Raising charity cash...the ‘eyes’ have it!

Laura McCafferty was just one of the hairdress-ing and beauty therapy students who raised a whopping £4366 by staging a hair/fashion show in Liquid nightclub - the cash went to Maggies, for story and pictures see Page 3

‘Ring of confidence’for collegeDundee College has a now-found ‘ring of confidence’ with the news that the recent re-port from HM Inspec-torate, the third in just eight years, is among the best received in Scotland!Being among the best in the country has become some-thing of a tradition at Dundee College as the previous HMI reports placed the college firmly among the nation’s lead organisations.The HMI review procedure is now couched in different terms, the inspectors declar-ing they have: no confidence, limited confidence or that they are confident in a college’s ability – and they had plenty of confidence in Dundee College.This year’s report declared that the HMI were confident in all aspects in which they reviewed Dundee College, the three main areas being the quality of learning and teach-ing, student engagement and involvement in their learning, and how well the college is led.The inspectors arrived at their conclusions having sat in on 30 classes, seeing examples of all learning modes includ-ing evening classes; speak-ing informally to nearly 200 students; holding formal discussions with another three student groups; and meeting with the college’s external partners including: commu-nity organisations, employers, Dundee City Council, Scottish Enterprise Tayside, and Skills Development Scotland.The inspectors also inter-viewed nearly 200 college staff.“We were particularly delighted when, during the initial feedback session, the inspectors informed us that

they had nearly lost count of the examples of outstanding practice they had identified Dundee College,” said Assist-ant Principal Leslie Dick who acted as the nominated review co-ordinator and a first point of contact with the inspectors.The inspectors collated all the information they had gleaned from their visit and not only awarded a ring of confidence but also highlighted areas where Dundee College was leading the sector with certain innovative practices.The HMI report also indenti-fied two areas of excellence: the work overseen by the Transitions Group, helping pupils make a smooth conver-sion from school to college; and the efforts made to in-crease employability particu-larly by through the Health and Social Care Academies which have seen over 60% of those taking part success-fully gain jobs in their chosen industry.Even more impressive were the three areas named as being of sector-leading and innova-tive practice.These included the Student Mentor Scheme pioneered by the college’s Centre of Crea-tive and Digital Industries where learners who lack con-fidence are supported by other students. The college has training materials for students and key staff have developed a mentor bank from which they can match a mentor to someone who will benefit from the additional support.Learner engagement in the work life of the college

through operational planning was also singled out in this category – this included learn-ers themselves contributing to a review of the Students’ Association.The hospitality and tourism team’s Classroom to Industry programme was also praised. This sector leading innova-tion is aimed at helping young, vulnerable and disaf-fected learners develop skills through partnerships with established employers.Principal, Christina Potter, said “I am delighted at the outcome of this review. I came to Dundee College in 2007, knowing its reputa-tion for excellence. I am very pleased that once again this reputation has been con-firmed.“This success is not only down to the commitment of the talented and enthusiastic staff employed in the college but also to the leadership of the board of management and the encouragement they give to students to participate in the wider life of the college”.Professor Ian C. Colligan chairman of the college board of management said: “Natu-rally we are pleased to receive external independent con-firmation of our view of the college both as a leader in its field and as one of Dundee’s major assets. “Key to this most welcome outcome is the mutual respect between students, staff, management and board, all of whom have contributed to our success. “

HMI hat-trick of top reports

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Ricky attended an IT showcase at The Space and, although he was only one of nearly 300 people who visited the event - each of them eli-gible for the competition - it was the 20-year-old’s name that ‘came out of the hat’!The event was aimed at anyone interested in finding out more about IT and was the official launch of a project aimed at delivering IT skills across the whole com-munity.Dundee College has been designated as a Microsoft Academy Hub, one of six centres set up across

the country under the auspices of Learndirect Scotland.Under the banner of Industry Alliance for Jobs Scotland: the project is supported by some of the IT industry leaders, including: Microsoft, Oracle, CISCO and Randstad.Ricky, who is studying HND business admin-istration at the college, was one of a number of students who saw the benefit of attending this event but, with his good luck, admits to benefit-ting a bit more than his classmates.“I really thought some-

one was having a joke when I was told I had won the Xbox, but now I am absolutely delighted,” laughed the former Monifieth HS pupil.Ricky was presented with his prize, worth about £350, by project manager Wendy McEwan.“Microsoft donated the Xbox360 and we also gave away £100 of gam-ing vouchers, courtesy of Interactive Tayside,” said Wendy.“These days, when there seems to be more and more news full of gloom and doom it is nice to spread a little cheer and we are confident that this project presents a real chance for people to get into an industry which can offer a rewarding career.”Those keen to take up training but who cannot attend traditional classes at college are catered for under the auspices of this project which ensures training is on offer throughout the commu-nity through four satellite centres - in Dundee these are: the Claver-house Group, Craigowl Communities (who have several bases across the city), Dundee Interna-tional Women’s Centre; and in Perth, Support Training.

NQ Botanic Gardening is the result of Dundee College taking over the educational arm of Dun-dee University Botanic Gardens.“Adding to Dundee Col-lege’s already successful portfolio of horticulture programmes this new course is more of a niche study, a plantsman’s course leading to the management of plant collections and gardens,” explained Gordon Croll, curriculum manager, horticulture.“Although retaining a

strong gardening element this new programme is heavily science related.”Since becoming involved at the west-end venue Gordon was quick to identify scope to deliver a brand new course based at, what he describes as, an unique outdoor class-room, an idea thoroughly endorsed by Botanic Garden curator Alasdair Hood and Dr Neil Pater-son, education officer“We have had a warm welcome at the Botanic Gardens and are look-ing forward to working

closely with the staff who are equally keen to see this terrific collection of plants being used in a new educational way.”Students who opt for his new full-time programme will not only be working in a unique setting - a suberb plant collection set within a series of magnificent landscape features - but have the chance to learn how plants function; their origins; and how they can be used in a landscape.They will also study, among other things, botany, propagation, landscape theory, soil sci-ence, even photography

and botanical illustration.“We expect individuals with a specialist interest in plants to be attracted to this new course which will be a delight for any one with a passion for plants!”While the NQ botanic gardening, which begins in September, is based mainly at the Botanic Gardens, students will also have the chance to work at the college’s horticulture facilities at Kingsway Campus and to visit other gardens and exhibitions.Even as the launch of this programme is get-ting underway, Gordon is already exploring the possibility of expanding the range of courses even further.“Once the NQ is un-derway I am convinced we could run advanced courses in future.”Meanwhile, horticulture students have been hard at work transforming a site at the other end of the city.A fairly drab industrial landscape in Dundee’s Dock Street was trans-formed into a feature garden thanks to students on the NQ hard and soft landscape gardening course.Working in partnership with Jewson Ltd a total of 17 students designed and created a display area.Using materials supplied by the company, the

students set about creat-ing the feature from their design.Starting work at the beginning of March the students utilised the hard landscape skills they learned at the Dundee College horticulture unit under brickwork lecturer Andy Carrie.The display garden includes a raised water

feature, walls, fencing, paving, as well as plants.“The students nade good progress and adapted well to working on a real-live project, said Alastair MacQueen, lecturer.“As well as working un-der the full public gaze, the students had to rise to what has been a challeng-ing project, particularly

with the site having such a pronounced slope.“Nine cubic metres of concrete was needed just to make the site level before the students could even start on their design and their first task was building the shutter-ing which held the wet concrete in place.”

Dundee’s green-fingered gurus have come together to create a brand-new course at an exciting city venue.

Keen ‘gamer’ Ricky Shek was the winner of an Xbox360 courtesy of Dundee College.

Ricky wins Xbox 360

Wendy presents Ricky with his prize.

From left - Gordon Croll with Dr Neil Paterson of the Botanic Gardens educational office and curator Alasdair Hood.

The display garden, while still a work in progress.

