Educación

With hoes, shovels, some 15,000 seedlings and a bolt cutter to break the locks that kept them out, students, community members and participants from nearby Occupy movements have laid claim to an undeveloped 10-acre parcel since Earth Day, Apr. 22, in Albany, California.

Cyrus Hirjibehedin: The new disconnect between EPSRC research studentships and research grants is potentially catastrophic. And perhaps more constructive than the coffin is the fact that many scientists talked directly to their MPs

Approximately 100 scientists from the group "Science for the Future" gathered at Parliament on Wednesday, 15 May as part of efforts to overturn a series of changes in the way research funds are allocated by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Council (EPSRC), the primary government funding body for these disciplines in the UK. This follows the publication of a letter in The Telegraph by nine Nobel Laureates highlighting "serious concerns" with EPSRC's new policies and how they are "failing to maintain Britain's global research standing", resulting in the "squandering of British taxpayers' money".

After attending a briefing in the House of Commons, members assembled to participate in various activities to raise awareness of the campaign's objectives. The most visible of these was a "funeral procession" from Parliament to Downing Street led by a group of pall-bearers with a coffin for "Science". Less visibly, though perhaps more significantly, dozens of scientists arranged meetings with their local MPs to ask them to support an Early Day Motion about their concerns and to encourage them to contact the Science Minister, David Willets, to ask him to address these issues directly.

At the heart of the concerns being raised by scientists are changes that EPSRC has made in how proposals for new research are assessed, what kinds or resources can be requested, and who is eligible to apply. For example, through its "Shaping capabilities" strategic plan, EPSRC is focusing its resources on areas that have been determined to be of significant national importance and are already strengths for UK research. In the past, this simply meant that certain amounts of funding were reserved for highlighted areas. Now, however, research not conducted in key areas is being excluded from things like Fellowship applications, which are designed to advance the careers of the UK's best researchers. This makes it substantially more difficult to encourage truly innovative "blue-sky" research topics because their significance, which can be transformative, is often only clear in hindsight.

Perhaps most worrying for the scientists is that EPSRC has made these changes without appropriate consultation with the research community, and is insisting on proceeding in spite of significant opposition. This is true even for actions that may have unintended negative consequences. For instance, under EPSRC's new rules, it is no longer possible to fund PhD students on regular research grants because they are now being allocated primarily to a select set of training centres that focus on a small number of topics. This could have catastrophic consequences for research that is being done in areas outside of these training centres, and has left academics scrambling to find new ways to fund PhD students, who form the core of most research groups.

Additionally, prior EPSRC policies strongly encouraged a broad range of academics, particularly at the early stages of their careers, to move to the UK. Now, however, many are concerned that the recent changes will result in a "brain drain" of the most promising UK scientists. This would have adverse effects not only for UK scientific research, but also for the wider Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) communities that have driven much of the UK's recent economic strength.

Cyrus Hirjibehedin is a researcher in the London Centre for Nanotechnology

• Science policy
• Research funding
• Higher education

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Education secretary Michael Gove's suggestion would lead to the end of a national pay scale for the profession

England's state schools could be allowed to set their teachers' salaries themselves, the education secretary has proposed, leading to the end of a national pay scale for the profession.

Michael Gove made the suggestion in a submission to a review on teachers' pay due to report this autumn.

His idea would trigger one of the biggest shakeups in teachers' working conditions for a generation and was deeply unpopular with trade unions.

Gove said the current national pay scale for the profession was too rigid and meant that schools in some parts of the country struggled to recruit good teachers, while others significantly overpaid their staff.

Academies are already allowed to deviate from the national pay scale, but just 35% have chosen to do so.

Government research shows a wide variation in teacher vacancies and turnover across the country. In London, there are at least 40% more vacancies than across the rest of the country. Salford, in Greater Manchester, has several schools with a large number of vacancies, but in 90% of its schools there are no vacancies. Teacher turnover is above average in east London, London and the south-east, but low in the north-east.

These regional discrepancies are "indicative of the challenges that exist at an individual school level", the government's submission to the school teachers' review body states.

Abolishing the national pay scale for teachers would enable schools to "accommodate local market-facing pay fluctuations and any school specific issues that might affect the school's ability to attract and retain high quality teachers", the submission says.

It would also allow schools to manage their budgets more effectively and pay good teachers more, earlier in their careers. However, the submission admits there are considerable disadvantages to a system of complete deregulation.

The government could not oblige all schools to take account of the local labour market, for example, and schools could pay qualified teachers at a significantly reduced rate. Other suggestions include giving headteachers and their governing bodies a larger degree of pay flexibility than they currently have.

At present, teachers' pay automatically rises according to their experience.

Gove has also asked the school teachers' review body to look into whether teachers' pay should be more closely linked to performance and whether there should be local pay, triggering threats of strikes from the National Union of Teachers (NUT).

This week, an international study by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development showed there was no clear link between awarding teachers performance-related pay and improving standards in schools.

Gove's proposal to scrap teachers' national pay scale was greeted with anger from trade unions.

Christine Blower, general secretary of the NUT, said a national pay scale gave the profession transparency and ensured "much greater fairness and non-discrimination than pay levels determined at school level".

"Education is a nationally-delivered service so local pay for a teacher is completely inappropriate. It would reduce teacher mobility, create shortages in areas of lower pay, hit recruitment and retention, and create needless extra expense and bureaucracy for schools. The most disadvantaged parts of the country would be hit by a double whammy of government cuts and lower pay," she said.

Russell Hobby, general secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers, said teachers' pay should be more closely linked to performance. "Good teachers ought to be able to progress more quickly on the basis of a rounded and objective judgement of their performance," he said. But he rejected the idea of schools setting their teachers' pay. "This will force schools in our most deprived communities to pay staff less," he said.

• Schools
• Michael Gove
• Trade unions

Jessica Shepherd
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The role of lecturer is an important one but doesn't come naturally to most. Join our panel on Friday 18 May, to explore the how-tos of teaching for new and not-so-new academics

A quick Google search reveals that there are many examples of 'lecturers behaving badly' on YouTube. It would seem students are taking to the site to share footage of academics doing things such as rambling on incoherently or losing their patience over "an overly loud yawn."

