tech electronics decided not to return.
Since an item in the THES last week, two khepera have been liberated "from a suitcase in a bag of foam", but the third is still missing. With an estimated value of &163;2,000, this inch-high robot is a little more costly than the average item of lost property. If anyone has any information, please contact the CCNR on ext 7386
CCE on show
Potential students from across East and West Sussex flocked to last week's Centre for Continuing Education Open Evening in the Refectory. Staff were on hand to promote the range of part-time programmes being offered in 1998/99, including Advocacy and Empowerment, Archaeology, Arts Management, Creative Writing, Life History and Women's Studies. There are also two part-time degrees currently being offered by the Centre - BA Cultural Studies and BA Landscape Studies. Educational guidance and learning support advice was also offered by the Centre's Educational Equality Unit.
The event attracted a number of University staff, many of whom are already studying on CCE courses, perhaps because of the generous fee reductions for staff or maybe it was the prospect of a free glass of wine after a gruelling day.
Organiser Mary Hoar said, "For the first time we were able to attract a large number of young people to the event. CCE has a track record of provision for older learners but we are keen to ensure that our student body reflects the diversity of our community."
Guides to CCE's courses can be obtained by telephone (67)8040.