Plenty of room for growth

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Hairdressing students at Dundee College came up with a colourful way to raise charity cash - while pinning down the support of Robbie Williams and Cristiano Ronaldo!As part of their HNC programme, the stu-dents staged an alterna-tive charity hair show comprising: a catwalk

Wigs ’n’ Warpaint boosts charity cash

presentation of hair and clothes, raffles and an auction. The auction was a particular success with a gold disc signed by multi Brit Award winner Williams scooped a respectable £130, while the current season’s Man U shirt signed by Portuguese international striker Ronaldo was knocked down for a cool £800.In all the students raised an astonishing £4366 for city’s Maggie’s Centre.The students were work-ing on a unit of their course which demands that they contribute to the organisation and presen-tation of a promotional activity.A total of 10 students decided to organise and take part in a glitz-filled evening of glamour in Dundee’s Liquid night-club, raising money for the Maggie’s Centre on the way!The students starting planning ‘Wigs n War-paint’, at the beginning of the college year, secur-ing sponsors, chasing up support and, of course, working on the hair crea-tions for the evening.“We chose to raise cash for Maggie’s as it is a great local charity and the hairdressing and beauty therapy depart-ment has forged strong links with the centre -

complimentary therapy students have been going there for years,” ex-plained Jodie Milne, one of the students involved.Guests at the event were treated to a choreo-graphed catwalk session by the students them-selves and from their colleagues on the NQ hairdressing programme.The models featured gar-ments supplied by Missy La La’s, Concrete Jungle and Peaches and Scream.While the hairdressing students utilised their own expertise to go wild with the hairstyles they also called on colleagues from other disciplines to help out.Hairdressing student Theresa McGlone and Rachael Murray, who studies at The Space, proved a successful sister act with Theresa persuading her sibling to choreograph the runway performance.Pictures show: top, left - Janet Murray cuts a dash on the catwalk; right - NQ hairdressing stu-dent Keiron Whitton makes a splash; bottom, left - Sarah Spitall,NQ hairdress-ing and beauty thera-py, in the spotlight.

£4366 raised for Maggie’s Centre

English students at Dundee College may find the work of their lecturer on their reading list some day, as Tam Samson, a keen writer when not in class, has once again seen one of his short stories make it into print.Entitled, Just Read it John the lecturer’s short story was published in New Writing Dundee 2009 - an anthology of works which, despite the title, showcases talent from around the world!Just Read it John actually touches on the theme of writing as it examines the relationship between two elderly men who meet each week in a Dundee pub and swap stories they have written - only one of them

seems to be bringing more to the table than the other, will their friendship endure?This is the second time Tam has seen his work in New Writing Dundee, Edith Through the Roots found its way between the covers a couple of years ago.Tam, who has lectured at the college for the past two years, laughs off notions of “great-ness”, however, preferring to encourage others to pick up a pen or pencil and get on with it!“Too many people see writing as an inaccessible thing, I see it as the opposite. It should be ac-cessible and more people should have a go,” asserts the lecturer.“People should not be put off; they should engage and see what happens.”

Based at Melrose Campus Tam has been practising what he preaches through his lecturing for over two years now.Having originally taken a degree in English, Tam went on to do community education and was a community development worker for two years in St Mary’s.And although he enjoyed the work Tam wanted to get closer to the discipline of English hence the change of career.Like a lot of authors, the lecturer declares he has no idea where his stories come from but admits to carrying a notebook at all times.“I confess I do carry a notebook just in case I have a good idea so I can write it down and not forget it later, but I can assure everyone it isn’t an obsession,

Lecturer has the write stuff!

people I meet are not going to suddenly appear in one of my stories,” said Tam with a smile.

Tam Samson

Plenty of room for growth

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Approved by Maureen

Honed their skills on Shoppers in the city’s Wellgate Centre, caught some haute couture capers courtesy of local school pupils and Dundee College students.

Dundee College has struck a blow for infec-tion control with the launch of a brand new course to arm care staff with the skills needed to ‘break the chain of infection’!The fear of infection has become a genuine

concern across the coun-try in recent years with outbreaks of e.coli and MRSA causing alarm.Dundee College is the first place in the country to deliver this course, recently developed by the Royal Environmen-tal Health Institute of Scotland, to combat these

outbreaks. The REHIS elemen-tary control of infection programme is a one-day course aimed at all staff providing a care service including: care at home; care homes and nursing homes for the eld-erly; nurseries and early education and child care

establishments.People with minimum contact and contracted/voluntary staff engaged in care work will also benefit from completing this course.Dundee College maintains strong links with REHIS and Christine Fraser, training and development

executive, has spent the past six months working with the institute sup-porting the development of this new course.“We ran a pilot pro-gramme with the Health Protection Team of the Public Health Directo-rate, NHS Tayside.“Called the Cleanliness Champions programme, this was a work-based learning package used to help teach infec-tion control and best practice, primarily to NHS staff. “This was carried out in the care homes sector and had an 87% success rate.”Because this new REHIS control of infec-tion course is crucial to best practice in such a wide variety of careers, there is a huge element of flexibility built in to ensure the programme meets the needs of all candidates.This new course at-tracted the attention of the Scottish Govern-ment with Shona Ro-bison, the minister for public health, attending the launch with the first cohort of students at Dundee College Over-gate Learning Centre.

catwalk!New Look, Wellgate, was the venue where 11 young people represent-ing Craigie HS, Men-zieshill HS and St Paul’s RC Academy, were staging a series of mini fashion shows.The three young men and eight young women were all taking part in Skills for Work, a nation-wide initiative launched in Dundee last summer involving Dundee Col-lege in partnership with Dundee City Council education department.Drawn from S3 and S5 all of the pupils were part of Skills for Work Retail, which involved them coming to college one afternoon a week instead of school.A unit of their course concerns planning an actual event from scratch and the pupils, all aged

between 14-17, chose to stage a fashion show.To make sure the show had plenty of visual im-pact the pupils drafted six Dundee College students to act as models - all of them on the NQ fashion retail programme.The pupils created a catwalk event of 12 min-utes duration which was staged on the hour every hour from 10am-2pm - five shows in total.“This was a really rewarding experience for everyone involved,” said lecturer Gillian McKay.“Despite the fact that there were three schools involved and that the pupils were of varying ages, the young people really pulled together to ensure a successful event and, in turn, became a truly cohesive team.”

Joins fight for infection controlTaking steps to impress on the catwalk, two of the models are going up in the world (picture courtesy of Fotopress, Dundee).

Dundee College lecturer Graham Young is celebrating the 400th anniversary of the invention of the telescope by continu-ing to run his highly successful astronomy course at the Constitu-tion Campus.Running since 1994 this course has seen about 200 people take up an interest in the stars and planets.After finishing the course many go on to become involved with the city’s Mills Observatory.“2009 is the Interna-tional Year of Astrono-my and we are looking

forward to seeing a brand new cohort of students this year,” said the lecturer who is also closely involved with the observatory.“No qualifications are needed as the classes start from scratch so anyone with even a slight interest will fit right in.”The classes are held on Wednesday afternoons and last all year.Areas studied include: the solar system, stars, galactic astronomy and cosmology, astro-phys-ics, observing tech-niques and the history of astronomy.

Looking to the stars

Students’ Italy tripDundee College sports students enjoyed study-ing the silky skills of Italian football close up when they headed off for a four-day stay in Florence.A total of 11 HND sports coaching with develop-ment of sport students had been stashing their cash in a bid to fund this fact-finding tour when they will took in a Fiorentina v Roma match and visited the Coverciano, Italian football’s HQ.The students also had a cultural tour of the city, studyied the sports facilities at the Florence Uni-versity of the Arts, who played host to the Dundee party, and also made use of a sports facility at Feisole, a hill-town overlooking Florence.“Trips of this sort are immensely valuable in terms of inspiring students in their own work,” said lecturer Ewan Peacock, who accompanyed the students to Italy.“It is particularly pleasing to see the commitment the students have already made by finding the money for this visit themselves.”

