Volume Thirty-Three • Number Ten • 15 March 2004 - News & Views - Press and Information Office

LSE External Study held its annual Study Weekend, 7-8 February, for students enrolled with the University of London External Programme.

Students who, for one reason or another, cannot come to the university to study in the conventional way, study for degrees in economics, management, finance and the social sciences. They can also study for the Diploma in Economics, either through independent learning or enrolling at a local institution offering tuition for the programme. Over 12,000 students worldwide are enrolled on these programmes.

The School is responsible for all academic aspects of the qualifications offered: developing syllabuses, writing subject guides, advising teaching institutions, as well as preparing and marking examinations.

70 external programme students travelled to LSE and attended study sessions led by LSE academic staff, many of whom have supported the external programme for many years.

Students travelled from as far as Pakistan and Russia, and as near as Windsor and Essex, to discuss their syllabus with subject specialists, receive guidance on the curriculum and raise any issues of particular concern to them.

For these students, a large percentage of whom study alone, meeting LSE academic staff was a valuable opportunity, as was the chance to meet with other external programme students, share experiences and form links for future correspondence and support.

As well as study sessions, students were invited to attend a welcome reception and presentation from the University of London’s online library manager about making the best use of the online library facilities available to them. The director of LSE External Study, Mrs Rosie Gosling, was available throughout the weekend to offer advice and support.

Students were happy to give informal feedback on the programme during the weekend and an online student feedback survey was conducted afterwards. Comments on the weekend’s teaching and organisation will be reviewed by external study staff in the planning stages for next year’s study weekend.

Running for a cause

• Stepana Lazarova, PhD student and tutorial fellow in the Department of Economics, is running the 2004 Flora London Marathon on 18 April.

The London Marathon is one of the largest in the world with more than 33,000 runners and many more spectators. It is also a large fundraising event where many participants are running to raise money for charities.

Stepana is one of them, running for the Multiple Sclerosis Resource Centre (MSRC). Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an illness of the nervous system, affecting mainly young adults between 20 and 40. In the UK, between 85 and 100 thousand people – about 1 in 600 – have been diagnosed. The causes of the disorder are unknown and the treatment is a complex and controversial area.

Stepana’s awareness of the illness stems from the fact that one of her friends has been affected by MS for 20 years. The MSRC charity she is running for is a small group of people dedicated to offering as much information as possible about multiple sclerosis to those affected by it.

Stepana is hoping to get great support from her colleagues at LSE. To sponsor her, you can make a donation at: www.justgiving.com/lazarova, or email her at: s.lazarova@lse.ac.uk. Any amount will make a difference, and it is the number of people contributing as well as the amount of money raised that is important.

• Jude Howell, director of the Centre for Civil Society, will also be running the 26 miles of the Marathon. She is raising money for projects run by the charity Concern to assist victims of landmines in Cambodia.

If you wish to sponsor Jude for this event, you can either make a contribution via the webpage: www.justgiving.com/judemarathon, or fill in a sponsorship form available in room A120, Centre for Civil Society.

This is Jude’s first marathon and might well be the last! We’ll let you know how she did and how much money has been raised to assist victims of landmines in Cambodia.

Changes at ELSE

Keith Mackrell, chairman of Enterprise LSE (ELSE) since its foundation 12 years ago, has stepped down from the role of leading the company.

Keith has been closely involved throughout this period with the development of the company to the position it is in today, providing a professional and commercial service between the academic community of the School and the business world. He will continue to assist developing business opportunities on behalf of ELSE and will take the honorary title of president of Enterprise LSE.

Roger Mountford (BSc Econ, 1967-71) a board member of the Civil Aviation Authority took over the chairmanship on 12 March.

TRIUM ranking

Whitefield Consulting Worldwide, a global MBA consultancy, has ranked the TRIUM Executive MBA programme as second worldwide, ahead of Wharton, Columbia, University of Chicago and London Business School respectively.

TRIUM is the Executive MBA programme run by an alliance of LSE, NYU Stern and HEC School of Management, Paris. The first cohort of 28 students graduated in September last year after a 16 month study period, based around six intensive educational modules in five international locations.