It's harder however to find examples, shared by students, of good teaching online. Perhaps when it comes to lecturing, like most things, criticism comes easier than praise.

Of course a lack of YouTube clips posted by students doesn't mean that good teaching isn't out there - but how do you know good teaching when you see it and how do you equip people to become good teachers?

Last month, we took on the first part of that question in a live chat that broadly discussed the role of teachers in academia and the value of teaching as compared to research. But early into the discussion it became clear that within the academic community, there is reticence about being called teachers. Claire Warden, a lecturer at the University of Lincoln says: "Academics are not really 'teachers' but (I hope) are enablers of learning. 'Teachers' (and this is not in any way derogatory towards teachers) suggests a fairly undemocratic space of someone who knows stuff, telling the stuff they know to people who don't know stuff. I'm not a big fan of this."

Still, however you choose to define it, the role of a lecturer is an important one for the student, and can be a rewarding one for the academic. Yet, it is one that some feel adequately prepared to do - particularly at the start of their careers. Associate professor Afshan Jafar explains: "Teaching can be quite an unpredictable experience. Coupled with graduate students' relative unfamiliarity with the discipline, it should be expected that teaching will seem, well, a bit 'unnatural'."

So on Friday 18 May, we'll bring together a panel to consider the how-tos of teaching for new and not-so-new academics; from developing modules to dealing with a bad class, handling complaints, sharing resources and seeking help or getting recognition.

The discussion will begin at 12 BST in the comments thread below. If you would like to be on the panel, send me an email.

Panel to follow

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• Academics
• Teaching
• Professional development
• Higher education
• Teaching

Eliza Anyangwe
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The funding system set up to support the increase in tuition fees in England is financially and socially unsustainable

Last year's white paper, Putting students at the heart of the system, built on the Browne review, which sought to put higher education on a sustainable footing.

There has been much debate about what we might call social sustainability since tuition fees rose to £9,000. Discussion has focused on higher fees putting off poorer students. Yet, although application rates have decreased, thus far this decrease has not added to social inequality, because applications from poorer school-leavers have held up.

The reforms have introduced a lot of support for poorer students – increased maintenance grants, the national scholarship programme, bursaries and fee waivers from individual universities. But perhaps, most importantly, the message seems to have got through about the generosity of loan repayment terms: that if you go on to be a low earner, you'll come nowhere near paying back all you've borrowed; that repayment does not start until you earn £21,000; that the percentage of salary taken after this threshold is only 9%, meaning a graduate on £30,000 can expect to pay around £68 a month).

This is all well and good, you might think. If we are going to make students pay more towards their education, then we better establish substantial and progressive means of financial support.

So what's the problem?

In focusing on making repayment terms on loans as generous as possible, the government has lost sight of other very important issues of social and financial sustainability.

The first and central of these is the possibility that somewhere between 30% and 40% of student loans will never be paid back. Previously, the write-off rate for loans was about 26%. The Treasury is concerned by the new higher write-off rate and, as a result, has insisted on the continuation of the cap on overall student numbers first introduced in 2008. It has also overseen a further tightening of the cap over the last two years, with an estimated 25,000 university places taken out of the system.

Enforcing the cap on numbers has the potential to do much more harm to social mobility than increased fees because most of those who would benefit from more places are from poorer backgrounds. The Higher Education Policy Institute estimates that, by 2020, there could be as many as 100,000 applicants per year who are genuinely capable of entering higher education but who are locked out of the system, which is equivalent to more than one quarter of the 360,000 new entrants to higher education who went through Ucas in 2010.

So, although the recent changes to tuition fees look socially sustainable, they are in fact not. Debt might not be putting off poorer students from applying to universities, but many tens of thousands a year are unable to get a place when they apply. In a time of prolonged economic stagnation, where there are far fewer jobs, this denial of access seems particularly harmful.

So what can be done?

The government has two choices within the current spending restrictions. It can accept the status quo and publicly admit that it will never get back a large amount of its loans, defending the loss by saying it is the price of a fair and progressive funding system. Although doing this would store up future bad debt and leave England's higher education system unable to keep up with increasing demand.

On the other hand, the government could tighten up repayment terms so that it gets more money back. This would mean lowering the threshold for repayment and increasing the "tax" rate on income above that threshold, as well as raising interest rates for higher earners. The money saved from less bad debt could then be reinvested in increasing the number of total student places.

These two options leave us with a very tough choice – between making students slightly worse-off when they start work and locking out tens of thousands of young people from higher education each year. But, on balance, I believe siding with increased access through funding more places is the right thing to do, Moreover, it puts us on track to create a truly sustainable higher education system – both fiscally and socially - not just a progressive repayment system.

This is an excerpt from the Higher Education Careers Services Unit's spring edition of Graduate Market Trends. The full article can be viewed at hecsu.ac.uk.

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• Finance
• Funding
• Reforms
• Access
• Higher education
• Education policy

Matt Grist
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Two scientists involved in Spice project to simulate the cooling effect of volcanoes had submitted patents for similar technology

A controversial geoengineering experiment to simulate the cooling effect of volcanoes has been cancelled due to concern over a perceived conflict of interest with some of the researchers.

The experiment would have injected 150 litres of water into the atmosphere from a weather balloon via a 1km pipe tethered to a ship as part of the Spice project (Stratospheric Particle Injection for Climate Engineering).

Matthew Watson, a scientist at Bristol University and the principal investigator of Spice, told Nature magazine that two scientists involved in the project had not been initially forthcoming that they had submitted patents for technology similar to that used in the project before Spice was proposed.

This revelation caused some concern among the scientists involved, leading to the decision to axe the field-test, though they decided the lab-based element of the project should continue. Watson said other concerns had been raised about the lack of government regulation of geoengineering projects.

"This shows how commercial and financial interests can complicate the management of research on geoengineering, especially SRM technology, even if everyone agrees that it is safe. The project team have done the right thing, but this is an issue that needs to be explored in depth with stakeholders," said John Shepherd, chair of the Royal Society's geoengineering group.

