Bangor International December 2017

Bangor International December 2017

No. 1 in the UK for Clubs and Societies WhatUni 2017

Internationals Go Green ‘Internationals Go Green’ is a project organised by the International Student Support Office. The initiative consists of a series of trips and events aimed at raising awareness of environmental issues, sustainability and wellbeing among students.

Last week’s event consisted of the students together with Marcel Clusa from the International Student Support Office travelling to a nature reserve managed by the North Wales Wildlife Trust ‘Cors Bodgynydd’, and chopping down their own Christmas tree.

The tree was brought back to the university and then decorated by the students with all of the litter that the students had collected from previous beach cleans around North Wales, helping to highlight the problem of plastics and littering in our current societies.

After Christmas, the tree will be sent to a local sand dune reserve in Denbighshire to help stabilise the unique habitat together with

Marcel Clusa, top left, with some of the participating students

the Denbighshire Countryside Service. This will close the full cycle of an invasive tree species that went from a Nature Reserve in Snowdonia, to Bangor University to be used for educational purposes and to raise awareness about the problem with plastic and littering, to then end up in a sand dune reserve, helping our unique Welsh coastline to become healthier and nicer for all.

The decorated Christmas Tree

In this issue of our newsletter...

l Winter Graduation l Scholarship Winners l Take a look at our International Student Newsletter here:

www.bangor.ac.uk/international/support/news/international-student-newsletter-christmas-edition-34906 www.bangor.ac.uk/international

Bangor University’s Winter Graduation Ceremony Over 400 degrees were awarded to Bangor University students at its winter graduation ceremony on the 14th December.

During the ceremony Professor John G Hughes, Vice-Chancellor congratulated graduates and thanked parents, families and friends of the graduates for their support during their years of study.

Also attending the graduation ceremony were three students from the Management Development Institute of Singapore (MDIS), who travelled from Singapore to attend the ceremony. MDIS is one of Bangor University’s partners.

L-R: Nisha Mahaveer Jain, Shanmugam Mageshvaran and Nguyen Quoc Tuan from the Management Development Institute of Singapore (MDIS)

A study tour to the heart of the European Union Students from Bangor University’s Business and Law Schools visited some of the key institutions of the European Union and the Council of Europe in Brussels (Belgium), Luxembourg and Strasbourg (France) last week.

The tour was aimed at providing students with a better understanding of the roles of the various institutions of the European Union and the Council of Europe, to see how they interact with the key institutions and domestic law of the European countries, and to demonstrate first-hand how the disciplines of law and business influence each other.

An article was written by Law Masters student, Khalid Yahyea from Bangladesh. His article was published in the Daily Sun today,

Bangor University’s Business and Law school students while on the tour

one of the leading national dailies in Bangladesh, read the full story here: www.daily-sun.com/printversion/details/270553/A-study-tour-to-the-heart-ofthe-European-Union

Meet some of our International Scholarship Winners for 2017

The Chevening Scholarships are awarded to outstanding scholars with leadership potential and includes the full tuition fee of the students chosen course at Bangor University.

The Chevening Scholarship winners

The Commonwealth Shared Scholarships are jointly funded by Bangor University and the Commonwealth Scholarship Commission. They include full tuition fees, return airfare, monthly stipend and a warm clothing allowance.

The Commonwealth Shared Scholarship and the Commonwealth Masters scholars

The GREAT scholarship is jointly funded by the British Council and Bangor University.

The British Council and Bangor GREAT Scholarship winners

Bahamas Institute of UNICEF Conference in Financial Services Partner the Philippines visit and Ministerial Meeting

L-R: Professor Frances Gardner, Oxford University; Professor Judy Hutchings, Bangor University; British Ambassador, Daniel Pruce, Dr Stella Manalo conference chair

Professor Judy Hutchings, from the Centre for Evidence Based Early Intervention within the School of Psychology at Bangor University is part of World Health Organisation Parenting for Lifelong Health project developed to support families and reduce violence in low income countries. The programmes were initially trialled in South Africa and Judy has recently been in the Philippines supporting a project to implement and evaluate MaPa the Philippine version of the Sinovuyo Caring Families parent programme for parents of 2 – 9 year olds. The Philippine project has been funded by UBS Optimus and UNICEF and during Judy’s visit in December she contributed to a supervision session for parent group leaders and a research team meeting.