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College scoops top spot at UK - wide awards

The Global Education and Training Gala Dinner was held at One Whitehall Place, London and saw the presenta-tion of the GetEnergy awards which celebrate all the best of education and training in the oil and gas industry.A partnership between Dundee College and interna-tionally renowned company Geoservices struck oil at the event with lecturer Bob Golden there to lift one of the top awards.Having gained prominence as a service company in the oil and gas industry, Geo-services identified difficulties in recruiting people with the knowledge and background to meet their needs - cue Dundee College!Training manager, John Batchelor, approached the col-lege aiming to develop links by providing students with ‘taster’ days to training for the oil and gas industry.These taster days are aug-mented by visits from other oil and gas companies who are also seeking to attract our graduates into careers with them.“While developing their business with over 80 differ-ent nationalities, the com-pany also pledged guaranteed interviews to our students who successfully completed HNC/D level engineering,” said Bob Golden, team leader engineering, who collected the Education Partnership 2009 Award.Little wonder the partnership

found favour with GetEnergy - with the company resolving its recruitment problems by attracting suitably-qualified applicants from the graduates of Dundee College Higher National Engineering pro-grammes and the students receiving enhanced levels of training.“After cutting edge training at Geoservices our students know exactly what the oil and gas industry is all about!” asserts the lecturer who is has just arrived back at college“I left the awards White-hall venue to head north to Scotland while John Batchelor was heading south - jetting off to Tunisia where Geoservices has a training base”This partnership has grown over the past three years with Geoservices now providing three days’ training for the students on the HNC Engi-neering Systems programme, resulting in a significant number of Dundee College students joining the company in 2007 and 2008.Meanwhile, recognising that 55 is the average age of a worker in the oil and gas industry, Dundee College has been involved in development of a suitable full time HN pro-gramme to fill the gaps across the industry.A Higher National Certificate and a Higher National di-ploma programme in petro-leum engineering are now set to be launched in September this year.“This award recognises a truly

successful partnership with our students gaining relevant and up-to-date knowledge thanks to the training and visits by guests speakers from Geoservices, and the company having technically competent and able individuals ‘on tap’,” said Nicky Inglis, curriculum manager engineering.While the college was being awarded the top spot in Lon-don, staff at Dundee College had their collective fingers

crossed in anticipation of the very first Business to College Awards being held in Edin-burgh where Dundee College had been shortlisted in two categories -one of only 12 colleges to make the short list out of more than 70 entries.All the nominations for these awards were supported by the business community itself as the Business to College Awards is a joint partnership between Scotland’s Colleges

and The Federation of Small Businesses (FSB).The awards are unique in that they are from businesses to colleges and have been de-signed to recognise the many ways in which colleges sup-port business sustainability.Dundee College was highly commended in the Impact Award category for a project with Worcester Bosch and commended in the Innovation Award category for a partner-ship with McGill Electrical.College staff responded to Worcester Bosch’s need to raise awareness of their micro-renewable energy heating systems and to ensure there were plenty of skilled and certified installers for these productsThe company, in partnership with Dundee College, set up a purpose-built training facility housed at the Kingsway Cam-pus, to provide training and certification in the installation of their solar panels.So far, 250 operatives have been trained in Bosch prod-ucts.Dundee College worked with McGill Electrical a multi-million pound company, based in the city, which is seeking to become a leader in the design, supply, installation and main-tenance of micro-renewable energy and low carbon energy efficient products.The college established a Knowledge Transfer Partner-ship - swapping expertise - which has resulted in the company establishing a new operating division into its commercial and domestic building services activities, resulting in increased sales to new and existing customers.“Skills are even more impor-

tant during difficult economic times,” said Chris Ashe, head of the construction and built environment centre at Dundee College.“In this challenging period, I believe that the partnerships Dundee College has and is creating with business are the key to economic success of not only the city but the region as a whole” “Being recognised at these awards demonstrates the college’s commitment to job creation, and development of an innovative dynamic curriculum necessary to equip our learners with the essential skills and qualifications to gain employment and stimu-late the local and regional economy.”Dundee College also took a commended slot at Scot-tish Offshore Achievement Awards which took place in Aberdeen.Described as the Oscars night for energy firms, this recep-tion and dinner celebrates innovation, success and the achievements of individuals, companies and organisations from throughout the offshore energy sector.Dundee College was shortlist-ed in the Internationalisation of Scottish Skills category having taking engineering programmes and delivery strategies to the middle east.Concentrating on engineering in relation to oil production, college staff have generated interest from their opposite numbers in Egypt, and the United Arab Emirates.

Dundee College staff enjoyed three days of cel-ebration when a number of projects were repre-sented at three separate awards ceremonies held over three consecutive evenings.

Bob Golden (left) with Nicky Inglis.

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Dundee College is leading the way in terms of arming students with exactly the correct qualifications needed to find employment in the licensed trade.Under the Licensing Scotland Act 2005 anyone want-ing to manage licensed premises must hold the Scot-tish Certificate for Personal Licence Holders qualifica-tion (SCPLH) while, from September 1 this year, all employees working in licensed premises must have the Scottish Certificate for Licensed Premises Staff.“At present there is no compulsion for colleges to de-liver training in these qualifications to their hospitality students or those on professional cookery or tour-ism course,” explained Louisa Kingham, curriculum

manager.“We decided, however, that all of our students in the newly-formed hospitality and tourism department at Dundee College should be offered the chance to gain these qualifications and substantially increase their chance of employment.“The legislation covers all licensed premises - pubs, clubs, hotel, restaurants, off-licences - so a lot of jobs, both full-time and part-time are effected.”Ensuring that all the students can take part proved a real team effort as it involved a number of separate disciplines, including: HNC hospitality; HND hospi-tality management; HNC tourism; first year profes-sional cookery; second year NC hospitality.

“So far we have seen more than 50 students enrol for and gain one or other of these qualifications as well as continuing with their set course work,” said Louisa.“With this legislation coming into place over the last few years, we feel it is inevitable that in future the only courses recognised by industry will include the qualifications as demanded by law, therefore thanks to a magnificent team effort Dundee College is leading the way in terms of added value.”Picture show some of the students who have enjoyed that added extras on offer as part of their Dundee College experience.

College serves up that bit more

The lecturer returned from the London on Friday March 20, where he saw three of his paint-ings hanging in the RWS exhibition, by way of confirming his status as an associate member of

the oldest watercolour society in the world.Established in 1804, the society accepts new members who are elected by their peers.In Angus’ case it was Aberuthven based artist

Ann Wegmuller who suggested that he seek membership.“We are already members of the RSW (Royal Scot-tish Society of Painters of Watercolour) so Ann encouraged me to apply to the RWS, saying she would act as a sponsor,” explained the Wormit-based artist.“The actual process went quite quickly, I had to

send three paintings and a portfolio containing 12 pieces illustrating sup-port studies, to London, where they were exam-ined by society members on Tuesday and, by Thursday, my paintings were hanging in their ex-hibition in the Bankside Gallery, right next door to the Tate Modern, and I had been accepted.”A total of 28 people sub-mitted work and Angus was one of only six who were accepted by the RWS.The society will also keep one of the lecturer’s paintings, Illuminated Window, for their historic collection which includes works by Sir Laurence Alma Tadema, and Dame Laura Knight.The tradition of newly-elected members pre-senting a work on their election to the society has been running since 1860 and the collection now has about 900 items.This accolade is the most recent of a number of achievements that Angus has accomplished in his highly successful career.Having won the prestig-ious Alastair Salvesen travel scholarship in 1996, Angus travelled and painted in China for three months.Based at Dundee College

Graham Street Campus, the lecturer’s work is also well travelled having been involved in exhibi-tions all over the UK and abroad.Angus is an elected a member of the Interna-tional Guild of Realism, based in Arizona, and closer to home, par-ticipated in an exhibition

which celebrated the Royal Botanic Gardens and their surroundings in Kew.In 2007 the lecturer won the £7000 second prize in the Kaupthing Singer and Friedlander/Sunday Times watercolour com-petition.

Hospitality staff and students at Dundee College lived up to their name, when they played host to a charity event.Members of the inter-national charity Unicef were looking for a novel fund-raiser and approached Dundee Col-lege staff who decided they could lay on a dem-onstration dinner party at the Kingsway Campus.“We were approached by Grace Henderson of Unicef who asked if we could help and I am delighted to announce that the staff volunteered to give up their free time to ensure a successful event,” said Louisa King-ham, curriculum manager hospitality.Hospitality students were also involved at the event which included a variety of demonstrations designed to give helpful hints for hosting a suc-cessful dinner party.Along with the college staff and students mak-ing a guest appearance was Alison Petrie who demonstrated flower ar-ranging.Napkin folding was also on the agenda for the evening, with a mix of NC hospitality and HNC hospitality students showing off their skills.The students also caused a stir when they shook things up with a lively display of cocktail mak-ing.Chefs lecturers raised temperatures during a presentation of food preparation - ending with some flambé techniques.More than £1000 was raised on the evening

Dinnerraises£1000

Dundee College artist Angus McEwan was de-lighted to see his work being ranked alongside such famous painters as Sir Edward Burne-Jones, John Singer Sargent and Sir William Russell Flint, having been accepted to the ranks of the Royal Watercolour Society.

