Comment 13

Kaisa Berg

Dawn Bonar

PROTESTING against the rules that men who have had sex with men in the last 12 months can-not donate blood by denying the NHS the chance to recruit do-nors on campus is a mistake.

The NHS claims that homosex-uals have a statistically increased risk of contracting HIV com-pared to heterosexuals, but cam-paigners say a donor should be evaluated on the risk they pose by the behaviour they engage in, rather than purely on their sexu-al orientation.

Homosexuals who are in re-lationships and practice safe sex are not allowed to donate blood, whereas heterosexuals who en-gage in risky sexual behaviour can, so the current rules are clearly discriminatory.

The campaign has gathered strength in the past through em-ploying evidence-based research and petitions to change what was

until 2011 a lifetime ban on gay men donating blood.

This has been a controversial issue for some time, but deny-ing the National Blood Service the opportunity to recruit new donors risks having too much of a negative impact on ill people who depend on blood donations to live.

It is argued that the statistics concerning the risk of HIV are irrelevant because all blood be-ing donated is screened for dis-eases anyway.

Despite medical developments that can discover signs of HIV in a person’s blood earlier than ever in order to be certain of a neg-ative result, a six month waiting period from exposure to the virus is needed.

This is an extremely com-plicated issue both medically and politically, but protesting through boycotting the National Blood Service could affect far too many sick people.

Although the LGBT society are not alone in feeling this is a hom-ophobic policy, their suggestion to boycott donating needs to be dropped and other methods of

On Course

Don’t boycott blood banks

Do we pay too much for our education?

THIS is the first of a regular fea-ture and you are probably won-dering who I am.

I am responsible for making sure Kingston does the best it can for you. As part of the Vice Chancellor’s office, I am also someone who can ensure your voice is heard by those who can do something about it.

I was the first in my family to go to University, so I have strug-gled with feeling like I don’t belong, but I realised there was lots of help on hand and look what happened to me. This col-umn will give you tips and ad-vice about how you can get help and help yourself to achieve your aims.

Since joining Kingston in 2012, we have given you a stronger voice. We have listened and installed fast WiFi across all campuses enabling much more flexible ways of learning and teaching.

We have started to refurbish a number of buildings and lecture theatres, with more to come. We have now got 3,000 new computers and other devices in our libraries.

Our courses have changed, giving you a chance to learn how to do well in assessment. Fewer exams and less bunching of coursework.

We are building on our links with employers, keeping cours-es relevant and real, increasing opportunities for you to develop skills that employers want.

Last year, we launched the Kingston Award to recognise the extra-curricular learning you do such as volunteering, sports and student leadership.

We’ve already given bronze, silver and gold awards at grad-uation. It looks good on your Higher Education Achievement Report (HEAR) too.

So we have listened and we have responded but we want to hear more. Drop me an email with your ideas (l.eales-reyn-olds@kingston.ac.uk), or stop me and say hello. If you want to know more, why not visit the blog http://blogs.kingston.ac.uk/kulandt/ Or you can fol-low me on Twitter @PVCEdKU

Lesley-Jane Eales-Reynolds, Deputy Vice-Chancellor for Education

protest have to be considered.Even if you disagree with the

NHS on their policy, you should donate blood , if you are eligible and help save lives.

BEING among the first year of students having to pay up to £9,000 a year for tuition it was not surprising to see the Which? report stating that almost a third of students did not think they got good value for money on their course.

It was more surprising to see a fifth of graduates felt the same. Before 2012 students paid up to £3,375 a year - that is just a third of what those starting after Sep-tember 2012 pay.

One of the top concerns of graduates surveyed was the fact that for the money paid there were not many hours actually teaching them anything.

With contact hours somewhere between eight and 12 hours a week, even under the old fees it is a high hourly rate of around £15. Now it stands at around £45 an hour, which is pretty extor-tionate, especially if there have been no dramatic changes in the quality of teaching.

Inconsistent teaching quality

was another area of complaint in the Which? report. This is a tough complaint to address. Tu-tors have a lot of information to pass on and can choose to do this in their own way; some might have more interactive sessions, some will just talk at you for an hour and respond to questions. Is it that the quality of teaching is not consistent or is it just that those different styles of teaching do not agree with all students?

One area that I think King-ston does well in is the support given to go on to get a good job after university, another of the top complaints from the re-port. There are always invites to university events where you can meet prospective employ-ers, with great opportunities to network. We also have the KU Talent service who run work-shops aimed to give you advice and support on anything from CV writing to body language and networking, as well as offering a drop in service.

Considering the views of both those graduating under the lower

fees, as well as current students it is clear that there are two things that need to happen in order to both keep students happy and to continue to entice new students:

tuition fees need to be reduced and the level of support as well as the quality of teaching needs to dramatically improve across all universities.

