Olympic tour busstops at BrunelCola bus stops

Love in the AirSupermarket romance

Brunel's big welcome3 days of fun

Brunel leaps up theleague tablesA good year for Brunel

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bi-newsletter@brunel.ac.uk WINTER 2011Brunel INTERNATIONAL

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Christmas is the biggest national holiday in the UK, with the celebrations often lasting forweeks. By early November, ‘Xmas’ lights are appearing in cities and the stores are filling up

with traditional merchandise.Don't worry if you don't observe Christmas religiously though. It has become a majorcultural holiday and an excuse for people of all faiths in the UK to meet friends, eattoo much and generally have a good time. And we'll make sure you're included!

Brunel International organises various events in the run up to Christmas. We throw aChristmas party and other events such as cookie baking. For students staying oncampus over Christmas, some of our international scholarship winners will be organisinga party and cooking a traditional turkey dinner on December 26th.

Our campus accommodation is open all over Christmas, but if you want to see how aUK family really celebrates the festival, then our hosting scheme is for you.

This operates all year round, offering Brunel's international students the chance tostay with families around the UK. This includes the Christmas period and it's free ofcharge. You will get the chance to watch the Queen's speech on TV, sitting by theXmas tree, to put on a daft paper hat and share the terrible jokes found in Xmascrackers and marvel at how much food and drink a family can get through in one day!

To help people recover, Six Degrees, our international student society, is organising anice skating trip to the Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park. Or of course you couldalways do a few laps of our Olympic standard athletics track!

Get into the Brunel spirit!

It's official.Studying herepaysBrunel students are some of the highest earningGraduates six months after leaving university,according to the influential consultancy,Pantheon Group.The survey looked at the qualifications people heldon entering university to understand how much'value' their education added to their careers.

Brunel came 13th in the salary table, ahead of suchuniversities as Royal Holloway, Goldsmiths, Exeterand Durham.

Commenting, Calli Amiras, International CareersAdvisor, said: “This is a great result for Brunel andshows that our emphasis on 'career-relevant' studypays off.”

Brunel research winsRoyal awardBrunel researchers in theInstitute for the Environmenthave been awarded the Queen’sAnniversary prize. This bi-annual award is part of the UKHonours system and is the mostprestigious form of nationalrecognition an academicinstitution can be awarded.

The Institute was selected as one of the award winnersfor its work into the effects of environmental pollution inrivers, particularly looking at how chemicals in everydayuse can easily find their way into drinking water supplies,and the serious problems this can cause. The Institutewas also honoured because of its global reach, as ourworld respected researchers like Professor John Sumpterwere able to engage with policy makers and industry tofind ways of treating or banning these dangerouschemicals. You can read more about the award atwww.royalanniversarytrust.org.uk

Scholarships forInternational StudentsBrunel University is delighted to announce 30 internationalscholarships of £3,000 plus an additional 8 £2,000 alumnischolarships, which are awarded by our alumni office.The aim of the scholarships is to provide financial support toexceptional students, who will then go on to represent Brunel asambassadors throughout their time at the University. Thescholarship scheme is open to any international student applying foran undergraduate, postgraduate or research programme to commencein the academic year 2012/13. For more information please visit:www.brunel.ac.uk/international/scholarships or scan the QR code tovisit the site.

A record 400 new internationalstudents took part in ourorientation programme thisyear, for 3 days of information,guided tours and fun.

Amongst other things, therewere talks on how to open abank account and how to get a part-time job. Plus ourfriendly campus police officer presented an entertaining

guide to UK law andstaying safe around thecity.Pro Vice ChancellorProfessor Ian Campbellgave a welcome speech,including some light-

Brunel's big welcome

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It's been a really good year for theUniversity in the National StudentSurvey. Almost 1,900 of our finalyear students took part and theiropinions moved us up 78 places inthe 'overall satisfaction' table, tonumber 45.Courses in subjects such as BusinessStudies, Maths & Statistics, History,Physiotherapy and Media Studieswere rated especially highly and manyothers rose dramatically in the ratings.We also jumped up 10 places, to 39 inthe Sunday Times University Guide2012. 11 of our subject areas are nowranked 25th or better nationally.

Faith on campusIf you need some peace and quiet to think, or to practise yourfaith, there's the perfect place on campus. The Meeting House hasspaces for prayer and meditation for all faiths.Christian, Muslim and Hindu chaplains are at the House at set timeseach week and organise religiously inspired activities and events,many of which are inter-faith.

