West Magazine Autumn 2009

the magazine for alumni of University of the West of Scotland

ALUMNI ASSOCIATION LAUNCHES It's all about you (and UWS) Find out what the new UWS Alumni Association can offer you / 5

issue 1 autumn 09 University Chancellor on the 2014 Commonwealth Games / 8 £70m Ayr campus development / 4 UWS careers support for alumni / 10 Alumnus Darryl Broadfoot on his sports writing career / 12 PLUS UWS NEWS / ALUMNI PROFILES WHAT’S ON / HUMOUR

CONTENTS

news

NEWS

Contents

foreword Welcome to the first edition of West – the magazine for alumni of University of the West of Scotland. And a warm welcome to you as a member of the newly launched UWS Alumni Association! The Association has been set up to keep our graduates up to date with all that’s happening at the University and to enable you to keep in touch with us.

Features

We are keen to support our alumni and have set up a range of benefits, including access to the University’s careers service, library and sports facilities, as well as a range of other benefits and professional development opportunities, which we hope will be of use to you at this stage of your career.

There have been a lot of changes at the University over the last couple of years, since UWS was formed following the merger of University of Paisley and Bell College. And there are many more exciting developments ahead. You can read more about them in this edition of West.

We’d welcome your views on this first edition of the publication – email me or call with your comments. The launch of the Alumni Association is at an exciting time for the University and I look forward to developing alumni relations in the future and hope you will keep in touch.

Crawford Wilson Marketing Manager Alumni and Development T: +44 (0)141 848 3293 F: +44 (0)141 848 3333 E: alumni@uws.ac.uk

Students get animated University of the West of Scotland held its annual showcase of student work in computer animation, computer games, multimedia and music technology at its Paisley Campus in June.

14

16

Leadership & Legacy Pages 08-09

Flying High Pages 14-15

Chancellor Lord Smith of Kelvin on his UWS role, his hopes for the Scottish economy and the impact of the 2014 Commonwealth Games.

Entrepreneurial husband and wife team – Ffyona and Grant Fergusson – and their successful Galloway Falconry business.

Special Delivery Pages 06-07 Heather Simpson, Head of School of Health, Nursing and Midwifery on UWS's role in improving healthcare in Malawi.

Broadfoot Forward Pages 12-13

Published by University of the West of Scotland Paisley Campus Paisley PA1 2BE

Features Olga Wojtas Stephanie Brickman Jane Wright Kirstin Innes

Advertising Enquiries Crawford Wilson

Photography Eamonn McGoldrick Mark Seager Alaisdair Smith

Cover Illustration Miles Donovan

Design Freight Design

University of the West of Scotland is a registered Scottish charity.

Charity number SC002520. This publication is available electronically and in alternative formats, if required.

2 / contents / UWS Alumni Magazine

The audiences at the events included industry contacts, school and college-leavers, teachers and lecturers, and members of the general public.

Anne Gifford, Head of School of Creative and Cultural Industries said:

Running With It Pages 16-18 Steve Callan, EMBA graduate and Managing Director of Goodrich Aerostructures, on how the course helped him achieve his career and personal ambitions.

Herald journalist Darryl Broadfoot, his career to date and how he is now providing input to the University’s new degree in sports journalism.

Centre for Engineering Excellence opens

News Pages 03-04

Alumni Profiles Pages 11-18

Arts Preview Page 22

As part of the University’s ongoing investment in campus facilities, a new £2.1 million Centre for Engineering Excellence was opened last session at UWS’s Hamilton Campus. Lord Smith of Kelvin, Chancellor of the University and Chairman of the Weir Group plc, officiated at the opening.

Alumni News Pages 05 & 10

A Look Inside Page 20

What’s On Page 23

The new facility provides the University’s design and motorsport engineering students with access to the latest equipment and enhances UWS consultancy work.

University Profile Page 19

Career Humour Page 21

UWS Merchandising Page 24

Regulars

issue 1 autumn 09

While creative industries students showcased their work, spanning film-making, screenwriting, drama performance, commercial music, animation and digital art, at Glasgow’s Centre for Contemporary Arts (CCA) in May.

keep in touch We’re always keen to hear how our alumni are doing – and to make sure we’ve got all the right contact details for you, so that we can keep you up to date with alumni offers and UWS developments. To update us simply fill in the contact details form enclosed with this edition of West and return it in the freepost reply envelope provided. All returns will be entered into our free Prize Draw to win the latest high-tech Panasonic camcorder, worth £400! See the website for details.

We look forward to hearing from you.

Centre for Engineering Excellence, Hamilton Campus.

“These are important events for us and the perfect opportunity for our students to showcase their practical expertise to industry and gain valuable feedback on what it takes to get ahead” Check out www.uws.ac.uk/digitalfutures and www.uws.ac.uk/upstarts for event details.

The Centre includes a state-of-the-art manufacturing workshop, four-bay motorsports workshop and a plastic injection moulding workshop, equipped with two industry-standard injection moulding machines.

Professor Seamus McDaid, Principal and Vice Chancellor of the University, said: “We are delighted to have officially opened this facility which will make such an important contribution to the learning experience of our design and motorsport engineering students.

The Centre will also provide an important consultancy service for companies across the west of Scotland, offering design, prototyping and manufacturing services for many applications such as medical, sports and environmental equipment.”

UWS Alumni Magazine / news / 3

news

ALUMNI NEWS

UWS Alumni Association is new, but it’s proud, diverse, local and global – Principal Professor Seamus McDaid talks to Olga Wojtas.

Below: Artist’s impression of the new campus.

Left: Cabinet Secretary for Education & Lifelong Learning Fiona Hyslop (left) views the campus plans with UWS Depute Principal Gill Troup.

A life long Garden classrooms & fresh Ayr Ayr Campus in numbers

18,000 square metres in the building

£70m cost of the Ayr project

£20m accelerated funding

4,000

students will study in the campus

20

acres of woodland

2011

scheduled for completion

See more of the campus proposal at www.uws.ac.uk/ walkthrough

Move over breeze blocks, the UWS of the future is reflecting all the glory of nature.

In addition to students and staff, the local area is set to benefit.

Indeed the benefits of the project in terms of job creation and positive economic impact were felt to be so significant, the Scottish Government Building work has started on brought forward £20 million of future UWS’s new Ayr Campus, and for further and higher education budgets many members of staff at UWS it’s to secure speedy delivery. the culmination of years of careful Cabinet Secretary for Education research, planning and lobbying. and Lifelong Learning Fiona Hyslop Set in 20 acres of parkland bordering the River Ayr, the campus examined the blueprints and visited the site earlier this year, to see for has been developed in consultation herself how the development was with the Natural Garden Society, taking shape.

Historic Scotland, Scottish Ms Hyslop said that supporting Natural Heritage and the Scottish higher education was a top priority Wildlife Trust. for the Government so that people It’s literally a green campus could get the skills and qualifications surrounded by nature and it’s also they need to gain employment and green in the environmental sense. stay in employment.

Indeed the design of the new “In difficult times people will campus was recently awarded look to get involved in learning as a BREEAM (Building Research an alternative to employment and Establishment Environmental I’m delighted that UWS has been Assessment Method) rating able to benefit from the Scottish of “excellent.”

The campus is an important step Government’s decision to accelerate our capital spending in the public for the University and a partnership has been formed with SAC (Scottish sector,” she said.

Neil McLean of Glasgow Agricultural College) to make the venture possible.

It is hoped the beautiful surroundings will help attract students from all over the world giving the Ayr Campus an international dimension.

It will also make it possible for UWS to offer more courses.

4 / news / UWS Alumni Magazine

architects RMJM, who designed the building, is quick to point out what a significant project this is.

“The site is fantastic, a combination of mature woodland to the north, and a quiet river setting to the south. We understood immediately how unique this opportunity was, and how stunning the new campus could be,” he enthuses.

“Our key aim was to create a campus which engaged with the landscape,” he continues.

