Times Master Supplement

Wednesday September 23 2009Gaelic appeal 11

Focus Report/Education

Out of left field 5 War and peace 6-7

An animated education

Masterclass

When the banksimploded ayear ago, com-m e n t a t o r swere quick toprophesy the

end of capitalism. But if the hordesof postgraduates pouring into busi-ness schools are anything to go by,confidence in the financial jobsmarket is alive and well. You mayjust need to move to China.Cass Business School has seen a

record number of applications forits finance courses, with numbers up25 per cent on last year.“People know that the world is

going to recover. Students finishingup have three job interviews,” saysSusan Roth, the finance programmedirector. She believes applicantsneed to be open-minded aboutwhere they work. “Asian marketswere not hit as badly and havestarted to recover much sooner.”Jessica Pok, 22, has just finished

the CassMSc in investment manage-ment and plans to go into wealthmanagement. “When I graduated in2008, the job market was alreadygoing down. I decided it was a goodtime to get a higher qualification sothat I would be in a better placewhen the market started to recover.”At London Business School appli-

cations for the MSc in finance,

aimed at people with several years’experience, are up 7 per cent, 10 percent on the part-time course, saysEstrella Frutos, the programme direc-tor. “People don’t want to leave thesecurity of their jobs while theystudy,” she adds. A rising number ofEuropean students commute fromtheir home countries to take theweekend MSc.The school has launched a masters

in management aimed at new gradu-ates with nomore than a year’s experi-ence. “The uptake was phenomenal,”Frutos says. Applicants need a high

Graduate Management AdmissionTest score, a “brilliant” academicrecord and leadership skills, Frutossays— as well as £21,900 for the fees.John Benson, the founder of

eFinancialCareers.com, says there areglimmers of recruitment activity, withfirms “restocking” roles they hadmade redundant. “That’s likely to fil-ter into a broader recruiting pattern.”His advice to postgraduates is:

“Look at where the growth is going tobe. Rather than doing it in Londonthere are very good business degreesin Asia — Shanghai for example.”

More money is being pumpedinto funding postgraduate studiesand students can now borrow upto £10,000 through professionaland career development loans.

It is not all good news,however. Competition is likely tobe stiffer and early application isadvised. The Government haspromised to increase the numberof career development loans itunderwrites to 45,000 by 2011,compared with 15,000 currentlyavailable through Barclays or theCo-operative Bank. But in arecession more graduates will tryto escape the dire jobs market bytaking a further degree. Studentsare not guaranteed to be offereda loan, especially if they have apoor credit rating, but Barclaysoffers an appeal process.

Students usually finance theirmasters through part-time work,borrowing, grants, scholarshipsand bursaries. The biggestscholarships on offer can coverfees and living expenses.

Financial help is also availableon a number of courses such aspostgraduate teacher training,social work, medicine andhealthcare. Students on MBAcourses accredited by theAssociation of MBAs are eligiblefor an additional loan scheme.

Universities are the best sourceof information about scholarships,bursaries and grants from localcharities and local employers.Universities also appointcandidates to research postsfunded by the research councils.

While some students find fullyfunded courses, most have topiece together funds from varioussources. For nationwide grantsfrom charities and trusts — whichmay be limited to those frompoorer backgrounds or studentsshowing academic excellence —try your library using books suchas The Educational GrantsDirectory and Charities Digest.

Sheila Kay, admissions managerat Robert Gordon University,Aberdeen, says: “Applications forpostgraduate study are alwaysfluid. People sometimes getoffers and do not take them up.”JENNY KNIGHTwww.direct.gov.uk/pcdl

It’s business as usual

There are very goodbusiness degreesin Asia — Shanghaifor example

Press for upturn: the financial world is recovering and business school postgraduates are getting job interviews

Masterclass

Funding amasters

GLEN LEAR/CORBIS

FOCUS REPORTSEditor: Isobel ShepherdSmith, 020-7782 5064.Cover: design, Marta Pérez;image, Kobal

With confidencereturning,finance coursesare in demand,says Emily Ford

www.timesonline.co.uk/masterclass

2 1GX THE TIMES Wednesday September 23 2009

Ever fancied being able tohurry your way througha crowd by shouting “Letme through, I’m a doctorof entertainment”? Well,now is your chance.

Strictly speaking a doctorate in digitalentertainment will not make queue-jumping any easier but it will equipholders to be the “techno leaders” ofthe future, says Jian J. Zhang, aprofessor of computer graphics atBournemouth University and a co-founder of the course, which is runwith the University of Bath.The four-year programme has been

shaped around the needs of videogames, animation and special effectscompanies rather than following thetraditional academic model.“PhDs obtained through traditional

methods are valued by the industrybut the projects that students were do-ing in their research were not directlyrelevant to it,” Zhang says. “Theyhave the long-term benefit of produc-ing skilled people but not the sameusefulness of being able to step in andstart working.”So, rather than relying on lab-based

research, students will spend threequarters of their time working on aseries of related projects at one of 12partner businesses. These includeAardman Animations, best known forits creation of Wallace and Gromit;Double Negative, a visual effects com-pany that has worked on films includ-

ing Harry Potter and the Half-BloodPrince; and Frontier, one of the UK’slargest independent games develop-ers and the company behind titlessuch as LostWinds and Elite.This will allow them to work on

industry-related developments whilestill studying a particular area inenough depth to maintain academicrigour.As an added bonus, students will

get a salary from their employer totop up their £15,000 annual stipend.“We want to make sure that they

are remunerated properly,” saysDavid Walsh, the managing directorof Frontier, which plans to take threedoctoral students over the nextcouple of years. “I am not looking at itas low-cost labour. We don’t wantsomeone to come in for three or fouryears then drift off. We want to keepthem for the long term.” He sees thenew doctorate as a way to build talentwithin companies like Frontier and away for the company to stay in touchwith the latest developments.“A real benefit is that students will

be in contact with their tutors, whichmeans they are in touch with what ishappening there and they can call onthem if they need help with a prob-lem,” he says.Steve Willey, 22, has just been

offered a place on the course linkedto a job working in the research anddevelopment team at Double Nega-tive. He has always enjoyed working

with computers — he finished hisdegree in computer science at Bath inJune — but it was becoming involvedin the university’s TV society thatmade him think about a career infilm. “I started getting into animationand developing my creative side a bitmore,” he says. “This programmeseemed the perfect opportunity towork on creative things with atechnical backing.“One thing I discovered when

doing short films was that I do havecreativity and imagination but I donot have artistic flair. I cannot actual-ly model things myself but I can build

tools that let other people do it.” He isnot intimidated by the thought of bal-ancing a doctorate with working in anindustry known for long hours.“You can throw as much work at

me as you like and as long as it’sinteresting I will plough through,” hesays. “And I can’t see how working inspecial effects will be anything butinteresting.”The course, which has funding for

50 students over the next five years, isstill accepting applications frompeople with relevant academic or pro-fessional qualifications. Getting on itis not as straightforward as having

the right grades, however. Part of theselection process is finding the rightpartner employer for each candidate.The course directors match people ac-cording to their skills and interestsand the partner companies’ needs,although candidates can express apreference for a particular employer.Walsh says one of the most

important things for prospective appli-cants interested in Frontier is to havea strong focus in their undergraduatework. “We want applicants who areamong the top people in coding, artor animation.”www.digital-entertain-ment.org

Designing products for the real worldWith the design guru

Philippe Starck, right,fronting the BBC’s reality

show Design for Life, it appears thata qualification in product design hasbecome the latest ticket to fleetingcelebrity. Back in the real world,students who have not been gracedwith a personal invitation to joinStarck’s Paris-based school of designhave a host of postgraduate coursesto choose from.Product design is a broad church.

Both MAs and MScs are availableand their emphasis spans highlytechnical computer-aided design(CAD) and prototyping technologiesto more art-based creativeconceptualising.Lesley Morris, head of design

skills at the Design Council, saysthis diversity reflects the increasingprominence of product design withinmodern life. “Designers have a realinfluence on the products and theservices that we all use every day,”

she says. “They arealso tackling thekey issues such asclimate change andsocial andeconomic concerns,both here and indevelopingcountries.” Morris

believes that there is a need formultidisciplinary design teams withan emphasis not only on creativityand craft but also on analytic andstrategic thinking, managerial skillsand consumer research.According to Chris Glasspool,

senior lecturer at BournemouthUniversity, the principle that linksthe technical and creative sides ofproduct design is that it must bepossible for the product to bemass-produced to meet a marketneed. “It’s product design, not objectdesign,” he emphasises.“While the original object may be

interesting you also have to look at

sourcing the materials, how andwhere it will be manufactured, whatthe market is, the distribution costsand its sustainability.” This requiresstudents to come up with ideas andbe able to put them into practice.“The technology is important

because even if you are not directlyinvolved in the manufacture you willneed to speak to engineers,” saysGlasspool. “You need computerskills but we are not interested injust churning out CAD jockeys.Most good design comes from anidea that you can scribble down on abit of paper.”Bournemouth used to offer a

separate MSc in sustainable productdesign. But sustainability is now somainstream that the concept isincorporated into all the courses.“You might think you have

designed an ecological productbecause it’s made out of sustainablebamboo,” Glasspool says. “But youalso need to know about the

manufacture, the employmentconditions of the people who willmake it, how it will be recycled.”Keen to ensure that students

commercialise their ideas,Bournemouth has employed a

previous product design student,Philip Robinson, in its Research andEnterprise Centre. While still astudent, Robinson designed a bicyclepump that fits into the seat post. Ithas now been licensed to Dahon,the world’s largest manufacturer of

folding bikes, and more than200,000 have been sold.Career prospects in product design

are varied and may depend on theemphasis of the postgraduate course.Simon Sommerville, course leader atthe University of CentralLancashire’s Northern School ofDesign, explains that a product canbe viewed in terms of its “Asurfaces” (how it looks on theoutside) and “B surfaces” (how itworks on the inside).“Traditionally the MA students

will be more interested in the Asurfaces and go on to work forconsultancies, while the MScstudents will focus on the B surfacesand go on to work for largemanufacturing companies,” he says.“However, the barrier between thetwo is meniscus-thin and it’s quitecommon for people with a BA orMA to end up with ‘engineer’ intheir job titles.”MARK HUNTER

