Talk:University of Wolverhampton/Archive 1

Archive 1

University ratings

(I'm posting this to all articles on UK universities as so far discussion hasn't really taken off on Wikipedia:WikiProject Universities.)

There needs to be a broader convention about which university rankings to include in articles. Currently it seems most pages are listing primarily those that show the institution at its best (or worst in a few cases). See Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Universities#University ratings. Timrollpickering 23:34, 21 December 2006 (UTC)

Degrees

Perhaps the statement that the degree in Complementary Therapies is 'unique' should be adjusted to include the fact that none of the compolementary therapies taught have any basis in evidence-based medicine using the gold standard of a double-blind randomised control trial. Suggest that there should be some discussion over the fact that Wolverhampton decided to make this degree a BSc. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 128.243.253.217 (talk) 21:53, 13 October 2007 (UTC)

I'm not sure why calling the degree a BSc is so important. At Oxford one can get a BA in Chemistry or Physics while at Edinburgh one can get an MSc in Theology or Modern Art.--Oxonian2006 (talk) 09:56, 20 April 2008 (UTC)

WITCH computer, location/campus

The WITCH computer was an early computer used at Wolverhampton & Staffs Tech College (later Wolves Poly, later Wolves Uni) from 1957-1973. I am editing the WITCH (computer) article and I am trying to determine on which campus this historic computer was located. I have a dim, possibly false, memory of my dad, then a Wolves Poly business lecturer, taking me to Himley Hall to see it. It might have been Compton though. Can anyone with information please pop over to Talk:WITCH (computer) and provide more information about its location and use during these years? Thanks. Andrew Oakley (talk) 14:10, 3 September 2009 (UTC)

Uni colours

Can someone tell me what are the university colours? I know in the article in the box the colours shown are royal blue and yellow but on my university tie it has navy and royal blue alterating with a yellow line separating them. I want a scarf made up but need to know the correct colours before I continue. --Charlie Huang 【遯卋山人】 15:02, 11 October 2009 (UTC)

Research

Have rewritten the Research section. In late 2009 many Research groups changed in the University so each Centre/Institute description has been updated to reflect the changes. I have also removed the statement about HAGRI "This flagship research institute was abandoned in the summer of 2009". This is factually incorrect. A new research area "The Centre of Historical Research" has taken its place. --Webteam-wlv (talk) 16:45, 14 January 2010 (UTC)

League Table Rankings

Removed unsubstantiated claims: "In various meetings staff have questioned the wisdom of this decision." Cited the Express and Star article to back up this point (the article still cited in this page), however, the article does not include a statement of this kind. Removed: "This was not announced until the most recent League table had appeared". Again, this statement was backed up with a citation to the Express and Star article, which did not include this statement. --Webteam-wlv (talk) 09:45, 15 January 2010 (UTC)

Edits about Financial Problems in 2009

Different editors had added three separate entries about the 2009 financial problems and staff redundancies in three separate sections of the Uni of Wolverhampton entry (History, Management Style and Financial Crisis). I think this is contravening Wikipedia's own Undue Weight policy: too much emphasis is being placed in the article on one aspect of the University's history.

So, I have removed the section from History and from Management style and re-written it in the Controversies > Financial problems section. I've tried to give a balanced and impartial description of what has occurred.

Sections removed:

"In 2009 the University Executive announced that the university was in serious financial difficulties for reasons that are still disputed. It responded by opening a university wide redundancy programme; reviewing the economics of various sites most notably Telford; trying to push through a controversial and high speed change in the undergraduate curriculum under the heading of 'Learning Works'; redirecting a significant part of the monies earned under the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise to the staff budget and to offset the deficit." (Removed from History section). Reason: there were no citations to back up these claims and there is nothing in the public domain to suggest that these claims are true - other than the fact the Uni experienced financial difficulties. This is now dealt with in the Controversies section.

"In the summer of 2009 the university executive was revealed to have misled the national funding council over the number of students completing their courses. As a result the funding council imposed a large fine which added to the poor financial state of the university. The Vice Chancellor took responsibility for the error but claimed that many other universities had similarly failed to follow the 'arcane rules'. She said that she had offered her resignation to the Board of Governors but they had refused it." (Removed from Management Style section). "Revealed to have misled" is not impartial: HEFCE have not stated that the University did this. The financial problems are now dealt with elsewhere and the citations moved to that section.

--Webteam-wlv (talk) 11:34, 15 January 2010 (UTC)

Working towards Good Article status

Over the next week or so I'm going to be editing the article to restructure it and update it in an effort to get the article rated with Good Article Status. I'll be following the Wikipedia:WikiProject Universities guidelines and page structure for University articles. --Webteam-wlv (talk) 12:06, 15 January 2010 (UTC)

See Also section

Deleted this section, contained: * List of forestry universities and colleges (irrelevant) and * School of Applied Sciences, University of Wolverhampton (link to a Wikipedia page which no longer exists) --Webteam-wlv (talk) 14:23, 22 January 2010 (UTC)

Reference to VC's salary

Removed the following text: "In 2009 the annual THES survey of university pay revealed that the Vice Chancellor's pay in 2007/8 put her 58th in the UK league table whereas the average level of pay for academic staff put them 135th. The Vice Chancellor's position had increased from 93rd in the previous year while that of academic staff had fallen from 121." On 26 March 2009 the Times Higher Education published an apology (print only, not available online) as they had mistakenly reported the Vice-Chancellor's place in the listings, it should have been 97th. --Webteam-wlv (talk) 15:06, 22 January 2010 (UTC)

History

Much expanded the History section - as advised by the WikiProject Universities. Have added a lot more about the early roots of the institution, its development through the 20th century and expansion since the millennium.

