Ian Jamieson Recieves OBE
Newly retired Professor Ian Jamieson, the University’s former Pro-Vice-Chancellor, has been awarded the OBE “for services to local and national education”. As well as the University, he worked with industry and secondary schools in the area. He also founded the prestigious Journal of Education and Work, of which he was editor for thirteen years.
University closes due to snow
Heavy snowfall forced the closure of the University on January the 6th, 7th, 8th and 13th, in common with several Bath schools. The Library and Fresh remained open, and the Paralympics preparation camp went ahead as planned, albeit with half the expected turnout.
Government cuts university funding
The Government has announced a plan to cut funding for universities by £533 million, a 6.8 percent reduction. Business Secretary Peter Mandelson announced the cuts in a letter to the Higher Education Funding Council, in which he asks universities not to let the cuts affect the quality of teaching or availability of places. Universities taking on too many students will face fines of £3,700 per extra student.
Student Loans company directors resign
Two of the Student Loans Company’s directors have resigned after a damning report into failures which left tens of thousands of students without loans. In the midst of the crisis, universities had to dispense hundreds of thousands of pounds in ‘emergency funds’ to insolvent students. The company apologised, and said “there are significant lessons to be learned”.
Gown
EU public health legislation is being undermined by the efforts of the tobacco lobby, according to a study co-authored by Doctors Katherine Smith and Gary Fookes from the School of health. The paper, published in the BMJ, argued that the BAT and other cigarette firms are using policies they helped create to weaken smoking control laws.
A Bath academic has found that the number of red and yellow cards received by players in international football depends on the nationality of the referee. Dr Peter Dawson arrived at the conclusion after studying 1700 Champions League and Europa League football matches. Apparently, Greek referees give more yellow cards to the home team, and Portuguese refs give more to the visiting side. English referees send players off liberally, but Belgian officials hardly ever do. Dr Dawson believes this is because “referees’ split-second decisions are influenced by national identity”.
Motor-Sports Engineering student Jacques Jensen, has just completed a highly successful season of karting, winning the Southern Championship, Mancell Raceway’s club championship, and the Shenington Super Prix. Mr Jensen who took up karting since 2003, won his first junior championship the following year. In 2008 he was personally scouted by Nigel Mansell, and joined his racing team.
Town
Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg visited Bath on the 7th; he spoke in a “town-hall-style event”, in which he took questions from members of the public on topics such as the NHS and the upcoming election. Clegg made headlines last week after dropping several Lib Dem policies on grounds of cost.
Two Bath firefighters have gone to Haiti to help with the relief effort following the devastating 7 Mw earthquake which hit the country last Tuesday. Rob Davis and Paul Ingleton are there as representatives of the charity SARAID, which is part of a huge international effort to help the impoverished country recover from the effects of the disaster, which caused massive damage to buildings in the capital Port-au-Prince, and the surrounding area, and may have killed up to 50,000 people.
Following an incident on December 20 in which Bath resident Martin Brock died, having received a head injury during an altercation in his flat, a 40 year old man was arrested on suspicion of murder. Medical evidence found that the injury did not cause the man’s death, and so the man is now under arrest on suspicion of manslaughter and unlawful poisoning.
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