Highlight on government plans to change the funding structure and conditions of student associations, work of electrical engineering department on speech verification in credit card machines and energy efficiency planning, plus news of expanding student leasing scheme for local authority flats.
0.00 Start
0.55 Brian Lindsay interviews Student President Rachel Thomas about Government plans to change the way that Student Associations are funded in order to ensure money is not misspent on inappropriate party political style campaigning. Activities were to be split into two areas - “core” (funded) and “non-core” (not funded). Core was defined as catering, welfare, internal representation, sports. Argument was that DIT societies were built around educational activities that are good for students to engage in (e.g. science society, quantity surveying societies) and that need funded (e.g. to bring in external speakers). In addition, the proposal to bar students from engaging in political activity. Students associations were impartial in regard to party politics, but there were other political issues that affected students and that they spoke out on (e.g. the student campaign for university status for DIT). The proposed changes would have prevented students from speaking out on these wider issues that affected them and that they had a right involve themselves in. She comments on the importance of the Students Association, run by students for students, that they take responsibility for and that contributes to their rounded education.
3.55 Jeff Ferguson interviews Andy Sepaluk from the Electronic and Electrical Engineering Department about speech verification in credit card machines in order to prevent cash / credit card fraud.
6.35 Jeff Ferguson interviews Dr Suhale Ozveron from the Electronic and Electrical Engineering Department about his project to improve electrical power system planning to make the power generation process more efficient, and make it more environmentally friendly.
9.10 Jeff Ferguson interviews Dr Peter Martin in the Electronic and Electrical Engineering Department about the career and further education opportunities for graduates from its courses.
12.45 Quiz: Honours students from the Department of Accountancy Mabel Cheung, Julie Hughes, John Potts, John Keogh. Questions on their specialist subject and general knowledge.
17.35 Brian Lindsay’s News Round-up. Announcement on the scrapping of Saturday night opening of the Marketgait Students Union due to poor take-up of the Saturday disco. Announcement of the Students Association Hardship Fund, administered by Student Services, providing emergency loans to students. Expansion of Scheme to lease local authority flats to students – before the expansion there were 9 flats on Kingsway East and Butterburn Court available to students, and it was hoped to lease more if there was sufficient demand. DIT Football Team was near the bottom of the Midland League Division 2 after being defeated 3-0 by Arbroath High School and they only had 3 points from their first 4 games, caused by injury problems and difficulties raising a team at the beginning of term that led to a game having to be conceded due to insufficient numbers.
19.41 End

Highlight on Department of Business Studies, inc Behavioural Studies research on polling and marketing techniques in pain measurement, Business School course in retail management, and research on “cut price shopping”. Also news of student “Reclaim the Night” march and vigil for the Women’s Safety campaign for Zero Tolerance for violence against women.
0.00 Start
0.45 Jimmy Black interviews Behavioural Psychologist Mike Swanston in the Dept of Business Studies about pain, and the use of animated pictures in multiple choice questionnaires to help measure pain. Also being developed for opinion polls and marketing.
06.25 Jimmy Black interviews John Fearney at the Dundee Business School in Dudhope Castle about the new course being developed in Retail Studies, and research on trends in “cut-price shopping”.
09.45 Jimmy Black speaks to Stewart Howe about courses and career opportunities for graduates from the Department of Business Studies.
11.50 Quiz: Dept of Mathematics and Computer Sciences – Gary Reynolds, Neil McEwan, Roy Middleton, Alan Clark. Questions on their specialist subject and general knowledge.
17.10 Brian Lindsay – News Roundup, intimation of “Reclaim the Night” march and vigil for Women’s Safety Campaign tying in with the new Zero Tolerance poster campaign raising awareness of women’s safety and men’s awareness of women’s fears. Upcoming inaugural meeting of the Anti-Racism society with a cheese and wine night at the Marketgait building. Notes the society is meeting against a backdrop of increased racial intolerance and British National Party activity across the country. Upcoming Halloween party in the Marketgait with associated party games. Mixed Hockey Team and Rugby Team are in training preparing for their first games in the Inter University League (to which the Hockey Team has just been admitted). DIT Football Team won their last match 3-1 against Birkhead on Saturday. Scorers were Terry Thomas, Willy Patrick, and Scott Symon. They now have 5 points from 5 games.
19.37 End

Highlight on forging international links – establishment of MBA programmes overseas, joint overseas research programme in studying dry rot, franchising courses overseas, overseas studying opportunities and facilitating international students studies at DIT. DIT rugby player Andy Nicoll won an international cap playing for Scotland against the All Blacks.

