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Student Life Today

well served by teaching rooms and laboratories. The University Library, the Comput­ ing Services and the Careers and Guidance Service are here to help students at every stage of their courses.

The Lanchester Library offers a modem service to users from all subjept areas and comprises the Main Library and the Art and Design Library They are a short walk apart in the heart of the University campus. The study environment in both is good, with over 1,100 reader seats and a range of computer workstations. The stocks of both libraries are extensive, up to date and relevant, with more than 350,000 volumes and about 2,500 periodicals.

Other equally important services include:

-fast, high-quality photocopier facilities,

-electronic information sources,

-a highly-regarded audio-visual collection,

-an interlibrary loan service,

-special collections, including patents, abridgements, standards, company infor­

mation and a European Documentation Collection.

In addition to the full range of services available to all library users, specific sup­ port is offered for researchers and for postgraduate students.

The Computing Services Department aims to provide a range of computer-based services which will assist all students and staff in the pursuit of learning and research.

Every enrolled student at Coventry University is entitled to use the general facili­ ties provided. Students are able to register themselves for most services after they re­ ceive their student card.

The Department supports computing across the campus, around which there are many terminal rooms and PC laboratories. Experienced computer operators and infor­ mation sheets are at hand to help in using the computers.

Careers Guidance provides educational and careers information. Each of the ca­ reers advisers is closely concerned with particular subject areas and they work with relevant employers and academic staff to make sure students get the right guidance. If students decide that the course they have chosen is not the right one for them, the Guidance Services can help with problems like this as well. Careers Guidance helps graduates to find career opportunities after they leave the University.

Student Services manage the campus Catering Service and the 2,500 beds and asso­ ciated facilities in the halls of residence and houses. They also manage the Accommo­ dation Office, sports facilities, medical service, chaplaincy, counselling service, dis­ abilities office, nursery and support for the performing arts.

The University owns over 40 self-catering houses in residential areas throughout the city, Caradoc Hall, a self-catering hall of residence, Priory Hall, a catered hall of residence and Singer Hall, new 624-bed self-catering complex close to the university campus. Many of the rooms can be specially adapted for students with disabilities.

Caradoc Hall is a tower block in a residential area of Coventry, three miles from the campus. There are places for 188 students in one-bedroom or two-bedroom flats. The flats include a kitchenette and bathroom /toilet.

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Priory Hall is on campus in the city centre. It has 547 single bedrooms in three blocks with a refectory, TV lounges and its own launderette.

The Accommodation Office also offers professional assistance in housing students in self-catering accommodation in privately-owned houses.

There is a variety of University sports societies which are open to all students. The University owns four squash courts located within the Coventry Sports Centre adja­ cent to the campus; three of the courts are exclusively for the use of students and staff. The University’s extensive sports fields are at Westwood Heath (about three miles away) and cater for rugby, soccer, hockey, golf etc. The University Sports Centre also caters for a wide range of sporting and recreational interests, having its own five-a­ side pitch and facilities for martial arts, weight training and many other indoor sports.

The University has made arrangements for a full medical practitioners’ surgery to be available daily. To use the service it is necessary to register with the Practice. The surgery is situated in Priory Hall, where appointments can be made to see the doctor or nurse who operate two surgeries daily. A full service is available, including a Well Person’s Clinic, travel advice and inoculation, pre-employment and work placement medicals.

The Chaplaincy is open to all students, irrespective of religious affiliations. It is a place of quiet and is welcoming and open. Hospitality is always on offer. Students can chat, read and share faith and enquiry into faith. The campus chaplains are fully in­ volved in the life of the campus to serve the pastoral needs of all. They are also par­ ticularly concerned with international students, helping them to feel at home and find social contacts. The chaplains have offices and a lounge in Priory Hall and can be contacted there. They seek to serve the whole community in any way they can.

The Counsellors are here to listen and to share anxieties and difficulties for both staff and students. They try to help people to look more closely at their feelings and behaviour and to feel comfortable enough to share these difficult parts of their lives. Making sense of what is happening can be the first step towards seeing things from new perspectives and this can lead to the opening up of new possibilities and enthusi­ asms. This can only be achieved where the Counsellor and the individual work in part­ nership and share the task of exploring difficulties together. The Counsellors are not part of the formal academic and administrative structure of the campus and offer a completely confidential service.

