Robert Beckford, a fair trade expert who has contributed to Channel Four and the BBC, is giving a talk at Exeter College next week.

He will be talking in the CCI theatre about his new film, “The Great African Scandal”, on Monday December 15th from 2pm.

The Religious Studies department organised the talk to fit in with its module “Equality in the Modern World”.

Robert Beckford from Oxford Brookes, Birmingham University and Channel Four will be showing excerpts from “The Great African Scandal” which discusses issues surrounding the fair-trade movement, its benefits and how there are lots of unresolved issues.

Dr. Beckford is a noted Academic whose specialist subject is Black Theology, and he is a regular contributor for the BBC and Channel 4.

By Livi Leonard

EXETER College’s Students’ Union is running an awareness day to warn teenagers of the dangers of binge-drinking.

During the run-up to Christmas the team are stressing the message: ‘Eat, drink, be merry’, rather than ‘Eat, drink, get wasted.’

The drink awareness day will be held on Monday 15th at the college’s main Hele Road site with activities to make students more aware of the effects of drinking.

The event will include giving out beer goggles to give students the vision of a drunk, an alcohol calculator to calculate the yearly, monthly and weekly price you can spend on alcohol, a guess the units test and a drink spiking exercise.

The union has also publicised the event with the slogan, “Everyone likes a drink…No-one likes a drunk.”

Natalie Tremlett, president of Exeter College Students’ union, said: “We just want to make people think a bit more about their drinking.
“We don’t want to stop them from enjoying themselves over the Christmas period but it’s about getting a balance of having fun and not putting themselves in danger and making themselves ill.”

09/10/08

STUDENTS and staff will benefit from a partnership between two of Devon’s biggest colleges as they join forces to run courses and bid for more Government cash, principals say.
Exeter College and Bicton College in East Devon are the latest further education establishments in the county to work more closely together after the merger between East and North Devon Colleges.
The Exeter-Bicton link is informal and a “close collaborative working arrangement”, and both colleges will retain their independence.
But staff will teach at both colleges and plan new IT resources and courses.
Bosses at both colleges have been working increasingly closely in recent years and those at Exeter have taken the decision not to run any land-based courses – Bicton’s specialism.

Courses there cover a specialised and complex area of the economy from primary food production and land management, animal health and welfare, engineering, arboriculture, equine, horticulture and floristry sectors to environmental conservation, green tourism and areas of food and drink, sport and leisure.
Exeter was the country’s first college to run both sixth-form and vocational courses. It now has around 10,000 students and a turnover of £32m. Bicton has 3,000 students and a turnover of £9m.
The partnership will also help both Exeter and Bicton plan for the new diplomas, set to start in Devon in 2009. The colleges already have a joint contract to deliver training in the workplace as part of the Government’s Train to Gain initiative and together run an outdoor leisure and tourism foundation degree.
“There are already links and we want to build on them,” said Exeter principal Richard Atkins. “It will lead to an increasing amount of expertise in both colleges and our curriculums complementing each other as well as more opportunities for staff to collaborate.
“It also means students will get impartial advice, for example, if they apply to Exeter but show an interest in land-based courses we will recommend they look at Bicton.”
Bicton principal Louise Twigg said: “We are the closest colleges geographically and this is the last piece in a jigsaw. It will allow us to think about different ways of working. We both have different areas of expertise so we would never have had to compete against each other anyway.”

18/10/08

EXETER College students have kicked off a year of fundraising.

The teenagers participated in RAG, or Raising and Giving week, with the highlight a sponsored jailbreak.

The students had to get as far away from Exeter as possible without spending any money.

The jailbreak is one of the college’s biggest fundraisers of the year.
All participants, wearing fancy dress, had eight hours to make their trip.

They were armed with charity buckets, a camera and a letter to the transport companies. Prizes were given to the team who raised most money and got furthest away.

Last year, the college’s Student Union raised just under £10,000 for Nightstop, the biggest ever since donation in the charity’s history.

