Edinburgh College – Page 30 – The NEN

Edinburgh College student Sarah is ‘tres bon’!

Auld Alliance: Award for Scotland’s top French student

An Edinburgh College student said ‘bonjour‘ to success as she was crowned the country’s best Advanced Higher French student after working her way to top marks in her final exam.

Sarah McArthur scored 190 out of 200 in her final exam, the highest mark in the country. The Franco-Scottish Society has presented her with the Lansdowne Prize, awarded annually to the candidate who achieves the best mark in Advanced Higher French.

Sarah studied for the qualification at the college through open learning while completing her sixth year at Balerno High School, which was unable to run the Advanced Higher course.

Her college lecturer, Caroline Cordier, said: “I am extremely proud of Sarah. I would like to emphasise the difficulty of the Advanced Higher exam. The Advanced Higher courses is a huge jump from Higher and is very challenging academically. Taking an Advanced Higher course is the perfect way to prepare yourself for progressing to university study.

“Her achievement is all the more outstanding considering that she took an open learning course, which requires a great deal of self-motivation. Thanks to resources and feedback available through new tools like Skype tutorials, Sarah was able to make huge progress and have a fulfilling learning experience.”

Sarah, who is now going to the University of St Andrews to study Sustainable Development and hopes to work for charities in the developing world, said: “I was surprised and delighted to discover that I had won the Lansdowne Prize, and I am of course very grateful to the Franco-Scottish Society for presenting me with this award and for the support they give to French language learners.

“I am also very grateful to Edinburgh College for running the course, as otherwise I would have been unable to study Advanced Higher French. I am especially grateful to my lecturer Caroline. She was so flexible and willing to work around my busy timetable as I’m sure I was not the most convenient student.”

Tom Wight, vice-president of Franco-Scottish Society of Scotland, said: “Sarah McArthur’s results in the Advanced Higher Exam are outstanding. She is a worthy recipient of the prize and an inspiration to young language learners throughout Scotland.”

Since studying at the college, Sarah has taken part in an eight-month placement in the Democratic Republic of Congo with Africa Inland Mission where she taught English to English teacher trainees and developed her French-language skills.

Pictured: Lecturer Caroline Cordier, Sarah McArthur, Franco-Scottish Society of Scotland president the Rt Hon Lord Brodie, vice president Tom Wight and honorary treasurer Anne Collette Lequet.

Some places are still available on a range of part-time Higher and Advanced Higher courses at Edinburgh College including a range of languages courses such as French, Spanish, Italian, German and Gaelic.

For more information on available courses, visit www.edinburghcollege.ac.uk/august2015/pt.aspx

Last chance to get your full-time place at Edinburgh College

Edinburgh College has last-minute places still available on a range of full-time courses across its curriculum until the application deadline this Friday (11th September).

Spaces are also available on a part-time, evening and leisure courses aimed at boosting and expanding professional skills or learning a new hobby.

The college’s courses offer routes to employment and further studies in specialities from hair and beauty and dance to childcare, science, construction, events management and engineering.

The college has full-time places across its curriculum:

Community-based programmes including Entry to Learning and Preparation for Employment
Creative Industries courses including dance, musical theatre, music and computing subjects including HND Computer Games Development
Engineering programmes including electrical, manufacture, fabrication and welding, and the college’s BEng Energy and Environmental Engineering, delivered with Edinburgh Napier University
Science courses including Scottish Wider Access Programme (SWAP) courses to prepare students for university study, and NC Higher Applied Science courses to develop practical laboratory skills
Health, Wellbeing and Social Sciences courses including early education and childcare, and courses to prepare students for Higher studies
Construction HND courses in construction management and architectural technology
Hair and Beauty therapy
Events management

Students get access to industry-standard resources, from specialist engineering facilities including renewable and sustainable technology to our arts rehearsal and performance spaces and theatres, and our hair and beauty salons.

The college’s Creative Industries Department is also holding a clearing day to provide more information on courses available for application. This will take place on Sighthill Campus (for Broadcast Media & Photography, Computing, Music & Sound Production) and Granton Campus (for Performing Arts and Art & Design) on Thursday 10 September, 1.30-6pm.