The University’s well-equipped Nursery provides qualified child care for the un­ der-fives throughout the day and is open 48 weeks of the year. It offers 35 places for students’ children, and has its own outdoor play area and catering service, demand for places is high. The Nursery is run by qualified staff who aim to have a multinational approach and encourage parents to let them know of any special festivals for all to be able to share in the celebrations.

The campus offers an enormous range of arts activities. There is always something of interest happening on campus organised by staff or by the Students’ Union. In the Art and Design block, the Lanchester Library regularly shows work by professional artists and organises events, lectures and workshops at which all are welcome. Music

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at Coventry University is an important facility available to all students. There are plenty of opportunities for practical music-making: the chamber orchestra is mainly for string players at the University, though it also includes several musicians from the local community. The concert band is for woodwind and brass players. Its repertoire is modem and varied and caters for all tastes and standards. The University choir is for anyone who enjoys singing. No previous experience is necessary. A chamber choir exists for more advanced singers who are also fairly good sight-readers.

Study Opportunities

The University courses are designed to offer students the possibility of developing skills and understanding across a range of disciplines, with flexibility and freedom of choice. Many opportunities exist for students who wish to broaden their programme to include the study of more than one subject. Each course consists of a specified list of modules from which most of the given programme of studies must be chosen. How­ ever, one or two “free-choice” modules are allowed, and these may be selected from any area of study.

Most courses involve students in learning and finding out for themselves in addi­ tion to formal lectures and laboratory or studio work. Many programmes offer the op­ portunity for students and staff to meet and discuss topics in seminar groups. Increas­ ing use is being made of computers, videos and other technological aids to help stu­ dents to study effectively.

In order to progress from one stage of a course to the next, a student is required to maintain regular attendance and obtain satisfactory assessment results. If a student fails to fulfil these conditions, he may be required to withdraw from the course or to repeat the academic studies for that stage. In the case of sandwich courses, reports on the students’ progress during professional training will be supplied to the academic staff of the University. These reports, together with the students’ record throughout the course, will be taken into account in the final assessment. Each module has a separate assessment and when completed successfully it is credited towards a student’s degree.

Assessments are held at regular intervals throughout the course, to help staff and students to monitor progress. All results are considered by an assessment board at the end of each course stage to determine progress. For later stages, external examiners are also involved in the assessments. Students will be given a record of their marks for each module at the end of each course stage.

During the first year it is possible to study two or three subjects, any two of which might then be followed in later years. At the end of the first year, students may apply to transfer to any other course for which their first year programme provides the ne­ cessary background. Most degree courses are completed in three years, but some take four years to complete. For example, in the case of Modem Languages, students spend the first two years at Coventry University, the third year in the country or countries of their main language studies, and the final year back at Coventry University.

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The Associate Student Scheme is an ideal way to sample higher education. This scheme offers the opportunity to study on virtually any full-time or part-time course, taking one or two subjects at a time. Examinations are optional.

The В.A. General Degree offers the most flexible option for those students who do not wish to specialise in any particular subject area but prefer to choose from a wide range of modules in different subject areas.

Postgraduate and Research Opportunities

Coventry University has a long tradition of providing postgraduate and research opportunities and has been widely recognised for the high quality of its provision. It offers an extensive range of opportunities for postgraduates to further their educational experience and professional training through full-time and part-time research and taught courses. The high quality of the postgraduate experience at Coventry is under­ pinned by the University’s commitment to developing its already long-established and highly rated research activity. This strategically focused research is spread throughout all the Schools of the University and in many cases is of an interdisciplinary nature, cutting across the traditional subject boundaries. The university’s postgraduate courses and research programmes are designed to provide the highest quality up-to-date train­ ing and experience. They are of the highest national and international standard.

Postgraduate study can be undertaken for a variety of awards, ranging from a Post­ graduate Certificate or Postgraduate Diploma to a full Master’s Degree (M.A.; M.B.A.; MSc). In most cases, students on a Master’s programme can also decide to take a Postgraduate Certificate or Diploma without carrying on to the full Master’s qualification. Most programmes can be followed either full-time or part-time. Under­ taking a programme of research at the University is aimed at leading to a Master of Philosophy (MPhil.) or Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) degree. International students form a significant part of the University’s research student population.