Hoping to add images soon. --Webteam-wlv (talk) 15:43, 27 January 2010 (UTC)

Governance

Added new section --Webteam-wlv (talk) 15:39, 5 February 2010 (UTC)

Campuses

Added a new section on Campuses - pictures to follow --Webteam-wlv (talk) 16:29, 5 February 2010 (UTC)

Removed 'Organisational Developments' section

Removed this as it's redundant in the new structure of the page: the relevant information has been moved to History or Campuses.

Organisational developments (removed)

For archival purposes, the old section is shown below:

University of Wolverhampton

In 2000, the University announced plans to spend £60m on a seven-year plan to rebuild and revitalise its campuses. This included the building of a new School of Health at Wolverhampton City Campus, which included the research-focused, Centre for Health and Social Care Improvement. In 2004, The School of Health moved into MH building at City Campus and an upgraded WP building at Walsall Campus; this move away from Hospital based sites gave better facilities for students and more access to central university services. The School's Mary Seacole Building has Clinical Skills Centers where life-sized models are used for clinical skills practice. There’s a general practitioner room, lecture theatres, PC suites and a social learning space.

The Millennium City Building provides over 10,000 square metres of teaching space, audio-visual equipment in all rooms, 300-seat lecture theatre, exhibition gallery, campus restaurant, an informal Social Learning Space, and is home to the University’s psychology department.

The Harrison Learning Centre has traditional and electronic-based library facilities over four floors. It provides electronic auto-service and online cataloguing facilities, and academic librarians manage, monitor and update the available information.

The University is one of the first in the UK to offer students direct online help from Learning Centre staff through its use of ASSIST software. And it is amazing!

The MI Building (Technology Centre) on City Campus is an open plan workspace with over 400 PCs, as well as prototyping equipment and industry-standard software packages for 3D modelling and product design. The Centre includes two TV studios with remote-controlled cameras and a full lighting rig, plus a radio studio with digital editing suites.

The new Student Village at Walsall Campus is a courtyard accommodation development with CCTV and 24-hour security. It has 340 single-study bedrooms, each with its own shower room, and access to one of the largest wireless networks in UK higher education, with no charges for internet use.

The new Teaching and Administration (MX) building was opened in 2007 by Sarah Brown, charity campaigner and wife of the Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

Telford Campus' E-Innovation Centre was initiated by former University academic Professor Steve Molyneux and provides start-up companies with business accommodation in an architecturally striking building. It has hi-tech meeting rooms, social meeting areas, "hot-desking" provision, fully-furnished offices, "incubation" units, and "grow-on" space for businesses who need to expand.

The Lifestyle and Performance Centre features two physiology laboratories accredited by the British Association of Sport and Exercise Sciences (BASES), with staff including physiologists, psychologists, a biomechanist, nutritionist, physiotherapist, physician and masseur.

Designed for students with particular learning and disability-related requirements, the University has introduced Adaptive Technology Areas, which include Dragon Naturally Speaking voice input software; specially adapted keyboards and CCTV enlargers; and voice readout of computer screen text.

Initially developed by former University academic Professor Steve Molyneux, WOLF (Wolverhampton Online Learning Framework) is a virtual learning environment system used by students and staff to supports learning in most subject areas. On Professor Molyneux leaving the University, WOLF has continued to be developed by University staff. It provides online "space" for tutors to make available reference materials, notes, videos and documents related to a subject. WOLF is built with Microsoft technologies and, as it can be used on multiple operating system platforms, it is available both on and off campus.

Walsall Campus is home to a new music recording studio, pioneered by the Major Key Studio Production company, one of the University's industry partners.

Wolverhampton operates a free student bus service between each of its campuses and campus towns. The buses run regularly throughout the day between Wolverhampton city centre, Compton Park, Walsall and Telford.

The University is one of the few universities to offer a direct metal laser sintering machine to run using titanium.

Hosted by the University's School of Engineering and the Built Environment, the £5.8 million Centre of Excellence for Construction aims to help improve productivity, reduce costs and raise skills in the local construction industry.

One of the most distinctive degree courses offered at Wolverhampton is the BSc (Hons) in Complementary Therapies, studying human physiology, reflexology, aromatherapy and clinical practice (ie, setting-up a complementary therapy business). Several graduates have gone onto work for the National Health Service, using complementary techniques in conjunction with standard medical practices.

The University, along with the University of Birmingham, is among the first four universities to offer the Postgraduate Diploma in Physician Assistant studies in the United Kingdom.

The University's School of Health is currently developing a Level Zero Course to enable people with few qualifications to enroll onto a Higher Education Programme in Health or Nursing. --Webteam-wlv (talk) 14:02, 8 February 2010 (UTC)

Academics

Created new section which lists Academic School and have brought a condensed version of Research into this section. --Webteam-wlv (talk) 15:07, 8 February 2010 (UTC)

Controversies

Have much condensed this section. There were statements without supporting citations and made unsubstantiated claims and undue weight had been given to some events. --Webteam-wlv (talk) 15:18, 8 February 2010 (UTC)

Working towards Good Article status #2

Have completed a restruture of this article - adding many new sections and restructuring what was there as per the WikiProject Universities guidelines.

As a final step I'm going to add some pictures before submitting the article for re-rating. --Webteam-wlv (talk) 14:23, 10 February 2010 (UTC)