Thousands of our graduates have celebrated their academic success with friends and family in ceremonies held at the Barbican Theatre in London. Our Chancellor, Lord Rix, personally awarded over three thousand degrees, diplomas and certificates. Graduates and guests heard addresses from our Vice Chancellor, honorary graduates and UEL graduates themselves. Karen Dawson and Bronwen Vienna Allen-Symmons who graduated from the School of Humanities and Social Sciences , gave a speech, they said of their experience at UEL:
"Today is the culmination of a significant chapter of our lives, every graduate here today should be extremely proud to have completed a degree at UEL... We believe UEL creates a forum for original viewpoints and theories to be shared and evaluated... Today graduates, we are the cream of the crop. We made it. Let's congratulate ourselves. We have learned from a school that's situated in a diverse, multi-cultural environment and has educated us in socially responsible way. Today is the day to aim higher. . It's time to embrace new adventures. It's time to be bold, to explore new horizons, to apply the skills we've developed and knowledge we've acquired, and to go forth and be the leaders of tomorrow."
We were pleased to award honorary degrees to a selection of important members of our community. Our honorary awards were awarded to:
We would like to say thank you to all alumni who helped out at the graduation ceremonies on the alumni stand, Lillie Rowley, Osa Jesuorobo, Sugrippillai Balakrishnan and Jerry Gerza. Your help was greatly appreciated and made a real difference in recruiting recent graduates to the alumni network.
Mark O’Thomas, a playwright, translator and BBC director whose father worked at the Royal Docks, has now joined UEL as Director of our planned new Institute of Performing Arts. The Institute will be an international centre of research and development offering ground breaking new programmes of study in dance, music, theatre and the creative industries. The institute will build on our unique creative partnership with Newham 6th Form College and Stratford Circus.
Mark, who is also a jazz pianist and ardent cyclist, said “I am very excited about joining UEL and working at the Docklands campus – especially as my dad used to work in the Royal Docks and I have fond memories of coming here as a child. I think the new Institute will be an important landmark for the area and will build on the wonderful community links our university has, as well as developing new international partners in the field of performing arts.”
We have worked our way into the top 15 of all UK universities for graduate starting salaries in this year’s Sunday Times University Guide. According to the survey the average starting salary for UEL graduates is £19,175.
UEL was placed 13th out of the 119 universities listed – ahead of such renowned establishments as Nottingham, Warwick, Durham and York, and only six places behind Cambridge and just four behind Oxford.
Professor Michael Thorne, Vice Chancellor here at UEL said “we take employability very seriously here at UEL – it’s a competitive jobs market and we want to give our students the edge. We are successfully integrating skills into the curriculum, and providing opportunities for work experience and enterprise. Currently, nearly 9 in 10 of our students are in work or further study within 6 months of graduation, and we are working hard to raise that to 100%”.
Honey Kalaria, who graduated from our business school before going on to launch her own successful Bollywood dance studio and talent agency, said “We all have our dreams in life, but we also have to learn the skills we need to make them come true. My experience at UEL definitely laid the foundations for my career.”
Don’t forget, if you are a graduate who left two years ago or less, you can access a range of careers guidance from our Employability Unit, including help with CV writing, careers advice and employer information. For further details please visit http://www.uel.ac.uk/employability/index.htm
The alumni network also offers a careers forum where graduates can be put in touch with others who can offer careers advice and guidance. To offer your services for this or to gain access to careers advice, please email alumni@uel.ac.uk
Our Docklands campus opened its doors to all-comers on 17th September as part of the London wide Open House weekend.
The campus, as you may have already experienced, is a brilliantly imaginative composition of brightly coloured residential towers and faculty buildings designed by the award winning Edward Cullinan Architects in 1999, and short listed for the Building of the Year 2001, was one of over six hundred London buildings made accessible to the public in celebration of the capitals magnificent architecture.
Jan and John Dewhurst of Bethnal Green, were among the visitors. Jan who was born in Silvertown, studied at NELP, UEL’s predecessor institution, and has lived all her life in East London, said “Docklands has been in decline for much of my lifetime, so it’s wonderful to see that UEL is now contributing so much to the regeneration of the area. I studied at UEL’s campus in Stratford when it was North East London Polytechnic. Things have definitely changed a lot since then and I’m delighted to see that these marvelous facilities are open to local people, who are actively encouraged to come to university.”
From the 1st August 2005 the Learning Development Services became the ‘School of Distance and E-Learning’.
The School is leading the development, implementation and delivery of Distance Learning programmes for UEL to enable it to become the UK's leading multi-mode University.