0.00 Start
0.40 Brian Lindsay speaks to Graham Martin in the Dundee Business School about DIT’s international links being forged through the School through the establishment of MBA programmes in Hong Kong, Malaysia, Europe (Cyprus, Greece). Dr John Palfreyman in School of Life Sciences speaks about his research programme with Danish and English partners studying dry rot, and the benefits of developing international links for both research and benefits for students. Tony Dinning speaks about his experiences in Perugia in Italy. Graham Martin explains the process of franchising courses abroad, particularly the experience supporting colleagues in Kazakhstan with this. Alex Buchner a postgraduate student from Heidelberg in Germany speaks about his experiences studying Software Engineering at DIT. Grahame Martin expresses the view that the international links demonstrate DIT’s credibility as a higher education institution.
9.00 Quiz – students from Civil Engineering and Quantity Surveying. Neil Stewart, Cameron Findlay, Arthur Bell, Ian Beet. Questions on their specialist subject and general knowledge.
14.50 Brian Lindsay’s news roundup. DIT Student Association President commented negatively on proposals in the Education Bill to reform student unions outlined in Queen’s Speech for the upcoming parliamentary session. DIT Anti-Racism Society running a bus to Saturday’s anti-racism demonstration in Glasgow. DIT Football team’s match against the Dundee College of Further Education postponed to next Saturday due to bad weather; DIT Rugby Club holding a cheese and wine night on Monday. Andy Nicoll was picked for the Scotland Rugby Team on Saturday and gained an international cap playing against the All Blacks (New Zealand). Scotland was beaten 51-15.
17.22 End

Highlight of work of Department of Mathematics and Computer Sciences in applied mathematics and use of modelling to predict when equipment will need to be replaced in advance of failure, plus the use of statistics in everyday life. News of Students Association EGM in response to announcement of cuts in student maintenance, and community outreach to local Dundee secondary schools.

0.00 Start
0.40 Jimmy Black speaks to Professor Ian Colligan of the Department of Mathematics and Computer Sciences about the skills and employment opportunities gained by Mathematics graduates from the department. He speaks about the teaching approach in the department being an Applied Mathematics approach – one of problem solving and mathematical modelling, and how it is applied to all sorts of real-life situations e.g. Treasury modelling.
5.55 Jimmy Black speaks to John Darpener in the Operational Research Section of the Department of Mathematics and Computer Sciences about the modelling being used in replacement strategies being researched by him and his colleagues for replacing equipment in advance of failure (e.g. engine / machinery parts) and also ensuring they are not replaced too soon.
8.30 Statistician Gilbert Rutherford’s area of expertise is probabilities. He explains why at least 2 people in a room of 23 people or more will share the same birthday, and why statistics affect everyone’s life, especially in the areas of retail and marketing.
11.55 Quiz– students from the Business Studies Department: Alastair Duncan, Lauren Pealie, Ruth MacBurney, and Grant Mackay. Questions on their specialist subject and general knowledge.
18.00 Brian Lindsay’s News Round-up. Emergency meeting of the Students Representative Council to discuss the implications of the government budget proposals to cut student grants by 10%. The grant would be cut from £2200 to £1975. After the meeting, DIT Students Association President Rachel Thomas said the student dropout rate in Scotland had increased by 188% since the introduction of the student loan scheme, and that this further attack on the student maintenance grant would push more students into debt and would undoubtedly force many more to withdraw from their courses. A demonstration march against the proposals will be held on Wednesday in Glasgow, supported by the DIT Students Association, which will provide transport for anyone wishing to attend.
18.55 Community outreach: pupils from Grove Academy and St Johns Academy visited for practical sessions on Applied Physics, and Professor John Milne is delivering a lecture on Mechatronics to 200 school pupils from throughout Tayside. DIT’s Euro students will be meeting the Dundee Lord Provost at the Dundee Chamber of Commerce.
19.20 End of term is approaching, and the final blowout at the students’ union on the Marketgait is the “Snowball Night”, with usual drinks promotions and entertainments.
19.30 Sports – DIT football team won 4-2 away to Grove with Fitzpatrick scoring a hat-trick and Terry Thomas scoring the 4th goal. The team now has 11 points from 10 games, putting them near the top of the table. The Hockey Team won 3-0 against Robert Gordon University.
20.42 End