Artist enjoys his brush with high society

Angus with one of his works.

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The college is a part-ner in the innovative Creative Loop initiative aimed at helping people realize their ambition and find jobs in television, radio and other media industries.As well as Dundee Col-lege, Creative Loop in-volves five other Scottish colleges and key strategic partners SQA, Scottish Screen and Skillset Scot-land and was awarded Skillset Media Academy status last year.Recognized as one of the Top 100 Corporate Pro-ducers in America, Larry Jordan has over 25 years experience as a televi-

sion producer, director and editor. A frequently-featured speaker at conferences around the world the internationally-renowned consultant is also an Apple-certified trainer in digital media but still manages to host two talk radio shows.His presence in Dundee attracted over 100 people - despite the worst snows of the winter falling that day in the city!Creative Loop is the first attempt in Scotland to create working partner-ships between the media and Scotland’s col-leges and having Larry Jordan host a seminar is in keeping with the

initiative’s aim of having world-leading academics, content creators, com-puter games developers, software programmers and creative artists help-ing develop talent, crea-tivity and business ideas to exploit new technolo-gies and opportunities in broadcast television and interactive media.“With Scottish Fund-ing Council support, the purpose of Creative Loop is to enable partnership working between the colleges and industry to ensure the quality of students entering the

Top Los Angeles based TV producer, director and editor, Larry Jordon, received a warm welcome when he delivered a seminar enti-tled: PowerUP with Final Cut Studio: Final Cut Pro Workflow Secrets, at Dundee College Kingsway Campus

Students offered aninsight into editing

labour market is as high as possible,” said Dundee College Depute Principal Grant Ritchie“We have a range of strategies to help us transform the basis of creative media provision in Scotland’s Colleges.“These include develop-ing staff and resources and ensuring both students and staff are up to date and linked to the modern creative media industries through work shadowing, industrial placement and industry mentors.”

Prior to the seminar, project manager Helliate Rushwaya re-ceives a crash course in editing from Larry Jordan (courtesy of Fotopress, Dundee).

The Dundee City Council and Dundee College part-nership project involves the pupils being bussed around Dundee and expe-riencing opportunities the city has to offer for their future in education and employment.

So successful was the first Learning Journey in 2008 that the initia-tive scooped a national marketing award from Scotland’s Colleges.This second Learning Journey was equally suc-

cessful with a group of pupils from Grove Acad-emy experiencing the city’s computer games industry at first hand, hearing for themselves how the audio experts at Real Time Worlds won a BAFTA for their sound work on the ‘Crackdown’ title.S2 pupils from Morgan Academy saw how the

local food industry oper-ates when they visited the premises of Scotherbs. Both groups also learned how the Landmark and Hilton hotels offer job opportunities and took part in afternoon sessions at Dundee College to out-line the courses available.Culture and history were also on the timetable, as the bus tour took in local

landmarks including: Discovery Point, Verdant Works, the Rep and Sensation.The Learning Journey is targeted at pupils in S2 who are about to take subject choices that will influence their educa-tional future.“We were delighted again to be working in partnership with Dundee City Council’s education department and local employers to offer this exciting learning experi-ence,” said Anne Hamil-ton, school and commu-nity liaison manager at Dundee College.“Seeing the Learning Journey win an award from Scotland’s Col-lege’s reinforces how valuable this initiative is.

Learning Journey wins award“The Learning Journey focuses again on Dun-dee’s culture, employ-ment and educational opportunities.“It is a fantastic way to widen the experience and knowledge of these S2 pupils at a crucial time in their schooling when they are beginning to make decisions for their future.“We are also extremely grateful for the contribu-tions made by the local businesses who take part.”Dundee City Council education convener Cllr Laurie Bidwell was also quick to praise the Learn-ing Journey“This is an excellent ini-tiative that helps to high-light the many diverse

destinations that these young people can aim for in the years ahead,” said the councillor.“The council and Dundee College have been work-ing together closely since last year’s pilot project to offer the experience to even more pupils this year.“It is important that pupils can get a sense of what is available in their own city, and I am sure many will be inspired by what they see on the Learning Journey.”

An award-winning initiative took to the road again earlier this year when S2 pupils from two Dundee Schools embarked on the Learn-ing Journey.

Stopping off at Dundee College Kingsway Campus, some of the children on the Learning Journey.

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The subject of science remains a success story at Dundee College.While various com-mentators bemoan the dearth of young people opting for the discipline, Dundee College seems to be bucking the national trend with the various science courses all filled with eager students.So much so that one of their number was picked by the Smarter Scotland Campaign to encourage more people to study

science.Jillian Smith was in the college science block one day when she was asked to speak to someone from the Scottish Government-sponsored campaign.“It was a real surprise when the head of science, Margaret Taylor, asked me to speak to someone from the Scottish Gov-ernment,” explains the 17-year-old “But it was really dead easy as they asked me what I thought about

coming to college and I was delighted to say that I thoroughly enjoyed the experience.“They also asked me to send a picture and I thought it was for some obscure website, imagine my surprise when I was visiting my cousin in Forfar and she showed me the local paper - with my story and picture.”In fact, Jillian’s story made its way in a number of local weekly papers!The student admits to being quietly thrilled but slightly embarrassed by the article - which did also appear on the Scot-tish Government website.The former Menzieshill HS pupil came to college straight from school to study for an HNC applied science.And the student has landed a place at univer-sity where she begins her degree course in September.Another Dundee College girl with plans for univer-sity is Sabrina Lundie, of Perth.

Science spellingsuccess

The 20-year-old studied for two years at the Kingsway Campus firstly on the Access to biomedical and biologi-cal science, then gain-ing an HNC applied science.The Perth Academy FP has once again returned to the science block but this time as a member of staff - as a lab techni-cian.“I feel really lucky to have been accepted for this post, particularly as I am keen to go on and study for an HND biomedical science,” explained Sabrina.Resuming her studies in September Sabrina is confident she can fit in her classes with her part-time hours and gain the qualification.“Much as I enjoy my work at Dundee Col-lege my ambition is to go on and gain study for a degree and ulti-mately become a scene of crime officer.”

Jillian Smith

Sabrina Lundie

Dundee College HND retail management stu-dents staged a grand event when they once again persuaded a host of professional footballers to strip for action - modelling action - for a charity fashion show in Overgate shopping mall that raised over £1000! This was the third year that retail students have staged a charity fashion show and this year Diabetes UK and SSPCA, charities suggested by Overgate management, shared the £1036 total.Not only did the students rope in the help a total of 19 professional footballers from Dundee FC, Dundee United, St Johnstone and Raith Rovers, they also per-suaded over a dozen top high street stores to support their efforts by supplying the garments.The sportsmen are studying football management at Dundee College and, as part of their course, are exploring ways to interact with the community, hence taking part as models!The event is designed to give retail students experi-ence and stretch their organisational abilities.“This is a huge undertaking involving about 50 stu-dents in total with around 30 doing the actual model-ling,” explained student Duncan Jones.“We were really grateful to all the retailers in Over-gate who supported this project by lending us the garments for the event.”As in previous years the students raised the charity cash through raffles on the night and ticket sales - and, for the third year running, this was a sell-out event.

Retail charity goal is acheived

Picture (courtesy of The Courier, Dundee © D C Thomson & Co Ltd) shows, from left - Johnny Russell (Dundee United), Sian Louise Cane, Martyn Shields (St Johnstone), Julie Napier and Ross Grant (Dundee FC).

Things are hotting up at Dundee Col-lege Kingsway Campus with the addi-tion of a brand new resource.Catering and hospitality students and staff are looking forward to the new term with a some excitement as, over the summer, work has been taking place at the Kingsway Campus resulting in a new training kitchen being opened.Not only will new students in the catering and hospitality disciplines be ‘cooking on gas’ but pupils from schools around the city will now also have the chance to experience, first hand, a cutting-edge catering facility, with an extra course planned for the menu.The Skills for Work initiative is designed to encourage school pupils to gain the skills needed for employment through practical experience.

This new kitchen equips Dundee Col-lege sufficiently to expand into taking part in Skills For Work, Hospitality - allowing the college to work with local schools.“Building an extra kitchen had become a priority at Dundee College due to the increase in people keen to pursue careers in the hospitality and tourism industry,” said Louisa Cunningham, curriculum manager.“We have experienced a huge surge in people enrolling on the SVQ II profes-sional cookery and we are aiming for two streams of HNC hospitality in future.“Add to that our ambition to work more closely with school and take part in Skills for Work, Hospitality and this new facility becomes vital.”