Whitefield Consultancy Worldwide regularly surveys EMBA students and those individuals who have completed degree programmes. Their research team compiles the statistics on the basis of a detailed questionnaire, containing data on:

Obituary

Tom Nossiter first came to LSE in 1972 as a visiting lecturer before his permanent appointment to the staff of the Government Department in 1973. Already an established scholar and stimulating teacher, he taught the master’s degree in political sociology. He was not only a guide to his students, he was inevitably their friend.

Tom cared deeply for every project he conceived or sponsored. The campaigns he waged all had success as their objective, though it required time and industry to achieve. His book Communism in Kerala took a decade to prepare and publish. It bears the mark of his originality and shows his rare skill in getting below the surface to the nerves and arteries of a region’s political life. Collaborative work with Jay Blumler and others matched the importance of their earlier studies. Their report to the Peacock Committee decisively influenced the future funding of the BBC.

Tom regarded the present as unfinished history with questions to be asked and answers to be sought. But history is not foreordained and he believed it possible to confirm or divert the course of events through personal intervention.

Academic office brought new opportunities for action, notably in developing the University of London’s external programme. The founding of this new enterprise gave Tom the greatest pleasure as it brought opportunity to thousands across the world.

Public lectures

Our population is ageing, producing fewer babies, educating more of its young people for longer, demanding better public services and is more unequal than for a very long time. Yet we seem reluctant to pay higher taxes or save for private pensions. Are we living in a fool’s paradise?

Robert R Prechter, Jr
Socionomics: social mood is the engine of social activity

What if the common understanding of how events happen is backwards and the correct perspective could reveal the next phase in politics, technology, and economics? Or even in music, sports, and TV shows? What if you could predict social trends better than anyone else?

In this lecture, Robert Prechter will show how socionomics provides the correct perspective on these trends and others – from declining birthrates to Japanese horror movies, to the effects of the Enron debacle on financial markets. In short, he’ll tell you how the world really works.

Robert Prechter has written 13 books. His Conquer the Crash became a New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestseller.

Manuel Castells is Research Professor of Information Society at the Open University of Catalonia, Barcelona, and Wallis Annenberg Chair Professor of Communication Technology and Society at Annenberg School of Communication, University of Southern California, Los Angeles.

IT Services/Library training courses

24 hour Library

The School has confirmed that funding is available for the Library to pilot 24 hour opening for eight weeks during the exam period this year.

The pilot will run from Monday 3 May to Friday 25 June, between 11pm and 8am. The Library will only be open to LSE members on a reference only basis and will be staffed by security.

A working party, made up of Library staff, IT Services, Estates and security staff, has been brought together to plan the 24 hour opening. The Students’ Union general secretary will also join the working party. Further details will be available after the Easter break.

The results of the pilot will be carefully monitored, looking at various issues such as usage levels and the impact on maintenance of the Library building. The working party will develop the methodology for monitoring the success or otherwise of the pilot.

The results of the pilot will influence future School decisions about providing funding for extended opening on a permanent basis.

Symposium

On the Periphery of the Russo-Japanese War, 1904-05
Tuesday 16 March, 2pm, R505

This year marks the centenary of the Russo-Japanese War. While there were only two belligerent powers, the war interested and affected many others. This symposium will illustrate some of the war’s diversity from an international standpoint. Speakers are:

David Steeds: Japan at War: the diary of a British observer, 1904; Ian Nish: China and the Russo-Japanese War; John Chapman: Britain’s Naval Estimation of Japan and Russia, 1894-1905.

Free and unticketed. If you would like to attend, please call Johanna Ruff on ext: 6698.

Media bites

teaching & learning centre

Managing your supervisor (for contract researchers)
Thursday 18 March, 9.45am-4.30pm

Increased pressures on all staff to deliver in shorter time scales can often mean more junior members have to take more individual responsibility sooner, and sometimes have to work in relative isolation. It is becoming increasingly important that time with research supervisors is used as effectively as possible. This programme will assist you to consider what you need from your supervisor and how to negotiate this, taking into account the local departmental ethos and the wider pressures affecting everyone.

What your CV says depends on who you are sending it to. Can you ‘translate’ your experience into the language of the wider marketplace? This session teaches the language of transferable skills and looks at different styles of presentation.

Taking your WebCT course further: building on your initial implementation
Wednesday 31 March, 12.15-1.45pm

Aimed at staff already using WebCT who want to enhance and develop their WebCT course. The session will be illustrated with examples from the School and elsewhere, showing how WebCT can be far more than a repository of course notes, and has the potential to be developed into an exciting and creative learning environment.