The Educational Development Unit

The Academic Board of the University established the Educational Development Unit in September 1994, to be the focus for the development of the University’s Con­ tinuing and Community Education programmes. The Educational Development Unit, in particular, aims to:

•act as a centre for innovations in teaching and learning and as a seedbed for new educational developments;

•support staff in the University and its partner colleges in their continuing pro­ fessional development;

•develop the links between the University and the wider community;

•co-ordinate the franchise and validation work of the University in Britain and overseas;

•seek to establish a reputation for the University in educational development in Britain and abroad.

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Research Matters

Coventry University is a young institution making its mark in the world of research and consultancy. An increase in successful grant applications over the recent period demonstrates that Coventry University is highly rated in the field of research and con­ sultancy.

The Centre for Quaternary Science, in the School of Natural and Environmental Sciences, has played a key role in three major EU contracts over the past year. All the awards involved trans-European teams of researchers and focused on the impact of storms along continental coasts in the context of sea level rises and on coastal evolu­ tion. Venice is one such area suffering from storm surge impact.

Further investigations into wave power in the School of Engineering have been made possible thanks to a major research contract awarded by the Science and Engineering Research Council. This grant will fund research and will help to determine whether wave energy is to become the next major power source in Europe. The award built on the suc­ cess of the University’s long-established Wave Energy Group, whose work on renewable energy has confirmed it as a leader in the field, both in Britain and internationally.

Seldom does a day pass without distressing television pictures of poverty, illness and deprivation in parts of Africa. Two researchers from the School of Natural and Environmental Sciences, both members of the cross-University Centre for African Studies, have the satisfaction of knowing that some of their work will go towards im­ proving that situation. With a grant from the Economic and Social Research Council, they have been studying the impacts of environmental deterioration and increasing rates of HIV/AIDS infection in Africa. Efforts have been concentrated on rural Zam­ bia, alongside work by the Zambian government, international children’s charities and the University of Zambia.

Expertise within the School of International Studies and Law was recognised with the announcement of a grant under the European Union’s Tempus-Tacis1and Tempus Phare2 programme. Working with universities in Russia, Ukraine and Bulgaria, in­ cluding Lviv State Polytechnic University, the School is playing a leading role in de­ veloping modem language teaching in these countries and draws heavily on its exper­ tise in computer-assisted language learning. The School has established a leading na­ tional and international role in the application of new technologies for language learning and pursues applied research in this field through its Centre for Information Technology in Language Learning.

Coventry Business School has also achieved success under the Tacis programme. As part of a consortium, this School will make a major contribution to a project enti­ tled “Training for Entrepreneurs” in Belarus.

It is estimated that millions of people are affected by arthritis in Britain, over one million of whom are under 45 years of age. They account for eight million visits to the GP every year. The School of Health and Social Sciences was awarded a three-year

1Technical Assistance to the CIS countries (former Soviet Union) 2 Assistance to Central and Eastern Europe

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grant by Arthritis Care to study four programmes of self-help initiatives aimed at as­ sisting people to increase control over their arthritis and to enhance their quality of life. This programme is thought to be the biggest ever initiative aimed at helping ar­ thritis sufferers. This grant was followed closely by a second, awarded by the Arthritis and Rheumatism Council, the aim of which is to evaluate the effectiveness of patient education literature.

The cross-disciplinary Centre for Local Economic Development (CLED), estab­ lished as a research centre of excellence, has continued to make important contribu­ tions to the region’s local economic development. Working on behalf of the National Rural Enterprise Centre, CLED was involved in the European project “Services and Applications for Rural Business Activities”.

Although the bulk of job losses from military industries occurred in the South-East and South-West, Coventry suffered its fair share of problems. The effect on the local ecoriomy prompted researchers in the School of Health and Social Sciences to take a wider view. Working closely with the University’s Centre for Local Economic Devel­ opment, and a local research and campaigning organisation called Coventry Alternative Employment Research, a national survey was conducted. The University’s work on de­ militarisation has continued to take it further afield, to Russia and Ukraine. With the aid of two Foreign Office grants, the University was able to extend its work in Ukraine, of­ fering business retraining courses for Ukrainian nuclear missile base operators.