“Students can meander through the pedestrianised woodland areas to the building, progress through a series of communal courtyards and atrium spaces, to their classrooms, and sit and appreciate the beautiful setting outside through floor to ceiling glazing.” ''I’m sure this impressive facility will inspire countless students. It’s a far cry from the typical grey concrete of so much of the architecture of higher education and promises to reflect some of the natural beauty of the west of Scotland. It will be a showpiece for UWS.’’

I’m sure this impressive facility will inspire countless students

relationship

S

cotland’s largest modern university was formed two years ago through the merger of the University of Paisley and Bell College, and the Principal, Professor Seamus McDaid, sees the newly formed Alumni Association as having a crucial role in keeping both UWS graduates as well as graduates of both former institutions firmly in touch with their University. The UWS Alumni Association may be the newest in the country, but it is not only for new graduates.

“Our graduates are our ambassadors. They represent the University out in the community, in industry and commerce, and in the public sector, and it’s important that we can keep them connected to their alma mater,” he says.

“I keep meeting former graduates and almost invariably there is tremendous warmth towards us, and a sense of pride. I want them to continue to feel a strong affinity with the University.”

UWS now has 20,000 students across campuses in Ayr, Dumfries, Hamilton and Paisley – Professor McDaid describes it as the local University for 30 per cent of Scotland’s population. The University is investing around £250 million in expanding its facilities, and is an increasingly serious research player, having achieved a funding increase of 30 per cent from the Scottish Funding Council following an excellent rating in the recent UK wide Research Assessment Exercise. Over the last two years it has strengthened links with neighbouring NHS boards, colleges and local authorities. And its new undergraduate courses include a BA Hons in Sports Journalism (Scotland’s first) and a BSc in Applied Biomedical Science, while at postgraduate level there is an MSc in Project Management, an MA in Creative Media Practice, and an MSc in Psychosocial Interventions.

But the new developments do not mean that the University will be unrecognisable to former graduates, Professor McDaid says: “All universities change over time, but the core values of UWS remain: we have a very strong applied focus to what we do, including work in knowledge transfer activity, and our strong social mission remains central.

Of course, our graduates are a significant element of our contribution to society – a contribution we are immensely proud of.”

“Our new Alumni Association is about maintaining a connection with our graduates and letting them know that we care about them and their future.”

As part of this, members of the Alumni Association will have access to careers service advice and guidance at the University, and access to the library facilities at all its campuses.

They will also be entitled to discounted rates when using University accommodation and sports facilities as well as other benefits.

Professor McDaid looks forward to welcoming alumni who want to upgrade their skills at any stage of their career. A large proportion of UWS students are part-time, many of them involved in continuing professional development, he says, perhaps picking up an Honours module or foreign language skills.’’

“The world is getting ever more complex, and notwithstanding the current economic situation, we’re going to need skills at graduate, postgraduate and doctoral level if we’re going to survive.”

Two years ago, UWS had 110 PhD students. It now has around 300, and a target of 500 by 2014, and hopes these will include alumni who want to take a higher degree. And while the University is committed to offering support and benefits to alumni as they develop their careers, it hopes they will also want to

The Alumni Association is about maintaining a connection with our graduates and letting them know that we care about them and their future. give something back. Professor McDaid says this could involve formal or informal talks with current students, including mentoring and careers advice. Alumni can also help UWS identify work placements for current students, and Professor McDaid hopes some may even be in a position to take on students themselves through the UWS Job Shop, which advertises part-time and summer jobs.

Of course the Alumni Association also offers graduates the opportunity to keep in touch with former classmates and the University plans to arrange various networking opportunities as part of a programme of alumni activities. “There are all sorts of benefits from being part of our Alumni Association and we look forward to keeping in touch with all our graduates.”

For more details on the University services and benefits available to UWS alumni check out www.uws.ac.uk/alumni and click on University Services and Benefits

UWS Alumni Magazine / alumni news / 5

feature

special delivery UWS giving vital support to midwife and nurse training in Malawi. Head of School of Health, Nursing and Midwifery Heather Simpson talks to Stephanie Brickman.

Words Stephanie Brickman | Photography Alaisdair Smith

W

e all know the feeling of frustration when you get a new appliance home and the instructions are missing or unclear.

Now imagine if the item in question was set to save the lives of countless women and babies and you’re closer to imagining how it felt, for health staff in Malawi – training nurses and midwives in the local area – to receive second hand equipment from well-meaning benefactors.

The equipment either didn’t work or staff simply didn’t have the training to use it.

That’s the situation UWS academics were determined to avoid when they began working in Malawi to assist colleagues there in their professional development. Two projects were launched; for the first, birthing simulation equipment was sent out to the East African state backed up by a programme of intensive skills training by UWS staff for academics from the College of Health Sciences (Zomba District), School of Medicine (Blantyre District) and Kamuzu College of Nursing (Lilongwe and Blantyre District) in Malawi.

The second project was a support programme to provide continuing professional development for nursing practitioners from Kamuzu Central Hospital, Bwaila Hospital in Lilongwe, Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital in Blantyre and Central Hospital in Zomba.

An “International Development Team” was formed by three UWS academics – Alison McLachlan, Jack Simpson and Shirley Burns from the University’s School of Health,

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Nursing and Midwifery, the largest school of its kind in Scotland.

For Heather Simpson, who had oversight of the projects as Head of the School of Health, Nursing and Midwifery, visiting Malawi was a life-changing event.

“When I first went out to Malawi I think I was in a state of total shock,” she confesses.

“I went out to a hospital and there were women trying to manage their little babies with nothing but a cloth around them, lying on a mattress in a corner. There were young women delivering babies, the hygiene was not good and sometimes the outcome wasn’t good. In one of the areas I was in, there were 80 patients and two staff.”

However shocking the hospital environment was, facilities were even poorer in a remote rural clinic visited by Simpson. “There was just a couch and a lady with a basin with a hole in it. She had razor blades to cut the cord. That brought home the stark reality of the privilege

we have in this country, of resourcing and access to health care.”

As a trained midwife herself, the urge to pitch in and help was always there. “When I saw the babies lying in… you wouldn’t even call them cots… I knew they weren’t positioned properly and I also knew the babies needed some sort of suction to clear their throats and noses and there was no equipment. It wasn’t that the staff didn’t know what to do, they just hadn’t the resources.”

One key problem that Simpson and her team quickly identified in the areas they visited was the lack of trained staff to supervise students out on clinical practice. So they focused on training the trainers and creating safe, simulated environments for students to practise their clinical skills. By November 2007 UWS had put in four clinical simulation laboratories.

“We were very careful with the selection and the shipping of the equipment,” continues Simpson. “Many countries had been sending second hand equipment to Malawi and when it arrived it didn’t work. We really felt we had a moral responsibility to give them the best.

It had to be something they could use when we weren’t there.”

And far from being one-way traffic, the skills training has led to exchanges of staff on both sides. “We had core UWS staff who went out to Malawi and staff from Malawi came to UWS for intensive training, a lot of which focused on learning and teaching methodology.”

UWS involvement has led onto a community health and nursing project in Kaponda Village, a very remote settlement in Llongwe Region, and Simpson has also been involved in planning a teaching clinic. The clinic is open to women and children and enables students to get experience in a supported

Many countries had been sending second hand equipment to Malawi and when it arrived it didn’t work. We really felt we had a moral responsibility to give them the best.

learning environment. UWS equipped the clinic with appropriate birthing beds, ante and postnatal areas and a child health area.

The high-tech health environment in which Simpson and her team work and teach at UWS, is a far cry from Simpson’s own midwifery training.

“It was very much rote learning,” she confides.

“You were pulled out to the front of the class with a model pelvis and a doll – it was a horrendous way to learn and it didn’t tell you anything about reality.’’

With the birth simulators that the team introduced in Malawi, students can go through all the mechanisms of a delivery, and staff can simulate scenarios that might be encountered, such as the ‘baby’ having difficulty breathing. ‘’It offers students great practical experience and prepares them for their work in the communities,’’ says Simpson.

