Jim: Hi, Sarah. You know, we really should start thinking about the high school prom. We've only got another three weeks so I reckon it's about time we sat down and finalized the details.
Sarah: Yes, I know what you mean. What did you have in mind?
Jim: What about hiring a room?
Sarah: What, a big function room, you mean, like the one in the hotel down the road? What's it called? The Grand?
Jim: Yeah, that's the one. And to answer your question, yes. That is the hotel I was thinking of.
Sarah: So how much does the room cost? Altogether, I mean?
Jim: £750 for the night.
Sarah: £750. Let me see now... That's... Emmm... There's what, 300 students about to graduate?
Jim: Approximately 360 actually.
Sarah: OK, then that'll work out at ... Well, about £2 per person. Little over in fact. So if we factor in some drinks and the other stuff, you know, decorations and that sort of thing, I guess we'd have to charge what, £3 per student? But then on top of that they've got to hire their dresses and suits. And they're not cheap. My sister paid £20 for hers, and that was 2 years ago. They're going to be more expensive now. And then there's transport, although I guess we could call on the parents for that, but there's the drinks as well. I think it's gonna be too expensive.... What about the school hall? It is, after all, a graduation dance, and the school seems the ideal place. We can dress the room up. You know, make it look nice.
Jim: Yes, I guess you're right. At least it'll reduce the cost. Now what about a dress code? I mean, we can't just have people wearing jeans and stuff. Not to a school prom.
Sarah: Well, last year the boys had to wear a formal suit, and the girls were all dressed in ball gowns. They looked great. All of them...
Jim: But...?
Sarah: But I was thinking that we should make it less formal. You know, stipulate no jeans and T-shirts—we don't want any scruffs at the party, but other than that let people decide for themselves.
Sarah: You know that last year some people said they couldn't attend the prom, because they couldn't afford to hire an evening dress or suit? The students from poor families, I mean. So I reckon if we relax the dress code this won't be a problem.
Jim: OK, why not? Now about the shopping list.
Sarah: Shopping list?
Jim: Drinks and stuff. I can order the drinks from the same place as last time. We got a good deal last year, remember £150, I think they were. And that was for all the drinks. It'll be more than that this year though, of course.
Sarah: Yeah, of course. Especially after the last budget. And then there's inflation and stuff.
Jim: Actually, I've already checked it out. £175 for the drinks plus an extra £5 deposit. We get that back when we return the empty bottles. I'll pick them up on the day of the prom.
Sarah: Well, that's cheap enough. And on your way why don't you go down to the department store, see if you can pick up a banner? You know something that says welcome to the high school prom.
Jim: OK, so you'll get the leaflets then? We need to get a notice printed next to the common room, don't forget, and let people know when and where it is.
Sarah: No problem. I've already written it. I just need to get it to the printers.
Jim: Great. So let's get this lot done and we can meet again in, say, a couple of days?
Sarah: Yeah, sure. Sounds good to me. How does Tuesday sound?
Jim: Yeah, sure, no problem. I'll see you then.
Sarah: Will do. Bye.
Welcome everybody to this introduction to the University of Northumbria and the City of Newcastle.
For those of you who are considering studying at the university I think you'll find it an extremely rewarding experience. The university is, in fact, one of the largest in the UK, with more than 900 academic staff and 24,000 students. And students themselves come from many parts of the world, including China, Malaysia and the Caribbean. In fact, we currently have students on undergraduate courses from more than 80 different countries. So I'm sure you'll agree that culturally it will be a very rewarding experience indeed. And what's more, if you are an overseas student, you are guaranteed a room in one of the student dormitories on campus, with two meals a day included in your rent.
Student life on campus is very varied. There are many clubs formed by students that arrange many different types of social events with the main aim of raising money for good causes. These include discos, sports events and theme nights. They also arrange excursions to places of local interest, as well as trips farther afield, including other European countries. And for the sports fans amongst you the university has no fewer than 45 sports clubs, offering a variety of sports for all tastes.
Although the university offers courses in a wide range of subjects, business management, psychology and modern languages are a specialty, and therefore it serves the growing demands of modern employers who require graduates to be well versed in the skills taught on these courses. The courses are taught through standard lectures as well as small group sessions, called seminars, which require students to interact and share ideas thereby developing students' ability to think independently.
The University of Northumbria is set in the city of Newcastle, in the far north-east of England, which, as you can see from the picture here is a beautiful coastal town bordering Scotland. Yet at the same time it's only a 3-hour train journey to London. Newcastle, however, has its own international airport and shipping port making it an ideal location to visit many other parts of Europe. In fact, many of the courses on offer at the university allow students an opportunity to spend a semester studying in one of several European universities, including France, Germany and Spain.
But more about the city of Newcastle. Despite its size it's about half as big as London, it has a surprisingly entertaining and different nightlife with theatres, nightclubs, bars, pubs, and discos. It even has its very own Chinatown, where the food, I may add, is excellent, as well as a very good museum and a world renowned art gallery.
Karen: Excuse me, Dr Owen, I ...
Dr Owen: Oh, hello Karen.
Karen: Have you got a few moments?
Dr Owen: Yeah, sure. How can I help you?
Karen: Well, I've had difficulty finding data on the original question and I was wondering if I could change my paper to "Investment in knowledge" comparing some European countries with the United States and then with others throughout the world including the OECD average. I've found lots of data by way of graphs, etc.