Part-time, evening and leisure courses are also available across the curriculum, including: languages; National 5, Higher and Advanced Higher; Engineering, including occupational health and safety; Business and finance including accounting, marketing, management and admin; creative courses in photography, art portfolio and computing; courses in hygiene and food standards; counselling and social care and medical and pharmacy courses.

For more information on the full-time courses with spaces, visit www.edinburghcollege.ac.uk/august15.

For part-time courses, visit www.edinburghcollege.ac.uk/august2015/pt.aspx

Triple exposure: Awards for Edinburgh College photography students

Edinburgh College’s photography students have scooped top awards in two national industry competitions that reward the UK’s best young talent.

Three BA Professional Photography students were honoured by the British Institute of Professional Photography (BIPP) and the Association of Professional Photographers (AOP) in each organisation’s student awards.

Greg Abramowicz kicked off the new term with the BIPP Student of the Year Award, with fellow student Kinga Kocimska taking home the BIPP College Portfolio Award. Eleni Laparidou, who graduates from the BA this September, won the AOP Student Awards Product Shots: Sense category.

The work submitted by the students was all the product of projects they did last year at Edinburgh College.

Greg won the BIPP Student of the Year Award for a portfolio of images he produced during an advertising project. He worked with professional athletes and local rugby clubs to convey the spirit of sport.

Greg said: “I am very honoured to receive the award. It is a great reward after an intense academic year. The win gave me confidence that I’m able to produce high-quality images and I’m hoping this is just the beginning of a productive future.”

Eleni won the AOP Product Shots Award for a project set by the deafblind charity Sense, which briefed students to photograph products from a typical Sense store. The aim was for the viewer to be surprised when they learned that the props came from a charity shop.Eleni, whose work often includes Greek myth and costume design, approached the brief by organising a fashion shoot with props from three different charity shops. The awards party at The Print Space gallery in London gave Eleni the opportunity to exhibit her work to professionals at the heart of the industry.

BA Photographer Kinga Kocimska won the BIPP College Portfolio Award for her conceptual still-life images, which explore the complexities of everyday objects as seen by sufferers of dementia. The project was inspired by personal contact with Alzheimer’s and dementia patients.

Kinga said: “I am grateful to all the lecturers who taught me in the last four years for sharing their knowledge and experience – this was of great help in developing the skills and thinking I can now use to produce creative imagery with commercial potential.

“Receiving the award has been a great confidence booster and extra encouragement to continue working hard and develop fresh ideas.”

Photography lecturer Jon Lee said: “What a great result for our students, I am over the moon. This year our students have again demonstrated that they are at the top of their professional field when it comes to photography.”

Weird and wonderful: weapons and windmills

The wacky world of engineering

Edinburgh College students have been erecting Game of Thrones-style siege weaponry in Midlothian, capable of launching ammo through the air towards scattering foes. But they’re not planning an assault on Dalkeith or Melville Castle any time soon – and anyone who gets in their new trebuchet’s path is more likely to get soaked than wounded!

Inspired by mediaeval military engineering, students at the college’s Midlothian Campus have constructed a trebuchet to demonstrate the role and importance of engineering in the ammunition industry. The weapon fires water balloons as ammo. The team called itself Flower Power, and its choice of a bright pink paintjob could be spotted quickly by any sentry, despite the flowers it also painted on for a bit of camouflage.

A second team from the NC Pre-Access to Engineering course looked to the future with their project.

The six students worked on ‘Project X’, a wind turbine generator to demonstrate that wind energy, one of the fastest-growing renewable energy resources, can be a potential support to meet energy demand and reduce carbon emission. Their wind turbine was wired into a model house containing multi-coloured LEDs that shone when electricity was generated by the windmill.

Both projects were designed, constructed and tested by the students under the guidance of their supervisor, lecturer Yash Kotak.

The students were working towards their NC Pre-Access to Engineering course. Students on the course develop their knowledge and understanding of engineering principles and systems covering a range of mechanical, electrical and manufacturing disciplines. In addition, they develop practical skills through workshop project time and study additional units to allow progression onto more advanced courses.