But UWS involvement in Malawi is by no means over and the next project is a multi-skills laboratory in Blantyre, Malawi and also building on e-learning.

“So many people have been involved with Malawi but it has been short term. When I left last time they said: ‘please don’t forget us’. I was nearly crying. It has been a very humbling experience.”

But there’ll be no forgetting. Simpson and colleagues are determined that as far as Malawi is concerned, UWS is in it for the long haul.

UWS Alumni Magazine / feature / 7

FEATURE

FEATURE

Q & A

I always look at the graduates and think – what’s going to happen to them out there?

It’s all ahead of them. Some will be rich and famous, some will achieve amazing things.

Lord Smith of Kelvin, Chancellor of the University, shares his views on the University, the Scottish economy and the 2014 Commonwealth Games.

who perhaps didn’t have an opportunity before.

These are people for whom university education would have been beyond their reach at one time.

What’s also special is that there’s a very high correlation between getting a degree with us and finding employment. That’s nice to know.

Words Stephanie Brickman Photography Eamonn McGoldrick

Q. What would be your advice to recent alumni of UWS out there trying to make it?

Q. What do you like best about being Chancellor?

A. Being part of the graduation process is fantastic. What’s wonderful about the four campuses that make up UWS is that a lot of the students come from outlying areas. If they have grown up in Ayr, for example, it’s natural for them to go to the Ayr Campus. I think we do the ceremony well, it’s beautifully presented, very colourful and you actually get time to shake hands and say well done.

Each location is different. There’s the grandeur of Coats Memorial Church in Paisley, for example, and at the Ayrshire event you process out and you march along the seafront and people stop their shopping to look at the graduates in their gowns. Many people graduating are mature students and lots of them youngsters. For many of them they are the first person in their family to ever get a degree and that’s a tremendous achievement. You’ve got the families there, doting mothers and fathers, doting children for the mature students, husbands, wives, boyfriends, girlfriends.

There they are in the audience, proud as punch of the person who is getting the award and you can have a wee chat with them afterwards.

Foreign students in particular want to be photographed with you – I’m probably on mantelpieces all over China.

I always look at the graduates and think – what’s going to happen to them out there?

It’s all ahead of them. Some will be rich and famous, some will achieve amazing things.

My hope for all of them is that they feel fulfilled in whatever they do in life. We can’t all be President of the United States but you can feel fulfilled with what you’re doing whatever it happens to be.

Q. What is special about UWS?

A. It’s a very vocational University and access is very wide. There are lots of people doing nursing, teaching, science and engineering based degrees. Many are in jobs, doing day release or they’re going straight to jobs from UWS. We don’t do much Latin and Greek!

We have a whole spectrum of people who are having a second chance at taking a degree,

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A. In life, it’s mostly about taking opportunities.

I’m not the most intelligent guy who ever walked the face of the planet, far from it.

If I have succeeded it’s because, where opportunities presented themselves, I took a risk and took that opportunity.

You should not be afraid of change because change is certain to happen.

Sometimes it’s to do with technology or the job you have can just disappear. But you shouldn’t be worried about that, it’s actually quite stimulating to go out and find something new to do.

So don’t be afraid of change or to seek opportunities. The other thing I would always want to tell graduates is to try to be true to themselves. In life almost everyone is asked to look the other way at some point and take part in an activity they shouldn’t be taking part in. I think you have got to be very tough on that, very strong. You have to stand up and say: I’m not getting involved in this, I won’t turn the other way or tell lies. It’s not easy sometimes, but I think if you’re true to yourself, then later in life you’ll look back and say – I’m glad I took that stand. Otherwise it’s all about working hard!

Q. If you had to write a recipe for entrepreneurship what would the ingredients be?

Leadership &

legacy

A. Vision, courage and “stickability” – an ability not to be pushed under and to try again. You cannot be afraid of failure. If you look at any entrepreneur who has succeeded they’ve had serious setbacks along the way, but they just dust themselves off and try again.

You’ve got to have a high energy level and dare to do things, I actually believe that people can achieve anything if they really set their mind to it and just go for it.

You can easily be knocked, particularly in the early years. I’ve spent a lot of my life financing small and medium-sized companies, so I’ve seen this time and again. It’s about courage and vision and just staying with it.

Q. What do you think will keep Scotland’s flag flying despite the credit crunch and what role does the Higher Education sector have to play?

A. The credit crunch has hit just about every country in the world, it’s not peculiar to Scotland. Sure, with RBS and HBOS it was rather embarrassing because there’s so much Scottishness about them, but I’m not concerned for the economy or the future at all.

In Scotland there are some very successful companies like the Wood Group, Weir Group and Aggreko. These companies are making record profits just now.

Scottish education is still prized around the world and young Scots, when they obtain a job abroad, do very well. I think our schools are churning out good young people and our universities are first class.

As a country, we don’t have sunshine but we’ve got people, their ingenuity and their ability to work.

Q. What do you hope will be achieved for Scotland and for Glasgow by the Commonwealth Games?

A. We have a real opportunity to leave a lasting legacy after these Games. My principal task as Chairman of the Organising Committee is to make sure the Games actually happen and that the thousands of athletes, coaches and administrators have a great Games experience. We already have several venues, Hampden, Celtic Park and Ibrox. Some new venues, like the Velodrome and the extension of the Tollcross swimming pool still have to be constructed. The main construction will be the athletes' village at Dalmarnock. When the Games are over the village will comprise around 1000 new houses, 300 of which will be affordable accommodation. So the Games will be a part of the regeneration of Glasgow.

There should also be an economic stimulus in construction and tourism which, I hope, Scottish firms will take full advantage of. I hope also that the 15,000 volunteers will form a basis for future events coming to Scotland and that volunteering will give opportunities to young people to develop their skills. If we can inspire our young people the lasting legacy will be a healthier, happier and more engaged population as well as the new sporting venues. It would be nice to have a good medal haul for Scotland too!

Q. What’s it like owning an island?

A. I was interested in land and the opportunity came up to buy Inchmarnock, an island off the West coast of Bute. It had been completely uninhabited for 30 years. There had been three

farms and a population of 41 people at one point, making a living from farming, fishing and there was even a slate quarry and a wee school with 6 pupils. It was completely overgrown.

A friend suggested that Highland cattle would help to control the vegetation. I have now got more than 200 thoroughbred Highland cattle. After several years the island is now green and well maintained, supporting greater numbers and varieties of flora and fauna. I employed archaeologists to write the history of Inchmarnock and this was published last year.

Marnock, a Saint who brought Christianity to the area, headed an eccelesiastical centre of learning in the 7th century. He has links all over the West of Scotland, including Kilmarnock, Dalmarnock and, rather appropriately, Paisley.

Q. What do you do to unwind?

A. I’m involved in a lot of things. I’m very fortunate now that I don’t have one job that’s full-time, as I used to have in the City of London. I have lots of interests and things that I do, some charitable, and some work.

That just keeps me going, I don’t actually need to chill out!

CV

Robert Haldane Smith born 8.8.44 • E ducated Allen Glen’s School, Glasgow, left 1963 age 18 • Qualified as a Chartered Accountant 1968 • H as held significant posts in Morgan Grenfell and Deutsche Bank • C urrently Chairman of the Weir Group plc and Scottish and Southern Energy; Chair of Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games Organising Committee; and Chancellor of UWS; formerly Chairman of the National Museums of Scotland • Married to Alison, two daughters • O wns the island of Inchmarnock off the west coast of Bute • B ecame a crossbench life peer taking the title official title Baron Smith of Kelvin, of Kelvin in the City of Glasgow on 29 May 2008.

UWS Alumni Magazine / feature / 9

ALUMNI NEWS

alumni profiles

Getting an

Alumni Profiles

edge More than ever in these tough times, UWS students, graduates and alumni are depending on the crucial support of their careers service to help them advance on the employment ladder. “Employability of our graduates is a key priority,” says Ray McMaster, Executive Manager of the University’s Employability Link.