William Moheiddeen speaks about his journey into university; his reasons for standing for Student Association President; the successful campaigns against the proposed merger of the higher educational institutions in Dundee; the benefits of university education to him in that campaign and his future career. His opinion on the benefits of university education and the need for widening access.

0.00 Interview starts
0.13 At first wanted to be a civil engineer (family expectations) but he enjoyed doing PE and ended up studying coaching and development
2.16 Getting experience at his old school, making students enjoy PE; got the opportunity to enrol at Abertay and started University in 2006
2.48 Why he became the president of the students association, to make the University better, to have an impact, provide better student experience; the story about the union building and the nice football atmosphere and how to improve it
4.51 Set up the society, joined the union and found out what the SA did
6.28 Possibility of providing more services for what students wanted, after getting a degree giving something back to the University and the students
6.40 Nice experiences of meeting people from all around the world and wanted to do something for them
7.07 Why he protested the merger, it was a collective reaction of executives and others to the idea of a forceful merger
8.58 Why Abertay was so important, distinct university with certain resources (its size, the community, the relationships between staff etc.)
10.37 Abertay as great at accommodating students from working class backgrounds and the need to celebrate and defend the university’s qualities
11.40 Keeping in touch with people he meet through Abertay (friends, work colleagues), social media very helpful as he moved all over Scotland
13.29 He was the captain of the Gaelic football club, very important experience
13.42 Lecturers who stood out for him, especially his dissertation supervisor (Andrea Cameron), emphatic, supportive and understanding
15.29 Skills developed in university not just as part of the degree, lecturers played an important role in his development as a person
16.13 How being the president of the SA helped him after university, still working with SAs, supporting others to change the society and the environment (students have a voice, make degree and the experience as a student better, get the needed support)
18.23 Why he began his speech in Gaelic, emphasize Abertay as a place for Gaelic speakers (not “othered” by other Scottish people) and for internationals to show the role of Gaelic (not just one way of being Scottish)
20.41 Abertay as helping him decide what he wants to do in life, story about his job as a butcher, wanting to be a bricklayer
22.58 Lecture about British political system in his first year, learning about politics as their future jobs will be funded by the government
24.58 Efforts put into defending the Abertay from merging (posters, good relationship with journalists, petitions); their petition getting international signatures (Australia, Indonesia) + story about the prime minister saying there won’t be a forced merger for Abertay, then moving towards building support for the university (new campaign)
29.40 March and rally with banner through Dundee, invited students and politicians

Jenny McNeill speaks about her experiences as one of the first nursing degree students at Dundee College of Technology in 1975, and her subsequent career.

The videos were created using mobile phone technology and simple crafting techniques. They focus on small anecdotes told by the interview subjects that lend themselves to visual representation.

The videos and reference numbers are as follows:

AY25-MR-2-1 Craigie High School - William Moheiddeen
AY25-MR-2-2 Craigie High School - Nick Hamilton
AY25-MR-2-3 Craigie High School - Ahmar Ghafoor
AY25-MR-2-4 Dundee Young Carers - Louise Giblin
AY25-MR-2-5 Larisa Olaru-Peter - Jenny McNeill
AY25-MR-2-6 Hope Busák - Sumant Mathure

“Work of the Centre for Waste Water Management (“what happens when you pull the plug”); Brian Lindsay interviews the European editor of the anti-fascist magazine, Searchlight; students from civil engineering contest the quiz”

Highlight on the work of the Wastewater Technology Centre developing new initiatives for wastewater management, and its consultancy work with national and international clients, plus interview with Graham Atkinson, European Editor of Anti-fascist magazine, Searchlight.