Masterclass

Most good designcomes from an ideathat you can scribbleon a bit of paper

LostWinds is one of the video games developed by Frontier, which will take on doctoral students from the course

Doctor ofdigital fun

Carly Chynoweth finds a PhD coursein video games and animation

THE TIMES Wednesday September 23 2009 1GX 3

When the banksimploded ayear ago, com-m e n t a t o r swere quick toprophesy the

end of capitalism. But if the hordesof postgraduates pouring into busi-ness schools are anything to go by,confidence in the financial jobsmarket is alive and well. You mayjust need to move to China.Cass Business School has seen a

record number of applications forits finance courses, with numbers up25 per cent on last year.“People know that the world is

going to recover. Students finishingup have three job interviews,” saysSusan Roth, the finance programmedirector. She believes applicantsneed to be open-minded aboutwhere they work. “Asian marketswere not hit as badly and havestarted to recover much sooner.”Jessica Pok, 22, has just finished

the CassMSc in investment manage-ment and plans to go into wealthmanagement. “When I graduated in2008, the job market was alreadygoing down. I decided it was a goodtime to get a higher qualification sothat I would be in a better placewhen the market started to recover.”At London Business School appli-

cations for the MSc in finance,

aimed at people with several years’experience, are up 7 per cent, 10 percent on the part-time course, saysEstrella Frutos, the programme direc-tor. “People don’t want to leave thesecurity of their jobs while theystudy,” she adds. A rising number ofEuropean students commute fromtheir home countries to take theweekend MSc.The school has launched a masters

in management aimed at new gradu-ates with nomore than a year’s experi-ence. “The uptake was phenomenal,”Frutos says. Applicants need a high

Graduate Management AdmissionTest score, a “brilliant” academicrecord and leadership skills, Frutossays— as well as £21,900 for the fees.John Benson, the founder of

eFinancialCareers.com, says there areglimmers of recruitment activity, withfirms “restocking” roles they hadmade redundant. “That’s likely to fil-ter into a broader recruiting pattern.”His advice to postgraduates is:

“Look at where the growth is going tobe. Rather than doing it in Londonthere are very good business degreesin Asia — Shanghai for example.”

More money is being pumpedinto funding postgraduate studiesand students can now borrow upto £10,000 through professionaland career development loans.

It is not all good news,however. Competition is likely tobe stiffer and early application isadvised. The Government haspromised to increase the numberof career development loans itunderwrites to 45,000 by 2011,compared with 15,000 currentlyavailable through Barclays or theCo-operative Bank. But in arecession more graduates will tryto escape the dire jobs market bytaking a further degree. Studentsare not guaranteed to be offereda loan, especially if they have apoor credit rating, but Barclaysoffers an appeal process.

Students usually finance theirmasters through part-time work,borrowing, grants, scholarshipsand bursaries. The biggestscholarships on offer can coverfees and living expenses.

Financial help is also availableon a number of courses such aspostgraduate teacher training,social work, medicine andhealthcare. Students on MBAcourses accredited by theAssociation of MBAs are eligiblefor an additional loan scheme.

Universities are the best sourceof information about scholarships,bursaries and grants from localcharities and local employers.Universities also appointcandidates to research postsfunded by the research councils.

While some students find fullyfunded courses, most have topiece together funds from varioussources. For nationwide grantsfrom charities and trusts — whichmay be limited to those frompoorer backgrounds or studentsshowing academic excellence —try your library using books suchas The Educational GrantsDirectory and Charities Digest.

Sheila Kay, admissions managerat Robert Gordon University,Aberdeen, says: “Applications forpostgraduate study are alwaysfluid. People sometimes getoffers and do not take them up.”JENNY KNIGHTwww.direct.gov.uk/pcdl

It’s business as usual

There are very goodbusiness degreesin Asia — Shanghaifor example

Press for upturn: the financial world is recovering and business school postgraduates are getting job interviews

Masterclass

Funding amasters

GLEN LEAR/CORBIS

FOCUS REPORTSEditor: Isobel ShepherdSmith, 020-7782 5064.Cover: design, Marta Pérez;image, Kobal

With confidencereturning,finance coursesare in demand,says Emily Ford



Ever fancied being able tohurry your way througha crowd by shouting “Letme through, I’m a doctorof entertainment”? Well,now is your chance.

Strictly speaking a doctorate in digitalentertainment will not make queue-jumping any easier but it will equipholders to be the “techno leaders” ofthe future, says Jian J. Zhang, aprofessor of computer graphics atBournemouth University and a co-founder of the course, which is runwith the University of Bath.The four-year programme has been

shaped around the needs of videogames, animation and special effectscompanies rather than following thetraditional academic model.“PhDs obtained through traditional

methods are valued by the industrybut the projects that students were do-ing in their research were not directlyrelevant to it,” Zhang says. “Theyhave the long-term benefit of produc-ing skilled people but not the sameusefulness of being able to step in andstart working.”So, rather than relying on lab-based

research, students will spend threequarters of their time working on aseries of related projects at one of 12partner businesses. These includeAardman Animations, best known forits creation of Wallace and Gromit;Double Negative, a visual effects com-pany that has worked on films includ-

ing Harry Potter and the Half-BloodPrince; and Frontier, one of the UK’slargest independent games develop-ers and the company behind titlessuch as LostWinds and Elite.This will allow them to work on

industry-related developments whilestill studying a particular area inenough depth to maintain academicrigour.As an added bonus, students will

get a salary from their employer totop up their £15,000 annual stipend.“We want to make sure that they

are remunerated properly,” saysDavid Walsh, the managing directorof Frontier, which plans to take threedoctoral students over the nextcouple of years. “I am not looking at itas low-cost labour. We don’t wantsomeone to come in for three or fouryears then drift off. We want to keepthem for the long term.” He sees thenew doctorate as a way to build talentwithin companies like Frontier and away for the company to stay in touchwith the latest developments.“A real benefit is that students will

be in contact with their tutors, whichmeans they are in touch with what ishappening there and they can call onthem if they need help with a prob-lem,” he says.Steve Willey, 22, has just been

offered a place on the course linkedto a job working in the research anddevelopment team at Double Nega-tive. He has always enjoyed working

with computers — he finished hisdegree in computer science at Bath inJune — but it was becoming involvedin the university’s TV society thatmade him think about a career infilm. “I started getting into animationand developing my creative side a bitmore,” he says. “This programmeseemed the perfect opportunity towork on creative things with atechnical backing.“One thing I discovered when

doing short films was that I do havecreativity and imagination but I donot have artistic flair. I cannot actual-ly model things myself but I can build

tools that let other people do it.” He isnot intimidated by the thought of bal-ancing a doctorate with working in anindustry known for long hours.“You can throw as much work at

me as you like and as long as it’sinteresting I will plough through,” hesays. “And I can’t see how working inspecial effects will be anything butinteresting.”The course, which has funding for

50 students over the next five years, isstill accepting applications frompeople with relevant academic or pro-fessional qualifications. Getting on itis not as straightforward as having

the right grades, however. Part of theselection process is finding the rightpartner employer for each candidate.The course directors match people ac-cording to their skills and interestsand the partner companies’ needs,although candidates can express apreference for a particular employer.Walsh says one of the most

important things for prospective appli-cants interested in Frontier is to havea strong focus in their undergraduatework. “We want applicants who areamong the top people in coding, artor animation.”www.digital-entertain-ment.org

Designing products for the real worldWith the design guru

Philippe Starck, right,fronting the BBC’s reality

show Design for Life, it appears thata qualification in product design hasbecome the latest ticket to fleetingcelebrity. Back in the real world,students who have not been gracedwith a personal invitation to joinStarck’s Paris-based school of designhave a host of postgraduate coursesto choose from.Product design is a broad church.

Both MAs and MScs are availableand their emphasis spans highlytechnical computer-aided design(CAD) and prototyping technologiesto more art-based creativeconceptualising.Lesley Morris, head of design

skills at the Design Council, saysthis diversity reflects the increasingprominence of product design withinmodern life. “Designers have a realinfluence on the products and theservices that we all use every day,”

she says. “They arealso tackling thekey issues such asclimate change andsocial andeconomic concerns,both here and indevelopingcountries.” Morris

believes that there is a need formultidisciplinary design teams withan emphasis not only on creativityand craft but also on analytic andstrategic thinking, managerial skillsand consumer research.According to Chris Glasspool,

senior lecturer at BournemouthUniversity, the principle that linksthe technical and creative sides ofproduct design is that it must bepossible for the product to bemass-produced to meet a marketneed. “It’s product design, not objectdesign,” he emphasises.“While the original object may be

interesting you also have to look at

sourcing the materials, how andwhere it will be manufactured, whatthe market is, the distribution costsand its sustainability.” This requiresstudents to come up with ideas andbe able to put them into practice.“The technology is important

because even if you are not directlyinvolved in the manufacture you willneed to speak to engineers,” saysGlasspool. “You need computerskills but we are not interested injust churning out CAD jockeys.Most good design comes from anidea that you can scribble down on abit of paper.”Bournemouth used to offer a

separate MSc in sustainable productdesign. But sustainability is now somainstream that the concept isincorporated into all the courses.“You might think you have

designed an ecological productbecause it’s made out of sustainablebamboo,” Glasspool says. “But youalso need to know about the

manufacture, the employmentconditions of the people who willmake it, how it will be recycled.”Keen to ensure that students

commercialise their ideas,Bournemouth has employed a

previous product design student,Philip Robinson, in its Research andEnterprise Centre. While still astudent, Robinson designed a bicyclepump that fits into the seat post. Ithas now been licensed to Dahon,the world’s largest manufacturer of

folding bikes, and more than200,000 have been sold.Career prospects in product design

are varied and may depend on theemphasis of the postgraduate course.Simon Sommerville, course leader atthe University of CentralLancashire’s Northern School ofDesign, explains that a product canbe viewed in terms of its “Asurfaces” (how it looks on theoutside) and “B surfaces” (how itworks on the inside).“Traditionally the MA students

will be more interested in the Asurfaces and go on to work forconsultancies, while the MScstudents will focus on the B surfacesand go on to work for largemanufacturing companies,” he says.“However, the barrier between thetwo is meniscus-thin and it’s quitecommon for people with a BA orMA to end up with ‘engineer’ intheir job titles.”MARK HUNTER

