Bangor University Students’ Union English Language Newspaper
October 2013 Issue No. 235 FREE
@SerenBangor
Seren.Bangor.ac.uk - SOCIETY OF THE YEAR 2013 -
TREAT YOURSELF
INTERVIEW: TRANSPORT POLICE
HAIM: DAYS ARE GONE
Science Park gets go ahead New project hopes to keep graduates in North Wales
by BECKI WATSON
R
ecent plans for a new science park project in Anglesey are set to increase graduate opportunities in North Wales. The Menai Science Park was given the go ahead by the Welsh Government after last year’s budget negotiations secured the future funding of the park, with the pledge of £10m capital to be raised over the next two years. The future of the project has also been assured further by the appointment of Ieuan Wyn Jones as project director, who will step down from his role in the Welsh Assembly in order to take on the job. The aim of a science park is to create a dedicated site that links current academic research to commercial and corporate development, leading to the overall economic improvement of the local area through the creation of high value jobs in the scientific field. Science Park Director Ieuan Wyn Jones has stated his hope that the park will ‘play host to industry facing and science based research projects, either located currently within Bangor University, within the SME community and within large corporates.’ Wyn
by LJ TAYLOR
B
Jones is hopeful that the Park will be up and running by 2016. Leaders of the project have picked out their preferred site out of three possible locations. It is a 50 acre site, located at Gaerwen, Anglesey, and is currently owned by Anglesey County Council. This means that the project would be able to take advantage of the Enterprise Zone currently established on Anglesey, which would also attract corporations to the area. The site is ten miles away from the main university building which may be problematic for students wishing to visit the park who don’t have easy access to transport. While the development of this site will be an enormous benefit to the sciences at Bangor, as Wyn Jones stated that the site will ‘offer opportunities for post graduate students to work on industry facing research projects with a sound science base,’ will attract new researchers, it is believed it will also benefit the university at large. Due to the relatively small size of the city, Bangor does not have a wide range of employment opportunities for graduates. However, this project would actively promote the growth of
scientific industries, as well encouraging researchers to relocate to Bangor, creating more job opportunities for graduates. Furthermore, the presence of leading researchers in this project will raise the reputation of the university as a whole, benefitting everyone who studies here. Local residents in Bangor and Anglesey are also supportive of the plan, as the funding going into the site will create jobs within the area and boost the economy. Vice Chancellor of Bangor University John G. Hughes commented that the Menai Science Park was an ‘exciting initiative which has tremendous potential,’ as well as stating that he was ‘grateful to the Welsh Government for the support they’ve given to make this happen.’ The Vice Chancellor’s previous experience with this kind of project includes the inception of a Science Park in the Republic of Ireland at the University of Maynooth, were he was president for six years. The success of the project created strong links within the intel industry and tripled the research income from €10 million in 2004 to €34 million in 2009 and an increase in postgraduate student numbers of more than 50%, to 1,800.
internationally as a host team” said Gwynfor Jones, Bangor City’s Club Secretary, on the great opportunity. The competitive international matches, along with the match against Finland in August, were awarded to the local club after the club’s management expressed their interest to UEFA and F.A Wales.
“We had hosted a few U16 games, friendlies, women’s and even disabilities matches last year and so we basically said look, we’ve proved we can host and we want to do it again” said Mr Jones. Bangor City have received a lot of positive response and are proud of how they were able to show Bangor,
Wales U21’s celebrate against Lithuania at Bangor City’s Nantporth
Photo by: LJ Taylor
Bangor City FC putting North Wales on the map
angor City this month played host to Wales’ U21 national team in their UEFA Championship matches against Lithuania and San Marino. “It has put Bangor City on the map but also Bangor as a city. We are now known
and the club, to people from other countries who may never have heard of it before. “A lot of hard work and dedication was involved but it has been well worth it” he said. “And the university should be proud of the part they played; hosting training sessions on Treborth and putting
up the teams in the Management Centre”. Bangor City will host Wales’ Victory Shield game against N. Ireland next month, which will be broadcast live on Sky Sports.