MyGlasgow News

By Sam Pugh

As if they weren’t busy enough, a group of senior Estates and Buildings project managers and other senior staff from the department have been giving their time to help international students improve their English.

The eight E and B managers, responsible for millions of pounds of planned University investment in our World Changing Campus, agreed to spend several hours being interviewed by groups of students of English Language and Academic Skills who are studying on pre-sessional courses with the English for Academic Study Unit.

Most of those students will progress to postgraduate study at the University of Glasgow in September 2017, in a range of subjects from Business through to Law, Engineering, Biomedical Sciences and Social Sciences.

As part of a course project, they were allocated time slots to interview the Estates and Buildings managers on a topic of the students’ choice relating to Campus Development.

For many, this was the first time their English language skills have been tested and some only arrived in Glasgow a week before the event.

Cooperation

Dr Rachel Douglas, a tutor of the class, said: “The exercise helps students with their academic studies through developing knowledge of research ethics and research methods.

“The interviews will help international students integrate within the university as well as the wider local community. They also provided a good opportunity for them to tell us more about themselves and their home culture.”

Students Esraa Alwaily (34 years-old) and Hesham Alfeheid (27 years-old) from Saudi Arabia said that the event “gave a good sense of cooperation between administration students”.

The Estates and Buildings managers were: Martin Munro, Ruth Macdonald, Eleanor Magennis, Nicola Cameron, David Hall, Jennifer Russell, Robin Andrews and Craig Ewing. Gillian Stevenson, Project Administration and Marketing Partner for Estates and Buildings had helped set up the encounter.

Lot of fun

David Hall from Estates and Buildings, who was one of the guinea pigs, said: "I really enjoyed the opportunity to meet and help the cohort of international students”.

“I think it benefits the Estates & Commercial Services team to have such interactions with students and that this exercise allows us to be introduced to the challenges that our international students face.”

Nicola Cameron, Assistant Director for Estate Strategy, who has the responsibility for the planned Learning and Teaching Hub, said: The day was a great opportunity to have our thinking reviewed by international users of our campus, which can inform our thinking for current and future projects. It’s also a great way to engage with our students, a lot of fun and some good ideas came out of the day.”

 

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First published: 24 May 2017