Masterclass

Most good designcomes from an ideathat you can scribbleon a bit of paper

LostWinds is one of the video games developed by Frontier, which will take on doctoral students from the course

Doctor ofdigital fun

Carly Chynoweth finds a PhD coursein video games and animation


MARY TURNER

With a Universityof Sussex MA ininternat ionaleducation anddeve lopmentplus three years

working in the field for overseasNGOs, Sarah Hodgson has theperfect combination of academictheory and practical experience.If Hodgson, 27, had graduated in

any other year she would have beensnapped up by an aid organisation.But 2009 has seen recruitment in thecharity sector drop significantly inthe wake of world economic turmoil.“I’m still getting job interviews,”

she says, “but a recruitment consult-ant has told me that I would becompeting with recently redundantmanagers with 10 to 15 years experi-ence of aid work. If I didn’t tick all theboxes I’d be out of the running.”This term the University of Sussex

careers department has increased thehelp it gives to postgraduateswith an alumni mentoring scheme.PostGrad Plus has enlisted high-profile Sussex alumni from business,politics, law, media, science and inter-

national development, includingRichard Wilson, QC, the Environ-ment Secretary Hilary Benn and thedirector of BBC News Helen Boaden.Their masterclasses will provide

postgraduates with insider knowledgeabout finding suitable career open-ings. The scheme also offers one-day workshops on employability

skills. Enrolling famous alumni to pro-vide advice is seen as a two-waystreet, giving those at the top of organ-isations an insight into the hurdlestoday’s postgraduates face and a wayof connecting to that talent.Catherine Reynolds, senior career

development adviser at Sussex Uni-

versity, says: “Our alumni mentorsbring a light touch and can offer tips,advice and short cuts to a particularindustry.”She emphasises the importance of

students seeking unpaid internshipsto gain experience in their chosenfield. While unpaid work experienceis now common, it is the quality ofthat experience and personal network-ing that counts, she says.So far, interest in planned alumni

events has been encouraging and themajority of the 2,000 or so Sussexpostgraduates will be attendingsessions. If nothing else, PostGradPlus will inspire confidence andprovide that all important supportnetwork.The scheme provides full careers

support one year out from a degreefor postgraduates who have notfound a permanent job. The goodnews is that Hodgson has just landeda temporary placement with Save theChildren. She has been hired to organ-ise Brighter Futures, a youth confer-ence aimed at breaking down barriersto higher education for refugees andasylum seekers.

Sarah Hodgson had to contend with stiff competition in her job search

Alumni can offertips, advice andshort cuts to aparticular industry

Jamie Shea, Nato’s director ofpolicy planning, advisespostgraduates to getsignificant professionalexperience before completinga masters. This helps them tosee where their aptitude lies.It helps to be on the spot

when job hunting. “Beingphoned up or having apostgraduate turn up in myoffice asking for an appoint-ment is a much better way of

getting my attention,” he says.After a six-month internship

with Nato in Brussels, manypostgraduates move toshort-term assignments withother organisations, emerginga few years later as staffers.“In my view, career success

is helped by basic bureaucraticskills, clear conceptualthinking, an ability to writewell and a gift of the gab.”STEPHEN HOARE

High-profile help in thebattle to launch careers

Masterclass

Stephen Hoare looks at an alumni mentoring scheme

Clear thinkers with gift of the gab needed



Masterclass

Mention basketballand most peoplethink of lanky Amer-ican superstars. Notof Lithuania — orthe English cathe-

dral city of Worcester. But the firstEuropean masters degree in basket-ball coaching is being offered by apartnership between the Universityof Worcester and Lithuanian sportsexperts.Basketball is the national sport of

Lithuania and is followed with apassion by its people. Most Lithua-nians start playing basketball soonafter they learn to walk.Nearly all the country’s basketball

coaches are graduates of the Lithua-nian Academy of Physical Education(LAPE), which has helped to establishthe new course at Worcester.The course will take two years to

complete, and students will be taughtin both Worcester and Lithuania. Itwas designed by Mick Donovan, headof the Institute of Sport and ExerciseScience at the university, andMindau-

gas Balciunas, doctor in basketball atLAPE, and secretary-general of theLithuanian Basketball Federation.Most students are likely to be

potential coaches or professionalplayers, and the course is beingendorsed by the Federation for Inter-national Basketball in Europe.Donovan says the university has

worked in collaboration with Lithua-nia for more than a year in devisingthe degree. “We will deliver the lec-tures for the course out of the playingseason. In the summer the studentswill go to Lithuania for the practicalelement.“Online classes and tutorials will be

available throughout the year. Wewill be working with beginnersthrough to international competitors.Working alongside one of the strong-est basketball countries in the worldwill be a fantastic opportunity.”Donovan points out that the

academic side of the course willinclude “scientific elements, such aspsychology and how it can influencecoaching”.“Lithuanians start playing basket-

ball from about the age of two,” headds. “They have specialist basketballschools and basketball degrees at uni-versity. From a young age there issuch attention to detail, they work forhours at it. A lot of the players end upworking in America or China.“Even though it is such a small coun-

try, it is always in the top four in theworld because the Lithuanians havealways focused on the one sport.”The course has received support

from the national governing bodiesEngland Basketball and the Lithua-nian Federation. Students will spend15 weeks in the classroom and aregiven assessments and tasks, such asexploring different methods fortesting players and how to work withdifferent personalities.The University of Worcester has a

strong basketball reputation. Thisyear both the men’s and women’ssides were crowned British Universi-ties champions.Keith Mair, chief executive of Eng-

land Basketball, says: “This is a won-derful initiative by an English univers-ity, working with one of the world’smost powerful basketball nations, toprovide basketball coaches with theopportunity to add significantly totheir professional development.”

ADRIAN SHERRATT

New ball game

Out of left field

Mick Donovan designed the course in partnership with Lithuanian experts

Nicola Woolcockfinds a basketballmasters in anunexpected place

Some other of the moreunusual masters on offer:0 Pop music; Liverpool JohnMoores University0 Comics; University of Florida0 Refugee care; Universityof Essex0 Ufology (PhD course);University of Melbourne


MARY TURNER

With a Universityof Sussex MA ininternat ionaleducation anddeve lopmentplus three years

working in the field for overseasNGOs, Sarah Hodgson has theperfect combination of academictheory and practical experience.If Hodgson, 27, had graduated in

any other year she would have beensnapped up by an aid organisation.But 2009 has seen recruitment in thecharity sector drop significantly inthe wake of world economic turmoil.“I’m still getting job interviews,”

she says, “but a recruitment consult-ant has told me that I would becompeting with recently redundantmanagers with 10 to 15 years experi-ence of aid work. If I didn’t tick all theboxes I’d be out of the running.”This term the University of Sussex

careers department has increased thehelp it gives to postgraduateswith an alumni mentoring scheme.PostGrad Plus has enlisted high-profile Sussex alumni from business,politics, law, media, science and inter-

national development, includingRichard Wilson, QC, the Environ-ment Secretary Hilary Benn and thedirector of BBC News Helen Boaden.Their masterclasses will provide

postgraduates with insider knowledgeabout finding suitable career open-ings. The scheme also offers one-day workshops on employability

skills. Enrolling famous alumni to pro-vide advice is seen as a two-waystreet, giving those at the top of organ-isations an insight into the hurdlestoday’s postgraduates face and a wayof connecting to that talent.Catherine Reynolds, senior career

development adviser at Sussex Uni-

versity, says: “Our alumni mentorsbring a light touch and can offer tips,advice and short cuts to a particularindustry.”She emphasises the importance of

students seeking unpaid internshipsto gain experience in their chosenfield. While unpaid work experienceis now common, it is the quality ofthat experience and personal network-ing that counts, she says.So far, interest in planned alumni

events has been encouraging and themajority of the 2,000 or so Sussexpostgraduates will be attendingsessions. If nothing else, PostGradPlus will inspire confidence andprovide that all important supportnetwork.The scheme provides full careers

support one year out from a degreefor postgraduates who have notfound a permanent job. The goodnews is that Hodgson has just landeda temporary placement with Save theChildren. She has been hired to organ-ise Brighter Futures, a youth confer-ence aimed at breaking down barriersto higher education for refugees andasylum seekers.

Sarah Hodgson had to contend with stiff competition in her job search

Alumni can offertips, advice andshort cuts to aparticular industry

Jamie Shea, Nato’s director ofpolicy planning, advisespostgraduates to getsignificant professionalexperience before completinga masters. This helps them tosee where their aptitude lies.It helps to be on the spot

when job hunting. “Beingphoned up or having apostgraduate turn up in myoffice asking for an appoint-ment is a much better way of

getting my attention,” he says.After a six-month internship

with Nato in Brussels, manypostgraduates move toshort-term assignments withother organisations, emerginga few years later as staffers.“In my view, career success

is helped by basic bureaucraticskills, clear conceptualthinking, an ability to writewell and a gift of the gab.”STEPHEN HOARE

High-profile help in thebattle to launch careers

Masterclass

Stephen Hoare looks at an alumni mentoring scheme

Clear thinkers with gift of the gab needed



Masterclass

Mention basketballand most peoplethink of lanky Amer-ican superstars. Notof Lithuania — orthe English cathe-

dral city of Worcester. But the firstEuropean masters degree in basket-ball coaching is being offered by apartnership between the Universityof Worcester and Lithuanian sportsexperts.Basketball is the national sport of