Canadian Paralympiansto train at BrunelThe Canadian Paralympic team will be using Brunel as itstraining base for 2012. They'll follow members of the SouthKorean Olympic team who've also chosen the University fortheir preparations.

With an indoor athletics centre, an international standard outdoorathletics and sports park, an exercise studio and two sports halls,we've a lot to offer sportsmen and women, whatever their ability.After all, the one and only Usain Bolt has trained here for the pasttwo summers!

Travel updateAs you can seefrom the photosbelow, ourrecruitmentteam have beenmeetingstudents atexotic locations around the world.International Career’s advisor CalliAmiras has also been speaking at twoevents on employment in India. We’vealready got loads of trips and eventsplanned for 2012, so head over towww.brunel.ac.uk/international<http://www.brunel.ac.uk/international> tosee where weare going next.

See the world onExchangeStudying at Brunel means you may be eligible to study part ofyour course with another European university under theERASMUS scheme.You study for between 3 months and oneacademic year, which counts towards your Brunel course creditsand doesn't involve additional tuition fees. You can even applyfor a living expenses grant.

It's a great way to experience life in another European countryduring your Undergraduate or Postgraduate Degree – Just askProduct Design studentLuke Bacon who spent ayear on placement atDelft University ofTechnology inthe Netherlands, and waseven appointed as anErasmus Ambassador bythe British Council.

You can read about hisexperiences – frommisadventureswith bicycles to what helearned on his course –as well as more aboutthe exchanges we offer,on the BrunelInternational website.

Meet Katharina StirlandYou've just joined Brunel International.What will your job involve?My role as International Student ServicesOfficer is very varied. I'llbe helping international students withquestions or problems to dowith living or studying here. We alsoorganise lots of exciting eventsand day trips – and I'll be writing aboutthem in our fortnightlynewsletter called “Six Degrees”.

How's it been so far?It’s been fantastic! I started at the busiest time of the year, just as allthe international students were arriving on campus. A ‘fresher’myself, I helped with our Orientation Programme and Freshers’Week. It was very exciting to meet all the new students and I’mlooking forward to seeing them progress.

Where are you from?I'm originally from a relatively small town in the north west ofGermany. I first came to the UK on a one-year exchange programmeand enjoyed it so much that I ended up going to university here aswell.

Do you travel much and what's been yourfavourite destination so far?I love travelling. I've been to most countries in Western Europe anddecided to travel around the world a while ago - My best decisionever! Favourite place? Difficult! Probably New Zealand, but I alsolove Italy and Marrakech. I'm cycling in Vietnam and Cambodianext!

What do you like to do outside of work?Now that I live in London, I often pick a random country and find arestaurant to try out. I have recently had Afghan and Eritrean food –both yummy! Apart from that, I'm learning the piano and Chinesewhich are both quite challenging.

Is there anything you'd like to tell people thinking of goinginto higher education and maybe coming to Brunel?For me going to university in another country was fantastic. It's achallenge, but really enhances your learning experience. As well asgetting a good degree, you can learn so much from extra-curricularactivities and Brunel's perfect for this, being so close to London andon a great campus!

hearted advice on juggling work and fun, based on hisexperiences from when he was a student.

Other highlights were the coach trips: one to Oxford, oneof the UK's most historic cities (and home to a certainuniversity); and another to Brighton for a walk along thepier and a chance to try some traditional British fish andchips. In the evening, students tried traditional Celticdancing at a 'Celidh'.

Queenie Mann from Hong Kong isstudying an MA in InternationalJournalism. She said: “I spent a nicetime with some fellow freshers (firstyear students) in Oxford, and theyare now my first group of goodfriends at Brunel.”

Brunel leapsup the leaguetables

Orientation, includingan airport pick-upservice, is free forinternational studentspaying full tuition fees.

At the end ofOrientation students

enjoyed a trip into London, arranged by our studentmentors. As you can see from the photos, Bendy Bruneldecided to come too.

Go to our website to readmore about our welcomeprogramme.

