Latest news and Events

West End Festival

Once again we are taking part in Glasgow's popular West End Festival! 31 May-30 June. Their brochure is now available. We will be running FREE short fun sessions such as House history, writing a short story, The Glasgow Boys, Hieroglyphs, The Egyptian Hereafter, Learn a second language, West End wildlife, Ulpan Gaelic, See our Active Sun, Astronomy in the West End. All free but please let us know you are coming by calling 0141 330 1860.

Please see the following link for more information: http://www.westendfestival.co.uk/#home

Middle of Scotland Science Festival

Middle of Scotland Science Festival, Crianlarich, 4 and 5 May - with lots of Glasgow University involvement, including ourselves.

Please see the following link for more details:

http://www.astro.gla.ac.uk/users/martin/bsa/news.html

Hunterian Creative Writing Workshops

Allow a fascinating selection of objects from the collections of The Hunterian to be your inspiration and discover your inner author!  Open to all.

Writers at The Hunterian is a group of Hunterian Associates, all PhD candidates in Creative Writing.  These weekend workshops form one of a range of activities the group has organised through the Hunterian Associates Programme.  For full details of the workshops and a writing competition see the link below. The first workshop is on Saturday 13 April.

http://www.gla.ac.uk/hunterian/learning/hunterianassociates/writers@thehunterian/#d.en.236805

New day event announced- The legacy of Hugo Chavez. Saturday 18 May 2013.

The death of Hugo Chavez has robbed the political world of one of its most colourful and controversial actors. How did he come to power and win such popularity? His Bolivarian revolution went beyond Venezuela to Latin America. Did it succeed? And who will pick up the baton? Professor Mike Gonzalez will lead this day event with Marianella Yanes. Professor Gonzalez wrote the obituary for Chavez in the Herald and was in great demand by the media following the death of the Venezualan leader.

Mike Gonzalez, Marianella Yanes
Saturday, 18 May 2013. 10.00-16.00 (41892) £23.00
Call us to enrol 0141 330 1860

A message from Matthew Lee,  Director of Centre for Open Studies.

Periodic Subject Review.

Thank you everyone who was able to meet the Panel on 11 and 12 March.  The  Convener of our Periodic Subject Review Panel – Professor John Briggs, Clerk of Senate –on behalf of the whole Panel expressed his thanks and appreciation; they enjoyed meeting staff, tutors and students over the last 24 hours. 

He particularly noted:

• Enthusiasm and drive from staff and students alike
• The commendable flexibility of the programmes, willingness to adapt and to make it possible for students to dip in and out of learning while still getting a rewarding experience
• The capacity of the Centre to meet diverse needs very well
• High levels of support, caring responses to students, and staff supporting each other

He said that their visit had been a “very positive experience” for the Panel.

Obviously we now await the Panel’s report with interest, they will suggest areas for improvement of course, but we can address those from a position of some strength that we have done ourselves justice and that credit has been appropriately given for some splendid work by all of you.

Sincere thanks and congratulations

Matthew Lee

Bicentenary of the Royal Edinburgh Hospital Lecture series, 2012 – 13

‘Hungry lions, kangaroos and bruised reeds: patient art at the Royal Edinburgh Hospital in the 19th century’, 13 March 2013

Dr Maureen Park, Senior Lecturer and subject specialist for Visual Arts in the Centre for Open Studies will use the archive of the Royal Edinburgh Hospital to examine the reasons why, and the extent to which, drawing was promoted as a ‘therapeutic’ activity in the hospital. The lecture will look at the surviving drawings produced by patients such as William Bartholomew, John Myles and John Willis Mason at the Royal Edinburgh Hospital, and locate their productivity within the wider context of hospital art. The lecture will be fully illustrated.

Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh, 9 Queen Street, Edinburgh EH2 1JQ. Refreshments 4pm, lecture 4.30pm – 5.30pm

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New epic literature publication

If you are interested in epic literature, there is a new publication by the Centre's Literature subject specialist Dr Paul Innes. This looks at the place of epic in both English-language texts and World Literature.

For more information http://www.routledge.com/books/details/9780415587396/'

 Important changes to eligibility regulations for the ILA 200 are announced

As well as a name change to 'Skills Development Scotland ILA' The scheme is going to introduce additional eligibility criteria from 1 July 2012.

Current eligibility criteria for ILA Scotland account applications:
• must be 16 years old or over
• must be ordinarily resident in Scotland • must have an income of £22,000 a year or less, or in receipt of benefits.

Additional criteria to be applied to applicants as of 1 July 2012:
• must not hold a UK degree (or overseas equivalent) • must not be undertaking any form of full-time or part-time secondary, further or higher education • must not be participating on any National Training Programme (Modern Apprenticeships, Get Ready for Work or Training for Work).

All account applications and account renewals received on or after 1 July 2012 will be assessed under these new additional criteria.