Why we chose Sanjeev

At a special meeting of our Court on Monday 23 February, Sanjeev Bhaskar was elected as our new Chancellor, succeeding Lord Attenborough, who stepped down from the role last year.

The University Court is drawn from the academic community at Sussex and includes representatives from across the region. It was heartening to hear everyone who spoke endorsing and applauding this proposal, and then to have Sanjeev elected unanimously.
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Restricting the Death Penalty

2009 Student Law Body Lecture Series

Thursday Februrary 26th, Arts A2, 6pm.

Saul Lehrfreund is the joint Executive Director of the Death Penalty Project, and is a Human Rights Executive at Simons Muirhead & Burton.
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Ten years in prison for taking a photo – better make it a good one

‘Thousands of people take photos every day. What if one of them seems odd? Terrorists use surveillance to help plan attacks…’ This is the headline used by the metropolitan police on their latest anti-terrorism campaign. Scare mongering perhaps? Well not this time. Read more

The importance of being Morrissey

In 2004, some twenty years after Steven Patrick Morrissey and musical soul mate Johnny Marr struck commercial success with their magnificent lovechild The Smiths, The Guardian asked a washed-up (but revitalised, nonetheless) Morrissey if he ever felt his audiences ‘missed the point’. To this day, I read those words back, and I figure it was a valid enough question. I knew a girl at secondary school who attached herself to the lines “I wear black on the outside, because black is how I feel on the inside” with such devotion that I came to reckon she surely misunderstood the sarcasm which I had interpreted to drip from every word. Read more

RAE results omit critical information

The recent Research Assessment Exercise (RAE) – the results of which proved to be fruitful for Sussex – has stoked up controversy among academics, after it was revealed that vital information was omitted in the results. Read more

Viva Glasvegas!

When did I start turning up late to gigs? Why? Perhaps the discovery of the Wetherspoons across the road from my local music venue with enticing cheap drinks was to blame. Or maybe the assumption that support bands are just filler until the headliners take to the stage. Either way there is no excuse, I was told to be on time and blaming Pav Tav for delivering the wrong food isn’t going to make up for the fact that I missed 10 minutes of Florence & The Machine, and now I hate myself. I hate myself because I am in love.
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‘No space’ for product design students in need of new venue

Final year product design students at the University of Sussex no longer have a campus venue to house their end of year show in June. The final show, used to display the students’ concluding degree projects, accounts for 50 per cent of the final degree mark, and is essential for making industry contacts and eventual employment. The usual exhibition space on campus, InQbate, cannot be used this year due to health and safety restrictions sparking a mass of fundraising and a frantic hunt for an alternative venue in Brighton, which comes at a great cost. Read more

Religious conflict in secular India

There has been an explosion of outrage in the Muslim community in India following the publication of a newspaper article claiming the fallibility of religion and the right to criticise all faiths. Two Indians responsible for publishing the ‘offensive’ article have been arrested. Read more

A day in the life… of a Sabb

Just over a week ago, the USSU Sabbatical elections witnessed the largest turnout of voters on record. The next six Sabbatical officers were chosen and in just over four month’s time, they will assume their positions at the forefront of the Students’ Union. Read more

And for some good news … new online page for graduate job advice

The last few weeks have seen the introduction of a new online source for graduates curious about what direction to head in after their degree. This latest resource will come as useful and reassuring for graduates worried about the narrowing of choices when they leave university in a volatile climate with regards to employment and the economy.

Directgov, the ‘official government website for citizens,’ has added a new links page to its education and university section entitled ‘choices after you graduate,’ warning that “…if you want to prepare for life after graduation while keeping up with your studies, it pays to get organised – and to get the right advice.” This new source adds to an increasing production of information on the Internet, advising anxious students about their options post-Sussex.

‘If you want to prepare for life after graduation while keeping up with your studies it pays to get organised and to get the right advice.’

Evidence suggests that today’s students are becoming increasingly worried about what they are going to do after they finish university and how they are going to cope in a unpredictable employment sector. This concern has increased intensively as the economic troubles around the world worsen, and national governments are unable to ease the financial repercussions of the crisis. The media has also played a large part in increasing anxiety with daily reports claiming that the class of 2009 graduates will be hit the hardest by the recession.

Students have also been provided with various potential solutions to the problem. Carl Gilleard, from the Association of Graduate Recruiters, urges students to take up low-skilled jobs and voluntary work until the job market becomes buoyant once more. The Directgov website joins more optimistic sources of information for students who would like to think their degree qualifies them for a wider range of job opportunities regardless of the economic situation. The Directgov page has an extensive pool of information claiming to alleviate student concerns about the options for graduates, from Internet sources such as the Guardian online graduate education section, the more comprehensive Monster.co.uk, and not forgetting the advice individual universities can give, such as CDEC in Falmer House at Sussex.

The strength of this new online source is that it deals with many different paths out of university, from graduate job options to gap year ideas, and to further postgraduate education advice. It also covers information about TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) and advice about starting your own business. Minister for the State for Higher Education, David Lammy said: “Going to university is still and always will be a good investment in your future career, this website will help by providing information on some of the options available to students after they graduate…We’re working with a range of organisations to make sure the information for graduates remains up-to-date and relevant, so students should log on for advice on what to do next.”

This new addition to the increasing amount of advice on offer for near-graduates will come as reassurance for students who have little idea of what to do when they leave university. It is also reassuring to know that in times of economic crisis, the government is aware of the need for comprehensive information for those who are heading off into an unpredictable job market for the first time. These sources remind students that there are still jobs available, especially in the public sector, and that there are still many options for graduates, even in difficult economic times. As always, the best approach is to use these resources to gather as much information as possible to be fully prepared for life after university.