The School has been established to work in partnership with Schools and other Services to develop flexible, online and distance programmes and to co-ordinate the delivery of the objectives of our Learning and Teaching Strategy. The philosophy is one of working with colleagues in a team spirit to develop programmes, learning strategies, delivery methodologies and learning materials that provide an effective, quality learning experience for our students. To find out more about the School and its projects please visit www.uel.ac.uk/lds
Would you like to meet other UEL graduates whilst making new contacts and move forward in your chosen career?
We would like to invite alumni network members to attend its first business networking event. The event will feature a presentation from a representative of ELBA; the East London Business Alliance. ELBA is a business led and business funded regeneration agency that:
ELBA will be talking about the regeneration of East London and the Thames Gateway and discussing opportunities for graduates to get involved.
Alumni will then get plenty of chance to chat, be introduced to new business contacts, network and meet other alumni members over refreshments.
We would also like to welcome our recent graduates and give you the opportunity to be introduced to the alumni network show what we can do for you and how you can get involved in UEL.
The event will be taking place on 31st January at 6.30pm at our Docklands campus. To find out more and to register for this event, please email alumni@uel.ac.uk – but hurry as places are limited!
Each issue we will be focusing on one of our international alumni groups.
The Pakistani Alumni Group is a relatively new one but already has nearly 100 members. The representative for the group is Salman Cheema (2005 Msc International Marketing Management). Salman now works as a Sales and Marketing Executive for ARY Digital, a Pakistani media company.
Salman is based in Essex and is in touch with all Pakistani alumni both in this country and in Pakistan. He recently led a fundraising effort for the victims of the Pakistan earthquake. On the Monday after the disaster, Salman was in touch with the alumni office to try and set up a relief fund for the students to give to. By the end of the week he had set up stalls across the three campuses and raised a substantial amount of money. He would like to thank the students for their generosity and to his fellow alumni and friends who volunteered to take time off work and help out collecting money.
Global Development Links is a small charity based at the University of East London. All staff work on a voluntary basis, with all money raised going directly to the projects. They offer support and resources to students and graduates who wish to build partnerships with charitable organisations in both the UK and overseas. They provide them with an opportunity to make a real difference to the lives of disadvantaged people and encourage them to take part in fundraising activities that will benefit partner organisations as well as working on development projects overseas.
This is what James Harrison who volunteered in 2003 said about his experience; “I have visited Tanzania on several occasions and have many friends and connections in Kilimanjaro region. I’ve come to realise from my academic studies and through personal experience that well designed and meaningfully focused educational programs can truly benefit children in one of the poorest countries in the world.
In addition to using these volunteers as skilled labour, the Project will work to help these volunteers learn the issues surrounding education in a Less Economically Developed Country. They will also acquire techniques for effectively transferring the skills they have to both children and adults - techniques that are certain to help them in their future endeavors.”
If you are interested in finding out more about volunteering for GDL please visit www.gdl.org.uk
Could you inspire young people with a disability to progress into further or higher education?
Could you talk to young people about your university experience and your job?
Could you give advice on how to progress from further or higher education into employment?
WHY NOT BECOME AN AMBASSADOR FOR AIMHIGHER?
London East Thames Gateway (LETG) Aimhigher Partnership is starting a new ‘Young Professionals’ Ambassador Scheme for outreach activities in schools and colleges.
Are you interested?
Contact the LETG Project Officer Susan Mueller on s.c.mueller@open.ac.uk or Tel: 020 7556 6153 for more information and how to apply.
What does an LETG Aimhigher Ambassador do?
The LETG Aimhigher ‘Young Professional Ambassadors’ Scheme delivers outreach activities in schools and colleges to raise awareness of the opportunities in higher education, further education and employment amongst young people with disabilities. Young Professionals are important role models who inspire young people with disabilities to progress via higher or further education or employment, share their experience of further or higher education and its benefits in their career development, share their experience of how to gain employment and what working life is like, give advice on how to progress into HE or FE and particularly into employment
Why be an LETG Aimhigher Ambassador?
The activities:
As a ‘Young Professional Ambassador’ you can choose from a variety of activities according to your availability and preference. These can include: Informal presentations and talks at school and college events such as parents’ evenings, breakfast clubs, etc. Mentoring small groups or individual students.
www.londoneastaimhigher.org.uk
Recruitment fairs can be a beneficial tool in your job search. They have the advantage of presenting a wide range of employers under one roof who are actively looking for graduates. The alumni office would like to draw your attention to Prospect – the official graduate careers website. It lists all the graduate recruitment fairs across the UK. To find out more visit www.prospects.ac.uk
School of Arts and Digital Industries
Business School
School of Computing and Technology
School of Education
School of Health and Bioscience
School of Law
School of Psychology
School of Humanities and Social Sciences
For further information, please visit our webstie www.uel.ac.uk/february/index.htm
Stefanie Braun (31) is Exhibition Organiser at the Photographer’s Gallery in central London. Stefanie grew up in Munich before moving to London in 1996 to study for a BA in Visual Theories at UEL.