Catering for more!

Dundee College was invited to join DEMOP, a project designed to develop an European standard modular training programme for painters and decorators, and has since seen visitors from six countries come to the Kingsway Campus to inspect the Scottish model of training.Funded by the Leonardo project which encourages trans-European working in education, the aim of DEMOP is for each part-ner to develop a teaching unit which, ultimately, will make up a European

framework for training in painting and decorating.At present the countries taking part are: Spain, Finland, Germany, Roma-nia, Patras and Lithuania, who are the lead partner in the project.“It is perhaps significant that the project is being led by one of the newer EU member states as it has been recognised for some time that, although there have been huge areas of expansion among the emerging EU nations, they do not all have the long-established training infrastructure that we have in Scotland, there-

fore are keen to become involved in knowledge transfer of this sort,” said Bob Scott, curriculum manager construction crafts.“It is not all one-way traffic however as sharing best practice with countries such as colleges in Finland and Germany may well pay dividends for Dundee College.”Among the modules which will be developed are painting, wallpaper-hanging, tiling, plaster-ing, even an introduction to the labour market.This is the first time the constructions crafts unit at Dundee College has become involved in a project of this kind but it may not be the last.“We are always in-vestigating avenues of innovative expansion whether national or inter-national,” said Bob.“With the recession be-ginning to bite it is likely we will see a drop off in construction in future, working in partnership is one way in which we can bypass this downturn and maintain the high stand-ard of training which is traditionally associated with Scotland.”

Brush with Europe proves successfulPainting and decorating is taking on an international dimension at Dundee College thanks to an EU-fund-ed project.

9

Getting back into class proved a novel experience for Catherine Rottger as she swapped office desk for a workbench, paper files for the real thing and her computer screen for a screwdriver.Having spent most of her working life in an office, Catherine changed direction when she chose to enrol on the pre-apprentice construc-tion programme at Dundee College - a million miles away from her degree in marketing!And, having opted for this

change of pace, the student focussed on a pursuing a new career as an electrician.“Having spent all my work-ing life in an office, I decided after my 50th birthday that it was time to do something I was really interested in,” said the student.“I had always been keen on home maintenance, ever since, as a little girl, I helped my dad around the house and, since then, in every house I have had I’ve been in charge of any home improvements.“This has always suited my

husband, Stephen, who, during his speech at our wedding, declared he would, ‘love, honour, even obey, but no DIY!’.”Having made the decision to leave her career in market-ing, Catherine investigated what courses were on offer and decided that Dundee College’s full-time pre-ap-prentice construction course was by far the best.“This course offers the students tasters of all the construction trades: bricklay-ing, plumbing, plastering, painting and decorating,

electrical installation and joinery and in this way we decide what we like.”Catherine has proved a bright spark when it came to electrical installation, now seriously pursuing a career as an electrician.“I realise it won’t be easy landing a job at my age but I have received plenty of support from the lecturers here and am particularly grateful to Bob Scott, who is in charge of construction crafts, for giving me a place on what is often an oversub-scribed course.”

Catherine wired into college

Hottest ticket in townDanielle Richiardi (27), Jade McLaughlin (19) and Jamie-Lee Morgan (24), who were studying NQ early education and childcare, Barry Devlin (32) and Neil Williams (27), both access to nurs-ing, and Sammy Allen (25), from preparation to nursing and midwifery, all travelled to Helsinki to take part in European work placements as part of the Leonardo da Vinci, Education and Culture project which encourages student travel across the continent.During the four-week visit the students at-tended Helsinki City College of Social and Health Care and worked in children’s day care services or in the wards of Koskela Hospital.They took part in cultural visits which included sailing to Suomenlinna sea fortress and spending a day in Tallin.And while we in Scot-land were bemoaning the spring weather, the Hel-sinki temperatures meant the students enjoyed skating out of doors and sailing across an almost frozen sea from Helsinki to the Estonian capital.On their return the

students gave extremely positive feedback with Neil and Barry hoping to return to work in Hel-sinki during the summer, while all six students said they had learned new skills and better ways of working and would recommend European ex-changes to other students.The students enjoyed tea and sandwiches, nothing as exotic as elk, when they gave presentations on their experiences to an invited audience at Mel-rose Campus, when they were also presented with certificates to acknowl-edge their achievements.Nearly 40 Dundee College students are currently undertaking work placements in six European countries.Representing science, engineering, business and computing programmes, the students are tak-ing the skills they have developed at college into workplaces in Germany, Austria, Italy, France, Slovenia and Portugal.

After four weeks of eating elk, bear, wild boar and reindeer, six Dundee College students were excused for enjoying more traditional Scottish fare when they arrived home from work placements in Finland.

Dundee College once again extended a warm welcome to a delegation of German students from Theodor-Litt Schule, Giessen, near Frankfurt.A total of 13 students and two teachers from Theodor-Litt were in Dundee for a one-week visit, staying with Dundee residents.Dundee College has enjoyed a partnership with Theodore-Litt for over 17 years during which there has been a number of student exchanges and staff going back and forward to reinforce the links between the two colleges.The programmes on offer at Theodore-Litt are almost identical to Dundee College.While in the city the students undertook the European Computer Driving Licence (ECDL) at Dundee Col-lege.

German studentsin driving seat

Travellers’ tales

Hotfoot from London’s West End singing student Donna Hazelton hosted the evening!Donna is a former winner of Channel 4’s ‘Musicality’ show - her prize being to perform in Chicago, taking the role of Mama Morton for one night only.The Lochgelly lass, however, impressed the show’s producers so much that she was

engaged in the role for a whole month!Since then Donna toured the UK in “Girls Behind” with Sue Devaney and Maureen Nolan and, more recently in “Girls Night” with Lucy Speed and Gwyneth Strong and completed a European tour entitled “Best of Musicals”.Back from Europe Donna began studying at Dun-

dee College music centre at the Graham Street Campus, in a bid to add a formal qualification to her experience.As well as playing host at the vocal showcase, the performer added her vocal talents to the impressive show that the students performed in The Space.Students from both the NQ Music and HNC Modern Musicianship courses took part in the event.The 20-strong group of singers presented a Mo-town medley, a selection of Beatles’ favourites, an assortment of songs from Jersey Boys, a musi-cal about Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, a choice of the best from Mama Mia, and, of course, songs from Chicago.Soloists also sang a range of classic tracks includ-ing ‘If I Could Turn Back Time’, ‘Walking in Memphis’, ‘Anyone Who Had a Heart’ and ‘The Winner Takes it All’ sung by Donna, of course!The singers were sup-ported by a 12-piece band with lecturer and

musical director Stuart Brand at the heart of things on the piano.This year, for the first time ever, the full pro-duction was musically staged offering the audi-ences a far more profes-sional presentation.Like any big produc-tion the Vocal Showcase was a joint effort with students from many disciplines becoming involved.NQ Video Audio students were involved in this year’s show in a number of ways, filming the

event, producing a DVD and capturing a live feed which was projected in real time on to two large screens at either side of the stage.The students had five cameras present at The Space for the Vocal Showcase resulting in 14 tapes a night being filmedThis was just one of the projects that the group were involved in throughout the year including filming, editing and producing a DVD representing all Dundee College satellite centres.

Dundee College music students once again made their much-loved Vocal Showcase the hottest ticket in town using a few tricks to freshen up the format during the four-night run at The Space.

Rachel Baird, impassioned performance.On stage, David Anderson.

The Vocal Showcase stars shone bright at The Space (picture courtesy of The Courier, © D C Thomson & Co Ltd).