Dr Owen: Where did you get the data from?
Karen: From various sources, books and journals.
Dr Owen: How are you going to present the material?
Karen: I am going to use to be electronic whiteboard as suggested and do a blend of graphs, pictures, text and podcasts to illustrate my presentation.
Dr Owen: It sounds very impressive.
Karen: Yes. Let's hope the whiteboard works, but I'm also going to have a Power Point presentation for a back-up – just to cover myself.
Dr Owen: A back-up is a good idea, but it's a lot of work doing everything twice.
Karen: It is, but at least I'll have experience of both. Before we talk about how to use the data I've selected, could you give me the names of a few websites I should look at for more specific background material? When you type in anything to do with knowledge there are millions of sites listed.
Dr Owen: Let's see ... I'll print you off this list... There we go.
Karen: Right. Do I really need to study everything on these?
Dr Owen: No. I suggest there are five or six you can look at. The one you have to go through is the IT department section on the university site, which is www.kmul.org. It has articles by all of us in the department and has links to useful information. So I think it is essential to look at this.
Karen: Okay. I've already been on it, but I'll tick that one as a must read.
Dr Owen: And there's a site, which is hosted by Pollock, it's investment IT.com. All you need to do is skim the abstracts of the articles on the site; they'll give you a general idea about the effects of investment in knowledge.
Karen: Yes. That sounds good. It cuts our having to read everything. What about this one knowledge journal.com?
Dr Owen: If I remember it's not that useful. I would say that there are very few things that you need to read there. Then there's IT knowledge review.com. It's got loads of articles, but it's probably best just to read those that have come out in the last term or so.
Karen: Do you have to subscribe?
Dr Owen: No. It's free from the university library. And another free journal on line is ITonline.com. I wouldn't say it's essential to read it, but it is beneficial and so I think it is worth a look.
Karen: If you think it's useful, there is no harm in looking at it.
Dr Owen: But National statistics.com is worth looking at and trying out the links that it gives. I think these are probably enough to be getting on with.
Karen: I think so. There's another thing I want to ask about. How much material should I use in my presentation?
Dr Owen: Avoid crowding the screen, if you have lots of information at one time, people will not be able to follow it and will just switch off.
Karen: That's worth remembering. I've been in lectures where there was too much detail on the screen and it was impossible to read quickly. But what about visuals? Do you think it's okay to mix visuals and text?
Dr Owen: Visuals are very useful, but they must be relevant or else people will get confused about what they mean and why they are there. And they won't pay attention to what you are saying. So be careful. From what I can see, you have the makings of a very good presentation.
Karen: Thank you!
The subject of this evening's talk at the North Bank Business Centre is local businesses in the area surrounding the university, and the benefit they bring to the employment prospects of people in the local area, especially young people at the beginning of their career.
We established the Centre in response to approaches from several business people in the area who had wanted to start up new businesses but who had not managed to find any help locally and did not know where to turn. Moreover, they had all without exception come up against enormous bureaucratic obstacles. We therefore invited them in as a group to meet the members of the department and the students. Stemming from that is the Centre, which now focuses mainly but not exclusively on business start-ups.
Just after the Centre was set up, snapshot research conducted by the department over the telephone gave some startling results. The information about local businesses revealed that three out of every ten local businesses start-ups, that we could collect information on, had failed within the first six months, and another five had gone within the year, leaving only two. The most common reasons given for the businesses closing were: first, high rents, which are 33% higher than the national average due to the area being very central; second, lack of knowledge about grants, basically because of ignorance about how to access them; and thirdly a lack of business support, because they did not know where to obtain advice from.
Since the Centre came into existence three years ago, we have helped to change this climate of failure. The current statistics show a remarkable turnaround in the fortunes of local businesses. And now, after a year, only two businesses close out of every ten compared to eight before the Centre was set up.
Six local businesses are now taking part in a work-placement and monitoring scheme, which is of mutual benefit to ourselves and the companies involved. Ofoods, a small start-up company with nine employees involved in organic food and based at a local market, has one final year graduate doing a year-long study on improving the stock turnaround. This was a particular problem because the company found that they were losing sometimes up to 30 percent of their stock. Another start-up is Innovations which deals with producing video games. This company, which employs only five people all under the age of 25, is receiving support in attracting business partners and achieving production targets.
In the smaller business category, Sampsons Ltd, a courier company, which is interested in developing a taxi service, is being offered help with their business expansion plans. Another small niche company, called Vintage Scooter, which specializes in revamping old scooters, is taking part in a product-monitoring scheme, offering customer service up to a year after purchase to check the quality of their restoration.
The first of the two medium-sized companies that the scheme is monitoring is Build Ltd, which employs 47 people. A comparison of their products and services with other businesses in the area is being carried out by a researcher, who is trying to support them in their efforts to extend the company's product range.
The last company, Jones Systems, is perhaps the most interesting, because it has been the victim of considerable personnel problems, which have been affecting the day-to-day operations of the company. And so we are looking at conflict management and team building within the company.
To sum up, advisors help the companies look at different business options and models, apply for grants, deal with employment issues, systems creation, and also provide accommodation at the centre to help them start up. E-mentoring for fledging businesses is also in operation for those who find it difficult to attend the centre personally. The programme is funded by grants from local authorities.