During the visit Judy attended the Ako Para Sa Bata (I am for the child) conference organised by the Philippine Child Protection Network with over 2000 delegates. There was a lot of interest in Judy’s keynote presentation “Parenting for all” about her recently developed web based programme and trial, and she also gave a smaller presentation to about 200 people on the work to evaluate support for parents of children on the autistic spectrum that is funded by the autism charity, Autistica.

L-R: 3rd & 2nd from the right: Mrs Tanya Keith (Business Development Director CBMBA) and Mrs Lisa Jones (Programme Manager of CBMBA) pictured with Ministry of Education in the Bahamas.

The Chartered Banker MBA team were delighted to meet with the The Hon. Jeffrey L. Lloyd, M.P Ministry of Education in a recent partner visit with the Bahamas Institute of Financial Services, in Nassau.

The Bahamas Institute of Financial Services and Chartered Banker MBA were invited to the Guardian Radio live radio interview hosted by Mr Zhivargo Laing to speak to the audience about our work in the Bahamas, our partnership and the Chartered Banker MBA Programme.

Chartered Banker MBA receives an award It was an honour for the Chartered Banker MBA team to receive an award for their contribution to the work of the Caribbean Association of Banks through the programme and the scholarships that have been awarded in the CARICOM region.

L-R: Mrs Tanya Keith (Business Development Director CBMBA), Mrs Mary Popo (General Manager of CAB) and Mrs Lisa Jones (Programme Manager of CBMBA)

Strong Bangor University contingent at 2018 Commonwealth Games

Research News

Research partnership projects under the spotlight Some exciting projects involving Bangor University academics working in partnership with communities, charities, government bodies, and businesses – both local and international – are being highlighted at Bangor University on Friday, 8 December.

Weightlifters that have been selected to represent Wales at the 2018 Commonwealth Games Director of Sport, said: “The Bangor University Staff, students inclusion of five athletes based at and alumni have been selected to Bangor University is a huge honour represent Wales at next year’s Gold Coast Commonwealth Games. for us and reflects the investment we have been able to make in Commonwealth Games Wales supporting our own students and have revealed the names of those the sporting community in North who will be competing across Wales. The flexibility and support weightlifting events at the 2018 offered by the academic team at Games.

Bangor has given Catrin, Harry, Competing in the men’s categories Seth and Hannah the opportunity will be Psychology alumnus, Seth to succeed in combining their Casidsid (56kg); Canolfan academic studies with an intensive Brailsford staff member, Gareth training programme. Our newly Evans (69kg) and Sports Science opened Platfform81 gym has student, Harry Misangyi (85kg). proved to the be preferred training venue for the Welsh team and we The women weightlifters heading are very glad to welcome them as to the Gold Coast are: Sports they prepare for the Gold Coast.”

Science alumna, Hannah Powell (48kg) and Psychology student Catrin Jones (53kg).

Bangor University supports elite athletes by offering annual Sports Scholarships to its students and talented local athletes.

The news of selection to Team Wales is the culmination of an amazing week for Catrin as she also won the BBC Wales Carwyn James Young Sportswoman of the Year 2017 award.

Richard Bennett, Bangor University

Helen Phillips, Chair of the Commonwealth Games Wales Board said: “Congratulations to all of the weightlifters who have qualified and been selected to represent Team Wales at the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games.

“Being chosen for Team Wales is testament to the athletes’ commitment, passion and dedication also to the excellent support of their coaches, families and national governing bodies.”