"It's a shame that the balloon experiment won't be done now, as it would be really interesting to know if this technology would work, and I am quite sceptical about it," he added. "However, it was always an optional extra to the rest of the project, which is scientifically much more important."

Peter Cox, a professor of climate system dynamics at the University of Exeter, said in a statement: "It is regrettable that the field-trial aspect of Spice has now been cancelled, but it is vitally important that the remainder of the project, which is desk and lab based, should continue."

Scientists at Spice – run by the universities of Bristol, Cambridge, Edinburgh and Oxford – had hoped the particles could mitigate the effects of global warming by diffusing sunlight before it reached the earth. The project was controversial, with groups including Friends of the Earth and the Canadian-based ETC Group raising concerns over the long-term impacts.

• Geoengineering
• Climate change
• Volcanoes
• Natural disasters and extreme weather
• University of Bristol
• Higher education

Erin Hale
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The associate editor of Genomics says its publisher Elsevier effectively denies developing world access to research findings

Today I resigned from the editorial board of a well respected journal in my field – Genomics. No longer can I work for a system that provides solid profits for the publisher while effectively denying colleagues in developing countries access to research findings.

It has not been an easy decision. Some may feel that I'm grandstanding or making a futile gesture. And it may be a toxic career move. Scientists are expected to contribute to the community by reviewing papers and serving on editorial boards. But I cannot stand by any longer while access to scientific resources is restricted.

My work on biomedical research in developing countries has shown me that lack of access to current publications has a severe impact.

The vast majority of biomedical scientists in Africa attempt to perform globally competitive research without up-to-date access to the wealth of biomedical literature taken for granted at western institutions. In Africa, your university may have subscriptions to only a handful of scientific journals.

In reality, the modus operandi is "please can you send me a pdf". Alternatively some researchers spend part of their research grant to buy a subscription to the journal they need.

I know this well, as this was what I did for 10 years while at Africa's sixth-ranked university in my native South Africa – the University of Western Cape. Unlike colleagues in developed countries with access to well-stocked libraries and online subscriptions, I have requested pdf articles from Elsevier, and other for-profit publishers, many, many times.

The open access movement in science represents a wind of change – or at least the promise of one.

As associate editor at Genomics, I have managed, reviewed and edited many manuscripts. The majority now come from China. I do not know how accessible the Elsevier journal Genomics is in Chinese universities, but I do know that institutions worldwide pay significant and frequently insurmountable fees for bundled access to this, and the publisher's other journals. It seems unfair to edit and review articles from scientists who will likely never see their work in the actual journal in which it is published.

So I'd prefer to devote the limited time I have available to an open access journal that provides its work at no cost to researchers who urgently require its contents to improve their environment.

Winston Hide is associate professor of bioinformatics and computational biology in the Department of Biostatistics at Harvard School of Public Health, where he specialises in the bioinformatics of genomic approaches to public health

• Open access scientific publishing
• Newspapers & magazines
• Higher education
• Peer review and scientific publishing
• Reed Elsevier

Winston Hide
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Learning to program computers can bring unique insights to other fields for both pupils and teachers – Miles Berry on how computational thinking can revolutionise the way we teach and learn

Policy makers, industry and many teachers are eager that pupils should learn more about computing. This includes learning how to write computer programs, but also "computational thinking", a transferable way of solving problems and exploring situations, which has wide applications across and beyond the curriculum. In short, as pupils learn to program computers and the principles of computer science they start to bring the unique insights of algorithms, abstraction and the like to other fields. The same is true for teachers – ideas from computing can dramatically change the way we think about our work, and one of these, agile development, is what I'd like to explore here.

According to many A-level specifications, students are taught that software projects follow the "waterfall" methodology, starting with agreeing requirements, designing and implementing the software, testing it and then keeping things ticking over when it's deployed to clients.

In other words, the sort of approach that has characterised public sector IT projects like the NHS database. Hmm… This doesn't sound that far removed from how we've designed curricula: a top down list of things "children should be taught", schemes of work, implementation in the classroom, plenty of testing, and the "service pack" of INSET as and when needed.

There is, though, another approach to both software development and, I think, curriculum design. In the world of programming, ideas of adaptive design and the lightweight approaches of the 90s were crystallised in 2001 with the publication of the Manifesto for Agile Software Development, which, while acknowledging that while processes and tools, comprehensive documentation, contract negotiation and following a plan all have their value, much more is gained through focusing on individuals and interactions, getting software that works, collaborating with customers and responding to change.

With a little adaptation, these are ideas which many of us would see as important in a more learner centric, flexible approach to teaching: an approach where we teach the pupils and students we work with, not the ring binder we're given.

Focusing on individuals and interactions means, I think, a serious attempt to provide the personalised learning we used to hear so much about, itself a reiteration of the heady days of Plowden's "At the heart of the educational process lies the child". If Gove goes ahead and "disapplies" the ICT programmes of study, we have an opportunity to tailor what we teach as well as how we teach to the needs, enthusiasms and aspirations of each learner – to ask, "What would you like to learn?" and then to help each find ways to teach themselves and one another.

While agile developers concentrate on getting working code rather than writing documentation, the agile teacher concentrates on developing useful, working knowledge, skills and understanding rather than detailed lesson plans. This is about starting at the beginning, rather than the end, making use of what learners know already and building on that rather than taking the next step in a pre-planned sequence to a pre-determined destination. Objectives are important, both in agile development and agile teaching, but they're immediate objectives in a short "time box", and ones which are immediately useful. There are issues here with more formal approaches to assessment; I'll return to these below.

Collaborating with pupils also ought to be part of agile pedagogy: recognising that it's impossible to make the classroom a learning community without pupils' contribution as partners in, rather than mere recipients of, our teaching. Initiatives such as 'digital leaders' go some way towards this, recognising the technological skills and insights which so many pupils already have, but we could go much further: peer to peer knowledge sharing shouldn't only be for the geeky few.

Response to change is vital in technology education, as the secretary of state acknowledges, but a responsive approach to what's happening in and beyond the classroom matters for all subjects. "Master Teachers" will be expected to "respond intelligently and confidently to the unexpected and wide-ranging questions their pupils are encouraged to ask"

Aren't some of our best lessons those where the learning journey takes an unexpected turn, because of pupils' contributions or, indeed, the unanticipated problems they encounter?