From the Express and Echo 05/11/08

Name and age: Chris Lorimer, 41 (sadly I look older!), director of business and marketing, Exeter College.

First job (& pay-packet): Petrol pump attendant – £2 an hour.

What I’ve done in my career and how I got where I am today: I left Nottingham University with an archaeology degree and then joined Barclays Bank on its leadership programme.

I worked for the bank for 15 years and had a wide range of jobs – marketing, strategy, operations, risk analysis and sales. A large part of my career was involved in corporate banking and I was corporate director in the Midlands and London. My last role for the Barclays was head of operational excellence for the international and private bank.

In 2005, I left Barclays to relocate to the South West and take up this fantastic role at Exeter College.

I did it because I was spending too long in London and overseas and I seldom saw my children apart from at weekends. You realise life is passing you by without enjoying it as much as you should.

I have always been interested in teaching but haven’t been able to do the move for financial reasons, so an alternative was to go in at a higher level as a director.

My current job is much closer to my values and much more fulfilling. You won’t be surprised to learn that many of my old banking colleagues are wishing they had taken a similar career step.

Career high point: I loved my first real leadership job – as head of small business for Barclays – because of the enormous variety of businesses we were involved with. Also, winning national awards for introducing lean manufacturing techniques into Barclays was a great experience.

My current role is a real high point for me. It’s about everything from student recruitment and marketing and also primarily about employer engagement. We are here to support all the businesses across Exeter and Devon, whether they are a large player like Flybe, which we have a great working relationship with, to sole traders. I am very excited by the plans that Exeter College has to support students and employers across the region.

Career low point: Commuting to London from the Midlands for the best part of five years was pretty horrible – I wouldn’t recommend it, particularly if you have four children, as I do.

When I’m not working I like to: Be with my family – they are always doing something, especially music and rugby (my boys play for Cullompton RFC) – watching the Exeter Chiefs thrash the opposition, and pottering about in my garden. We also keep a few animals – pigs, chickens, ducks – which add a further level of chaos.

Things I’ve learned that I wish I’d known when I started: Never ever compromise on hiring the best people you can and always look for attitude over knowledge and skills when recruiting them.

I have always taken the view from quite an early stage that when you are hiring new staff you can quite quickly teach them the rudimentary knowledge they need to be effective, but it’s actually really difficult to give them the skills to get on with people and have a fantastic work ethic.

My advice to someone starting out in business now: Do something you enjoy and don’t be afraid to change direction if you have to.

I have changed career and many people I know have been flexible in their careers and have found it immensely rewarding. Nowadays people expect to have four or five careers in a working life, so unless you are one of the lucky people who knows exactly what you want to do from the age of 10, then be flexible and develop a range of skills.

My ambitions for the future: Ensure Exeter College continues to be successful in developing outstanding relations with employers and schools and to serve this fantastic community.

16/09/08

THESE are the nation’s first apprentices to start an innovative new programme offered by Exeter College and Flybe.

They will study for four years towards a new framework of qualifications in Aerospace Engineering.

It is the first apprenticeship of its kind in the country and will allow students to gain recognised industry requirements leading directly to employment.

These 33 young people will gain the qualifications and hands-on experience required to become a licensed aircraft engineers, earning a minimum of £30k by the time they are 21.

Unlike most apprenticeships where students spend most of their time training in the workplace with one day a week at college, these new apprentices will study full-time at college for two years before gaining on-the-job training in a real airline environment at Flybe’s headquarters at Exeter International Airport.

Chris Lorimer, Head of Business and Marketing at Exeter College, said: “This is a fantastic opportunity for all the new apprentices who will gain industry-leading qualifications and a career with a dynamic and respected employer.

“The course has been so popular it has attracted high-calibre recruits from as far afield as Manchester.”

Flybe’s Director of Safety, Quality & Training, Simon Witts adds:

“We have been overwhelmed by the response to this unique engineering qualification in partnership with Exeter College. This marks the real-time start of our new qualification training plan which, in due course, will overlay our entire training offering.