A fifth of graduates and nearly a third of undergraduates do not think they get value for money out of their courses

REX FEATURESBlood donations save lives

University is not good value REX FEATURES

12 Comment

Support for Palestine in a London protest against the con�lict in Gaza

Bauke Schram

KUSU should remain neutral in Gaza confl ict APART from Cheesy Fridays, the Christmas market and the convenient location, it is Kingston’s international and multicultural diversity that made me fall in love with this place and this university.

Over the last couple of years, I have experienced Eid, Thanksgiving and even Norwegian Constitution Day.

I understand that, beautiful as it is, this wide variety of cultures and ethnicities can put the University and the Student Union in a very diffi cult position sometimes, especially when it comes to international confl icts.

A motion was put forward to KUSU offi cers about ties the university has with Israeli companies that profi t from the Palestinian occupation.

While withdrawing from organisations that play a part in a confl ict is a wise idea, the SU

has taken this motion a huge leap forward, maybe even too far.

They have noted that they want to fl y the Palestinian fl ag over their offi ce and urge the university to provide fully-funded scholarships to potential students from Palestine

Let me make one thing very clear: I understand that what is going on in Palestine is horrible. Actions from both sides have killed way too many, and it is true that Palestinian citizens in particular have suffered from an extreme regime.

But that does not take away from the fact that the Israel/Palestine confl ict is a complex one which has been going on for decades, arguably centuries, and about which dozens of verdicts, declarations and agreements have been signed, many of which are contradictory.

People discussing this sensitive topic have used terms such as, apartheid and anti-Semitism.

These phrases are loaded with tensions because of the injustices from the 20th century in South-Africa and Germany.

Taking all these things into consideration, the wisest thing for the SU to do would probably be to take a neutral stance, and condemn the violence in itself rather than the actions of one of the parties in an armed clash.

Showing solidarity with Palestinian victims would not even be a bad idea, if they did not say that the only goal of this gesture is to isolate Israel.

The notes the SU made to this motion are childish and short-sighted, as good as the intentions probably are.

It seems that the Student Union’s urge to come across as politically correct causes them to actually choose sides in a confl ict, when they should be neutral.

Supporting Palestine is a cause quite popular among young people, but not everyone at

Kingston will see Israel as the only bad guy in this confl ict.

Despite the fact that a lot of students will agree, the SU should not make judgement calls on international warfare, on behalf of us all, even though some of the offi cers might personally feel that way.

KUSU should represent all KU students. Those with families back in Israel as well as Palestine. Jewish students, as well as Muslim students.

Urging the university to provide scholarships to potential students just because of their nationality is ridiculous and totally unfair.

Hanging a Palestinian fl ag out of the SU is exclusive and unnecessarily biased.

I can understand that the SU wants to take a stance on brutality, but the way it is dealing with this confl ict is unprofessional and lacks a feeling of representation.

REX FEATURES

PHARMACEUTICAL science lecturer-turned-UKIP coun-cillor Nicholas Wood’s sud-den career change throws up a number of issues with a student body that is by-and-large left wing.

It makes us wonder – has he actually looked around King-ston University’s campus’? There are over 4,000 interna-tional students roaming the halls every day. These same in-ternational students may be sit-ting in his lectures, feeling that they are being unfairly judged by a man who is standing for a political party with a strong an-ti-immigration stance.

We are a free country, we welcome freedom of speech and democracy. We welcome diver-sity, in fact the world would be a boring place if we all held the same opinions and beliefs.

Every man or woman is wel-come to stand for whichever political party they choose.

However, we think that in view of the multi-cultural stu-dent body here, which the uni-versity is proud of, it would be sensible for Wood to stand down.

The prospect of being mobbed by left-wing and foreign stu-dents and lecturers can’t be sa-voury for a man in his position anyway.

Last Wednesday, 30 Kingston students participated in anoth-er march against student fees in defi ance of the NUS and its re-fusal to back the protest.

Considering that nearly 200 students arrived from Reading University, which has a much smaller student body than us, we had an abysmal turnout.

It makes us wonder what Reading is doing to attract po-litically motivated students to their cause that we’re not. Mon-etary incentives? Free beer? Or is it just that our students like throwing their loan money out of the window?

Reading, if you’ve got any tips, you are welcome to get in touch.

The River says

Comment 13

Kaisa Berg

Dawn Bonar

PROTESTING against the rules that men who have had sex with men in the last 12 months can-not donate blood by denying the NHS the chance to recruit do-nors on campus is a mistake.