I suspect it's not that easy to adopt these sorts of agile approaches to teaching when there are controlled assessments for GCSEs and A-level specifications to contend with, but I have a sneaking suspicion that a more agile approach to learning might well allow students to take these exams in their stride. The portfolios, projects and problems emerging from a more agile approach might well count more, when it comes to winning a place on university CompSci courses or a job in the digital industries, than GCSE ICT.

Gove's plan to disapply the attainment targets mean that we can look beyond levelling and APP to a more granular can-do approach to assessment, reflecting the emphasis on unit testing in agile development and borrowing some of the tight feedback and goal-orientation of video games and applying these to the classroom.

While national strategies and school policies might have been based on a waterfall-like approach, more than a few teachers' practices have had more in common with agile development than they'd perhaps be aware. Assuming Gove carries through his plans, we've a great opportunity to transform what ICT we teach, but let's go further and use this as a chance to make some real changes to how we teach ICT too.

• Miles Berry is the chair of board of management, Naace and senior lecturer in ICT Education, Roehampton University.

Miles will be leading a session at our GTN How to teach computer science in schools seminar on June 21st. This seminar, designed for ICT leads, heads of department and teachers with a special interest in ICT, will enhance your knowledge of teaching computer science and coding with both strategic and practical sessions, plus a sharing of expertise and views. There's 20 per cent discount for GTN members - to book your place click here.This content is brought to you by Guardian Professional. Sign up to the Guardian Teacher Network to get access nearly 100,000 pages of teaching resources and join our growing community. Looking for your next role? See our Schools jobs site for thousands of the latest teaching, leadership and support jobs.

Could you be one of our bloggers?

Do you have something you want to share with colleagues – a resource of your own and why it works well with your students, or perhaps a brilliant piece of good practice in teaching or whole school activity that you know about it? If so please get in touch. If you would like to blog on the Guardian Teacher Network please email emma.drury@guardian.co.uk and please don't be shy about commenting on blogs on this page.

• Schools
• Teaching
• Computer science and IT

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Lesson focus: vocabulary associated with shopping; abstract nouns; reading comprehension; writing sentences expressing opinion

Janet Hardy-Gould

This week, copies of the King James Bible were sent out to every state school in the country, courtesy of the education secretary Michael Gove. They were paid for by donations, not from the public purse. Tell us if you think the scheme is a good idea – or suggest books that could have been donated instead

Nearly 11m young people are out of work across the OECD. How has youth unemployment changed and which countries are experiencing the worst rates?
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Youth unemployment across the OECD has risen alarmingly with nearly 11m 15-24 year olds out of work, according to latest figures.

The statistics published by the OECD, show youth unemployment reached a rate of 17.1% in March 2012, more than double the unemployment rate affecting the general population. Greece and Spain have fared worst with both reporting youth unemployment rates of over 50% of the total youth labour force. The data also shows that at least 23m young people in OECD countries are not in education, employment or training (NEETS).

Increasing youth unemployment has meant that now more than one in five young people in the labour market are out of work in France, Sweden, Poland, Ireland, Italy and the UK. The UK youth unemployment rate for March 2012 stood at 21.9% and we are increasingly catching up with Europe who have had high unemployment for a while.

The chart above shows the rates for youth unemployment for OECD countries in March 2012 and December 2007. It illustrates the rise in youth unemployment for many countries - only Germany, Israel, Turkey, Chile and Belgium recorded decreases.

Spain has had a dramatic rise from 17.4% in March 2007 to 51.1% in March 2012. Likewise Greece has increased from a youth unemployment rate of 21.6% in 2007 to 51.2% in March 2012. The chart below shows the rates for unemployment and inactivity for 15/16-24 year olds in 2011.

Turkey and Israel had high inactivity rates at over 20% but once again Spain and Greece recorded the highest unemployment rates for young people in 2011. The EU unemployment and inactivity rates for 2011 stood at 6.6%.

You can find rates for youth unemployment, inactivity and NEETs in the spreadsheet. There are also details of youth unemployment before the crisis at its peak and its latest value in OECD countries since January 2007. What can you do with this data?

Data summary

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• Europe
• OECD
• Unemployment
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• Spain
• Greece
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• France
• Sweden
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• Poland
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Ami Sedghi
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In Bristol, university students set up FoodCycle to provide free meals to the community from food that other people threw away

University is the perfect place to set up a social enterprise. There are hordes of students willing to put in hard graft, full of ambition and bright ideas. There are also plenty of people to get advice and support from – whether it's the enterprise support team, someone from careers, your friendly lecturer, someone on the university sabbatical team ... there's lots of people willing to help.

FoodCycle Bristol was set up in September 2009. My friend Max had heard about a new project, FoodCycle in London, where surplus food was being collected and taken to a centre to be made into delicious free meals. Knowing the amount of food that gets wasted in Bristol, he recruited a team of motivated and enthusiastic students to start a local project.

When recruiting students, I'd recommend you take a professional approach: always conduct interviews. This sets the tone for the rest of the project. You want people to know that you mean business! Having a really clear vision and strategy is invaluable; people know what they're getting involved with; a simple and exciting idea really lends itself to mobilisation. We have always conducted things in a democratic and empowering way so that managers of the project have ownership and are thus more dedicated.

In the early stages we did a lot of community outreach to identify potential suppliers and demand. We found partners as well as local shops and supermarkets to provide surplus food. Local organisations are often happy to give advice and support, and this can be really beneficial, especially in the early stages. We did launch events and volunteer fairs to raise awareness and recruit volunteers. We also sought out free training opportunities – universities often run speaker events and clinics covering different business skills; these can be really useful.

We raised the capital we needed to buy equipment and other resources by securing a loan from FoodCycle London - with which we have stayed in contact whilst remaining autonomous and developing quite a different social enterprise model - combined with a start-up grant from Bristol University. There are plenty of places to look for grants and low-rate loans. Your university is a great place to start and UnLtd provides grants for social entrepreneurs. Don't forget, either, that students are often willing to part with cash in exchange for something fun.