The employment advice service was officially launched in June by Secretary of State for Scotland Jim Murphy and offers a programme of resources and workshops to help graduates make high quality applications, clearly demonstrating and capitalising on the skills and attributes they have for a job. Support provided includes CV preparation, interview techniques, plus access to a range of graduate job opportunities.

Building on the excellent Careers Service that had been established for many years at the University, the notion of careers advice has now evolved to a whole new level to create a truly comprehensive approach. “What we have here,” says McMaster, “is a multi-disciplinary team that is probably unique in Scotland in that it brings together careers advisers and academics to add value to the service we provide for students, graduates and employers. So rather than have separate stand-alone modules regarding employability, we embed the notion

10 / Alumni news / UWS Alumni Magazine

Our aim is to give our students the best start in their future careers. Here’s how these graduates got on.

in everything we do. For example, a student studying economics or languages or social work will not only develop knowledge in their subject discipline, but also acquire expertise that will make them more employable – such as team work, presentation and problem solving skills.

It is very much a holistic approach.”

Similarly, UWS brings employers into the equation by forging invaluable links through

What we’re looking to do is promote placement opportunities for students, provide careers services for alumni and work in partnership with employers and organisations placements, work experience and involvement in curriculum content. “One of our strengths is that we have always worked closely with employers,” explains McMaster. “What we’re looking to do is promote placement opportunities for students, provide careers services for alumni and work in partnership with employers and organisations in areas such as part-time and volunteer work. All these things can improve a graduate’s employability,” he says.

“We know that students want these skills, so it makes sense to make it part and parcel of their studies. This links in to personal development too as it helps students recognise the skills and attributes they already possess as sometimes they are unaware of their potential.”

Access to the Employability Link for UWS graduates, is free for a period of two years after graduation. Alumni can access a whole range of services from the online vacancy system and web resources, to one-to-one careers advice – in person or over the phone – interview practice sessions, CV advice, extensive career seminar programmes and on-campus graduate recruiter workshops. And for graduates now living outwith the west of Scotland there are reciprocal agreements within the sector for UWS graduates to get advice from partner universities.

“At the moment we are concentrating on the services we can offer our alumni in terms of career advice, but we are also keen to encourage more involvement from our alumni in terms of things like guest lecturing,” says McMaster. “Students are always very interested in hearing about others’ experiences of placement or from those who have just started out in a job. It can be very powerful and inspiring to listen to a successful graduate.”

So as an alumni, whether you’re after some work advice or need to hone your interview techniques, brush up your presentation skills, update your CV or just gain access to the latest graduate vacancies, the Employability Link across all campuses, provides a unique support service which aims to equip you to compete effectively in the graduate labour market.

For details of the Employability Link services available to you visit www.uws.ac.uk/ employabilitylink or call 0141 848 3806

Claire Berry

Stuart Bruce

Susan Hastie

Development Scientist

Sales Project Engineer

Management Accountant

The rather mysterious-sounding Leonardo da Vinci programme is responsible for Claire Berry’s career in food safety testing.

The 29-year-old graduated in 2003 with a degree in microbiology and immunology.

In her third year, she took part in the science-based da Vinci programme, which seeks to promote work placements for Scottish students outside the United Kingdom. “I spent my year in Galway at Neptune Laboratory Services in a food and water microbiology lab,” says Claire who now works testing bacteria such as salmonella and E.coli in the research and development department at Oxoid in Basingstoke. To gain her place Claire had to compete with other students, supplying a CV and going through a full interview process. “The University careers service was really helpful with practical advice,” she says. “I wasn’t really sure where to start. Students do need this kind of help and guidance. We also did a module in our final year which was very useful, with recruitment experts giving tips on presenting a good CV, writing covering letters and how to conduct yourself in an interview.” Clearly, these are skills that can be honed, and in addition to an impressive placement can go a long way to securing that important first job. “I loved my time in Galway and it really helped me to get a job at RHM [now Premier Foods] after graduating,” says Claire. “Practical lab work is all very well, but doesn’t compare to the kind of experience you gain on placement.

It definitely puts you at an advantage over those who haven’t undertaken one.”

Thirty-year-old Stuart Bruce graduated in mechanical engineering in 2004 and was able to go straight into a job at Hoover in Cambuslang. “I was fortunate enough to get a placement through the University when I was in my third year,” says Stuart.

“And after I’d completed my fourth year, Hoover took me on immediately. I was very lucky – they let me know at the end of my placement that they were interested in offering me a job after I graduated.” This meant he avoided the normal anxieties that accompany end of year exams and final projects, and also eliminated the stress of looking for a job.

“I felt sorry for some of the other students who really struggled. It was great not to have those worries,” he says. At Hoover – where his placement interview included reassembling a dismantled vacuum cleaner – Stuart travelled to the Far East and Europe. “My placement paved the way for my career and helped me to get where I am now,” he says. Which is sales project engineer at Howdens in Glasgow, a company that makes industrial fans for power plants around the world; the fans recycle waste heat and help make processes more efficient. “I really enjoyed my placement, and once I graduated, I was given a lot of responsibility early on in design and development and worked my way up to project manager. The whole experience was a great opportunity.”

Like many UWS alumni Susan was studying for a part - time degree while holding down a full - time job. It was hard graft but worth it in the end, the 29 year - old now has a great job as a Management Accountant with Optical Express. “I’d been at Central College of Commerce in Glasgow, so with my HND I got directly into 3rd year at the University,” she comments. “I studied for two years because I did my degree part-time and I got my BA in Business Accounting with distinction.” She continues: “It was quite tough because you’re studying at night and at the weekends. The flexibility of the part-time programme was a big help and my employer was very accommodating too.” But while she didn’t have the social life of other students, Susan nonetheless got the maximum out of her studies. “I did enjoy my time. The lecturers were great, so helpful and always there to give you help and advice. I would recommend anybody to go to UWS, I think it’s one of the best universities in Scotland.” Once Susan had her degree under her belt she went on to tackle the professional exams of the ACCA (Association of Chartered Certified Accountants) and to work with Glasgow based firm of accountants French Duncan.

“My degree definitely helped, I learned a lot that helped me studying for my professional exams,” she explains. “In two years at French Duncan I gained relevant experience and got my professional qualification. Then I moved to work with Grant Thornton and I had a year’s contract there. Then I moved to Optical Express, where I am now, as a fully qualified management accountant.”

My placement paved the way for my career and helped me to get where I am now

Left: Anne Campbell, HR Manager for Chivas Brothers, is among the industry experts who have presented to UWS students.

Above: Jim Murphy, Secretary of State for Scotland, launches UWS Employability Link.

UWS Alumni Magazine / alumni profiles / 11

alumni profile

Herald sports journalist and UWS alumnus Darryl Broadfoot talks about his remarkable career so far.

Words Jane Wright | Photography Mark Seager

sectionprofile alumni

Born in 1979, Broadfoot grew up in Castlemilk, in Glasgow, and latterly Croftfoot where he attended King’s Park Secondary and showed early promise, fittingly, in both English and football. And while his father worked at the Daily Record on the printing side, there was no connection to journalism at that point in his life. A world-class weight lifter between the ages of 15 and 18, Broadfoot was also signed to Queen’s Park Football Club where he captained the pre-season under-18s team. But to his great disappointment, he was eventually released. “I was utterly devastated, but I think I decided then that if I couldn’t be a footballer, I would be a football writer,” he says.

Even as a lowly copy boy, the teenager loved the cut and thrust of the newsroom of Scotland’s biggest daily broadsheet. Gradually he got to write second-division match reports and a year later he signed up for the HND in Journalism at what was then Bell College in Hamilton – now part of UWS. But he continued working at The Herald every Sunday on the sports desk, getting his name in the paper.

“It took me two buses to get to Hamilton, which in the end was a godsend because I practised my shorthand on these journeys, resulting in 130 words per minute.