Lithuania and is followed with apassion by its people. Most Lithua-nians start playing basketball soonafter they learn to walk.Nearly all the country’s basketball

coaches are graduates of the Lithua-nian Academy of Physical Education(LAPE), which has helped to establishthe new course at Worcester.The course will take two years to

complete, and students will be taughtin both Worcester and Lithuania. Itwas designed by Mick Donovan, headof the Institute of Sport and ExerciseScience at the university, andMindau-

gas Balciunas, doctor in basketball atLAPE, and secretary-general of theLithuanian Basketball Federation.Most students are likely to be

potential coaches or professionalplayers, and the course is beingendorsed by the Federation for Inter-national Basketball in Europe.Donovan says the university has

worked in collaboration with Lithua-nia for more than a year in devisingthe degree. “We will deliver the lec-tures for the course out of the playingseason. In the summer the studentswill go to Lithuania for the practicalelement.“Online classes and tutorials will be

available throughout the year. Wewill be working with beginnersthrough to international competitors.Working alongside one of the strong-est basketball countries in the worldwill be a fantastic opportunity.”Donovan points out that the

academic side of the course willinclude “scientific elements, such aspsychology and how it can influencecoaching”.“Lithuanians start playing basket-

ball from about the age of two,” headds. “They have specialist basketballschools and basketball degrees at uni-versity. From a young age there issuch attention to detail, they work forhours at it. A lot of the players end upworking in America or China.“Even though it is such a small coun-

try, it is always in the top four in theworld because the Lithuanians havealways focused on the one sport.”The course has received support

from the national governing bodiesEngland Basketball and the Lithua-nian Federation. Students will spend15 weeks in the classroom and aregiven assessments and tasks, such asexploring different methods fortesting players and how to work withdifferent personalities.The University of Worcester has a

strong basketball reputation. Thisyear both the men’s and women’ssides were crowned British Universi-ties champions.Keith Mair, chief executive of Eng-

land Basketball, says: “This is a won-derful initiative by an English univers-ity, working with one of the world’smost powerful basketball nations, toprovide basketball coaches with theopportunity to add significantly totheir professional development.”

ADRIAN SHERRATT

New ball game

Out of left field

Mick Donovan designed the course in partnership with Lithuanian experts

Nicola Woolcockfinds a basketballmasters in anunexpected place

Some other of the moreunusual masters on offer:0 Pop music; Liverpool JohnMoores University0 Comics; University of Florida0 Refugee care; Universityof Essex0 Ufology (PhD course);University of Melbourne


Generals and leaderscan give a hands-onlesson in world security

As terrorist trials andOsama bin Laden’sthreats lead the newsbulletins, the HomeOffice believes thechances of a terrorist

attack on the UK are “substantial”.Postgraduate students are amongthose making efforts to understandand guard against this imminentdanger.Last year King’s College London

launched a new MA course, Terror-ism, Security and Society, which aimsto deepen students’ understanding ofterrorism and counter-terrorism.“With everyone being a terrorism

expert now, we want students to beable to evaluate what the supposedexperts are saying about the theoriesof terrorism and to evaluate the real-world applied methods of dealingwith issues of terrorism and security,”says Dr Brooke Rogers, a psycholo-gist and lecturer on the course.“Part of the job is to say that terror-

ism is not all about things that goboom; it’s not all about catching thebad guys; it’s an entire machine. Thatmeans we need to understand down-stream issues such as ideology, beliefand identity, and upstream issuessuch as the long-term communityresponse after an incident.The course, which can be studied

one year full-time or two years part-time, starts with a general introduc-tion to terrorism and the problems ofdefining it. It looks at the differentapproaches to understanding terror-ism: from an international relationsand political science point of view, asocial psychology perspective or viaother critical approaches.It then focuses on the aims and ide-

ologies of various terrorist groups andtheir different strategies, with specificcase studies such as the IRA andal-Qaeda. The second half of thecourse deals with counter-terrorismand insurgency, covering case studiessuch as the UK and America’s war onterror, Pakistan, rogue states andstate-sponsored terrorism.Students can also choose from a

wide range of optional modules, suchas the occupied territories since 1967,war and insurgency in the MiddleEast since 1945, the evolution of insur-gency, and human rights and migra-tion. Theymust also write a thesis. Ex-amples from the course’s first year in-clude: what the UK can learn fromIsrael’s response to terrorism and anevaluation of the Government’s pre-ventative counter-terrorism policy.Students on the course in its first

year included members of theintelligence services, policemen, anewsreader and graduates withclassics and law degrees. Rogersexpects them to go into government

policy making, counter-terrorism andto work for organisations such as theUN.Full-time student fees are £5,900 or

£12,380 for overseas students. Burs-aries and scholarships may beavailable from London Universityand the research councils. Overseasstudents may also be eligible forChevening Scholarships from theBritish Council.Ben Wilkinson, 25, gave up a PhD

in Classics at Cambridge Universityto enrol in the King’s Collegeterrorism MA. With a Classics BAandMA already under his belt, he say-she wanted to do something morerelevant, with a more practicableoutcome.“It was great,” he says. “Studying

terrorism is a very good way ofgetting to grips with salient issues inthe Middle East.”Now he is about to embark on a

PhD looking at radicalisation, extrem-ism and government counter-terror-ism policies in the Middle East.Rogers adds: “One of the most

important things we can do on thisMA course is to join academic theorywith real-world practice and teachpeople to evaluate both the theoryand the practice.“The level of threat is extremely

serious and is constantly evolving.Also, advances in technology and theuse of the internet mean that coun-ter-terrorist measures constantlyhave to evolve and adapt. How canwe secure public places and still makethem attractive to people? We haveto try to strike a balance betweensecurity and community.”

The talk at the bar amongstudents on CranfieldUniversity’s security sec-tor management MSc islikely to be on a differentlevel from the usual post-

graduate chatter. “You hear the mostinteresting discussions betweenpeople who have just rocked back infrom Afghanistan or Iraq, or with thedirector of intelligence for the SriLankan Government,” says Dr AnnFitz-Gerald, director of the CranfieldCentre for Security SectorManagement.Many of the students on the

course, which links international poli-tics, security and conflict issues withstrategic management, already have alevel of practical experience. Studentsstraight from undergraduate degreesin political science, languages, law orconflict resolution find themselvesnext to the likes of Major GeneralThomas Cirillo, commander of theThird Army in Sudan, or KellieConteh, who heads the Office ofNational Security in Sierra Leone.“That shared experience and know-

ledge being exchanged doesn’t onlyhappen in the classrooms but also inthe margins,” says Fitz-Gerald.The course attracts people interest-

ed in entering the security field withgovernment, an international NGOor the private sector. They need toconsider the world in 3D: defence,diplomacy and development. Each ofthese areas comes with its ownunique security challenges, andCranfield’s is one of a number ofmaster’s courses in this area.

Launched three and a half yearsago, the MSc is a one-year pro-gramme including four two-weekresidential blocks (or two years witheight one-week blocks). Among otherthings, it examines the challengesstemming from the surge in deliveryof international aid programmes andincreased calls for capacity buildingto be at the heart of the global secur-ity and development agenda.Fitz-Gerald says the course is highly

practical, based on applied research,and goes some way towards providingthe experience that is often lackingwith a purely theoretical degree. “Wedon’t give people an apprenticeship,but they have a hands-on flavour ofwhat happens on the ground. Their

dissertation, because it is appliedresearch, often takes them to differentpolicy corridors or even on theground in different countries, so bythe end it is almost as good aspractical experience.”Shawny Donohue studied political

science at undergraduate level inAmerica, and after a stint in thePeace Corps is now undertaking thesecurity sector management MSc.She believes that the eclectic mix ofstudents is one of the most valuableaspects of the course. “Their profes-sional experiences are incorporatedinto class discussions and enrich theknowledge base of everyoneinvolved,” she says.Is it daunting studying alongside

generals and leaders of countries?“Definitely not. My background pro-fessional experience is quite juniorcompared to some of my fellow co-hort members. I take advantage oftheir knowledge and experiencewhenever possible — even if it meansbuying them a pint at the pub just tothrow questions and ideas at them.”Donohue is undertaking the course

with an eye on development, but forstudents looking to get into that firstD — defence, particularly in privateindustry — it is not necessarily asecurity-specific master’s degree thatwill clinch the job.A spokesman for BAE Systems says

they generally look for engineeringdegrees, while John Leighton-Jones,human resources director at thedefence technology company Qinet-iQ, says: “We don’t look at any parti-cular master’s degree as such. We’vegot a really wide spectrum of roles,and we wouldn’t preclude anyonefrom meeting us based on theirdegree or background.”What QinetiQ is looking for is lead-

ership and communication skills, ana-lytical ability and a strategic mindset.“It’s a very complex, interconnectedworld, and problems become morecomplex,” Leighton-Jones says. “So totackle these issues, you need peoplewho don’t just focus on their owndomain but can look wider than that.”

Hard look at thewar on terror . . .

Part of the job is tosay that terrorismis not all aboutcatching bad guys

If something is wrong, you do yourbit to change it, says Patrick Hen-nessey, 27, a former army officer

and a bestselling author, who is nowtraining to be a barrister. “During mytime at university [2000-2003] theworld changed considerably. I startedat the end of the Blair/Clinton era of afairly peaceful, post-Cold War worldand within three years we were fight-ing a war in Iraq and Afghanistan.”Hennessey, right. joined the Army

in 2004, completed his officer train-ing at Sandhurst and then joined theGrenadier Guards. However, it washis time as a platoon commander andcompany operations officer in theBalkans, Africa, South-East Asia, theFalklands, Iraq — on terrifying patrolduties and guarding Iraqi detainees— and Afghanistan, fighting along-side the Afghan Army, that thisyoung captain came into his own.