By spring 2010, the community kitchen was up and running at the nearby Easton Community Centre, serving free three-course meals to an average of 50 beneficiaries every Sunday. However, we were keen that the project should be self-sustaining and, from this, the idea to run a pop-up student restaurant was born. Again, meals would be made out of waste food but this time we charged £3. The pop-up restaurant started up in autumn 2010 and has since become well established, running fortnightly and feeding 120 students.

The restaurant has grown into a platform for ethical and environmental societies to host talks and events and to share ideas. As well as raising essential funds, it sets out to make the issue of food waste and other good causes interesting, fun and engaging, to get students involved in positive actions and more ethical daily choices.

Something which stemmed from the restaurant was the idea to get renowned chefs involved – our Chefs Against Food Waste Campaign. The chefs are challenged to make a high quality dinner out of food that would have otherwise be wasted. We charge more for these special events, thereby raising more money. These chefs then act as FoodCycle ambassadors, sharing our concerns about food waste with the wider community.

We've recently branched out into running workshops at local schools to help raise awareness among the next generation of food waste and food poverty. We are also working with local residents to develop an overgrown space behind Easton Community Centre into an attractive and practical garden, which we plan to use in the future to run workshops on foodwaste and composting.

We wanted to make FoodCycle Bristol more financially self-reliant this year, so I developed ZeroCarbon Catering for events and businesses on a budget. This has proven to be very popular, and we recently catered for the Bristol International Development Conference.

How to set up a student social enterprise

• Make sure you do your homework. Does the business plan add up? Does your idea have a unique selling point? Is there a strategic plan for the future? These issues may seem like unnecessary faff but they're vital, especially if you want to avoid wasting time further down the line. We spent a good few months researching to ensure there was demand for our service along with drawing up a constitution and clear mission. We also put a strong focus on continual recruitment to ensure that, even as people graduate, there is always a strong group leading the project.

• Get out and network. Creating partnerships, both with groups in the university and in the wider community, is very useful for developing ideas and getting support. We've collaborated with more than 17 different societies at the university; this has drawn in people from different areas and helped us create varied and interesting events. We have also built relationships with several external organisations, such as Bristol Refugee Rights, Coexist, and the Avon Organic Group. The sharing of best practice, resources and co-promotion of our events has been mutually beneficial.

• Ask around to see what support is available for start-ups at your university. Many offer funding, mentoring, clinics, training and lots of other invaluable free support. At Bristol, you can apply for low-rate loans and there are mentoring opportunities, along with business skills talks, to provide you with practical information.

• Make sure you've got a strong team of people behind you who share your passion and vision. For me, this is the most important thing – there's no way we would be where we are today without such a great team of people. Make time to get to know one another and make it fun. We limit meetings to no longer than an hour and have regular visioning sessions, separate from the weekly ticking over, where we can focus on how we are progressing and brainstorm ideas for the future. We regularly go for drinks together and have Bring a Dish nights - highly recommended, especially when you have talented cooks in your team.

Amy Hale is a student enterprise consultant at the University of Bristol.

This content is brought to you by Guardian Professional. To join the social enterprise network, click here.

• Social enterprise blog
• Start up & scale up
• Social enterprises
• University of Bristol
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Le doctorat Honoris Causa est un titre honorifique qu'accorde l'université à des personnalités qu'elle estime devoir être distinguées pour leur rôle politique ou social exceptionnel. Au contraire du même titre accordé par les facultés à d'éminents collègues dont elles veulent relever les mérites scientifiques, il s'agit donc d'un choix lié le plus souvent à l'air politique du temps.

Des choix dictés par le moment

Ainsi, juste après la Libération et la réouverture de l'ULB, les insignes de Docteur Honoris Causa de l'ULB furent accordés à …Staline ! Il est vrai que le titre lui était décerné en tant que vainqueur du nazisme - en même temps qu'aux autres dirigeants alliés – un mérite qu'on ne peut, quoiqu'on pense de Staline, lui refuser.

Il suffit parfois de peu de temps pour qu'un choix – parfois hâtif et inspiré par l'actualité immédiate- semble déjà regrettable. A la fin de la guerre froide il sembla de bon ton à l'ULB de désigner comme Docteur Honoris Causa une Roumaine qui s'appelait Doina Cornea. Elle semblait alors incarner l'opposition à Ceaucescu, présentée comme l'incarnation même du Mal, après avoir été l'incarnation du détachement souhaitable par rapport à Moscou et avoir eu les honneurs de tous les dirigeants occidentaux, y compris du Roi Baudouin. Mais il s'avéra que la dame en question était par ailleurs extrêmement réactionnaire dans les questions éthiques, qu'elle militait pour supprimer le droit à l'avortement en vigueur en Roumanie et que son parti paysan avait plus qu'un relent antisémite !

Ingrid Bétancourt, quant à elle, était terriblement à la mode lorsque l'ULB en fit une Docteur Honoris Causa. Elle était pourtant bien éloignée des idéaux de l'ULB, elle qui réserva au Pape l'une de ses premières visites après sa libération en 2008 et attribua celle-ci aux prières intenses (plus intenses que celles de ses compagnons ?) qu'elle avait multipliées pendant sa détention. Mais au moment de son doctorat Honoris Causa cet aspect de sa personnalité n'était pas encore connu.

Une militante progressiste

Cette année, en choisissant Angela Davis comme Docteur Honoris Causa (en même temps notamment que le réalisateur Costa-Gavras), les autorités de l'ULB font preuve de prudence car il s'agit de couronner le cours d'une vie (comme naguère pour Simone Weil ou la féministe égyptienne Nawal El Saadawi) plutôt qu'une personne arrivée accidentellement sur la scène de l'actualité et dont la personnalité est mal connue et l'évolution ultérieure imprévisible.

Angela Davis approche des septante ans et – sauf coup de théâtre –sa vie entière est marquée constamment des mêmes idéaux.

Elle a été une combattante féministe, communiste, luttant ardemment pour les droits des afro-américains.

Mais cet engagement, avant qu'elle ne soit une (presque !) paisible prof de philo dans une université américaine, n'a pas été un long fleuve tranquille.