And as I loathe transcribing tape, this has saved me hours of tedium,” he explains.

With his studies and local paper work experience under his belt, Broadfoot was offered a two-year traineeship

by Herald sports editor Ian Scott that would encompass reporting, previewing, subbing and page design.

Broadfoot

forward L

ooking back at his 14 years in Scottish journalism – and still only at the tender age of 30 – UWS alumnus and Herald sportswriter Darryl Broadfoot counts meeting Bill Clinton, Sugar Ray Leonard and Slash from Guns‘n’ Roses as the highlights of his career so far.

Which is pretty impressive name-dropping for someone who fetched up at The Herald originally on a week’s work experience between his fifth and sixth year at school. In a classic case of being in the right place at the right time, Broadfoot landed the job of copy boy when his female predecessor suddenly quit, and left school there and then in 1995.

I ran around making tea and coffee and just being a general dogsbody,” he says, laughing. “It was six months before the editor George McKechnie even grunted at me – I was terrified of him. But it was character-building stuff.”

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I decided then that if I couldn’t be a footballer, I would be a football writer “And those two years were the making of me as a sports writer. In fact, I think I was one of the last people to receive such comprehensive training. After that there weren’t really ‘apprenticeships’ any more, so I am very grateful for what I experienced.”

At The Herald he admired Jim Traynor – now at The Daily Record – although admits he felt intimidated by the brusque, straight-talking football writer. “He’d laugh at me saying that, but it was true at the time and nevertheless I still wanted to be like him.”

These days he has great respect and admiration for senior Herald sports writer Hugh MacDonald. “Hugh is a beautiful writer and can turn his hand to anything.

Being in his company for ten minutes is an education,” he says.

His greatest hero though, is living legend Hugh McIlvanney, whom Broadfoot met for the first time this year at the Champions League final in Rome.

The seventy-something McIlvanney was, to phrase it politely, putting an Italian hack in his place as the press pack descended into chaos awaiting accreditation

before the game. “For the first time in my life I was speechless,” says Broadfoot, “He was wonderful, exactly as I expected – strong character, squat and gruff, but full of warmth and humour. McIlvanney On Boxing is one of the best books I’ve ever read, and inspirational in terms of how I would like to write.”

But Broadfoot himself is an inspiration to aspiring young journalists, as one of the most successful students his course has produced; and to have spent almost half of his 30 years at the top end of Scottish sports journalism is an impressive achievement.

In addition to returning to his alma mater to lecture, in the last year Broadfoot has been part of UWS’s industry panel set up to help shape the University’s new dedicated sports journalism course.

“Of course I am delighted to contribute – it’s the first specialist course in Scotland, which says a lot for sports writing, often derided as the ‘toyshop’ of journalism.

I defy any news reporter to do a live match report when they have 15 minutes to write 1000 words of something coherent.”

Broadfoot is well placed to identify the potential strengths and weaknesses of a prospective course and advise on practical issues guided by his own experience and the realities of a 21st-century newspaper industry facing increasingly tough times. “It’s hard, but basically you have to evolve or die. More and more people are coming to Herald sport via the online version. You have to embrace change and become multi-skilled if you want to get ahead,” he believes.

In addition to his writing at The Herald, Broadfoot contributes to Super Scoreboard Live on Radio Clyde, appears regularly on the BBC’s Sportscene and occasionally on its breakfast programme too.

“When the UWS panel met to discuss the aspects that would make the course the best in the country, I really wanted to emphasise the importance of crossover skills and not separating one medium from another: print, online, TV, radio – young journalists need to be able to adapt their skills to a number of platforms. And practical assessment is key to their success.”

Although in an ideal world Broadfoot would have been a boxing writer – there simply isn’t enough of it going on for Scottish papers to have dedicated writers – it was a proud moment for Broadfoot when he covered Joe Calzaghe’s fight with Roy Jones Junior at New York’s Madison Square Garden in 2008.

Meeting boxing legend Sugar Ray Leonard in London two years ago was a memorable occasion for Broadfoot. “The man is so impressive; he overcame drugs and divorce to get his life back on track, and I really admire that.”

Clinton, he explains, was a chance meeting when in South Africa with Rangers Football Club for a preseason tour. “I spotted Tom Hunter at a jazz club in Johannesburg, and there at his table was the former US president. So, naturally as a group of journalists, we asked for a picture, and Tom was very good and made it all happen. It was strange though, to be surrounded by these big guys in shades whispering into their cufflinks.”

And bad boy Slash was an interview before a gig at the Carling Academy in Glasgow. “He had 12 cigarette butts lined up like bullets, was on his third pint of Guinness and riding around on a BMX bike. He was cool.”

Very rock and roll. And a million miles away from a football-daft teenager practising his shorthand on the bus to Hamilton.

UWS Alumni Magazine / alumni profile / 13

alumni profile

alumni profile

After three years studying business at university, bird of prey fanatic Ffyona Fergusson started her own company, Galloway Falconry. And thanks to some hard work, a friendly bank manager and a helpful husband, it has been a huge success.

When this magnificent creature comes back to you, it’s an incredible feeling. Just instinctive. I love it.

Words Jane Wright | Photography Alaisdair Smith

Flying

High It's all academic really. An academic exercise to be exact, that led to Ffyona Fergusson’s proficiency in writing business plans. As part of her Business and Marketing coursework at the University, she was required to come up with a good idea and a comprehensive plan. This led to a prestigious enterprise competition, which Ffyona won, at which point she realised she could turn her business idea into reality.

Ffyona and her husband Grant, who also studied the course at the University, have run Galloway Falconry since March 2005 and have seen their venture grow considerably.

“On the enterprise module we had to come up with an idea and write a business plan,” she explains. “Falconry was already a lifelong interest for both of us, so that gave us the idea. We did all our research and came up with our plan, but at that point we had no intention of turning it into reality.”

Impressed with their work, their course tutor encouraged the couple to enter for the Scottish Institute of Enterprise Business Plan Awards, telling them that although he didn’t think they had any chance of winning, he believed it would be good experience.

After a series of workshops and presentations with successful entrepreneurs, they submitted a plan that made the final six. But on the day of the awards at the SECC in Glasgow, they were told the judges had not come to a decision and that each entry had to make a five-minute presentation in front of 2000 people.

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Husband Grant declined the offer to present, but Ffyona stepped up to the mark to find she was a natural. “It was an amazing experience,” she says.

“I absolutely loved it; I was in my element.” And clearly the judges agreed because Ffyona won the undergraduate category.

“It was like my five minutes of fame,” laughs Ffyona.

“We were whisked off for interviews and photographs – it was wonderful! And from there we realised that this really could work. We just decided to go for it – it would have been silly not to with all this hype and interest. We had our business plan ready and our bank manager actually phoned us up to get the ball rolling.

It was amazing!”

And the rest is history. Ffyona’s time is taken up with teaching in colleges, on intensive courses and activity afternoons for people who want to try their hand at falconry. In addition, her company provides displays for agricultural shows, corporate events and weddings, which have become a big growth area.

She also supplies birds for theatrical and film work, the most recent a Scottish Opera production.

“I grew up with birds of prey; both my parents were interested and that was passed on to me.

Falconry has a special feeling about it, an excitement.

When a bird flies to you, it’s a wild animal, not a domestic pet, not like a dog, it doesn’t love you.

But when you’ve done all the training and you’ve done it properly and this magnificent creature comes back to you, it’s an incredible feeling. Just instinctive.

I love it.”

UWS Alumni Magazine / alumni profile / 15

alumni profile

Alumnus Steve Callan, MD of Goodrich Aerostructures talks to Kirstin Innes about how he got to the top.

Words Kirstin Innes | Photography Alaisdair Smith

Running with it L

ife’s a journey,” Steve Callan tells me, more than once in the course of our chat, sitting in his office overlooking Prestwick Airport.

It seems like an appropriate motto for someone who has spent his life in aerospace engineering to adopt, but it’s particularly apt for Callan, the very best definition of a high flier.