“Studying at UEL was a great experience. It opened up vast new areas of interest for me, as the modular system allowed me to study the whole range of visual arts. At UEL, the tutors were very interested in what I personally had to say, and they constantly encouraged me to think creatively. There’s a very friendly atmosphere there, too, and plenty of support for the students. I also found time to volunteer at Creative Camera magazine, a fantastic opportunity which helped me land a post-graduation job at the Photographer’s Gallery”
In 2000 she was offered the post of exhibitions organiser at the Photographers' Gallery. Though Braun has worked on several exhibitions her career really moved up a gear when she took over the organisation of the gallery's prestigious Deutsche Borse prize. This last year has been particularly busy after the prize was opened up to European photographers.
“It's been wonderful to develop my career in such a stimulating environment, and I certainly have no regrets about moving to London.”
Harmander, who is multi-lingual in four languages, studied Technology and Production Engineering at North East London Polytechnic from 1979–1983. In 1983-85 he joined the Greater London Council as a Work Study Assistant in Public Health Engineering. He then moved to the London Borough of Hackney where he was a Project Officer in Management Services from 1985-87. Harmander then took up a post as Senior Organisation Analyst in Management Services in1987-89 with the London Borough of Lambeth. From that period to the present he has held various policy posts in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, currently he is Policy Officer (Faith) in the Chief Executive’s Office and Convener for UNISON.
Harmander takes part in an impressive range of activities and interests in the community. He is the LGA (Local Government Association) Advisor on Faith, a London Civic Forum Member - Faith College, Chair of Canary Wharf Multi-Faith Prayer Room Steering Group, Principal Advisor to Sikhs in England and media spokesperson, IAG (Independent Advisory Group) member for local, regional and national Policing, member of Safeguarding Children Independent Advisory Group (SCD5), Trustee/Director of Valentines Mansion, Trustee/Director at FBRN UK (Faith Based Regeneration Network), Justice of the Peace since 1993, Independent Assessor for National Lottery Grants, Lay Ofsted Inspector for eight years and member of the Commonwealth Memorial Gates Group.
He has been happily married since 1979 and has four children, two boys and two girls. In his spare time he runs marathons (21 in total!) and trains other including the oldest male marathon world record holder (now 94).
East London is now recognised as a great place to live, work and study. With the success of London’s bid for the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, we are on the threshold of tremendous change, and at the heart of the most exciting urban development project in Europe. Infrastructure projects including the Channel Tunnel Rail Link, the Thames Crossing and DLR extension are already underway, and many more developments are planned.
Here at UEL, we are engaged in a £110 million programme of expansion and renewal at our campuses in Docklands and Stratford, and our partnership with the new Barking Learning Centre. We are creating a world class learning environment that is attractive, accessible and welcoming, open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, with state-of-the art computing facilities, lecture theatres and learning resource centres.
Our transforming vision for the region means the development of a new kind of university, serving the needs of our student community, and actively engaged in outreach and networking activities with local communities and businesses.
The Development Office has launched its campaign to seek support in raising capital and endowment funds for this major programme of development that will underpin our strategic commitment to the regeneration of East London and the Thames Gateway as a region of national and international social and economic importance.
Our campaign was launched in September 2005 with a donation of £500,000 from the Jack Petchey Foundation to create the Petchey Centre for Entrepreneurship.
Our campaign is supported by a wide range of individuals, businesses and trusts, including alumni.
“I am proud to be supporting Transforming Horizons, UEL’s campaign for East London and the Thames Gateway which will bring immense benefit to education, enterprise and the economy of the region.” Colin Kingsnorth, Chairman Laxey Partners UK Ltd and UEL graduate in Economics 1986.
“UEL has a proud track record of providing opportunities for local people, raising aspirations and educational attainment in a region with historically high levels of deprivation. Today, UEL is at the forefront of working with partners in industry, education and the diverse communities of East London to find new ways to tackle social exclusion and boost employability and enterprise for people of all ages…Together, right now, we can transform the horizons of millions of Londoners.” Mayor of London Ken Livingstone.
We would like to involve our alumni to in this important campaign. If you are interested in obtaining further information about it, please contact the development office on e.cale@uel.ac.uk 020 8223 2222
We would like to wish all our alumni network members a very happy festive season and New Year.
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