“There’s no other job where youhave such life and death responsibili-ty for the people,” says Hennesseywho looked after up to 30 men. “Youlearn a lot about yourself too whenpushed in those situations. When youtake casualties your job is to keep upmorale and I’m pleased to say Ibought all of my guys home.”So why the career change? “As you

move up in the Army, you kind ofmove away from the coalface, whichis what I enjoyed; the next jobs wouldbe behind a desk. During my time inIraq and Afghanistan there were agreat many legal issues raised and Ithought if I went to the Bar I mightstill be able to try and resolve them.”Despite looking at retraining to

become an army lawyer, Hennesseydecided he wanted to be a self-employed barrister. “That’s where thecut and thrust of legal work happens,”

he says. “I hadbeen at the fore-front throughoutmy time as a sol-dier so wantedthis as lawyer.”When it came

to forging hisown career path,H e n n e s s e yfound postgradu-ate study invalua-

ble. He is doing a one-year Bar courseat BPP. As Chris Brady, Dean of BPPBusiness School points out: “Postgrad-uate study is ideal for those who wantto improve their skills, or for peopleconsidering a career change. Largeorganisations are downsizing, cuttingtraining budgets and phasing out grad-uate training schemes so the onus ison the individual.”Brady also recognises that “profes-

sional as well as academic accredita-tion is now a must for both their pro-spective and existing employees".This proved true for Hennessey, whoinitially worried that his time in theArmy would be as a disadvantage andthat the chambers would be lookingfor someone who had done a three-year law degree.“As it turned out having had five

years’ very different experience wasan advantage; a few more life skills soto speak,” he says.Hennessey, originally an English

graduate from Oxford, completed hislaw conversion course and left theArmy six months ago. With the helpof the BPP College of ProfessionalStudies and money from his candidmemoir, The Junior Officers’ ReadingClub, he was able to undertake theone-year course.It is a challenge, he says. “As a bar-

rister you are kind of flying by theseat of your pants as there is no guar-antee of a job at the end of it.” But it isa challenge that Hennessey takes inhis stride. “You have to be self-moti-vated and work hard and one thingthe Army certainly teaches you isdiscipline. The prospect of spendingall night cramming or 36 hours in thelibrary is a lot less daunting when youremember that a year back you wereon some three-day, non-stop stompthrough Helmand province.”All being well Hennessey will have

completed his training and pupilageand be practising on his own withintwo years. “I would like to look atsome of the things that interested mewhile I was in the Army — legal andillegal wars. My aim is to resolvethese issues in a courtroom, ratherthan with a gun.”SARAH HISCOCK

Peace studiesemerged as asubject ofstudy after theSecond WorldWar. A PeaceResearchInstitute wasestablished inOslo in 1964, aStockholmInternational

Peace Research Institute in 1966and a peace studies unit atBradford University in 1973 — thelatter as a result of an initiative bythe Quakers.

Today the university’s peacestudies department, the world’slargest, enjoys an internationalreputation and attracts studentsfrom across the world. It offers aclutch of MA programmes in

peace studies, conflict resolution,international politics and securitystudies, African peace andconflict studies, participation andpolitics, and conflict, security anddevelopment.

Neil Cooper, the MA director,says that, in contrast to manyinternational relations andstrategic studies departments,Bradford has always adopted abroad view of what constitutespeace and security.

Peace is traditionally defined asthe absence of war, but Bradforddefines it as the absence ofstructural violence and the ideaof a positive peace. The latterincludes the need to addressissues such as poverty, inequality,environmental destruction andracial, religious and genderdiscrimination.

The centre is multidisciplinaryand practice-orientated. Manymembers of staff are trying tochange the world as activists oradvisers to governments andNGOs.

Some 400 students arestudying for undergraduatedegrees, MAs and PhDs. Twelvestudents a year enter as RotaryInternational-sponsored studentson MA programmes.

All MA students take a coremodule introducing them topeace studies. This covers thehistory of peace studies, peaceactivism and the various kinds ofviolence in the world today.Students then opt for modulesfrom a range of options, such asthe environment, human rights,Islam, the Middle East,international politics and security.

They also write a 15,000-worddissertation.

Robert Cheesewright, 23, left, isjust finishing his MA in peacestudies. A Hull University politicsand philosophy graduate, hechose the Bradford coursebecause it was more practicalthan international relationscourses. “You learn about theconflict dynamics today betweenChina and Taiwan as opposed tolearning about liberalism orcommunism,” he says.

One of the most importantstrengths of the course is theinternational nature of its studentbody, he adds.

“You learn from your studentcolleagues. They can tell youfirst-hand, for example, what it islike to be kidnapped.”SIMON MIDGLEY

I take advantage oftheir knowledge —even if it meansbuying them a pint

Masterclass

Ex-officer and bestselling author switches fromwar to peace. . . and a chance to put theories of peace into practice

Targeting terrorism: the Kings College course aims to deepen students’ understanding, covering topics such as aims and ideologies, counter-terrorism and insurgency

International aid is one study topic

PA

Masterclass

A Cranfield MScattracts a uniquestudent mix,says ChristopherAndrews

King’s College: evaluating theories

A newMA course aims to promote a broad-basedunderstanding of the threat, writes SimonMidgley


6 THE TIMES Wednesday September 23 2009 71GX

Generals and leaderscan give a hands-onlesson in world security

As terrorist trials andOsama bin Laden’sthreats lead the newsbulletins, the HomeOffice believes thechances of a terrorist

attack on the UK are “substantial”.Postgraduate students are amongthose making efforts to understandand guard against this imminentdanger.Last year King’s College London

launched a new MA course, Terror-ism, Security and Society, which aimsto deepen students’ understanding ofterrorism and counter-terrorism.“With everyone being a terrorism

expert now, we want students to beable to evaluate what the supposedexperts are saying about the theoriesof terrorism and to evaluate the real-world applied methods of dealingwith issues of terrorism and security,”says Dr Brooke Rogers, a psycholo-gist and lecturer on the course.“Part of the job is to say that terror-

ism is not all about things that goboom; it’s not all about catching thebad guys; it’s an entire machine. Thatmeans we need to understand down-stream issues such as ideology, beliefand identity, and upstream issuessuch as the long-term communityresponse after an incident.The course, which can be studied

one year full-time or two years part-time, starts with a general introduc-tion to terrorism and the problems ofdefining it. It looks at the differentapproaches to understanding terror-ism: from an international relationsand political science point of view, asocial psychology perspective or viaother critical approaches.It then focuses on the aims and ide-

ologies of various terrorist groups andtheir different strategies, with specificcase studies such as the IRA andal-Qaeda. The second half of thecourse deals with counter-terrorismand insurgency, covering case studiessuch as the UK and America’s war onterror, Pakistan, rogue states andstate-sponsored terrorism.Students can also choose from a

wide range of optional modules, suchas the occupied territories since 1967,war and insurgency in the MiddleEast since 1945, the evolution of insur-gency, and human rights and migra-tion. Theymust also write a thesis. Ex-amples from the course’s first year in-clude: what the UK can learn fromIsrael’s response to terrorism and anevaluation of the Government’s pre-ventative counter-terrorism policy.Students on the course in its first

year included members of theintelligence services, policemen, anewsreader and graduates withclassics and law degrees. Rogersexpects them to go into government

policy making, counter-terrorism andto work for organisations such as theUN.Full-time student fees are £5,900 or

£12,380 for overseas students. Burs-aries and scholarships may beavailable from London Universityand the research councils. Overseasstudents may also be eligible forChevening Scholarships from theBritish Council.Ben Wilkinson, 25, gave up a PhD

in Classics at Cambridge Universityto enrol in the King’s Collegeterrorism MA. With a Classics BAandMA already under his belt, he say-she wanted to do something morerelevant, with a more practicableoutcome.“It was great,” he says. “Studying

terrorism is a very good way ofgetting to grips with salient issues inthe Middle East.”Now he is about to embark on a

PhD looking at radicalisation, extrem-ism and government counter-terror-ism policies in the Middle East.Rogers adds: “One of the most

important things we can do on thisMA course is to join academic theorywith real-world practice and teachpeople to evaluate both the theoryand the practice.“The level of threat is extremely

serious and is constantly evolving.Also, advances in technology and theuse of the internet mean that coun-ter-terrorist measures constantlyhave to evolve and adapt. How canwe secure public places and still makethem attractive to people? We haveto try to strike a balance betweensecurity and community.”

The talk at the bar amongstudents on CranfieldUniversity’s security sec-tor management MSc islikely to be on a differentlevel from the usual post-

graduate chatter. “You hear the mostinteresting discussions betweenpeople who have just rocked back infrom Afghanistan or Iraq, or with thedirector of intelligence for the SriLankan Government,” says Dr AnnFitz-Gerald, director of the CranfieldCentre for Security SectorManagement.Many of the students on the

course, which links international poli-tics, security and conflict issues withstrategic management, already have alevel of practical experience. Studentsstraight from undergraduate degreesin political science, languages, law orconflict resolution find themselvesnext to the likes of Major GeneralThomas Cirillo, commander of theThird Army in Sudan, or KellieConteh, who heads the Office ofNational Security in Sierra Leone.“That shared experience and know-

ledge being exchanged doesn’t onlyhappen in the classrooms but also inthe margins,” says Fitz-Gerald.The course attracts people interest-

ed in entering the security field withgovernment, an international NGOor the private sector. They need toconsider the world in 3D: defence,diplomacy and development. Each ofthese areas comes with its ownunique security challenges, andCranfield’s is one of a number ofmaster’s courses in this area.

Launched three and a half yearsago, the MSc is a one-year pro-gramme including four two-weekresidential blocks (or two years witheight one-week blocks). Among otherthings, it examines the challengesstemming from the surge in deliveryof international aid programmes andincreased calls for capacity buildingto be at the heart of the global secur-ity and development agenda.Fitz-Gerald says the course is highly

practical, based on applied research,and goes some way towards providingthe experience that is often lackingwith a purely theoretical degree. “Wedon’t give people an apprenticeship,but they have a hands-on flavour ofwhat happens on the ground. Their

dissertation, because it is appliedresearch, often takes them to differentpolicy corridors or even on theground in different countries, so bythe end it is almost as good aspractical experience.”Shawny Donohue studied political

science at undergraduate level inAmerica, and after a stint in thePeace Corps is now undertaking thesecurity sector management MSc.She believes that the eclectic mix ofstudents is one of the most valuableaspects of the course. “Their profes-sional experiences are incorporatedinto class discussions and enrich theknowledge base of everyoneinvolved,” she says.Is it daunting studying alongside

generals and leaders of countries?“Definitely not. My background pro-fessional experience is quite juniorcompared to some of my fellow co-hort members. I take advantage oftheir knowledge and experiencewhenever possible — even if it meansbuying them a pint at the pub just tothrow questions and ideas at them.”Donohue is undertaking the course

with an eye on development, but forstudents looking to get into that firstD — defence, particularly in privateindustry — it is not necessarily asecurity-specific master’s degree thatwill clinch the job.A spokesman for BAE Systems says

they generally look for engineeringdegrees, while John Leighton-Jones,human resources director at thedefence technology company Qinet-iQ, says: “We don’t look at any parti-cular master’s degree as such. We’vegot a really wide spectrum of roles,and we wouldn’t preclude anyonefrom meeting us based on theirdegree or background.”What QinetiQ is looking for is lead-

ership and communication skills, ana-lytical ability and a strategic mindset.“It’s a very complex, interconnectedworld, and problems become morecomplex,” Leighton-Jones says. “So totackle these issues, you need peoplewho don’t just focus on their owndomain but can look wider than that.”