For the past seven years he’s been the Managing Director of Goodrich Aerostructures, one of the leading global suppliers of systems and services to aerospace, defence and homeland security markets. Their motto is ‘Right Attitude, Right Approach, Right Alongside’, an equally apt description of Callan’s career.

Steve Callan’s own journey has taken two distinct paths.

The first was set out by his ‘thin-sandwich’ degree in Mechanical Engineering at what was then Paisley College of Technology between 1979 and 1984; the second 18 years later, when, poised to take over his company, he studied for an Executive MBA at the University of Paisley. Commanding a workforce of over 350 people, stationed internationally in Dubai and Toulouse, as well as the regional HQ at Prestwick, he’s now one of the most successful alumni of what we now know as UWS, and has a long, enduring relationship with the University.

However, back in 1979, like most freshers his choice of course had been almost completely arbitrary.

“I more or less fell into mechanical engineering, at first.

My son is at that point in his life just now: he’s seventeen, and he’s suddenly having to choose what he wants to do for the rest of his life. And he hasn’t a clue. To be honest, I didn’t have a clue. I did enjoy working on cars, and with mechanical aspects, I knew that. My father’s hobby was fixing up cars – in those days cars were notoriously unreliable so you had to either fix them or spend money on garages. So, I had a bit of an interest in mechanical

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engineering, but it wasn’t something I had a burning ambition to go and study. My father influenced me a bit there, too: he tried to push me towards a course that I could get a job at the end of rather than something I thought was just going to be fun.”

So, how does your average high school graduate with a vague interest in car mechanics go on to become one of the top businessmen in the country? Had Callan followed his own instincts, it’s clear life would have led him down a very different route. As a teenager attending St Ninian’s High School in Kirkintilloch, his first love was worlds apart from both dry, office-bound big business, and the intricate technological workings of an engine.

“We were very much a sporting family. I did a lot of competitive swimming when I was younger and then aged around 15 started on athletics, which occupied me throughout my late teens. By that time my brother was already the national champion at middle distance running.”

Training to be an athlete breeds certain skills and ways of thinking into people. Could these skills, have affected Callan’s attitudes and choices in the business world?

He’s sceptical at first (“well, I’m no expert in psychology!

Far from it”) but later begins to warm to the theme.

“I don’t know. Life’s a journey and you make certain choices as you go through it. Certainly, people who compete at individual sports when they’re younger are made very quickly to realise that you get nothing for nothing. There are very few people in this world who are so gifted that they don’t have to put in the effort: everybody else has to work hard. And certainly, I’m not one of the very few who’s gifted.”

Whether it was natural talent, hard graft or a mixture of both, Callan did very well on the mechanical engineering course his father had steered him towards.

UWS Alumni Magazine / alumni profile / 17

alumni profile

UNIVERSITY PROFILE

continued from page 17

running with it

Milestones

1979 Studied for a degree in Mechanical Engineering at Paisley College of Technology between 1979 and 1984.

1984 Aged 22, started work for Rolls Royce, aerospace engineering division, in East Kilbride.

1999 Returned to the University of Paisley, studying part-time the Executive MBA course.

Graduated in 2002.

2002 Made Managing Director of Goodrich Aerostructures.

“It was an excellent course, and I thoroughly enjoyed myself. What was good about it was that as well as a sound technical education, you also had over two years work experience by the time you finished. So you were actually fairly useful to industry, and you’d been trained in how to be interviewed and how to conduct yourself.

I don’t know if it was the quality of the course or perhaps just the economic situation at the time, but I was fortunate enough – well, most of my classmates were fortunate – when we graduated in 1984 we all had multiple job offers.”

Aged 22, Callan was in the enviable position of being able to go and work for Rolls Royce, the company he believed at that time were ‘at the very pinnacle of engineering’, in their aerospace engineering division, which is based in East Kilbride.

Rolls Royce, obviously spotting a rising star in their midst moved him into a very specialised technical role. “The department was called Transient Performance. Looking at how an engine accelerates and de-accelerates; all the bits where it interfaces with the aircraft’s in-flight performance.”

It was a very specialised role, and the company increased the pressure by asking Callan to simultaneously sit a part-time MSc between the Universities of Warwick and Cranfield, in gas turbine engineering and manufacturing.

It was an enormous amount of pressure for a young engineer, but Callan seems to have used his ingrained sporting skills to help keep his eyes firmly on the prize.

“It was an excellent course, and I thoroughly enjoyed myself.

What was good about it was that as well as a sound technical education, you also had over two years work experience.”

“It’s challenging in terms of time. During my MSc, I got married and had my first kid: balancing a wedding, a family, a very, very busy job and part-time study is incredibly difficult.”

“You end up having to become a little bit single-minded.

It’s a bit like some of the early training I had in athletics, you know. At times it can come across as quite crass and almost arrogant. You had to push people aside, a little bit.”

me to all these different areas of aircraft manufacture I hadn’t seen before.”

In the late 1990s, with such a phenomenal, diverse amount of experience behind him, Callan was able to take a risk – particularly as the risk meant him moving back to Scotland. He became the very first employee of a new, Prestwick-based start up company that was fairly quickly bought over by American corporation Goodrich. As the company grew and Callan felt himself being groomed as a potential director alongside incumbent MD Charlie Johnston, he took the decision to go back to study, choosing the part-time Executive MBA at the University, as he puts it, “to arm myself.”

What the Executive MBA does is offer high-ranking employees of industry and business the skills, tools and confidence they need to take on directorial positions in their companies.

“Your fellow students aren’t people who are straight from university,” says Callan. “We’ve all had a fair amount of time in industry by then. There’s classroom work, where you look at the different aspects of business management, from the people management side to finance management. However, the main benefits are the interfacing sessions, when you use your current experience and the experience of everyone else in the class to debate and decide how you would solve various theoretical industry problems.

“When I came to do the dissertation, I looked at where the company was at that time, and wrote about where I’d take it if I was given that opportunity. As with a lot of companies that are growing fast in the early stages, it’s people management that presents some of your biggest challenges. So when I was let loose on the company, the first year or so in terms of the major changes I made were all just implementing my dissertation!”

“I put a lot of research into the psychology of team working in high-performance teams, a lot of which came from personal interest through my early days as a swimmer and athlete. There are a lot of transferable skills between high-performance sport and high-performance businesses, in terms of the way you manage people.”

Callan also wants to make it clear that his association with the University didn’t end in 2002, when he graduated from his MBA and was almost immediately made Managing Director of the company. Goodrich Aerostructures is a continually growing concern, with a number of employees in need of ongoing training in everything from aeronautical engineering to time management, and Callan’s old alma mater (twice over) is not only the most convenient place, but the most appropriate.

“It’s almost that a partnership starts to develop. UWS is a commercially astute University. They’re able to listen to He breaks the moment with a laugh. what their customers need and tailor the courses where “The people who did suffer during my various postgraduate they can.” courses were my family: they had to put up with me And while all the early sporting ambition may have been being grumpy! But we got through it.” burned off into high-powered business, Callan still makes And the effort paid off. Almost immediately after his second graduation, Rolls Royce moved Callan and his family now of four over to Connecticut in the US for two years, and then to England.

“They asked me to take on a role in a company called International Aero Engines, which is run as a joint venture between five companies including Rolls Royce.

I managed the technical interface between the five joint venture companies and (aircraft manufacturer) Airbus.

It was a fascinating role; I was very lucky to have got into it, and I learned a lot more about the industry: it exposed

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Paul Martin, the new Dean of the Faculty of Education, Health and Social Sciences, speaks with Stephanie Brickman about vision, inspiration and the future.

time for his first, surprising love.

“When I do have time off, I go surfing. Surfing’s been my life-long passion.

The thing I really enjoyed about surfing, when I started at fifteen, and now, is that you don’t have to compete against anyone else.

Depending on the size of the waves, you’re either risk managing or just positioning” – and here he laughs at his choice of language. “It’s your choice how serious you want to make it, you know?”