14

Course set girls onright wavelengthTwo students were certainly on the right wavelength when they enrolled on a media course at Dundee Col-lege.Leanne Blackwood and Laura Beats began NQ media last September and when they embarked on the radio broadcasting part of the course they quickly caught the ear of tutor Pat Kelly.“As soon as I heard their voices I suggested that both Leanne and Laura should consider getting into radio broadcasting as a career,” said the lecturer.Leanne was soon live on air with Wave 102, working in the station’s newsroom.“We made a demo disk at the college and sent it, with a covering letter, to Wave 102 and within weeks I was working at the station,” said student.“I must admit to feeling a bit nervous the the first weekend I was there but I am loving the experi-ence.”After working for years with an insurance company the 27-year-old

decided that office work was just not for her.“I actually enrolled on the media course with a view to doing video production and editing but as soon as I was in the studio at the Kings-way Campus decided that radio broadcasting was for me.“I am really grateful to my lecturer Pat for all the encouragement and sup-port he has given me.”Laura was quick to fol-

low her classmate into the world of radio.“I first developed an interest in radio when I was at Baldragon Acad-emy which was the BBC Scotland Sound Town School and has its own studio,” explained the 19-year-old.“So I was really keen to come to Dundee College to study media and have thoroughly enjoyed the course, and the chance to gain some real broadcast-ing experience.”

Dundee College staff are committed to im-proving the student experience across all areas of the college.So much so, in fact, that this year saw the launch of a new initiative when the college’s customer care group conducted a How Are We Doing survey in a bid to find out what students, staff and visitors really thought of the college’s perform-ance.About 200 people took part in the survey which was conducted over an eight-week period earlier this year.This, the first of what is set to be an annual exercise, was designed to encourage feedback on the facilities at Kingsway Campus and the results were very positive.“We owe a big thank you to the people who took the time to fill in and return the survey form,” said Lynsey Allan, of the customer care group.“We are constantly trying to improve the service we provide and listening to people is one way we can achieve this.“Although the major-ity of the responses was positive, the customer care group is currently examining the results in minute detail to deter-mine if there is any area where we can make improvements.”

Graham Street was the venue to show off works from a range of disci-plines within the depart-ment including contem-porary art practice, folio preparation, graphic de-sign, illustration, fashion, textiles, interior design, photography, creative learning, City and Guilds design and craft courses, multimedia and computer animation.“Dundee College is one of a only a few colleges that offers courses rang-ing from introductory level to Higher National Diploma and our Art &

End-of-year art and design exhibitionMembers of the public, employers, and friends and family were impressed with the work of over 300 art and design students went on show at Dundee College annual end-of-year exhibition.

Design Exhibition shows off the work of students studying at all of these levels,” said lecturer Der-mot Curnyn, one of the exhibition co-ordinators.“For some of the students this event is a celebra-tion before they go on to study at degree level for others it is getting into the world of work, so it is rewarding to see such a high standard of work on show, emphasising the personal development the students have achieved.“The standard is under-lined by the number of

Adam Findlay of Wave 102, was also delighted to have the students in the station’s newsroom.“Having Leanne and Laura on board was all down to the work that goes on at Dundee Col-lege,” said the managing director.“This success is an example of what going to college can achieve.”

inquiries we received from employers who are keen to study the works on show with a view to recruiting new staff.“Once again we took tak-ing calls from companies who were keen to put the exhibition dates in their diary so they can investi-gate the pool of talent at Dundee College.”

Leanne and Laura in the Dundee College studio.

‘Better red than dead’ took on a whole new meaning at Dundee College - and it had nothing to do with extreme political lean-ings and all to do with wildlife!Earlier this year a group of full-time fabrication and welding students were hard at work to ensure that Dundee’s red squirrel population are well fed in future, creat-ing 24 aluminium feeders to be positioned around the city.Working in conjunction with Dundee Red Squir-rel Project, the college made two prototype feed-ers just over a year ago.One of these was sited in Templeton Woods the other in the college’s horticulture unit’s gar-dens at Dundee College Kingsway Campus and staff were delighted to report that both attracted red squirrels.“Dundee is the only city in the UK to have a population of red squir-rels but, across the UK, the species are under threat from the grey squirrels which were introduced to this country

from America about 100 years ago,” explains Nicky Inglis, engineering curriculum manager, at Kingsway Campus.“Dundee College became involved with the city council’s countryside ranger service and agreed to design and construct feeders as red squirrels can only breed when they have gained sufficient weight.”The design remit for the feeders was quite precise: they could only be acces-sible to red squirrels; eas-ily replenished with food, cleaned and maintained; straightforward to mount on trees; and allow good views of the squirrels while they are feeding inside.“Red squirrels don’t eat while on the ground so it was obvious that the feeders would have to be fixed to trees, we made the entrance and exit holes 50mm diameter which excludes adult grey squirrels which can be as much as twice the size of reds and we used an aluminium construc-tion to ensure that the greys could not gnaw their way into the food,” explained Nicky.

“The main problem we have is deciding how high in the trees to secure the feeders, we have to find a happy medium, high enough to encour-age the squirrels but at the same time low enough to allow the rang-ers to restock the food with ease.”Two full classes of 12 students worked on the project - each student making a feeder.The feeders were handed over to Ken Neil of Saving Scotland’s Red Squirrels Project and are currently being installed at a number of locations around the city.

Alwaysaimingfor the

best

Students go nuts about squirrels

HND graphic design student Jana Cekalova puts the finishing touch-es to her display.

Portfolio preparation students Callum Reid and Brodie Sim admire the work on show

15

S2 pupils Michael Martin, Cameron McKay, Lucy Clift, Sara Valentine made up the Madras team which took first place in the design competition that attracted 72 pupils representing 18 schools from all over Dundee, Angus, Perth and Kinross, and Fife.This year’s team matched the achievement of their counterparts from 2006 and last year when they took the winner’s trophy.Each team of four only saw the brief, to design an eco house of the

future, on the day of the event but were provided with professional support from the design profes-sions and the construc-tion industry.With that help they had to interpret a brief, produce a design and construct a scale model of the building they had created.To add to the drama, each school then had to make a presentation from the stage of the Space with all the other participat-ing teams sitting in the

audience. The main aim of the competition was to design a house in a rural setting which was acces-sible for all, minimised the use of fossil fuels, avoided waste and pol-lution and was energy efficient.As well as being pre-sented with a trophy, the winning Madras team was rewarded with £500, which must be expended in a manner that will contribute to the creativity of that school, while Michael, Cameron, Lucy and Sara were each awarded £50 for

themselves.Runners-up Menzieshill HS took £300 back to their school and keep £30 each while the third-placed Perth HS received £20 and £200 for their school. No one left empty hand-ed as there were cinema tickets for every partici-pating student plus other paraphernalia from the sponsors. Awards were also made to the school which had adopted the best ‘Clean Desk’ ap-proach during the day - Dunfermline HS.

Working with an external partner proved highly valuable for seven students on the HNC/D new media programme at Dundee College. Not only did the students gain experi-ence but also a cash bonus!Chris Webster, director of Blairgowrie-based company Webster’s Garden Machinery, chose Dundee College when he decided his firm’s website, WebGM, was in need of a makeover.The businessman approached the college to see if a student would be interested in doing the work and tutor Fiona Muhsin was delighted to use this as an op-portunity to have the HNC class involved.“This looked like an ideal opportunity for the students to gain proper work experience with a real client,” explained the senior lecturer.“I decided to run a competition and seven students took part, each working individually on the project.“Chris visited the college on several occasions to dis-cuss the brief with the students, giving them first-hand experience of working with a client.”At the same time as they were gaining this experience the students also had the support of college resources and their tutor.The result was a very high standard of web design with the client being impressed with the results.

So much so that as well as awarding £350 to Rod Rice, the winning designer, Chris also presented the other six students with £25.Rod was particularly pleased to have his work recog-nised in this way.Having trained as a joiner, Rod left his trade 10 years ago and tried his hand at a variety of jobs.Over the course of the past decade, however, he taught himself about computer hard-ware, firstly by upgrad-ing his own PC then moving on to repairing and upgrading other people’s.“I also began to get involved with soft-ware packages and developed an interest in web-design,” commented the student.“To increase my skills and gain a recognised qualifica-tion I decided to come to college.”This decision coincided with the launch of the HNC/D new media course and, as one of the very first cohort on the programme, Rod has enjoyed his college experience.“I have been particularly impressed with the course leaders who are keen to receive input from us, the students.”Chris was also delighted with his decision to approach the college.“The work that the students produced was incredibly impressive,” commented the businessman.

Hat-trick at Creative Four pupils from Madras College scored a hat-trick at Dundee College recently when they took the Creative Spaces 2009 title.

Ex-joiner nails opportunity as web designer

The winning Madras Team (courtesy of The Courier © D C Thomson & Co Ltd).