TV ‘Hair’ star is guest speaker at Graduation

Former Telford student Denise McAdam announced as guest speaker at Edinburgh College Graduation

Hairdresser to the Royals and reality TV show judge Denise McAdam will be guest speaker at Edinburgh College’s Graduation ceremonies in September.

Denise, who grew up in Penicuik and studied hairdressing at the college, has worked with the Royal Family, international supermodels and Hollywood stars and is currently one of the judges on BBC Two’s popular amateur hairstyling competition Hair. She will give the guest speech at the Graduation ceremonies on 25 September at Edinburgh’s Usher Hall.

The college’s Graduation ceremonies celebrate the success of HNC, HND, Advance Diploma and degree students.

Denise first came to the forefront of British hairdressing in the 1980s and is known for being the first female celebrity hairdresser in the UK.

Having worked with photographers David Bailey, Lord Lichfield, Lord Snowden and Terry O’Neill, she came to the media’s attention when she styled the Duchess of York’s hair for her wedding to Prince Andrew. Denise went on to receive the Royal warrant in 1989 and was awarded the Royal Victorian Medal for services to the Royal Family in June 2010.

She has worked with generations of style icons including Grace Kelly, Joan Collins, Yasmin Le Bon, Cindy Crawford, Jane Seymour, Naomi Campbell and Kylie Minogue.

Denise said: “It’s an honour to share graduation day with Edinburgh College’s talented and enthusiastic students. I am inspired to celebrate their achievements, hard work and the passion they have given to their chosen subjects throughout their time at the college. The college and lecturers have encouraged and worked incredibly hard to prepare their students for the work place, further education or to go forth and change the world. My own memories and my time at Edinburgh College inspire me every day.”

Edinburgh College up for green awards

Edinburgh College has been named as a finalist in three categories in the prestigious Green Gown Awards, which celebrate sustainability initiatives in the education sector.

Now in their 11th year, the Green Gown Awards recognise the exceptional sustainability initiatives being undertaken by universities, colleges and the learning and skills sectors across the UK.

The local college is shortlisted for the following awards:

Facilities and Services Award – for the college’s eCar project. Edinburgh College has been operating a fleet of electric cars since its inception in late 2012 to provide staff with a sustainable, low-carbon, low-cost transport option for travel between its four campuses and other corporate travel. Significant impacts have been made in reducing the number of trips normally carried out in staff members’ own cars, saving 86,227 miles and £38,825 on equivalent travel expenses.
They are also fully integrated with the curriculum, offering students on our Engineering, Automotive and Electrical courses hands-on experience, and three electric vehicle scholarships have been created – in partnership with local care dealer Alex F. Noble – as the project continues to expand.
Student Engagement Award – in recognition of the work done to develop the college’s two community gardens as an important college and community resource. The community gardens at Milton Road and Sighthill campuses have more than 200 participants from a diverse range of groups including students – including many with additional support needs – staff and local community members and groups. For many of these users the gardens represent much more than a space to grow food. They are a space to learn about healthy living, gain new skills, build self-confidence and self-esteem, increase employability, adopt sustainable behaviours and make friends.

Carbon Reduction Award – in recognition of the college’s Sustainability team’s work to develop a Carbon Management Plan, with a footprint and a projects register; a waste strategy; a community growing strategy; a green travel plan; and more. The comprehensive Carbon Management Plan has at its heart a target of 18% minimum reduction by 2020. The college’s energy-saving measures include a solar meadow at Midlothian Campus, photovoltaic solar panels on the roof of the Granton Campus and an eco-friendly hair and beauty academy.

The college is up against other colleges and universities from across the UK, and is the only college to be recognised in the Student Engagement and Facilities and Services categories.

Martin Webb, Edinburgh College sustainability officer, said: “We are thrilled to be acknowledged for the progress made to embed sustainability within the college infrastructure and curriculum. We are early on our journey towards achieving the aims of our wider sustainability strategy, but our small enthusiastic team are committed to improving co-ordination, facilitation and promotion of Edinburgh College’s sustainability efforts.”

With sustainable development moving up the global agenda, the awards are now established as the most prestigious recognition of sustainability excellence within the tertiary education sector, as well as the environmental sector.