0.00 Start
0.45 Jeff Ferguson speaks to Richard Ashley, Co-ordinator and Research Director of the Wastewater Technology Centre, a semi-independent centre within the Department of Civil Engineering, Surveying, and Building. Its objective is to act as a centre for excellence in Scotland for the water industry and to develop new initiatives for wastewater management. One area of expertise is in computer-modelling and monitoring of underground drainage and storage systems. He speaks about the effect of European law on requirements to treat wastewater and sludge before being discharged back out to the North Sea, national proposals to create water boards after Council reform taking effect in 1996, and public health issues related to mixing domestic wastewater and storm water in cities.
08.30 Richard Ashley speaks about the services of the Centre to their large list of clients – a research base undertaking work out of the ordinary for normal consultants, disseminators of information through its substantial international working activities on research groups and consultancies in European countries. The consultancy element might bring new overseas opportunities for extending their work if the Scottish water industry is privatised. Other groups in the country deal with specific areas of wastewater management (e.g. industrial effluent), but the Wastewater Technology Centre at DIT is the only one that has a holistic approach to the whole discipline.
10.20 Quiz– students from Civil Engineering: Scott, Graeme, Joanne, and Phil (no surnames given). Questions on their specialist subject and general knowledge.
16.25 Brian Lindsay’s News Round-up. Brian interviews Graham Atkinson, European Editor of Searchlight (a magazine specialising in research and documentation of the activities of organised racist, anti-semitic, and fascist organisations). Graham was speaking at a meeting of the Anti-Racisim Society where he spoke about the alarming rise of violent fascist activity in Germany.
18.00 The Students Union distributed free condoms at the last disco for World AIDS day, in order to raise awareness of safe sex, HIV infection, and AIDS. No sports news due to bad weather last weekend postponing fixtures such as the big cup match between DIT and Dundee College.
18.58 End

“Grand final of the quiz between economics and law students; interviews with student president Rachel Thomas and manager of DIT’s football team, Jim Closs”

Highlight on DIT’s relationship with local colleges of further education in Tayside and Fife. Grand Final of the student quiz. Interviews with Students Association President Rachel Thomas, and the new manager of the DIT Football Team Jim Closs, giving their reflections on their first terms in post.

0.00 Start
0.40 Jeff Ferguson interviews Professor Rae Harris about the relationships between DIT and Colleges of Further Education in the Tayside and Fife area, how students can access Higher Education through them, but also how DIT learns about and supports the development of Further Education in the colleges (Perth, Fife, Angus, Glenrothes, and Dundee colleges).
5.05 Quiz Grand Final – Mechanical Engineering: Reg, Philip, Sue and Mike vs Economics and Law: Ewan, Ian, Steve, and Gareth. General Knowledge plus Specialist Subjects (swapped e.g. Mechanics being asked Economics and Law questions). Economics and Law won 28 points to 24 for Mechanical Engineering. Grahame Wright, Assistant Principal of DIT, presents prizes to the winning team.
19.20 Brian Lindsay interviews Rachel Thomas, Students Association President, and Jim Closs, Manager of the DIT Football Team about their first term in their new respective posts.
19.30 Rachel Thomas about her concerns regarding the proposed cuts to the student grant, 10% every year for the next three years; compounded this will leave the grant 27% less than what it was in 1993. She notes the student loan scheme has already increased student dropout rates by 188%. The student dropout rates will increase further as a result of students being unable to support themselves whilst in higher education. Students Association decided to attend an NUS demonstration in Glasgow (one of the largest in the last 10-20 years) against the proposed student grant cuts. She reflects on how much she has experienced in her first term, and how she didn’t expect to have to deal with such serious national issues as President. She wished she had more time to spend on providing a greater diversity of service to DIT students.
22.00 Jim Closs speaks about the improvements in the DIT football team – how they have got to know each other as a team, and the challenge they face in trying to get promoted due to having dropped points early in the season.
23.38 End

Interviews conducted as part of the Abertay 25 Memories Re-Animated Phase. Interview subjects were former staff and students who talked about a range of subjects concerning their connections with the University and its predecessor organisations.

Subjects included their experiences of teaching or being taught by the institution, technological developments there in relation to computers, degree courses (especially Nursing), social life, and student association activities.