Chris Webster congratulates web-designer Rod Rice

16

The Space continues to build on its reputation as a centre for dance and

drama in Dundee.With both home-grown talent and

visits by companies,renowned the world over, the venuecontributes to the vibrancy of the

city

For the first time ever at the Scottish School of Contemporary Dance, the students did not perform in their own production but choreographed works for other dancers.A total of 18 students, the first cohort of the degree course which was launched last year, came up with their own ideas and created their own choreography which was then performed by their colleagues on the HNC programme.

Guest lecturer Angus Balbernie introduced an innovation to this year’s Neworks pro-duction at The Space at Dundee College.The choreographer, who

is no stranger to The Space, returned once more to direct the pro-duction and mentor the 18 HND contemporary dance students.This year, however, Angus revealed a hidden

talent - his ability to compose music with the students to use in their choreography.Neworks comprises 10 pieces choreographed by the students themselves.Not content with just

Even with each degree course student being restricted to creating a piece lasting no longer than 10 minutes, the result was two different shows being produced under the title IndepenD-ANCE Day!Each production had nine pieces performed by 23 students on the HNC programme.“This was a really eclectic production with a widely diverse range of dance styles utilising a

variety of musical genres and including mixed media with projected im-ages and film on stage,” enthused Peter Royston, curriculum manager dance.“While the degree stu-dents were encouraged to work totally independ-ently, creating dance pieces entirely from their own imagination, being inspired by their own experience, they were supported by a number of lecturing staff acting as mentors.”

using a variety of rock, pop and classical music, some of the students asked Angus for help to compose original ‘sound-scapes’ to work with and keep Neworks as fresh as possible.“Each year I have come to The Space, the standard of choreography displayed by the students has become higher,” declared Angus.“For Neworks we had to choose nine pieces cre-ated entirely by students on the course and such was the standard of creativity it was a very difficult choice.“I was delighted to help with the music and watch what the students could create in their composi-tions.”Angus is an internation-ally-renowned choreog-rapher - acting as a guest lecturer at Dartington in Devon, and Arnhem in the Netherlands. He is guest professor of cho-reography at the Korean National University for the Arts.As well as creating their own pieces - one of them on film - the nine choreographers also took to the stage when they performed in their col-leagues’ dances.All of the students took part in a 10th piece.Pictures: top - Jennifer Bloe (left) and Jenna McGurk; bottom (courtesy of The Courier, Dundee © D C Thomson & Co Ltd) - Kieran robb (front) Emma Christie and Aaron Jeffrey.

Dundee College HNC acting and performance students tackled a tough play with the production of Roberto Zucco which, penned by influential French playwright Bernard-Marie Koltes, is inspired by a real-life serial killer.While in keeping with the long tradition of violence in the theatre - Shake-speare’s tragedies tend to have more deaths than the average slaughterhouse - Roberto Zucco is no morality tale, of-fering a neutral view of the eponymous 1980s murderer who terrorised people across three countries after escaping from a mental institution.“The play examines the society around

the main character and poses the ques-tion: is it any surprise he became a kill-er?” explained director Paul Christie.The playwright saw the murderer’s face on a ‘wanted’ poster in the mid 1980s and became fascinated with his story, completing the play shortly before his own death in 1989.The play was first performed in Berlin the following year, when a Scottish link with Koltes was established when Edinburgh’s Traverse Theatre pre-miered, The Struggle of the Dogs and the Black.While Koltes’ work remains something of an enigma in Scotland, the play-wright is well established in his native France.

Students tacklekiller of a play!

IndepenDANCE Day saw contemporary dance students on the degree course at Dundee College creating a unique production at The Space.

IndepenDANCE Day

An arresting moment in Roberto Zucco as Brent Cosford, in the title role, is ‘nicked’ by Camila Barnett (left) and Emma

Neworks using new music

16 17

Dance fans in the city and surrounding area enjoyed an early treat this year when the Nearly End of Year Show opened at The Space at Dundee Col-lege.Because of the huge amount of activity at The Space this year, the traditional end of year show was brought forward and this earlier event was even more spectacular than ever with nearly 100 dancers performing works choreographed by Nicola Herd, Lisa Bibby, Thomas Small and Linzi MacLaggan.Students on the introduction to contemporary dance course, NQ contemporary dance, and

HNC and HND programmes all participated in a fantastic show.The team of three lecturers and one guest lecturer each choreographed pieces for the production, while HND stu-dent Lyndsay Allan and Zoe McLinden, who is on the BA hons programme, also created pieces for the show.Taking overall charge of the production was lecturer Kim Elliott, who despite the demands of producing the biggest-ever production to be staged in The Space, remained enthusiastic about every aspect of the show.“Not only is this the biggest production ever to take place in The Space, this is one of the most adventurous in

terms of set design,” said the production co-ordinator.“Designed collectively by the choreographers, in collabora-tion with the production team who should be congratulated for transforming the lecturers’ vision into a reality, this is an incredibly ambitious set for a dance production.”The whole of the stage in The Space was transformed into a huge semi-circle of rough wooden panels, reminiscent of a bull-ring, complete with and intricate collection of alcoves, platforms and doorways al-lowing the dancers to climb, leap and appear and disappear. HNC contemporary dance students Tess Letham and John Henney try out the intricate set at The Space.

Dancers ring the changes

A full catalogue of human frailties was on display when HND acting and per-formance students present-ed the hilarious comedy that is David Farr’s The UN Inspector.Farr adapted his work from Gogol’s 1836 comedy, The Government Inspector, but the themes of greed, bribery, immorality, and political corruption, are as old as human-kind itself.While Gogol’s play was set in Tsarist Russia, Farr has updated the action to a contemporary setting in a small break-away, post-Soviet state where the tyrant

who runs the country, along with his fawning but dishonest henchmen, mistake an incompetent British businessman, with dubious aspirations, for the eponymous UN Inspector.While the original exam-ined the fear and para-noia felt by a crooked mayor and officials of a small town, Farr’s ver-sion ups the stakes - with a whole country, while being represented as a democracy, experienc-ing human rights abuses under an evil dictator-ship which is siphon-ing off IMF cash into secret bank accounts and exploiting whole regions for personal gain!With the regime hav-ing so much to hide they must go to farcical lengths to appease the man they believe to be from the UN.Meanwhile, there were some pretty raw emo-tions on show when HNC acting and performance students performed in the passionate tragedy that is Spring Awakening.Written in 1891 this was the first major play by German dramatist Frank Wedekind.Famed for his social satire, Wedekind’s works are well-known for their criticism of the bourgeois attitudes in Germany during the turn of the 19th/20th century.Under the direction of Mark Kydd 13 students took part in the produc-tion which lead the audi-ence down a dark and treacherous path paved with hypocrisy, igno-rance and frustration.Although this play has reputation - it was ini-tially banned in Germany and did not receive its

first performance until 1906 - Mark was quick to point out how the work tackles complex issues in a positive manner.“This is a play that, with great humanity and insight, deals with the struggle young people go through as they try to make sense of the adult work - particularly in a climate of repression and

hypocrisy,” said the guest lecturer.“While the subject mat-ter is of young people discovering the world around them and their own growing up it is easy to focus on the sensation-al and scandalous aspects but the play is really about far more complex issues.”

HNC acting and performance students at The Space covering some pretty big issues in Spring Awakening (courtesy of Foto-press, Dundee).

A scene from the UN Inspector.

From laughter to tears

The Space welcomed Verve, the gradu-ate performance company of the Northern School of Contemporary Dance in LeedsEleven dancers performed an exciting display of newly commissioned works which impressed both those new to contemporary dance and dance fans.Meanwhile, a performance not to be missed takes place at The Space on Thursday, September 8, when composer Giorgio Battistelli brings EXPERIMENTUM MUNDI to the city for a matinee and an evening performance.Curtain at 2.30 and 7.30pm tickets from The Space box office call (01382) 834934.Picture: Verve dancer Robert Goodby.