Hard look at thewar on terror . . .

Part of the job is tosay that terrorismis not all aboutcatching bad guys

If something is wrong, you do yourbit to change it, says Patrick Hen-nessey, 27, a former army officer

and a bestselling author, who is nowtraining to be a barrister. “During mytime at university [2000-2003] theworld changed considerably. I startedat the end of the Blair/Clinton era of afairly peaceful, post-Cold War worldand within three years we were fight-ing a war in Iraq and Afghanistan.”Hennessey, right. joined the Army

in 2004, completed his officer train-ing at Sandhurst and then joined theGrenadier Guards. However, it washis time as a platoon commander andcompany operations officer in theBalkans, Africa, South-East Asia, theFalklands, Iraq — on terrifying patrolduties and guarding Iraqi detainees— and Afghanistan, fighting along-side the Afghan Army, that thisyoung captain came into his own.

“There’s no other job where youhave such life and death responsibili-ty for the people,” says Hennesseywho looked after up to 30 men. “Youlearn a lot about yourself too whenpushed in those situations. When youtake casualties your job is to keep upmorale and I’m pleased to say Ibought all of my guys home.”So why the career change? “As you

move up in the Army, you kind ofmove away from the coalface, whichis what I enjoyed; the next jobs wouldbe behind a desk. During my time inIraq and Afghanistan there were agreat many legal issues raised and Ithought if I went to the Bar I mightstill be able to try and resolve them.”Despite looking at retraining to

become an army lawyer, Hennesseydecided he wanted to be a self-employed barrister. “That’s where thecut and thrust of legal work happens,”

he says. “I hadbeen at the fore-front throughoutmy time as a sol-dier so wantedthis as lawyer.”When it came

to forging hisown career path,H e n n e s s e yfound postgradu-ate study invalua-

ble. He is doing a one-year Bar courseat BPP. As Chris Brady, Dean of BPPBusiness School points out: “Postgrad-uate study is ideal for those who wantto improve their skills, or for peopleconsidering a career change. Largeorganisations are downsizing, cuttingtraining budgets and phasing out grad-uate training schemes so the onus ison the individual.”Brady also recognises that “profes-

sional as well as academic accredita-tion is now a must for both their pro-spective and existing employees".This proved true for Hennessey, whoinitially worried that his time in theArmy would be as a disadvantage andthat the chambers would be lookingfor someone who had done a three-year law degree.“As it turned out having had five

years’ very different experience wasan advantage; a few more life skills soto speak,” he says.Hennessey, originally an English

graduate from Oxford, completed hislaw conversion course and left theArmy six months ago. With the helpof the BPP College of ProfessionalStudies and money from his candidmemoir, The Junior Officers’ ReadingClub, he was able to undertake theone-year course.It is a challenge, he says. “As a bar-

rister you are kind of flying by theseat of your pants as there is no guar-antee of a job at the end of it.” But it isa challenge that Hennessey takes inhis stride. “You have to be self-moti-vated and work hard and one thingthe Army certainly teaches you isdiscipline. The prospect of spendingall night cramming or 36 hours in thelibrary is a lot less daunting when youremember that a year back you wereon some three-day, non-stop stompthrough Helmand province.”All being well Hennessey will have

completed his training and pupilageand be practising on his own withintwo years. “I would like to look atsome of the things that interested mewhile I was in the Army — legal andillegal wars. My aim is to resolvethese issues in a courtroom, ratherthan with a gun.”SARAH HISCOCK

Peace studiesemerged as asubject ofstudy after theSecond WorldWar. A PeaceResearchInstitute wasestablished inOslo in 1964, aStockholmInternational

Peace Research Institute in 1966and a peace studies unit atBradford University in 1973 — thelatter as a result of an initiative bythe Quakers.

Today the university’s peacestudies department, the world’slargest, enjoys an internationalreputation and attracts studentsfrom across the world. It offers aclutch of MA programmes in

peace studies, conflict resolution,international politics and securitystudies, African peace andconflict studies, participation andpolitics, and conflict, security anddevelopment.

Neil Cooper, the MA director,says that, in contrast to manyinternational relations andstrategic studies departments,Bradford has always adopted abroad view of what constitutespeace and security.

Peace is traditionally defined asthe absence of war, but Bradforddefines it as the absence ofstructural violence and the ideaof a positive peace. The latterincludes the need to addressissues such as poverty, inequality,environmental destruction andracial, religious and genderdiscrimination.

The centre is multidisciplinaryand practice-orientated. Manymembers of staff are trying tochange the world as activists oradvisers to governments andNGOs.

Some 400 students arestudying for undergraduatedegrees, MAs and PhDs. Twelvestudents a year enter as RotaryInternational-sponsored studentson MA programmes.

All MA students take a coremodule introducing them topeace studies. This covers thehistory of peace studies, peaceactivism and the various kinds ofviolence in the world today.Students then opt for modulesfrom a range of options, such asthe environment, human rights,Islam, the Middle East,international politics and security.

They also write a 15,000-worddissertation.

Robert Cheesewright, 23, left, isjust finishing his MA in peacestudies. A Hull University politicsand philosophy graduate, hechose the Bradford coursebecause it was more practicalthan international relationscourses. “You learn about theconflict dynamics today betweenChina and Taiwan as opposed tolearning about liberalism orcommunism,” he says.

One of the most importantstrengths of the course is theinternational nature of its studentbody, he adds.

“You learn from your studentcolleagues. They can tell youfirst-hand, for example, what it islike to be kidnapped.”SIMON MIDGLEY

I take advantage oftheir knowledge —even if it meansbuying them a pint

Masterclass

Ex-officer and bestselling author switches fromwar to peace. . . and a chance to put theories of peace into practice

Targeting terrorism: the Kings College course aims to deepen students’ understanding, covering topics such as aims and ideologies, counter-terrorism and insurgency

International aid is one study topic

PA

Masterclass

A Cranfield MScattracts a uniquestudent mix,says ChristopherAndrews

King’s College: evaluating theories

A newMA course aims to promote a broad-basedunderstanding of the threat, writes SimonMidgley


6 THE TIMES Wednesday September 23 2009 71GX

I’ve worked withamazing scientistsand got some reallygood experience

Tough task tohelp the world

Jennifer Taylor looks at a course forpeople seeking to make a difference

What makes mas-ters studentswant to work ind e v e l o p i n gcountries? Theyare clearly not

in it for the money, says SharonHuttly, professor and dean of studiesat the London School of Hygiene andTropical Medicine.The answer, she believes, is their

“drive, interest and commitment tofairness and trying to resolve theinequalities that are so patentlyobvious in health around the world”.There are plenty of public health

priorities, such as HIV/Aids, malariaand tuberculosis. but cancer, diabetesand cardiovascular disease are becom-ing an increasing problem. Mentalhealth is another focus requiringmore resources, as are maternal,reproductive and child health.The school offers 18 masters (MSc)

courses taught in London (one yearfull-time or two years part-time) andfour via distance learning. They fallinto three broad areas: public health,infectious disease and epidemiology.Masters students do a summer

research project, which may include astint abroad for collecting data or con-ducting interviews. Students fromoverseas often bring data with them.The minimum requirement is a

second class honours degree in a rele-vant subject, or a degree in medicine.Funding for British students is avail-able from the Medical ResearchCouncil, the Economic and SocialResearch Council and various chari-ties, including the Wellcome Trust.Rinki Deb, 24, a Londoner, took a

12-month MSc in medical parasitolo-gy. “The main attraction was that itwould be tropical infectious diseases,”

she says. “My main area of focus wasdiseases like malaria and leishmania-sis and this course was best atcovering it.”Deb had done a BSc in molecular

biology with forensic science atQueen Mary, University of London,then spent two years in EasternEurope. Her parents are from Indiaand her visits there introduced her tothe treatment challenges in develop-ing countries. “I just wanted to dosomething that hopefully leads to memaking a difference,” she says.Her summer project took her to

Laos, where she collected blood spotsfor analysis in London to look fordrug resistance. She had learnedabout clinical trials in the classroom,but applying her knowledge abroadwas invaluable.Deb would like to pursue a career

in academia and the next stage is toapply for research grants. She says: “Iwant to do a PhD so this has definite-ly given me some good backgroundbecause I’ve worked with some amaz-ing scientists and I’ve got some reallygood experience.”Tom Pearson, 32, was a GP with a

diploma in tropical medicine. Beforeattending the school he had workedabroad as a doctor for two years, in

various countries including Laos andUganda.Some of his work involved the post-

graduate teaching of doctors. Hefound when he was abroad thatalthough he was helping out locallyhe was not changing the big picture.He also realised that such countrieswere plagued by a lack of humanresources, including doctors, nursesand hospital managers.

It prompted him to take a12-month MSc in public health in de-veloping countries at the school. Thecourse was international — of the 83students only a minority were fromBritain. “That’s what makes it fantas-tic,” he says. “It gives you wonderfulcontacts around the world.”In future Pearson wants to work on

strengthening health systems, particu-larly human resources.

A career in the Merchant Navygave Jimmy Mudie an interest indifferent cultures. It also left himwith a serious drink problem.Back then, he would not havedreamt of going to university.Now, with the help of a projectcalled Open Book, he has an MAin anthropology.

Seven years ago, Mudiedecided to tackle his alcoholism.To occupy his mind he took basiccourses in subjects such as IT anddiscovered a taste for learning.He enrolled on an access courseat Goldsmiths, part of theUniversity of London.