Contact Rebecca Trumble to book a place on either of the above. Email: TLC@lse.ac.uk or call ext. 6624.

Disability equality

Progress is being made in implementing the recommendations of the School Action Plan for Disability Equality in all areas of the School.

On Tuesday 16 March, the implementation team will meet to check which targets have been met and if there is still work to be done.

The main requirements of the Disability Discrimination Act part IV (SENDA) are that we:

Your comments and suggestions are warmly welcomed. Please email: e.l.odowd@lse.ac.uk.

Noticeboard

Annual Library survey
The Library is running its annual student user survey. All student users of the Library are encouraged to take a few moments to complete this online survey. Completed surveys will be entered into a prize draw to win £100 worth of vouchers to spend in a store of your choice. Plus there are 100 runner-up prizes of Library branded college bags. Students can find the survey by going to the Library website www.library.lse.ac.uk and clicking on the link in the Highlights box.

UCL lectures
Tuesday 16 March. 1.15-1.55pm, Darwin Theatre, Gower Street. Mrs Claire Jamieson: Dyslexia at UCL: reading signs, dispelling myths and righting wrongs.

Thursday 18 March. 1.15-1.55pm, Darwin Theatre, Gower Street. Professor Alwyn G Davies: Sir William Ramsay: Nobel Laureate 1904.

Both free and open to all.

Institute of US Studies seminar Literature and Culture
Saturday 20 March. 2-4.30pm, Senate House, Room 248. Paul Giles: National Culture and the Spectre of Globalization; David Morley: Transatlanticism. Free but registration required. Call 020 7862 8693 and ask for the programme officer.

Forum for European Philosophy
Thursday 25 March. 7-8.30pm, Institut Français, 17 Queensberry Place, South Kensington. Discussion. Guiseppina D’Oro: Collingwood: the autonomy of philosophy.
Thursday 22 April. 6.30-8pm, Borders bookshop, 120 Charing Cross Road. Book Forum. Julian Baggini on his book, Making Sense: philosophy behind the headlines. Both free and unticketed.

Edward Said conference
Edward Said, Professor of English and Comparative Literature at Columbia University, New York, died last September. A conference is being organised in his memory to be held at the University of Sussex on Friday 14 May.
The conference will honour Said’s intellectual achievements and address the ways his work has allowed us to re-think the disciplines of academic life, and to consider his political engagement. Free and open to all.
For further details and how to register, see: www.sussex.ac.uk/conferences/said2004/.

Small ads

Wanted: one-bed flat for new lecturer. 1 July to Spring 2005 when larger family flat needed. Email Robert Samuel Simon: robertsamuelsimon59@yahoo.de, tel. +49 551 5311023.

Alpha books: books bought. All subjects considered. Buyer will collect. Call ext 7802 or 020 7095 1890.

Another Mallorca: try agro-tourism ‘Son Esteve’. 4km to the sea, 13th century defence tower, ancient olive press, swimming pool, AC & sat-TV, succulent Majorcan breakfasts. From €110-125 per room p/w. Longer periods available at much lower rates. Ideal for family, friends, reunions and business meetings. Visit: www.sonesteve.com.

To rent: bright spacious room in attractive top floor maisonette. Walking distance Arsenal/Finsbury Park tube. Available from April. To share kitchen/dining room and bathroom with LSE academic (part-time use only). Must be tidy and n/s. £110 p/w including utilities. Contact j.p.rubies@lse.ac.uk.

To let: house in Dinard. 5 mins walk from beach, shops, supermarket, Beautiful garden. Two double beds, sitting room (can be extra bed), living room, kitchen with utensils and cutlery, bathroom and toilet. Less than £10 cab to airport. £90 p/w, £300 p/m. Contact: dinardhouse@hotmail.com.

LSE News & Views is published every Monday during term by the Press & Information Office. Printed by Reprographics Department. The aim is to provide a means of communication for all members of the School as well as news and information about people and activities. Articles, news and photographs are welcome. Contributions should be sent to Toni Sym, Press & Information Office, 6th Floor, Tower 1, to arrive NO LATER THAN ONE WEEK before publication date. All personal ads carry a standard charge of £2 for up to 50 words.

Volume Thirty-Three • Number Ten • 15 March 2004

LSE External Study weekend