Creating a transformational

environment

When you’ve made it to the top and you’re head of your profession for your country, you might be inclined to lean back and be happy you’ve “made it.”

For Paul Martin, UWS’s new Dean of the Faculty of Education, Health and Social Sciences, after four and a half years as Chief Nursing Officer for Scotland and Director of Health Workforce Scotland, he was asking the question – what can I do next?

He’d reached the top but he didn’t want to stop there.

As fate would have it, the opportunity came up to join UWS at an ideal moment, post-merger. Provoking some surprise in the media, Martin made the leap into academia to head up UWS’s largest faculty.

“I can’t believe I’ve been here six months already,” laughs the softly spoken Dean. Martin and his team have just moved into new offices in the Almada Building at the Hamilton Campus and the smell of paint is still in the air.

He is quick to point out how logical it is for him to have moved to UWS. Especially at a time when the University has restructured and is establishing its own vision, culture and values system.

“I was Chief Nursing Officer, I was also Director of Health Workforce Scotland and that opened my eyes to the challenges that Scotland and the rest of the world face, not just in health but in the wider public sector,” he explains.

“Being able to bring Health, Education and Social Sciences together

is the real innovation of this Faculty,” he continues. “It’s really exciting and it gives us the ability to approach the vocational preparation of the main chunks of the public sector workforce in a different way.”

“If you’re committed to your profession and your job, you have to be ambitious to always learn new and different things and this post gave me that opportunity” he explains, “while the organisation benefits from my experience of having worked to a Chief Executive level in the NHS.” On closer inspection the move that caused such surprise looks like part of a carefully laid plan. But Martin is quick to point out that he never had a real career plan.

He grew up in Ayrshire. “But I was born in Kirkcaldy,” he hastens to add, saying his mother would never forgive him if he forgot that.

One school holiday he worked as a nursing auxiliary. It was positive feedback from colleagues on the ward that gave him the idea of nursing as a career.

He enrolled at Glasgow Royal Infirmary School of Nursing in 1979, going on to train as Ayrshire’s first male midwife in 1984. After a stint as a Health Visitor he decided to move into management. Posts followed as Divisional Nurse in Moray, then Director of Borders Nursing and Community Health Services and then Director of Nursing and Allied Health Professional Services at Renfrewshire and Inverclyde.

you have to be ambitious to always learn new and different things and this post gave me that opportunity

It’s Martin’s solid background in nursing, management and the dynamics of the public sector that makes him so uniquely qualified for his current role.

So how does he see the challenges that face the public sector in the future and what role will UWS be playing?

“The lead-in time for developing a nurse consultant is 10–11 years.

Those of us in strategic positions of leadership have to plan ahead, taking into account the changing face of Scotland and the scale of our ageing population and draw up long-term plans accordingly.

The needs of the population are going to change and the workforce available is going to change – that’s a big mix and raises questions if you’re a workforce planner.’’

He is also clear that for some, this will mean changing the way they do their job or perhaps even changing their job entirely.

“That’s where, in my view, the world of academia is crucial,” he explains.

“We are the people that will be growing the evidence base that will prepare us for the future and create an environment that will be transformational.”

UWS Alumni Magazine / university profile / 19

a look inside

CAREER humour

In this technologically enabled, socially-networked age we live in, there surely can be no more frightening sight than logging into your email and seeing the dreaded words [Your Boss] has added you as a friend on Facebook.

Words Kirstin Innes

A Look

Like church and state, social networking and the workplace are spheres which should always be kept firmly apart, but all too often aren’t. And it’s difficult.

You don’t want to offend your colleagues by refusing their ‘friendship.’ You certainly don’t want to offend Sandra.

Words Stephanie Brickman | Photography Alaisdair Smith

In each issue of West, we’ll take a look at an area of interest relating to UWS. Our first Look Inside takes us to artist Sandy Stoddart’s studio which is based at the Paisley Campus.

Sandy Stoddart, Her Majesty’s Sculptor in Ordinary in Scotland, is well known for his heroic sculptures of people from Scottish history.

His monumental versions of David Hume and Adam Smith grace the streets of Edinburgh, while his representations of John Witherspoon, an 18th century Paisley clergyman who founded Princeton University in the US, are located in the grounds of the universities in both Paisley and Princeton.

Since 2002, his studio has been located in two former fluid mechanics laboratories at UWS’s Paisley Campus, a stone’s throw from where Stoddart was educated and now lives. The studio is a

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It’s the way they word it that makes it all particularly troubling, isn’t it? ‘Friend on Facebook’ is a very different thing from a regular friend. [Your Boss] – oh, let’s call her Sandra – is not asking to be your friend in the real world, outside of Facebook. She probably doesn’t want to socialise with you out of work, hold your hair back when you’ve had a few too many, double up as a free babysitting service, or tell you ‘honey, he’s not worth it’ when you call her in tears at three in the morning (what? Isn’t that how your friendships operate?). She’s only asking that you give her access to your family photos, keep her informed on your most intimate relationships, and allow her to keep tabs on your movements, your favourite movies, and indeed, your innermost thoughts.

cavernous room filled with the flotsam and jetsam of Stoddart’s fascinating art: plaster casts of gigantic legs, torsos and a shelf full of heads. The painstaking drawings with which the long process of sculpting begins are scattered around.

But why has a man whose work adorns Buckingham Palace chosen to stay in his home town, when many might have favoured West Hollywood over the West of Scotland?

“In the arts, it’s as if one simply cannot be an artist if one is still in Scotland. Unless you’re maybe in Edinburgh, because it’s the capital, or then again Glasgow because it’s a bigger city, plus it’s more groovy. But on no account can the artist ever be in

Paisley, Falkirk or Thurso!

“That’s a very strange idea to me.

Because I think on every account, the successful artist should be in the Paisleys of this world, because it’s in towns like this that the world is most arduously thrashed out. Life here is very real and consequently we can do real things.

“If I’d fled to Glasgow then London then Los Angeles I’d be moving about as a low production socialite, not creating monumental works of art.

“Working in Paisley is fundamental to me because it’s my traditional home and I’m a great believer in home.”

However, there are a number of good reasons to limit the access your colleagues have to your life. Here are three, all drawn from situations that really happened to friends. Or ‘friends.’ I lose track, sometimes.

Scenario number one: Look, you work hard. We know you do. You want to take a ‘duvet day’ once in a while, phone in sick in your best croaky voice and meet an old friend for lunch, well, who are we to judge you? We’re not your boss, though.

And when your old friend leaves you a sweet little Wall post mentioning how nice it was to see you again, it is just possible that judging might happen.

Scenario number two: You use your status update to rant about an aspect of your workplace that’s frustrating you. Ten people comment, most of them sympathising. The tenth is your office manager, who suggests, sternly (and, we might add, rather improperly) that an internal email might be more appropriate. Not only do you get a very public telling-off, but it flies straight to the inboxes of your nine other commenters. Ouch.

Scenario number three: You have a crush on a colleague. You make small-talk in the staff kitchen designed to impress on them that you are witty, urbane, cultured and attractive. And it works! They are intrigued enough to search you out and add you as a ‘friend’... at precisely the same moment that your real-life friend, Big Nozzer (long story) decides to tag twenty five photos of you, ah, airing your posterior, on that lads holiday to Majorca that you don’t really remember.

What Facebook hasn’t yet worked out is that it’s just not possible to be all things to all people. It erodes the very necessary boundaries most of us have sensibly erected between our professional and off-duty selves.

And know what? I’m not convinced that’s a good thing.

So, on Monday morning when Sandra sidles over to your desk and says: ‘Why haven’t you replied to my friend request yet? Got something to hide?’ you can either squirm in your seat for a while and lie that you don’t, er, use it that much anyway, or you can look her in the eye like a good, honest employee, and say ‘Yes.’

UWS Alumni Magazine / career humour / 21

ARTS PREVIEW

WHAT’s on

What’s on

the

Our pick of the best events in the west for November-December 2009.