In his 50s, Mudie won a placeon an anthropology degree butadjusting to student life was noteasy: “When I went into my firstundergraduate class I must havelooked like an idiot. I had the

book in front ofme but didn’t havea clue what wasexpected of me.”

Mudie cameacross Joe Baden,left, who wasstarting the OpenBook project.Based atGoldsmiths, Open

Book aims to open up highereducation to marginalised groups,including recovering addicts.Baden says: “It’s not about rehab;it’s about becoming the peoplethey always should have been.”

Mudie recalls: “I thought whathe was doing was fantastic. Youcan imagine how intimidating it isfor people who are coming backfrom addiction or mental healthproblems, or have been in prison,to think about going to university.

“A lot of these people arehighly intelligent and, given thechance, they can be highlymotivated. Through Open Bookthey can meet like-minded peoplewith the same kind of problems.”

More than 100 students arecurrently registered with OpenBook, which works with a numberof colleges and universities inLondon and Kent. Most are onaccess or degree courses. Some,like Mudie, progress topostgraduate studies.RACHEL POTTER

A second chance

High-flier: Rinki Deb went to LSHTM to study tropical infectious diseases

CHRIS HARRIS

Masterclass www.timesonline.co.uk/masterclass


When Fabio Do-mingos, a Brazil-ian in his finalyear of a PhD ingeology at Dur-ham University,

signed up for the course he did notknow what to expect and had no ideawhere the university was.“I hadn’t even heard of Durham

before my supervisor recommendedthe university there,” he says. “I’mfrom the Amazon and I had nevereven left Brazil.” Domingos, 30, is notalone. Every year about 1,000 Brazil-ians come to the UK to study.It was also the first time abroad for

Xiao Liang, from China, who has justfinished an MSc in accounting andfinance at Birmingham. The 22-year-old wanted to experience a foreignculture, only to find that half thestudents in her class were Chinese.“It was a little disappointing,” she

says. It is not surprising, however.Overseas students make up one thirdof all postgraduates in the UK and thefigure is often more than half at the

the top universities, according to theHigher Education Statistics Agency.China sends the most, followed byIndia, America, Nigeria and Pakistan.Many of these students are looking

for a competitive edge in the jobsmarket at home or some, like Liang,with a UK employer. Others see-studying abroad as a chance to gainexpertise to benefit their countries.This tendency is most obvious with

courses such as development studiesor medicine. Alex Owusu-Ofori, aPhD student at the Liverpool Schoolof Tropical Medicine, says friends inGhana asked him why he was goingto a Western country to learn abouttropical diseases. It has proved a great

way to build on his knowledge. “Butlearning about them and staying heredoes not make sense,” he adds.Aarij Siddiqui, from Raipur in cen-

tral India, plans to return home afterfinishing his masters at the Universityof BuckinghamMedical School. Com-ing to England, he says, has given himexposure to a higher level of medicinethan is affordable in India’s publichealthcare system and that will bringbenefits back home. But he andothers still hope to work in the UKfor a couple of years to recover someof the money invested in studying.Funding is a big issue for inter-

national students. Domingos wasawarded a full scholarship by the

Brazilian Ministry of Education. JojoQuansah, who is completing an MAin marketing communications atWestminster University, won hisscholarship in the British Council’sreality TV show The Challenge inGhana. But most postgraduate stu-dents must pay for themselves.Diana Robles has just completed an

MBA at Saïd Business School, Ox-ford. She and her husband, who alsodid the course, plan to return toColumbia to help to expand a co-operative of 400 small conveniencestores providing incomes for thepoor. But doing the MBA has set thecouple back £50,000 in tuition andliving costs.Not everyone is convinced that it is

always good value to do a masters inthe UK. Siddiqui says he has friendsat other universities who complain ofpoorly structured courses and inexpe-rienced lecturers. “You cannotassume that because you are comingto the UK you will get a first-classeducation,” he cautions.However, most consider it worth-

while and some are surprised thatmore British people do not snap upthe postgraduate opportunities.Opeyemi Adamolekun, an Eyptian

who graduate from Saïd with anMBA, says: “There seems to be moreof us than the British. If your top insti-tutions are filled with foreign stu-dents, I’m not sure what that saysabout the future for British students.”

Masterclass

A costly leap of faithCHRIS ROUT/ALAMY

Foreign studentsflock in despitethe expense, saysPeter Davy

Targeted grants

Durham is among university cities recommended to international students

Most international studentsturn first to their homegovernments or the BritishCouncil for funding. However,charities and universities alsoprovide support, often focusedon particular courses orcountries, Peter Davy writes.Manchester University runs a

developing countryscholarships scheme coveringtuition fees and living costs forstudents from Uganda,Rwanda and Bangladesh.It has helped students such

as Robert Lule, who took amasters in maintenanceengineering and assetmanagement. He is now backat police marine headquartersin Kampala, where he is anassistant commander and hasdeveloped a servicingprogramme to stop vesselsworth millions of pounds frombreaking down. “It hasbenefited us enormouslybecause we didn’t haveanyone to do this,” he says.However, Tim Westlake,

director of internationaldevelopment at Manchester,says he is afraid such storiesgive students false hope. Henoted that there were about3,000 applications last yearfor six scholarships forUgandan students.Westlake thinks more impact

could come from distancelearning courses enablingstudents to obtain a Britishdegree without leaving home.


I’ve worked withamazing scientistsand got some reallygood experience

Tough task tohelp the world

Jennifer Taylor looks at a course forpeople seeking to make a difference

What makes mas-ters studentswant to work ind e v e l o p i n gcountries? Theyare clearly not

in it for the money, says SharonHuttly, professor and dean of studiesat the London School of Hygiene andTropical Medicine.The answer, she believes, is their

“drive, interest and commitment tofairness and trying to resolve theinequalities that are so patentlyobvious in health around the world”.There are plenty of public health

priorities, such as HIV/Aids, malariaand tuberculosis. but cancer, diabetesand cardiovascular disease are becom-ing an increasing problem. Mentalhealth is another focus requiringmore resources, as are maternal,reproductive and child health.The school offers 18 masters (MSc)

courses taught in London (one yearfull-time or two years part-time) andfour via distance learning. They fallinto three broad areas: public health,infectious disease and epidemiology.Masters students do a summer

research project, which may include astint abroad for collecting data or con-ducting interviews. Students fromoverseas often bring data with them.The minimum requirement is a

second class honours degree in a rele-vant subject, or a degree in medicine.Funding for British students is avail-able from the Medical ResearchCouncil, the Economic and SocialResearch Council and various chari-ties, including the Wellcome Trust.Rinki Deb, 24, a Londoner, took a

12-month MSc in medical parasitolo-gy. “The main attraction was that itwould be tropical infectious diseases,”

she says. “My main area of focus wasdiseases like malaria and leishmania-sis and this course was best atcovering it.”Deb had done a BSc in molecular

biology with forensic science atQueen Mary, University of London,then spent two years in EasternEurope. Her parents are from Indiaand her visits there introduced her tothe treatment challenges in develop-ing countries. “I just wanted to dosomething that hopefully leads to memaking a difference,” she says.Her summer project took her to

Laos, where she collected blood spotsfor analysis in London to look fordrug resistance. She had learnedabout clinical trials in the classroom,but applying her knowledge abroadwas invaluable.Deb would like to pursue a career

in academia and the next stage is toapply for research grants. She says: “Iwant to do a PhD so this has definite-ly given me some good backgroundbecause I’ve worked with some amaz-ing scientists and I’ve got some reallygood experience.”Tom Pearson, 32, was a GP with a

diploma in tropical medicine. Beforeattending the school he had workedabroad as a doctor for two years, in

various countries including Laos andUganda.Some of his work involved the post-

graduate teaching of doctors. Hefound when he was abroad thatalthough he was helping out locallyhe was not changing the big picture.He also realised that such countrieswere plagued by a lack of humanresources, including doctors, nursesand hospital managers.

It prompted him to take a12-month MSc in public health in de-veloping countries at the school. Thecourse was international — of the 83students only a minority were fromBritain. “That’s what makes it fantas-tic,” he says. “It gives you wonderfulcontacts around the world.”In future Pearson wants to work on

strengthening health systems, particu-larly human resources.

A career in the Merchant Navygave Jimmy Mudie an interest indifferent cultures. It also left himwith a serious drink problem.Back then, he would not havedreamt of going to university.Now, with the help of a projectcalled Open Book, he has an MAin anthropology.

Seven years ago, Mudiedecided to tackle his alcoholism.To occupy his mind he took basiccourses in subjects such as IT anddiscovered a taste for learning.He enrolled on an access courseat Goldsmiths, part of theUniversity of London.

In his 50s, Mudie won a placeon an anthropology degree butadjusting to student life was noteasy: “When I went into my firstundergraduate class I must havelooked like an idiot. I had the

book in front ofme but didn’t havea clue what wasexpected of me.”

Mudie cameacross Joe Baden,left, who wasstarting the OpenBook project.Based atGoldsmiths, Open

Book aims to open up highereducation to marginalised groups,including recovering addicts.Baden says: “It’s not about rehab;it’s about becoming the peoplethey always should have been.”

Mudie recalls: “I thought whathe was doing was fantastic. Youcan imagine how intimidating it isfor people who are coming backfrom addiction or mental healthproblems, or have been in prison,to think about going to university.

“A lot of these people arehighly intelligent and, given thechance, they can be highlymotivated. Through Open Bookthey can meet like-minded peoplewith the same kind of problems.”