The NHS claims that homosex-uals have a statistically increased risk of contracting HIV com-pared to heterosexuals, but cam-paigners say a donor should be evaluated on the risk they pose by the behaviour they engage in, rather than purely on their sexu-al orientation.

Homosexuals who are in re-lationships and practice safe sex are not allowed to donate blood, whereas heterosexuals who en-gage in risky sexual behaviour can, so the current rules are clearly discriminatory.

The campaign has gathered strength in the past through em-ploying evidence-based research and petitions to change what was

until 2011 a lifetime ban on gay men donating blood.

This has been a controversial issue for some time, but deny-ing the National Blood Service the opportunity to recruit new donors risks having too much of a negative impact on ill people who depend on blood donations to live.

It is argued that the statistics concerning the risk of HIV are irrelevant because all blood be-ing donated is screened for dis-eases anyway.

Despite medical developments that can discover signs of HIV in a person’s blood earlier than ever in order to be certain of a neg-ative result, a six month waiting period from exposure to the virus is needed.

This is an extremely com-plicated issue both medically and politically, but protesting through boycotting the National Blood Service could affect far too many sick people.

Although the LGBT society are not alone in feeling this is a hom-ophobic policy, their suggestion to boycott donating needs to be dropped and other methods of

On Course

Don’t boycott blood banks

Do we pay too much for our education?

THIS is the first of a regular fea-ture and you are probably won-dering who I am.

I am responsible for making sure Kingston does the best it can for you. As part of the Vice Chancellor’s office, I am also someone who can ensure your voice is heard by those who can do something about it.

I was the first in my family to go to University, so I have strug-gled with feeling like I don’t belong, but I realised there was lots of help on hand and look what happened to me. This col-umn will give you tips and ad-vice about how you can get help and help yourself to achieve your aims.

Since joining Kingston in 2012, we have given you a stronger voice. We have listened and installed fast WiFi across all campuses enabling much more flexible ways of learning and teaching.

We have started to refurbish a number of buildings and lecture theatres, with more to come. We have now got 3,000 new computers and other devices in our libraries.

Our courses have changed, giving you a chance to learn how to do well in assessment. Fewer exams and less bunching of coursework.

We are building on our links with employers, keeping cours-es relevant and real, increasing opportunities for you to develop skills that employers want.

Last year, we launched the Kingston Award to recognise the extra-curricular learning you do such as volunteering, sports and student leadership.

We’ve already given bronze, silver and gold awards at grad-uation. It looks good on your Higher Education Achievement Report (HEAR) too.

So we have listened and we have responded but we want to hear more. Drop me an email with your ideas (l.eales-reyn-olds@kingston.ac.uk), or stop me and say hello. If you want to know more, why not visit the blog http://blogs.kingston.ac.uk/kulandt/ Or you can fol-low me on Twitter @PVCEdKU

Lesley-Jane Eales-Reynolds, Deputy Vice-Chancellor for Education

protest have to be considered.Even if you disagree with the

NHS on their policy, you should donate blood , if you are eligible and help save lives.

BEING among the first year of students having to pay up to £9,000 a year for tuition it was not surprising to see the Which? report stating that almost a third of students did not think they got good value for money on their course.

It was more surprising to see a fifth of graduates felt the same. Before 2012 students paid up to £3,375 a year - that is just a third of what those starting after Sep-tember 2012 pay.

One of the top concerns of graduates surveyed was the fact that for the money paid there were not many hours actually teaching them anything.

With contact hours somewhere between eight and 12 hours a week, even under the old fees it is a high hourly rate of around £15. Now it stands at around £45 an hour, which is pretty extor-tionate, especially if there have been no dramatic changes in the quality of teaching.

Inconsistent teaching quality

was another area of complaint in the Which? report. This is a tough complaint to address. Tu-tors have a lot of information to pass on and can choose to do this in their own way; some might have more interactive sessions, some will just talk at you for an hour and respond to questions. Is it that the quality of teaching is not consistent or is it just that those different styles of teaching do not agree with all students?

One area that I think King-ston does well in is the support given to go on to get a good job after university, another of the top complaints from the re-port. There are always invites to university events where you can meet prospective employ-ers, with great opportunities to network. We also have the KU Talent service who run work-shops aimed to give you advice and support on anything from CV writing to body language and networking, as well as offering a drop in service.

Considering the views of both those graduating under the lower

fees, as well as current students it is clear that there are two things that need to happen in order to both keep students happy and to continue to entice new students:

tuition fees need to be reduced and the level of support as well as the quality of teaching needs to dramatically improve across all universities.

A fifth of graduates and nearly a third of undergraduates do not think they get value for money out of their courses

REX FEATURESBlood donations save lives

University is not good value REX FEATURES