Elle a fait irruption dans la vie de nombreux militants de gauche européens au début des années septante. Proche des panthères noires qui ont organisé un kidnapping, elle est recherchée, en cavale, puis emprisonnée et l'objet d'un procès avec des chefs d'accusation extrêmement graves : complicité d'enlèvement, d'assassinat, kidnapping, membre d'une organisation terroriste…La belle panthère noire est alors l'objet d'une vigoureuse campagne internationale de solidarité au sein de laquelle la Belgique ne démérite pas : affiches, " pins ", articles, meetings. Celui organisé par la JCB (Jeunesse communiste de Belgique) draine à la salle de la Madeleine de Bruxelles deux mille sympathisants. En Grande-Bretagne, tant les Rolling Stones que John Lennon composent pour elle des chansons de sympathie. Le procès se termine par son acquittement et Angela Davis se présentera deux fois comme candidate à la vice-présidence américaine.

Son itinéraire pose avec vigueur des questions sur le caractère interchangeable de la qualité de monstre ou de héros.

Angela Davis était recherchée dans tous les États-Unis mais des milliers de Noirs avaient apposé sur leur fenêtre une invitation à Angela en cavale à venir s'y réfugier : " Angela, my home is your home "[1] Elle était considérée par la justice américaine comme une dangereuse "terroriste" mais des milliers de jeunes à travers le monde imprimaient son image sur des affiches, des vêtements et défilaient pour exiger sa libération.

De même Nelson Mandela était à la tête de la – violente - ANC avant de donner son nom à des écoles maternelles même dans notre pays, et Yasser Arafat a connu alternativement le rôle de " chef du terrorisme " et de prix Nobel de la Paix. Nos héros de la Résistance n'étaient-ils pas arrêtés par les Allemands en tant que " terroristes " ?

Ainsi devons-nous nous demander si certains " terroristes " d'aujourd'hui ne recevront pas un jour à leur tour le titre de Docteurs Honoris Causa, à l'ULB ou ailleurs…

Anne Morelli

Professeur à l'ULB, Anne Morelli est une spécialiste de l'histoire de l'immigration et de la propagande. Militante laïque, elle considère les Églises comme des sectes. C'est aussi une historienne de la gauche en Belgique et en Europe.

[1]Yannick Noah a fait en 2010 de ce slogan le refrain d'une chanson consacrée à Angela Davis

The study of creative expression through sound, including performance, technique, composition and various styles

What will I learn?
Music degrees can vary enormously, depending on where you study (university or conservatoire) and the course you choose. For example, some degrees focus purely on the music, while others allow students to take modules in other subjects, such as English, a language or education studies. Some degree courses do not even require students to have any practical music skills. Some institutions give a thorough education in traditional classical music areas along with realated contemporary musicology and composition. Other schools cater more to popular music or jazz interests and music technology. However, composition and performance are at the heart of most degrees, and the majority of universities will require students to have reached a certain level of competence in vocal or instrumental skills.

Students can take modules that explore the various approaches to music, the psychology behind it, and the historical perspectives. Then there are the performance-related subjects, such as conducting and orchestration.
If you fancy a career behind the mixing desk rather than a microphone, you could opt to study a music technology degree, which can sometimes be taken as a joint degree, perhaps with theatre studies or a language.

What skills will I gain?
Music is a multifaceted and potentially academic subject, as well as one which involves performance, composition and improvisation. Not only will you be able to develop your musical skills to a high level, but you may be able to learn about the inner workings of music through music theory, or probe the cultural richness of music in the European tradition or non-western music through music history, musicology and ethnomusicology. You will have learned to perform, present your ideas, and to organise and realise written or practical projects.

You will have learned the fundamentals of composition and should have improved your performance techniques no end. You may even have formed a band and have an album's worth of songs ready to sell to a record company.

Those on music technology degrees will have developed their understanding of how music is recorded and mixed and how the profession operates. You will be self-motivated and be able to manage your time effectively to fit in all that musical practice.

What job can I get?
It's tough making it in the music business, particularly in the performance side. Most of today's top bands and artists had to do their fair share of pub tours, getting changed in toilets and driving leaky minibuses before they finally hit the big time. Even if you and your friends don't have aspirations to be the next Arctic Monkeys, making a living off your musical talents, in whatever form, won't be easy. Work can be unpredictable and reliant on short-term contracts, and you may have to sacrifice your art for the occasional office job to pay the bills.

On the plus side (and there is one, honest) - you will have acquired a host of transferable skills from your degree that will qualify you for jobs related to, or outside, the industry. Teaching is a particular favourite among graduates, as it still involves some form of performance and composition. You could also find work in music promotion or publishing, radio, TV, festivals, orchestras or undertake further training to become music therapist.

What will look good on the CV?
· The ability to express, interpret and discuss arguments and hypotheses
· Awareness of spiritual and emotional dimensions
· Financial and business awareness, and entrepreneurship.

• University guide
• Music
• Higher education

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The study of the design, exploitation and technology surrounding computing - includes information systems, software engineering, programming and artificial intelligence

What will I learn?
Taking a computer science course will mean you will be studying a subject at the very forefront of technology and innovation. Computers are everywhere, and the demand to make them smaller, work more quickly, and be fitted with new and exciting software has never been greater.

Most computing courses tend to focus on software engineering - things like database design, network systems, computer hardware, the internet. But there are other options in this field, such as artificial intelligence, cybernetics, and multimedia and games design, and apps design.

You will be expected to be good at maths and an interest in physics would also help, as most of the theory will touch on both subjects.

Courses should have a heavy practical emphasis, so you'll learn how the professionals do things, and probably be taught by some of them. You should also get plenty of group work experience.

Some universities are encouraging students to develop and market their own ideas, and, through this, a number of students manage to do some freelance work while they study, which will look good on the CV and will also bring in some extra cash.

Some courses are developed with employers to ensure their relevance, which means you'll graduate with up-to-date knowledge and, hopefully, plenty of names in your contacts book.

What skills will it give me?
The practical nature of many of these courses will mean you will know how to solve technology problems.

You will learn how to analyse information and how to put the theory, often about large and complex systems, into practice.