In all, seventeen of 52 projects funded through an ESRC (Economic and Social Research Council) Impact Acceleration Account at Bangor University are featured at the event.

Bangor University was one of 24 UK universities awarded an Impact Acceleration Account (IAA) grant by the ESRC, one of the UK’s main Research Councils who fund research at UK universities. The original Award to Bangor University in 2014, has now been extended until March 2019, bringing approximately £950,000 in funding for Bangor University’s social and economic research impact.

The funding enables the university to innovate in the way social science and economics research is used in the real world.

Among the work being highlighted are two projects focusing on creating more supportive communities for people living with dementia, their carers and professionals in the region; a project to support ecotourism at the UNESCO Cape Horn Biosphere Reserve at the tip of South America; and a project to support the sustainable sharing of drought resistant rice seeds in Odisha, India.

Student News

Bangor China Office Workshop

Our international students supporting refugees As part of the ‘Internationals Go Green’ initiative, Marcel Clusa from the International Student Support Office organised a team of international students who were willing to volunteer to spend the afternoon on the 13th December, sorting out clothing donations which would then be shared with Syrian families currently living in North Wales or arrange for them to be sent to Refugee Camps in Greece, Lebanon and the UK. The students and Marcel spent the afternoon in a warehouse in a small village not far from Bangor, with a local organisation ‘Pobl i Bobl’ (People for People). A lot of the donations were given by Bangor students themselves and were ready to be shipped out to help hundreds of people in need.

L-R: Luna Wu and Jennifer Li both from the Beijing Office, Karen Jones from Bangor University and Cynthia from Oxford International Education, (OIEG) China

In November, Bangor University’s China Office hosted a workshop in Beijing WTown. Beijing WTown is a fantastic and popular tourist resort located two hours outside Beijing.

It has been built to resemble an ancient Chinese Town at Simatai at the foot of the Great Wall of China.

While the agents that attended the workshop were able to enjoy a cultural visit to the Great Wall and learn more about the history of Chinese folk customs, they also had the opportunity to discuss some of Bangor University’s recent news and achievements –

such as the recent Gold Ranking for TEF (Teaching Excellent Framework) and our excellent reputation for student satisfaction.

At the end of the training workshop, Karen Mai Jones from International Education Centre, Bangor University, awarded the guests with a certificate to recognise their hard work and deeper knowledge of Bangor University. They really appreciated this and were very proud of the award - sharing it with their colleagues and clients on wechat!

We are very lucky to have such caring and helpful students here at Bangor University, who are willing to help make the world a better place.

Pictured are the agents that attended the workshop

Betsi Quthing International Health Partnership: Adventure of a Betsi Midwife in Lesotho Julie Roberts, a lecturer in Midwifery at the School of Healthcare Sciences, Bangor University, travelled to Lesotho, Africa to teach obstetric emergency skills, read her story...

“It seemed such an innocuous question at the time, “Who fancies going to Lesotho to teach obstetric emergency skills?” I took a deep breath and heard the words emanating from my mouth “That’s something I might be interested in!”

Before I could utter another syllable I was on the countdown to what was to become one of the most exceptional experiences of my life. On reflection, I truly believe that had I more time to contemplate this decision, I would have found numerous reasons not to accept this challenge and that would have proven to be one of my greatest, lost opportunities.

I knew that this was going to be demanding work, but I had worked as a Registered Midwife, I knew what hard work was! What I was not prepared for was the effect this beautiful country and its warm-hearted and resilient people would have on me, professionally and personally.

As we navigate through life we become accustomed to our everyday routine and surroundings, settling into the security that living in a developed country affords us.

Maternal Death is 1:53 and Infant Mortality in 2016 was 93.5 per 1000 live births, so, understandably, becoming pregnant is not always the life affirming event one would want it to be.