Winter 2011 fiftyone°north 3

The Uxbridge branch of Tesco’s Supermarket might not be the first place you think of whenyou think of romance, but it was the meeting place of Sophie and Alvis, two Brunel studentswho tied the knot back home in China earlier thisyear – and Bendy Brunel was there to wish themwell! In 2009 Alvis came to Brunel via LIBT’sPre-Master’s programme, completing an MSc inMarketing. The same year Sophie attended one ofIPLC’s six week pre-sessional courses beforedoing an MSc in International Business. They metand, as the saying goes, the rest is history. Sophieis also our Alumni Ambassador for China, so ifyou have any questions about Brunel (such as thedirections to Tesco’s…) be sure to chat to her onBaidu and QQ.

Love in the Air

Brunel's School of Arts will soon be rocking to the poems andteaching of British performance poet, Benjamin Zephaniah,who's taken up a chair here in creative writing.ARastafarian, vegan and martial arts expert, Benjamin grew up inBirmingham and became an established poet locally by the age of 15,despite his reading difficulties.He was voted the UK's third favourite poet of all time (behind TS Eliotand John Donne) in a 2009 BBC poll, so students here will be learningfrom an exceptional artist who wants to make Brunel 'known forperformance poetry’.You can find out more about him at http://www.benjaminzephaniah.com

Performancepoet takes newcreative chair

Brunel gains 600m viewers!Brunel University is going to be seen in an opening title sequence of China's Got Talent. 200 of our Chinese students were filmedon campus, waving to camera and to an expected TV audience of 600 million people.The show was visiting the UK to hold auditions and 5 lucky acts will be flown to Shanghai in November to compete in the series,with the prize of a possible contract with the Sony Group.

Introducing...The School ofSocial SciencesBrunel is a great choice if you want to study socialsciences at undergraduate or postgraduate level.Our vibrant, multidisciplinary school provides manyexciting courses, drawn from five key subject areas:anthropology, economics & finance, politics &history, psychology and sociology &communications.You would be joining over 2,000 students fromaround the world and learning from internationallyrenowned experts who are regularly consulted bygovernment, industry and the media. All teachinghere is rated 'excellent' by the UK’s QualityAssurance Agency for Higher Education (QAA).Designed with careers in mind, our undergraduatecourses offer professional work placements deliveredby our award winning Placement and Careers Centre(PCC).

Amanda Rohloff, PhDCandidate, Departmentof Sociology andCommunicationsAmanda, from New Zealand, is pursuing a Sociology PhD whichexplores how climate change has developed as a social problem. In2010, she and a team organised a three-day conference, ‘MoralPanics in the Contemporary World’, which was featured on BBCRadio 4.

“I chose to do my PhD at Brunel University because of the quality andenthusiasm of my supervisor, the exciting research areas within theSchool of Social Sciences, and the location of Brunel. I have hadopportunities to collaborate with research staff on publications andorganising research events, which have been invaluable learningexperiences.”

Working withBrunelBrunel works with agents worldwide in orderto counsel students applying to theuniversity.Sevda Oncel Budd setup British EducationBureau (BEB) in 2004and has beenrepresenting Brunel inTurkey almost fromthe start. BEB has sentover 200 PG, UG,Foundation andlanguage students here since then; more thanto any other university.

Sevda, what do you think are the best pointsabout Brunel?Excellent courses and teaching, great all-roundcampus facilities and your location, close toCentral London. Also, around 70% of ourstudents are postgraduates and Brunel has highquality MSc, MBA, MA and LLM programmesto offer them.

What have students who came here told you?Typical feedback is very positive and includescomments such as being surprised by thenumber of different nationalities studying atBrunel, how friendly the staff are, how good thecampus facilities are and how convenient it isfor Central London and HeathrowAirport.

What do you tell people about studying inLondon?I warn anyone thinking of studying at one of thecentral London universities that it's anexpensive place to live and that being out withBrunel in West London would be more costeffective. Then I tell them to make the most ofbeing in such a great city!

BEB has offices in Istanbul,Ankara and Izmir. Seewww.britisheducation.com.trfor contact details or ring +90212 2444000 (Istanbul office).

At postgraduate level you can choose from a range ofunique and innovative taught courses which includeintelligence & security studies, international relations,medical anthropology and cross-cultural psychology(the latter being one of only a few of its kind in theworld).We're also an excellent choice for postgraduateresearch, offering the opportunity to pursue a range ofspecialist disciplines. You will be supervised byleading experts whose work was highly rated in thelast UK Research Assessment Exercise (RAE),delivering world class research across our innovativeresearch centres.To find out more about the School please go to:-http://www.brunel.ac.uk/sss

We are always keen to hearnews on what Bendy Brunel isup to – If you have any picturesof him that you would like toshare, please email them to bi-newsletter@brunel.ac.ukand let us know wherethey were taken.