The Awards ceremony will be held in Bristol, European Green Capital for 2015, on 27 November.

Picture (top): Sustainability officer Martin Webb and Community Garden coordinator Severine Monvoisin in the Sighthill Community Garden.

Events, dear boy, events: College in the running for national award

College events shortlisted for prestigious Scottish Event Awards

An Edinburgh College school-engagement event and two student-led projects have grabbed places on the hotly contested shortlist for prizes at the Scottish Event Awards.

The college has been nominated for the Best Educational Event for an event held to engage local schools, particularly head teachers, and increase opportunities for young people. And two teams of talented Events Management students picked up nominations for the Best Student Event Award.

The Scottish Event Awards honour the best events of various types across a range of sectors. They are run by magazine and marketing website The Drum.

The college’s Schools Event welcomed head teachers and other representatives from 34 local schools, who heard about some of the college’s key projects, its curriculum offering and how it is creating new vocational learning and progression opportunities, and spoke to key staff from each of the college’s curriculum centres. It was warmly received by attendees, and will form the basis for future partnership working between the college and local schools.

Two groups of BA (Hons) Events Management students made the shortlist for events held as part of their course.

One team, Icon Events, organised a fashion show featuring people with dementia as models to raise funds for Alzheimer Scotland. Service users, carers, staff and volunteers at the charity’s Fife Dementia Resource Centre in Kirkcaldy strutted the catwalk as models at the event, which raised more than £700 for the charity.

Another team, Festival Events, organised a sell-out mini fringe festival at the Voodoo Rooms, featuring a variety of musical acts and a magician. The team raised £2,200 for Chest, Heart and Stroke Scotland.

Teams of students from Events Management courses organised 38 events this year, raising more than £20,000 for a range of charities.

This year’s nominations follow the college’s win in the Best Educational Event category last year for the Graphic Design Industry Night, a one-night event that showcased graduates’ award winning design work, and celebrated Edinburgh College’s close ties with industry.

This event allowed young designers to get face to face time with potential future employers. Due to the success of the first event last year, this has been made an annual event, and this year’s was held at the Fruitmarket Gallery as part of Let’s Glow.

The awards take place at the Grand Central Hotel in Glasgow on Wednesday 7 October.

Seeing Rad: students get competitive for charity

Nursing students raise funds for dementia charity

Edinburgh College’s Access to Nursing students have raised a grand total of £1,512.56 for Alzheimer Scotland to support people in Midlothian living with dementia.

The students have undertaken a challenge set by the charity to see who could raise the most cash, in tandem with the opening of their new Bungalow day centre in Bonnyrigg (pictured below). Up against students from local universities, ten students (and one student’s daughter) and two lecturers raised £1,300 in one day by running in the recent paint-splattered Colour Me Rad 5k race.

They added to the sum by collecting cash across the college’s campuses. If the students’ total is more than their university rivals, Alzheimer Scotland will give them a chance to learn more about the charity’s work at The Bungalow. The students have already completed a module on dementia as part of their course so understand the importance of the charity’s work.

The team’s leader, student Petra Muir, said: “It felt great to actively try to make a positive contribution to Alzheimer Scotland. The money we have raised will go towards helping people with dementia and their families, and we are hopeful that we have raised awareness of the charity and the help and support they can provide.”

Abby Parkhouse, Alzheimer Scotland’s Community Fundraiser said: “It’s a fantastic amount of money raised in such a short space of time and will make a huge different to our Bungalow fundraising campaign. It’s going to be a very close competition.”

Students scoop awards for creative excellence

Four Edinburgh College design students have won commendations in the Young Creative Network (YCN) Student Awards, which celebrate creative excellence.

The students, who are all on the first year of the HND Visual Communication: Graphic Design, competed against students from around Europe and from second-year HND and degree courses.

The YCN Student Awards shine a light on emerging creative excellence from leading universities, colleges and art and design schools in Europe and North America. Students are given live creative briefs from a range of partnering organisations.

Liam Henderson and Aiste Piechaviciute won for their entry for the brief set by drinks brand J2O. They were asked to redesign J2O to become more appealing to adults, while bringing through the brand’s personality and communicating the key message that the juice is a blend of two fruit juices.