The shaven-headed little Englander dispenses wit, wisdom and a pint for the fella and a white wine for the lady.

Paul Weller

The Modfather himself returns to Scotland.

The new breed of Christmas show usually brings a classy, classic story back to life with cinematic production values, exciting spectacle and a big dollop of humour

22 / arts preview / UWS Alumni Magazine

Aladdin

King’s Theatre, Glasgow, 0870 060 6648 Fri 4 Dec-Jan 2010.

Times and prices vary.

wesT

sT we

witches flying across the auditorium) you might be a little surprised to see they’re plumping for Cinderella this year.

However, that’s Cinderella as in the dark, original Grimm Brothers’ morality tale, as adapted by the satirical Scottish writer Alan McHugh, rather than the sparkly saccharine version with added Buttons.

Hope they’re not planning to chop any toes off, as happens in the original story!

The Grimm antic continues at Glasgow’s Arches: long noted for its brilliantly original shows for under-eights that refuse to patronise very little ones, this year the theatre is offering a Little Red Riding Hood apparently designed to awaken any junior feminists.

Finally, at the Traverse Theatre in Edinburgh, they’re bringing the masked swordsman to life in Zorro. Not the most festive, or child-friendly show, you might think, especially when you take into account that they’ve got DC Comics artist Cam Kennedy drawing the posters and playwright Davey Anderson, known for violent, grown-up theatre shows like Snuff, writing the script. But you couldn’t be more wrong.

“I know, it sounds like a bonkers idea,” says director Dougie Irvine, who came up with the idea for the show.

“But I thought ‘If I was going to see a show at Christmas, I’d want it to feel like a Saturday afternoon family feature film. I want people who’re looking for something a bit different to find it, but at the same time, we want to give them all the things they’d want from a Christmas show. This story has everything: romance, adventure, and in our version, a whole lot of silliness.”

Excellent nights out for small kids, big kids and inner kids, guaranteed.

Oh yes, they are.

Snow Patrol Michael McIntyre

Michael took the comedy world by storm last year selling out shows around the UK including an impressive five nights at London’s Hammersmith Apollo.

SECC, Glasgow 0870 040 4000 Wed 2nd December, £30.00

s nd me om rec

Hugely successful Glasgow-based indie rockers.

Clyde Auditorium, Glasgow 0870 040 4000 Mon 30th November, £35-£55

Join the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra for a gift-wrapped box full of classical, musical Christmas treats.

Town Hall, Ayr, 01292 269793 Thu 17 Dec, 7.30pm, prices vary

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The longest running ABBA tribute band in the business, with the sounds and the story of the super Swedes.

The Nutcracker

Scottish Ballet’s director Ashley Page revives his excellent take on the classic Christmas ballet.

Ya Beauty and the Beast It’s Christmas time in Tron Bay, home of barmy old beauty Bunty Beautox’s Boarding House and everyone’s going ballistic.

Tron Theatre, Glasgow 0141 552 4267 Sat 28 Nov - Fri 11 Dec

Paisley Town Hall, 0141 887 1010 Thu 10 Dec 7:30pm, £14 (£12)

Music

Wearing her very special "story dress" with pockets full of Christmas puppets and surprises Aileen Finlay, puppeteer and storyteller will take you on a journey of winter-time tales and songs.

Theatre Royal, Glasgow, 0870 060 6648 Sat 12 Dec-Thu 31 Dec, times and prices vary.

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Voulez Vous

Pockets Full Of Christmas Puppets – Flotsam & Jetsam

Scottish Mask and Puppet Theatre Centre, Glasgow, 0141 339 6185 Sat 19th December, £4.75-£4.95

Christmas Classics mends recom

BLAME TOY STORY. Back in the old days, there was entertainment for adults, and there was entertainment for children, which adults attached to those children suffered through. Then along came Woody and Buzz, with their wit and their multi-generational appeal, and suddenly the parents wanted to be entertained too. Catering to such a diverse audience has forced many children’s films and shows to up their game. Look at this winter’s biggest children’s film releases: Roald Dahl’s Fantastic Mr Fox, remade by indie darling Wes Anderson and starring George Clooney, and a new version of much-loved kid’s classic book Where The Wild Things Are, written by hipster scribe Dave Eggers, directed by Spike Jonze, and soundtracked by Karen O of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. Somewhere along the way, the kids got cool.

Nowhere is that more apparent than at Christmas time in theatre-land, as Scotland’s finest theatre companies pull out all the stops to make original, unique festive entertainment that appeals to all ages - and we’re not just talking about the Ugly Sisters chucking in a couple of limp double entendres to keep the parents happy. The new breed of Christmas show usually brings a classy, classic story back to life with cinematic production values, exciting spectacle and a big dollop of humour - and it’s as far removed from the tired old oh-no-theydidn’t panto format as a Jamie Oliver Christmas goose is from another dry slice of Auntie Edna’s turkey.

At Glasgow’s Citizen’s Theatre, where they’ve long avoided the traps and ponies of pantoland (last year’s show was a complete recreation of The Wizard of Oz, complete with houses and

Pantomime & Christmas shows Gerard Kelly gets some more use out of his panto wig, with support from Karen Dunbar and Any Dream Will Do finalist Keith Jack.

Barrowland, Glasgow 0141 552 4601 Sun 29th Nov, £32.50

Clyde Auditorium, Glasgow 0870 040 4000 Thu 26th Nov, £25

Christmas theatre isn’t all about panto -- and it’s definitely not just for the kids. Kirstin Innes rounds up the coolest Yule entertainment in Scotland.

2009 we sT

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Comedy Al Murray: The Pub Landlord's Beautiful British Tour

– mber nove mber Dece

exhibitions

Theatre & Dance The Rocky Horror Show

wesT recom mends

Arctic Monkeys

Pop-rock from the Sheffield-based band of the moment.

SECC, Glasgow 0870 040 4000 Tue 24th Nov, £29.50

The sauciest of rock musicals is back on tour. Shake the mothballs off your naughty fancy dress and come on down.

King’s Theatre, Glasgow, 0870 060 6647 Mon 23-Sat 28 Nov, times and prices vary

From top to bottom: Little Red Riding Hood at Arches in Glasgow, Zorro at Traverse Theatre in Edinburgh and Roald Dahl’s Fantastic Mr Fox.

Fri 27-Mon 30 Nov, Various venues Glasgow, times, prices and lineup to be confirmed.

Motorhead

The loudest band in the world (that’s official) are back on tour. Those about to rock, we salute you.

O2 Academy, Glasgow Thu 19 Nov 7:00pm, 08444 772000, £25

Citizens Theatre, Glasgow, 0141 429 0022, Sat 28 Nov until Sat 2 Jan, ticket prices vary.

Jack and the Beanstalk

Homecoming Live

The finale of the Year of Homecoming is a huge celebration of the many faces of Scottish music, at the SECC and various other venues around Glasgow over all of the St Andrew’s weekend. Look out for more information on the Year of Homecoming website nearer the time.

A festive family treat for all ages with imaginative storytelling and original live music.

wesT recom mends

Classic panto fun from the Motherwell team, with Iain Gouck as Dame Trott.

wesT mends recom

Magnetic Forces

An exhibition featuring artists from Project Ability in collaboration with London based artist collective Intoart.

Trongate 103, Glasgow 22 Oct-28 Nov, Free

Motherwell Theatre, Motherwell, 01698 403120 Mon 23 Nov-Jan 2010, times and prices vary.

The Waltz of the Cold Wind

Belle lives alone in a flat full of recording equipment. One day, having discovered she can use her microphone to eavesdrop on her neighbours through the walls, she records the voices in a flat above and big trouble follows…

Little Red Riding Hood

A magical and fun-filled re-telling of the classic Brothers Grimm story.

The Arches, Glasgow 0141 565 1000 Wed 2 Dec-Sun 3 Jan.

Tron theatre, Glasgow Thu 19-Sat 21 Nov

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