Even so, walking through the clinic waiting rooms, passing young mothers who had walked an average of three hours to attend and then faced an uncertain waiting time, we were met with smiles and the customary greeting, ‘Lumela Mme’.

It was through these little acts of warmth and resilience that I came to realise that we had so much to learn from this community; about strength and hope. And there is hope. The staff in the hospitals and village clinics are passionate about the women they care for and strive daily to provide guidance and support, in addition to clinical attention.

They embraced the resources and training that we brought to the sessions and, as seen in the top

Pictured are Hospital and local clinic staff hands on with the practical skills lessons photograph, were hands on with all aspects of the practical skills lessons. So, it is vitally important that this work continues and we continue to strengthen bonds forged in friendship and caring.

Visit the School of Healthcare Sciences website:

www.bangor.ac.uk/healthcaresciences/index.php.en

Landing in the small airport in Maseru, the country’s capital, I was immediately struck by the sparseness of facilities but, conversely, the abundance of genuine affection from those who were waiting to greet us.

The startling facts are that in Lesotho average life expectancy is 53 years, in a country where the prevalence of HIV is one of the highest in Sub Sahara Africa (23% of the population are known to carry the virus). Lifetime risk of

Julie Roberts (pictured back row second from the right) with some of the staff from the hospital and local village clinics

www.bangor.ac.uk/international

Meet us in your country in 2018 We shall be visiting the following countries between January and April 2018: Thailand Hong Kong India Nigeria

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January January February February

Singapore Colombia Malaysia Canada

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February February March April

If your country is not listed above then you may contact the relevant Country Manager listed below, OR visit our country visits page for more information: www.bangor.ac.uk/international/visits

Country Managers Karen Jones Tel: +44 (0) 1248 388207 : Email: k.m.jones@bangor.ac.uk Country Manager responsible for: China, Hong Kong, Japan, Philippines, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam

Maggie Parke Tel: +44 (0) 1248 388416 : Email: maggie.parke@bangor.ac.uk Country Manager responsible for: The Americas: Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, USA Michael Rogerson Tel: +44 (0) 1248 383648 : Email: m.rogerson@bangor.ac.uk

Office Contacts International Office IEC, Bangor University Bangor, Gwynedd LL57 2DG, U.K. Tel: +44 (0) 1248382028 E-mail: international@bangor.ac.uk Web: www.bangor.ac.uk

Partnerships Office IEC, Bangor University Bangor, Gwynedd LL57 2DG, U.K.

Country Manager responsible for: European Union Countries

Tel: +44 (0) 1248 388325 E-mail: c.billing@bangor.ac.uk Web: www.bangor.ac.uk

Noor Al-Zubaidi Tel: +44 (0) 1248 382879 : Email: n.al-zubaidi@bangor.ac.uk

Bangor International College

Country Manager responsible for: Middle East and North Africa including: Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Iran, Jordan, Kuwait, Libya, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, UAE, Qatar International students in the UK Sarah Jones-Morris Tel: +44 (0) 1248 388843 : Email: s.jones-morris@bangor.ac.uk Country Manager responsible for: Sub-Saharan Africa, including Nigeria, Ghana and Cameroon Central Asia - including Azerbaijan.

Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Pakistan Sukhjinder Bhatti Tel: +44 (0) 1248 388874 : Email: a.khan@bangor.ac.uk Country Manager responsible for: Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Sri Lanka

Oswalds Building, Victoria Drive Bangor, Gwynedd LL57 2DG, U.K. Tel: 01248 383 783 E-mail: bic@bangor.ac.uk

Beijing Office Bangor University Room A029, 3rd Floor, The Exchange Beijing, B-118, Jianguo Road Chaoyang District Beijing, P.R. China 100022 Tel: 010-58902596; 010-58902597 E-mail: luna.wu@bangor.ac.uk Web: www.bangor.org.cn

Please do contact us if you would like one of our international officers to visit your school or if you need any advice. www.facebook.com/BangorUniversityInternational

@BangorUni_intl