You should graduate equipped with the professional and interpersonal skills needed to work in the industry. You should develop teamwork, project-management skills and commercial awareness, as well as critical-thinking skills.

Perhaps, most important, you will have gained a good insight into a specialised field. Although the majority of people own or use computers, building and maintaining them requires skilled individuals.

What job can I get?
More than half of computing and IT graduates get jobs in the industry in technical fields, such as computer operations, computer systems sales and service, programming, software development, software engineering, or find work as analysts and programme writers. This could mean working in specific IT firms or in companies outside the industry that use computers as a core part of the job, perhaps managing the computing needs of an advertising firm's employees.

If you graduate bursting with ideas, or with some freelance work under your belt, then perhaps you could consider setting up your business or developing your existing work. After all, Google, YouTube and Twitter didn't just happen on their own.

What will look good on the CV?
· The ability to operate computer equipment
· To ability to deploy appropriate theory and practice
· To ability recognise professional, moral and ethical issues.

• University guide
• Computer science and IT
• Higher education

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All aspects of buildings (except design), from construction to location – includes urban, rural and regional planning

What will I learn?
Building and town and country planning are two quite distinct areas or study, although their application is closely tied.

Building studies, or the built environment, focuses on all aspects of building except their design, which is the job of architects. Expect to cover all things related to construction – management and techniques – infrastructure, planning for new developments, and elements of structural and civic engineering. Building courses have a strong practical element, because the best way to learn about the industry is through actually doing the job.

Town and country planning, meanwhile, is the construction industry's strategic cousin. Students on these courses must understand the issues and ideas that shape the development and conservation of our environment. They are at the front end of decisions that shape some major issues in our lives, such as how we deal with climate change, where and how jobs might be created, how we might regenerate places, where people might live, and how we might travel. Town and country planners help communities make big decisions about where development might occur, but also which types of environment might be protected and why.

What skills will I gain?
You should graduate from either of these degrees with a broad range of skills and a good working knowledge of the building and planning industries. You will have studied a diverse range of subjects, and specialised in one or two, and will have learned how to use your knowledge to identify and solve problems relating to construction and development.

You will know how to work with a community to prepare a plan at any scale – for a region, city, neighbourhood or street. You will know how to navigate the planning system, and will gain an understanding of how local planning departments operate and how national policy is implemented. You will learn how to work with all sections of society and any professions that might have an interest in development. You should also be able to consider the ethical and environmental implications of the work.

The significant practical element of your course – which could include a sandwich year in industry – means you will have gained some business contacts, which will help in getting a job on graduation, and allow you to hit the ground running when you do start full-time work.

Some courses are accredited by professional bodies, such as the Royal Town Planning Institute or the Chartered Institute of Building, so with a bit of extra work and some extra exams after graduating, your employment prospects will be further enhanced.

What job can I get?
With a recruitment shortage in many planning authorities, the job prospects for graduates in this field are very good.

You could get a job in a local council's planning department, a national or local planning consultancy, a property developer, an NGO, a national charity concerned with the environment or an environmental consultancy organisation.

If, after your degree, you decide this industry is not for you, you will have plenty of transferable skills for a career in business or management, or to work for an non-governmental organisation, perhaps one that works to better the environment.

What will look good on the CV?
· The ability to critically analyse arguments and evidence
· The ability to learn independently
· The ability to evaluate and understand legal and ethical regulations.

• University guide
• Building and town and country planning
• Higher education

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The study of human societies and how they interact

What will I learn?
Academics claim sociology is more than a subject – it's a whole way of seeing the world. From the topics studied on sociology degrees, they may just be right.

Sociology is the study of human societies and how they interact to shape people's beliefs, behaviours and identity. The subject is the academic cousin to the more practical social policy, so you will examine different social theories and models (expect mention of Karl Marx at least). You will also explore how society has changed over time, touching on subjects such as industrialisation, urbanisation, inequality and globalisation.

You may find yourself investigating consumer society, looking at classic and contemporary (postmodern) theories of consumerism, and applying these to shopping, fashion or music.

You could look at work and employment, how these are viewed in societies, and how these views have changed over the years. Expect to explore issues of feminism, class and the trade union movement.

You could also study sexuality, religion, or youth culture and identity.

Sociology courses can often be studied alongside other complementary subjects, such as history, social policy, politics, or cultural or gender studies.

Courses will be largely taught in lectures and seminars.

What skills will I gain?
During your studies you should learn how to formulate and investigate sociological questions and theories, and draw your own conclusions.

You should be able to carry out independent research, but also know how to discuss facts and figures within a group. You will have developed good communication skills that allow you to present your arguments clearly in a variety of styles.

By the time you graduate, you should have sharp, critical thinking and good problem-solving skills. And all that time spent in the library sourcing material and tapping out essays will have developed your computer skills.

What job can I get?
Sociology graduates are found in a variety of jobs. Among the favourites are those in the social services, which, with a bit of extra study, could involve becoming a social worker. Alternatively, a job in education, the criminal justice system, in local and central government as a researcher, or in the voluntary sector, perhaps working as a fundraiser, community development worker or counsellor, could be more your thing.

You will also have the skills to pursue a career in journalism or management, or in academia.

What will look good on the CV?
· The ability to appreciate the complexity and diversity of social situations
· The ability to make reasoned arguments and interpret evidence
· The ability to undertake and present scholarly work.

• University guide
• Sociology
• Higher education

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The study of the universe - includes astrophysics, space science, applied physics, medical physics

What will I learn?
Physics is a course for those who want to explore nature's secrets. It's basically the study of the universe - how it was formed, what a black hole consists of and what goes on in a parallel universe? It also investigates atoms - what happens if you split them and how can an atom be in two places at once?

Physics is a subject that requires good maths knowledge, as you will be expected to be able to explain the physical world in terms of maths. You will also get the chance to enhance your computing skills.

Virtually all universities offer three- and four-year undergraduate courses. Your course should cover the fundamentals - electromagnetism, quantum and classical mechanics, statistical physics and thermodynamics, and the properties of matter. You should then have the chance to choose some specialist topics, such as astronomy, space and science, and applied physics. Your fourth year is likely to be spent on a real research project, probably with a research group at your chosen institution. Your final year will probably involve some form of project work, which will give you the chance to put all you've learned to the test and investigate your own ideas. Your course will be taught through lectures, seminars, tutorials and lab work.