Liam and Aiste approached the brief by producing designs inspired by J2O’s play on the chemical formula H2O, under the title ‘the element of…’. So, orange and passionfruit juice became OgPa, and apple and mango ApMg, with the tag line ‘life is an experiment, so live it’.

Annabel Gibb and Kirsten Bell also received commendations for the submission for a brief from Topdeck travel. They were tasked with presenting the travel company’s trips to a UK audience, to make 18-30s consider trips they may not usually consider.

Annabel and Kirsten were inspired by the company’s tag line #livelikealocal, and produced designs for posters that juxtaposed photos of the usual tourist haunts, such as the Eiffel Tower and the Parthenon, with the side streets and cafes that mean more to locals. They also came up with a design concept for a Topdeck app, paired with crosses to be placed on the pavements outside local people’s favourite places as a play on ‘x marks the spot’.Helena Good, design lecturer at the college, said: “I am delighted with our students’ success in the YCN Awards. This is a real achievement, given that they were competing directly with final-year degree students. The professional quality of the work they have produced is testament to their skills and I look forward to watching them continue to develop through the second year of the course.”

The students’ work will feature in the YCN Student Annual, with 15,000 copies distributed across education and creative industries organisations internationally. They will be presented with their awards at a ceremony in London this September.

Home to roost!

Engineering apprentices bring mechanical gannet to life

Engineering apprentices from Edinburgh College dealt with an unusual animal rescue operation – they used their skills to bring a feathery robot back to life!

Daniel Dewar and Sean Devine worked with their lecturer Terry Healey to perform extensive repairs on the Scottish Seabird Centre’s mechanical gannet, which is on display at the Centre in North Berwick.

The Seabird Centre asked the students to repair its broken bird so it could head back into action and continue raising money for the charity and educating visitors.

The fabrication and welding apprentices used their skills to shape replacement parts and weld and braze them into place on the intricate bird structure.

Now fixed and back home at the Seabird Centre’s Discovery Centre, the gannet springs to life when a donation is made, making the distinctive gannet call, rotating to show the inner workings of its skeletal structure and revealing a metal fish struggling in its beak. It is ideally located close to the Centre’s interactive Bass Rock cameras, where visitors can zoom in on the real life gannets on the Bass Rock, the world’s largest Northern gannet colony.

Daniel and Sean are on the second year of a four-year modern apprenticeship in fabrication and welding. They visit the college’s Midlothian Campus in Dalkeith two days a week to receive training they can apply to their job roles at Scotia Security.

Daniel said: “This has been a great chance to put the skills we have learned through our course into practice. This was the first time we’ve done a job for somebody that will be seen outside the college, and you take a lot of pride in your work.”

Ross Milligan, the college’s curriculum manager for Engineering, said: “This was an exciting and unusual opportunity for our students to work with the Seabird Centre. The students and Terry have worked hard to refurbish, repair and get the mechanism working again, and now it is as good as it was when it first built. Our fabrication and welding students usually work on water tanks, spiral staircases, gates and railings, but projects like these give them a taste of the more unusual ways they could use these skills in the future.”

Tom Brock OBE, Chief Executive of the Scottish Seabird Centre, said: “It is brilliant to have our kinetic gannet sculpture back in operation. It has always been a very popular attraction. The Bass Rock has had a phenomenal year, being named the world’s largest Northern gannet colony and also BBC Countryfile Magazine’s Nature Reserve of the Year. To have our mechanical gannet back in the Centre is the ideal way to celebrate.

“We would like to say a huge thank you to Terry, Daniel and Sean for all their hard work. We are very grateful to Edinburgh College, and will look forward to collaborating with them on future projects.”

The gannet was originally designed by Jim Bond, an artist who specialises in kinetic sculpture, and was described by Terry as like something from TV’s Scrapheap Challenge, as the artist had welded die nuts into the skeletal structure, used a spoon in the working mechanism and used bolts to create the feet.

The bird has been entertaining visitors to the Scottish Seabird Centre since it opened in 2000 and is now back in its rightful home.