More than 100 students arecurrently registered with OpenBook, which works with a numberof colleges and universities inLondon and Kent. Most are onaccess or degree courses. Some,like Mudie, progress topostgraduate studies.RACHEL POTTER

A second chance

High-flier: Rinki Deb went to LSHTM to study tropical infectious diseases

CHRIS HARRIS

Masterclass www.timesonline.co.uk/masterclass


When Fabio Do-mingos, a Brazil-ian in his finalyear of a PhD ingeology at Dur-ham University,

signed up for the course he did notknow what to expect and had no ideawhere the university was.“I hadn’t even heard of Durham

before my supervisor recommendedthe university there,” he says. “I’mfrom the Amazon and I had nevereven left Brazil.” Domingos, 30, is notalone. Every year about 1,000 Brazil-ians come to the UK to study.It was also the first time abroad for

Xiao Liang, from China, who has justfinished an MSc in accounting andfinance at Birmingham. The 22-year-old wanted to experience a foreignculture, only to find that half thestudents in her class were Chinese.“It was a little disappointing,” she

says. It is not surprising, however.Overseas students make up one thirdof all postgraduates in the UK and thefigure is often more than half at the

the top universities, according to theHigher Education Statistics Agency.China sends the most, followed byIndia, America, Nigeria and Pakistan.Many of these students are looking

for a competitive edge in the jobsmarket at home or some, like Liang,with a UK employer. Others see-studying abroad as a chance to gainexpertise to benefit their countries.This tendency is most obvious with

courses such as development studiesor medicine. Alex Owusu-Ofori, aPhD student at the Liverpool Schoolof Tropical Medicine, says friends inGhana asked him why he was goingto a Western country to learn abouttropical diseases. It has proved a great

way to build on his knowledge. “Butlearning about them and staying heredoes not make sense,” he adds.Aarij Siddiqui, from Raipur in cen-

tral India, plans to return home afterfinishing his masters at the Universityof BuckinghamMedical School. Com-ing to England, he says, has given himexposure to a higher level of medicinethan is affordable in India’s publichealthcare system and that will bringbenefits back home. But he andothers still hope to work in the UKfor a couple of years to recover someof the money invested in studying.Funding is a big issue for inter-

national students. Domingos wasawarded a full scholarship by the

Brazilian Ministry of Education. JojoQuansah, who is completing an MAin marketing communications atWestminster University, won hisscholarship in the British Council’sreality TV show The Challenge inGhana. But most postgraduate stu-dents must pay for themselves.Diana Robles has just completed an

MBA at Saïd Business School, Ox-ford. She and her husband, who alsodid the course, plan to return toColumbia to help to expand a co-operative of 400 small conveniencestores providing incomes for thepoor. But doing the MBA has set thecouple back £50,000 in tuition andliving costs.Not everyone is convinced that it is

always good value to do a masters inthe UK. Siddiqui says he has friendsat other universities who complain ofpoorly structured courses and inexpe-rienced lecturers. “You cannotassume that because you are comingto the UK you will get a first-classeducation,” he cautions.However, most consider it worth-

while and some are surprised thatmore British people do not snap upthe postgraduate opportunities.Opeyemi Adamolekun, an Eyptian

who graduate from Saïd with anMBA, says: “There seems to be moreof us than the British. If your top insti-tutions are filled with foreign stu-dents, I’m not sure what that saysabout the future for British students.”

Masterclass

A costly leap of faithCHRIS ROUT/ALAMY

Foreign studentsflock in despitethe expense, saysPeter Davy

Targeted grants

Durham is among university cities recommended to international students

Most international studentsturn first to their homegovernments or the BritishCouncil for funding. However,charities and universities alsoprovide support, often focusedon particular courses orcountries, Peter Davy writes.Manchester University runs a

developing countryscholarships scheme coveringtuition fees and living costs forstudents from Uganda,Rwanda and Bangladesh.It has helped students such

as Robert Lule, who took amasters in maintenanceengineering and assetmanagement. He is now backat police marine headquartersin Kampala, where he is anassistant commander and hasdeveloped a servicingprogramme to stop vesselsworth millions of pounds frombreaking down. “It hasbenefited us enormouslybecause we didn’t haveanyone to do this,” he says.However, Tim Westlake,

director of internationaldevelopment at Manchester,says he is afraid such storiesgive students false hope. Henoted that there were about3,000 applications last yearfor six scholarships forUgandan students.Westlake thinks more impact

could come from distancelearning courses enablingstudents to obtain a Britishdegree without leaving home.



Scotland and Ireland have plenty oftop-notch courses, says Jenny Knight

Peter Bennett headed to Belfast to learn about instrument design

Masterclass

Education and travel areboth said to broaden themind, so English andWelsh students who takea masters at a universityin Scotland or Ireland are

doubly enriched.In the trawl for a suitable university

for postgraduate studies, Scotland,Northern Ireland and the Republic ofIreland used to be overlooked but notanymore. Valerie Leahy, postgraduateadmissions officer at the National Uni-versity of Ireland (NUI) in Galway,says applications are up by 25 per centincluding many from the UK.“We have strong research centres

and more than 50 disciplines at post-graduate level,” she says. “This is alovely part of Ireland. The universityis on the river and a ten-minute walkfrom the coast. Students get a lot ofattention at taught courses becauseclass sizes are smaller than average.”One attraction at NUI is the

Huston School of Film & DigitalMedia, offering MAs in screenwrit-ing, film studies, production and direc-tion. The Irish Centre for HumanRights was set up at the university in2000 and has won a global reputationfor teaching excellence. Its masters

programmes include internationalhuman rights law and peace supportoperations.Luke Daly, 23, from London, is

financing his masters in film produc-tion and direction himself after a yearout working for Diageo. “Galway is anexciting city with a real buzz but smallenough to walk across and the beachis lovely,” he says. “I looked at filmschools in London, Edinburgh andGlasgow but none were as good a fitas Galway, which is more about pro-duction than just film studies. InLondon the fees were higher and I feltI’d be a tiny fish in a very big pond.“I want to learn the language of the

industry and techniques. I plan tostay in Ireland to make a couple ofindependent films and then maybereturn to London.”Peter Bennett, 27, who notched up a

million hits on his YouTube videoplaying an invented electronic musi-cal instrument, also chose a universityremote from his home in the south ofEngland to continue his postgraduateeducation. After anMEng in cybernet-ics at Reading and an MA in design atBrighton he is taking his PhD at theSonic Arts Research Centre (SARC)at Queen’s University Belfast.

He said: “Belfast is one of the fewplaces in the UK designing new elec-tronic instruments for performance.When I applied, SARC was out ofgrants so I am half based in the engi-neering department so I could get aDepartment of Employment andLearning grant of £1,000 a month.”Glasgow, Edinburgh and Aberdeen

are three cities in Scotland where thehighly rated universities attractstudents from across the world. Edin-burgh is one of the UK’s most studentfriendly cities. With mountains, lochs,forests and the Highlands and Islandsonly a few hours away, the city is ide-ally placed for masters courses suchas the MSc in outdoor environmentalsustainability and education, or awide range of geoscience and geo-graphical information systems pro-grammes.Evan Beswick, 24, looked at univer-

sities across England before choosingEdinburgh for his English BA. He washappy he stayed at the university forhis MSC in international and Euro-pean politics. “The city is amazing,”he says. “In Scotland universitiesreally take student input in coursedesign and improvement very serious-ly. I’ve met a broad range of peoplefrom over 100 different nationalities.”Evan is taking a year’s sabbatical to

work for the student union, Afterfinishing his masters he hopes to gointo journalism.

Look a little farther afield



Scotland and Ireland have plenty oftop-notch courses, says Jenny Knight

Peter Bennett headed to Belfast to learn about instrument design

Masterclass

Education and travel areboth said to broaden themind, so English andWelsh students who takea masters at a universityin Scotland or Ireland are

doubly enriched.In the trawl for a suitable university

for postgraduate studies, Scotland,Northern Ireland and the Republic ofIreland used to be overlooked but notanymore. Valerie Leahy, postgraduateadmissions officer at the National Uni-versity of Ireland (NUI) in Galway,says applications are up by 25 per centincluding many from the UK.“We have strong research centres

and more than 50 disciplines at post-graduate level,” she says. “This is alovely part of Ireland. The universityis on the river and a ten-minute walkfrom the coast. Students get a lot ofattention at taught courses becauseclass sizes are smaller than average.”One attraction at NUI is the

Huston School of Film & DigitalMedia, offering MAs in screenwrit-ing, film studies, production and direc-tion. The Irish Centre for HumanRights was set up at the university in2000 and has won a global reputationfor teaching excellence. Its masters

programmes include internationalhuman rights law and peace supportoperations.Luke Daly, 23, from London, is

financing his masters in film produc-tion and direction himself after a yearout working for Diageo. “Galway is anexciting city with a real buzz but smallenough to walk across and the beachis lovely,” he says. “I looked at filmschools in London, Edinburgh andGlasgow but none were as good a fitas Galway, which is more about pro-duction than just film studies. InLondon the fees were higher and I feltI’d be a tiny fish in a very big pond.“I want to learn the language of the

industry and techniques. I plan tostay in Ireland to make a couple ofindependent films and then maybereturn to London.”Peter Bennett, 27, who notched up a

million hits on his YouTube videoplaying an invented electronic musi-cal instrument, also chose a universityremote from his home in the south ofEngland to continue his postgraduateeducation. After anMEng in cybernet-ics at Reading and an MA in design atBrighton he is taking his PhD at theSonic Arts Research Centre (SARC)at Queen’s University Belfast.

He said: “Belfast is one of the fewplaces in the UK designing new elec-tronic instruments for performance.When I applied, SARC was out ofgrants so I am half based in the engi-neering department so I could get aDepartment of Employment andLearning grant of £1,000 a month.”Glasgow, Edinburgh and Aberdeen

are three cities in Scotland where thehighly rated universities attractstudents from across the world. Edin-burgh is one of the UK’s most studentfriendly cities. With mountains, lochs,forests and the Highlands and Islandsonly a few hours away, the city is ide-ally placed for masters courses suchas the MSc in outdoor environmentalsustainability and education, or awide range of geoscience and geo-graphical information systems pro-grammes.Evan Beswick, 24, looked at univer-

sities across England before choosingEdinburgh for his English BA. He washappy he stayed at the university forhis MSC in international and Euro-pean politics. “The city is amazing,”he says. “In Scotland universitiesreally take student input in coursedesign and improvement very serious-ly. I’ve met a broad range of peoplefrom over 100 different nationalities.”Evan is taking a year’s sabbatical to

work for the student union, Afterfinishing his masters he hopes to gointo journalism.

Look a little farther afield


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