What skills will it give me?
By the time you leave university, you will understand key physical laws and principles and be able to solve problems, or least have an idea of how to. You will be able to plan and carry out experiments, and know how to analyse and interpret your findings. You will also know how to produce clear and accurate scientific reports, and know how best to present complex information concisely.

During your course, you will have studied the work of some of the world's greatest physicists, so you should be able to critically debate their merits.

You will have experience of new, subject-specific computer packages and programme languages, something potential employers will appreciate.

Any time spent in industry will give you a flavour of how your subject can be used in practice, as well as giving you contacts that may prove useful when you graduate.

What job can I get?
As a numerate and articulate graduate you will be highly prized by employers in a range of fields. Working in engineering or IT are obvious choices. However, physics graduates can also be found in the public sector, business and teaching. Some graduates have gone on to work in finance and even the armed forces. A large chunk of physics graduates go on to further study and pursue careers in research.

What will look good on the CV?
· The ability to solve problems by making assumptions and approximations explicit
· The confidence to try new approaches to tackling problems
· The ability to work independently and in a team
. Confidence with mathematics.

• University guide
• Higher education

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A common bacteria triggered a horrifying illness in a young woman whose survival is being called a 'miracle'

A week after doctors had given Aimee Copeland little chance of survival, the young Georgia woman suffering from a flesh-eating disease is now alert enough to request reading materials.

Copeland, 24, is still on a respirator, but her parents have said they can read her lips and that the day they will remove her breathing tube is approaching.

But with that joyous moment comes an additional heartbreak: the medication she has been on since the necrotizing fasciitis invaded her body has blurred her memory. Copeland, a psychology graduate student, must be told about the accident that led to the loss of a leg.

Copeland received a deep gash in her left calf after a zipline accident plunged her into a freshwater river near Carrollton, Georgia, on May 1. Doctors stitched her up, but not before a common bacteria called Aeromonas hydrophila had entered her leg.

In an extremely rare turn of events the bacteria triggered the flesh-eating disease that began destroying the tissue of Copeland's leg from the inside – an agony that was not immediately diagnosed.

Once doctors figured out what was wrong with Copeland, she was rushed to Joseph M Still Burn Center in Augusta, Georgia, where doctors performed a high-hip amputation of her left leg and removed some tissue from her abdomen.

She has lost some use of her hands as well and may still lose her fingers.

Copeland's progress in the days since the accident has been eloquently charted by her father Andy on his blog, and has captured the empathy and horror of readers across the country. It is "without a doubt the most horrific situation that a parent can possibly imagine", her father wrote online.

"We take so much for granted in life, but I never imagined that one of my daughters would face this most unlikely of situations."

Still, Andy has chosen to focus on the positive: that his daughter appears likely to survive the gut-wrenching ordeal.

"The words I hear from the medical professionals to describe Aimee's continued recovery are 'astonishing', 'incredible', 'confounding', 'mind boggling' and 'unbelievable'. All those are fitting words. My favorite word is 'miracle'."

The fact that Aimee has survived, and appears to be thriving again, is about as unlikely as contracting the flesh-eating illness in the first place.

"Probably the best thing working for her is her youth. This disease has an overwhelming fatality rate," Dr Bruce Ribner of Emory University Hospital told ABC News.

Andy has taken to calling the day his daughter will be taken off the ventilator so that she can speak again "Aimee Day".

"As wonderful as that moment will be for us, it will also be the time that Aimee receives all the answers about her condition," her father writes.

With luck, because she is close to completing a Master's degree in psychology at West Georgia University, she will have acquired some tools necessary to navigate the trauma that may await.

"She will learn about the loss of her beautiful leg. She will discover that her hands lack the dexterity and tactile response she has known all her life. I think that moment will be one of horror and depression for Aimee."

• State of Georgia
• Health
• Medicine

Brian Braiker
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We are gravely concerned about the Lingfield review panel's proposal to stop requiring further education college lecturers to be qualified as teachers. We fear this will lead to the de-professionalising of staff in colleges, work-based learning and private providers, undoing all gains made since 2001 when training became compulsory. We are also shocked and disturbed by the withdrawal of government support for the sector's professional body, the Institute for Learning. What is missing from the Lingfield interim report, Professionalism in Further Education,is consultation with students. Initial teacher education is to prepare trainees to motivate, challenge and enthuse their learners. Students have the right to be taught by professional, trained and qualified staff. Would members of Lord Lingfield's panel advocate flying with airline pilots who have no training or qualifications at all, because their employer exercised the right not to compel them to achieve their qualification (page 7 of the report)?

The panel's core belief says it all: staff training, professional updating, competency and behaviour are essentially matters between employer and employee. But the panel also criticises employers and colleges for not consistently supporting their staff. A much more detailed and evidence-based government-sponsored report, Evaluation of FE Teachers' Qualifications (England) Regulations 2007, was published on the same day but seems to have been ignored.

Following wider consultation, the Lingfield panel will publish "a full report" in July 2012. We therefore urge students, parents, teacher trainees and lecturers in further and adult education, work-based learning and private training provision firstly to sign the e-petition titled Revoking of FE Teaching Regulations at epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/32534 and secondly to take part in the government's wider consultation at www.surveymonkey.com/s/XWMDMXC. The consultation period ends on 4 June.
Rebecca Eliahoo University of Westminster
Wendy Moss City Literary Institute
Khorshed Bhote City Literacy Institute
Patrick Molloy Ealing, Hammersmith and West London College
Ben Beaumont Ealing, Hammersmith and West London College
Enesa Sparavalo College of North-West London
Suzanne Levy Harrow College
Pauline Bayliss Harrow College
Linda Newton Harrow College
Stevie Dee Harrow College
Janet Ghuman Richmond Adult Community College
Colm McConway Amersham and Wycombe College
Marta Knill Uxbridge College
Linda Austin Uxbridge College
Mandy Kuijvnhoven West Thames College
Andrea McMahon Newham College
Tonia Irving Newham College

• Further education
• Teaching

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