ACCOUNTINGFirst Steps to Accounting and BusinessFast Track Ac-counting and Busi-nessNQ AccountingHNC/HND Ac-countingHND Accounting

ADMINISTRA-TION & INFOR-MATION TECH-NOLOGYBeginners IT and AdministrationIntermediate IT and Administra-tionHNC/HND Ad-ministration and Information Tech-nology

APPLIED TECH-NOLOGYPre Apprenticeship Electrical/Plumb-ing SkillsPre Apprenticeship Plumbing SkillsPre Apprenticeship Electrical Instal-lation

ART & DESIGNIntroduction to Art and Design Gen-eralCreative Learning Art and DesignPortfolio Prepara-tion ProgrammeNational Cer-tificate in Art and Design

ARTS & SOCIAL SCIENCESAccess to Social WorkAccess to BA Com-munity EducationAccess to Town and Regional/Environmental ManagementAccess to Architec-tureAccess to Forensic Psychobiology

Access to Primary EducationAccess to Arts and Social SciencesAccess to Crimi-nologyAccess to Forensic SciencesAccess to Biologi-cal and Biomedical SciencesSQA Highers and Intermediates Pro-grammeIntroductory HIPSHNC Social Sci-encesHND Social Sci-ences

BUSINESS, MAN-AGEMENT & MARKETINGNQ Advertising, Marketing and Public RelationsNQ Access to Busi-ness Management Studies (SWAP)NC Business (Level 4)NC Business (Level 5)HNC/D Advertis-ing and Public RelationsHNC/D BusinessHNC/D Interna-tional Business & TradeHNC/HND Retail ManagementHND BusinessHND MarketingHND Retail Man-agementPost Graduate Diploma in Human Resource Manage-ment

CAREIntroduction to Care 1AIntroduction to Care 1BAccess to Nurse/Midwifery Educa-tionPreparation for a Career in CarePreparatory Course for Nurse/

Midwifery Educa-tionPDA Classroom Assistants/Support for Learning As-sistantsHealth and Social Care AcademyIntermediate 1 CareIntermediate 2 Na-tional Certificate in Child, Health and Social CareNQ Early Educa-tion and ChildcareNC Health and Social CareHNC Early Educa-tion and ChildcareHNC Health CareHNC Social Care

COMPUTER STUDIESSWAP Information TechnologyNC Digital Media ComputingHNC ComputingHNC Computer NetworkingHND Computer Networking and Internet Technol-ogyHND Computing Software Develop-mentHND Computing: Technical Support

CONSTRUCTION & CIVIL ENGI-NEERINGCertificate in Civil Engineering and the Built Environ-mentEngineering Pro-gression AwardPre Apprentice-ship Engineering TechnologiesPre Apprenticeship Introduction to BuildingNQ EngineeringHNC ConstructionHNC Petroleum EngineeringHND Architectural Technology

HND Building SurveyingHND Civil Engi-neeringHND Engineering Systems

CREATIVE ME-DIANQ AnimationNQ Computer Games Develop-mentNQ Media StudiesNQ Video and Au-dio ProductionHNC Computer Games Develop-mentHNC Creative Industries: Pro-fessional Writing SkillsHND 3D Compu-ter AnimationHND 3D Design

DANCEIntroduction to DanceNQ Contemporary Dance Perform-anceHNC/HND Con-temporary Dance PerformanceBA (Hons) Dance (Completion Award)

ENGLISH FOR SPEAKERS OF OTHER LAN-GUAGESEnglish For Speak-ers of Other Lan-guages ESOLEnglish For Speak-ers of Other Lan-guages ESOL - EUEnglish For Speakers of Other Languages ESOL - International

HAIRDRESS-ING & BEAUTY THERAPYNQ Beauty Ther-apyNQ HairdressingNQ Hairdress-ing and Beauty

TherapyHNC Beauty TherapyHNC Fashion Make UpHNC HairdressingHND Beauty TherapyITEC Complemen-tary Therapies

HORTICULTUREIntroduction to Landscape Gar-deningIntroduction to Hard/Soft Land-scape GardeningNQ Botanic Gar-deningNQ Hard and Soft Landscape Gar-dening

HOSPITALITYHospitality 1AHospitality 1BHospitality 1CIntroduction to Tourism and Hos-pitalityNQ Pathways to Tourism and Hos-pitalityNC HospitalitySVQ Level 2 Hos-pitalityHNC HospitalityHND Hospitality Management

LAW & PUBLIC ADMINISTRA-TIONFirst Steps to Ad-ministration and LawNQ Law and Pub-lic AdministrationHNC/D Legal ServicesHND Legal Serv-ices

MUSICNQ MusicHNC Music

PROFESSIONAL COOKERYSVQ Level 2 Pro-fessional Cookery

FULL TIME COURSESAVAILABLE FOR 2009-2010

RETAIL & EN-TERPRISEPathways to Fash-ionIntroduction to Fashion RetailingNQ Fashion Re-tailing

SCIENCENQ ScienceHNC Applied Sci-encesHND Biomedical Sciences

SPORTS & SPORTS COACH-INGNQ Physical Edu-cation and Sports StudiesNQ Introduction to Sports StudiesNQ Preparation for Entry to Uni-formed ServicesHNC Police Stud-iesSVQ Level 2 Activ-ity LeaderHNC/HND Sports Coaching with Development of Sport

SUPPORTED EDUCATIONStarting OutCertification in LifeskillsESF PACEPhoenixThe Gap Project

THEATRE ARTSNQ Theatre ArtsHNC/D Acting & Performance

TRAVEL & TOURISMNQ Travel and TourismHNC TravelHNC/HND Tour-ismHND Travel and Tourism

VEHICLE EN-GINEERING &

WELDINGVehicle Engineer-ing Stage 1C & G Certifi-cate Level 1 VRQ Maintenance Repair and Vehicle BodyPre Apprenticeship Fabrication and WeldingFabrication and Welding: Stage 1Fabrication and Welding: Stage 2Fabrication and Welding: Stage 3Fabrication and Welding: Stage 4

VISUAL COM-MUNICATIONNQ Computer Art and DesignNQ PhotographyNQ Textiles and InteriorsNQ Visual Com-municationHNC PhotographyHND Contempo-rary Art PracticeHND TextilesHND Visual Communication (Graphic Design)HND Visual Com-munication (Illus-tration)HND Visual Com-munication (New Media)

18

Host families

lift from last year

Passport (lift but with changed dates)

Information and Enrolment session

Page 19

Tuesday 25 August from 10am-7pm. at Kingsway Campus.

Some of the advertised courses will be eligible for ILA funding. You must have applied for your individual learning account and received your account card and account number before booking a

Hottest ticket in town

Hotfoot from London’s West End singing student Donna Hazelton hosted the evening!Donna is a former winner of Channel 4’s ‘Musicality’ show - her prize being to perform in Chicago, taking the role of Mama Morton for one night only.The Lochgelly lass, however, impressed the show’s producers so much that she was engaged in the role for a whole month!Since then Donna toured the UK in “Girls Behind” with Sue Devaney and Maureen Nolan and, more recently in “Girls Night” with Lucy Speed and Gwyneth Strong and completed a European tour entitled “Best of Musicals”.Back from Europe Donna began studying at Dun-dee College music centre at the Graham Street Campus, in a bid to add a formal qualification to her experience.As well as playing host at the vocal showcase, the performer added her vocal talents to the

Dundee College music students once again made their much-loved Vocal Showcase the hot-test ticket in town using a few tricks to freshen up the format during the four-night run at The Space.

The Vocal Showcase stars shone bright at The Space (picture courtesy of The Courier, © D C Thomson & Co Ltd).

impressive show that the students performed in The Space.Students from both the NQ Music and HNC Modern Musicianship courses took part in the event.The 20-strong group of singers presented a Mo-town medley, a selection of Beatles’ favourites, an

assortment of songs from Jersey Boys, a musi-cal about Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, a choice of the best from Mama Mia, and, of course, songs from Chicago.Soloists also sang a range of classic tracks includ-ing ‘If I Could Turn Back Time’, ‘Walking in

Memphis’, ‘Anyone Who Had a Heart’ and ‘The Winner Takes it All’ sung by Donna, of course!The singers were sup-ported by a 12-piece band with lecturer and musical director Stuart Brand at the heart of things on the piano.This year, for the first

time ever, the full produc-tion was musically staged offering the audiences a far more professional presentation.Like any big production the Vocal Showcase was a joint effort with students from many disciplines becoming involved.NQ Video Audio students

were involved in this year’s show in a number of ways, filming the event, producing a DVD and capturing a live feed which was projected in real time on to two large screens at either side of the stage.The students had five cameras present at The

Space for the Vocal Showcase resulting in 14 tapes a night being filmedThis was just one of the projects that the group were involved in throughout the year including filming, editing and producing a DVD representing all Dundee College satellite centres.