We will put them all onour website and featurethe best ones in thismagazine.

Bendy Brunel

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brunel life

fiftyone° north was brought to you by Brunel International, a team at BrunelUniversity dedicated to supporting international students in their studies.

Words: Pete Greenfield Images: Sally Trussler Design: FAS Media LtdTo contact the editorial team, please email bi-newsletter@brunel.ac.uk

Brunel group to trekthe Great WallA group of Brunel Students will be Trekking The Great Wall of China at the end ofJune 2012, to help raise funds for Childreach International(http://www.childreach.org.uk/).

The trek lasts for a total of 11 days and includes a whole cultural exploration of China,taking in the Shanhaiguan Pass, the East Qing Tomb, 'Heaven's Ladder' and the Nine-EyeTower.

Childreach International workswith local communities in thedeveloping world to help improvechildren's access to healthcare,education, human rights andprotection, so that they can reachtheir full potential in life.

You can donate online, if youwould like to, at

https://mydonate.bt.com/fundraisers/ragchair

Family Fun Days150 mums and dads, including staffmembers, students and their partners, gottogether at family parties organised byBrunel International this year.A face painter and balloon bender kept thechildren entertained, giving parents the chance to socialise andmake new friends.Dr Hua Dong, proud father and senior design lecturer in theSchool of Engineering Design, wrote in and told us: “I'd say thisis a great initiative. Well done!”

Brunel student sky divesfor African kidsBrunel Anthropolgy Undergraduate,Bethan Crisp, will be parachuting out ofan aircraft at 15,000 feet to raise moneyfor children at the Nkoaranga orphanagein Tanzania.Children can stay at the orphanage until age5, but then need £700 each to secure a placeat a quality boarding school where they cancontinue their education.Bethan visited Nkoaranga during her gapyear, when she taught English to Africanchildren, staying ten months instead of herplanned three.So far she and her fellow volunteers haveraised enough money to send three childrento school. Go to www.thesmallthings.org ifyou would like to sponsor her or to donate.

The Coca Cola Olympic tour bus, completewith DJ and sound system, was greeted byover 1,000 Brunel students when it visitedcampus in early October.Students, like Mohammad Khan, a BusinessManagement &Accounting student from Pakistan,were able to get their hands on the Olympic torch,nominate a torch bearer and even apply to become aBrunel Olympic Ambassador.

Olympic tour bus stops at Brunel

I'm Meg, originally from Montana, but myheart resides in Portland, Oregon.I moved to England to study an MA inCreative Writing because I'm an obsessiveAnglophile, as well as a massive Doctor Whofan. I spend most of my time exploring andtaking photos, watching geeky television, andtrying to figure out how to become the nextJK Rowling.”You can read about Meg's adventures, alongwith blogs from other international students atwww.brunel.ac.uk/international

Meet The Blogger: Meg

Product Design Graduate winstop awardProduct Design EngineeringGraduate Buster Palmano has wonthe New DesignersInterContinental Hotels Group Award for his innovative ceiling fan design.Buster, who graduated in July, was also an award-winner at Made In Brunel, our yearlydesign exhibition, which is strongly supported by industry.Google: Made In Brunel for details.

Introducing the Student UnionWe often get asked by international students about the students union and what itdoes. World Student Chair, Danish Merchant, explains...“The vital role of the Union of Brunel Students is to represent your views to the University,locally and nationally. That could be on anything from course fees or immigration policy tohousing.“Our officers can advise you on lots of different welfare issues, such as finances oremployment rights, and in addition we run a variety of clubs and societies, for sports,religion, the arts and more.“We have our own campus radio station and in the union building you can have a drink inLoco's (our bar), dance in Academy (our club) or eat at Pronto (our cafe).“There are plenty of ways to get involved in the Union, from volunteering a few hours aweek to standing for election to the presidency.”

My home from home -Xiaocan WangMy name is Xiaocan Wang. I am from China and am doing an MA inDesign & Branding Strategy in the Engineering & Design School. Istudied the English@Brunel Course before that.Isambard Complex is the newest hall on campus, and my room is spacious and welldesigned, with great facilities. The rooms have big windows so you can enjoy the sunriseor sunset!