The Centre for Integrated Design draws on expertise available within both the School of Art and Design and the School of Engineering. The grants to the Centre awarded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council will enable researchers to study ways of improving the quality, speed and efficiency of product design.

The Governors’ Energy Technology Support Unit was so impressed by a novel self­ tuning controller developed by researchers working in the cross-University Control Theory and Application Centre that it sponsored a one-day information forum for potential users.

Coventry University took the first step to become a focus for Punjabi studies after a first international conference was held at the University in June 1994. The conference was organised by the Business School and attracted speakers and participants from all over the world, as well as from Britain. In the course of the conference a major inter­ national journal of Punjabi studies was launched, to be distributed by a major pub­ lishing company.

Space constraints mean only a snapshot can be provided of some of the work in which University researchers are involved, but the message is clear. Coventry Univer­ sity is taking a balanced approach to teaching and research. It sees these two aspects of its work as being complementary to each other and regards a research environment as essential to the enhancement of teaching quality in higher education.

“Coventry University is certainly an exciting and rewarding place to be” - Michael Goldstein, Vice-Chancellor.

[Sources: Coventry University, Full-Time Courses, Entry 1997; guide to professional, postgraduate and research op­ portunities, entry 1996/97; International students’ handbook; Research and consultancy, 1993; Annual Review, 1994; Undergraduate modular courses, 1996; BA Honours degree in International Studies and Business.]

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Exercise 4.

Write a report dealing as fully as possible with the following topics, using only materialfrom the text 150 Years of Education Tradition:

1.A national institution with international perspectives.

2.The Schools and the courses they offer.

3.Postgraduate and research opportunities. •

Exercise 5.

Write an essay on one of thefollowing topics:

1.The roots of Coventry University.

2.Flexibility and choice at Coventry University.

3.Educational and research partnership.

Exercise 6.

Give a short talk on one o f thefollowing topics:

1.Coventry City and Coventry University campus.

2.Student support facilities at Coventry University.

3.The Students’ Union.

Exercise 7.

Discuss in groups of three orfour students the following typical questions students should be prepared to answer about universities in Lviv and in particular about their own university:

1.Where are Lviv State Polytechnic University and the Ivan Franko University situated?

2.When were these universities founded?

3.How did they get their names?

4.What is the difference in the range of subjects offered at the two universities?

5.What are the other 10 institutions of higher education in Lviv - what are they called and what is the reason for their separate identities?

6.How many students are there at Lviv State Polytechnic University?

7.What are the most popular subjects?

8.Are there many foreign students at your university?

9.Where do they come from and what do they study in Lviv?

10.Where do foreign students live while studying in Lviv?

11.Do many students come to study in Lviv from other parts of Ukraine?

12.Do many students who live in Lviv go to other Ukrainian universities or to uni­ versities abroad for their higher education?

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13.What qualifications are needed to enter Lviv State Polytechnic University?

14.How long does a course of study last?

15.How many hours, on average, do you spend attending classes and how many hours engaged in private study?

16.What qualifications do students obtain on completing their studies?

17.What is the difference between the bachelor’s, “specialist” and master’s de­ grees?

18.How do you obtain the degree of “Candidate of Sciences”?

19.Where do students usually live while studying at the university?

20.How are the costs of spending four years studying at university financed?

21.What societies and associations are there for students to pursue recreational or leisure interests while at the university?

22.Do the students have a representative body and how are its officers elected?

23.What do students do during the vacations?

24.What are the employment prospects for Lviv graduates in various disciplines?

25.What are the most popular career aspirations of Lviv students?

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Unit З

Coventry University has a long tradition as a seat of learning. It can trace its roots back as far as 1843, when Coventry College of Arts was founded. The University of­ fers courses in many different subjects in its Schools of Engineering, Business, Art and Design, Health and Social Sciences, Natural and Environmental Sciences, Inter­ national Studies and Law, the Built Environment and Mathematical and Information Sciences.

All the Schools are well served with teaching rooms, computing facilities and labo­ ratories. The book collections of its two libraries are extensive. The University is con­ tained on a single city-centre campus, so you won’t have to waste time travelling be­ tween lectures. This also means that there are plenty of eating places on hand. The Ac­ commodation Office gives assistance in housing students in privately-owned houses as well as in University residences.

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