“With the aviation industry as a whole facing a shortage of engineers, we fully expect this programme to be adopted by other major airlines as well as by other transport providers.”

Both partners believe the immediate success of this initial apprenticeship programme will pave the way for other apprenticeship schemes that will have a stronger academic focus in addition to the normal, work-related training currently on offer.

Businesses in Devon can benefit from government-funded courses being offered by Exeter College in partnership with the Federation of Small Businesses to help them beat the credit crunch.

The Exeter Business School and the Exeter FSB have been working together over the past 18 months to set up bite-size training for small businesses at times convenient to them.

The short courses on strategic thinking, planning, marketing and sales will be run over three evenings next January and February at the Exeter Business School, which is part of Exeter College.

The groundbreaking scheme was launched at the Exeter FSB Small Business Awards earlier this year are and is aimed specifically at business managers and owners of small enterprises.

Very small businesses and those with under 250 employees may be eligible for funding to pay for the courses from the government support and advice service, Business Link.

Michelle Snowball, Head of Employer Engagement at Exeter College, said: “For small businesses to give up time for training it needs to be dynamic, inspirational and offer practical ideas which can be implemented straight away and have an immediate impact. These seminars are designed to help small businesses in Exeter and Devon think more strategically during the economic downturn.”

Nigel Hillier, Chair of the Exeter FSB said: “It is always difficult for owners of small businesses to find the time or money to attend training. I am delighted that working with the Exeter Business School we are able to offer what is clearly designed to be a short, relevant and focussed training opportunity which will be of value to all of us who are running a small business in the current difficult financial climate. Thinking strategically and looking at business planning and fresh marketing is often difficult when coping with the day to day work of just running the business. I hope that small business owners, like me, taking a few hours out to look at what we are doing in a more strategic way will provide a very valuable us of our time.”

To book a place or to find out more, ring the Exeter Business School on 01392 205958 or contact Nigel Hillier on 01392 669497.

FIVE Exeter College students are celebrating completing the challenging Prince’s Trust programme.

Daniel Peck, Marc Cox, Jamie Bouchier, Sophie Browne and Brian Short were awarded their certificates of achievement at a Presentation Night held at Exeter College recently.

Sophia Carmen, co-ordinator for Prince’s Trust at Exeter College, said: “I’d like to congratulate these 5 young people on The Prince’s Trust Team programme for undertaking and completing an intensive and demanding course, despite turbulent times within their own lives.

“I’d also like to thank the Team for the work they’ve put into both fundraising and community projects, and to stand witness to the personal growth that has occurred through their interaction with the programme, the community, and most importantly with each other.”

The next Prince’s Trust programme at Exeter College starts on 12th Jan ’09.

TALENTED Exeter College students are staging the popular Festival of Carols at the Cathedral next week.

The annual Christmas concert on Monday, December 15, at 7.30pm, will feature more than 100 students from the college’s orchestra and choirs.

Entry is free and no tickets are needed.

A collection will be made at the close of the concert in aid of Exeter College’s chosen charity this year, Devon Air Ambulance.

From the Express and Echo 28/11/08

GIRLS have been given the building blocks for careers in construction at Exeter College.

The college’s construction training centre at Falcon House, Sowton, invited over 50 girls from secondary schools across Devon to find out more about careers in the building industry.

The Women in Construction Day allowed youngsters to take part in workshops on carpentry, brickwork and electrical installation.
Jointly organised with Devon Education Business Partnership, the event also gave the pupils a chance to chat to construction tutors and current college construction students.

Nick Thom, civil engineering and construction lecturer at Exeter College, said: “This fun day allowed female students to experience what it would be like to take a course in construction. If you never pick up a chisel or trowel you will never know if you are interested. The industry needs more women to work in what has always been a male-dominated vocation. The students experienced several trade areas and hopefully have been inspired enough to consider construction as an option for learning or employment.”