We’re delighted to share that the Athena SWAN bronze award was awarded to BU this week.

Athena SWAN is a national scheme focused on supporting, advancing and celebrating positive employment practices for women in higher education and research. At the heart of the scheme is to promote women’s careers in science, technology, engineering, maths and medicine (STEMM) – although this opened up to other careers such as arts, humanities, social sciences, business and law in April 2015.

Professor Tiantian Zhang who led the submission for BU said:  “I am absolutely delighted and would like to thank everyone who has contributed along the journey since we joined the Athena SWAN Charter in 2012. The bronze award recognises BU’s achievement so far and, more importantly, our commitment to deliver planned actions to progress this important issue as a university.”

BU has been recognised for our commitment to enhancing women’s representation at senior academic levels, supporting a family friendly working environment and improving women representation in our Research Excellence Framework submission.

This is great news for students, who can be proud to study in an institution committed to gender equality and reap the benefits of learning alongside academics from a range of backgrounds.

The award is valid for three years, during which time BU will be making faculty and departmental award submissions and delivering an institutional action plan aiming for an institutional silver award submission.

For more information about Athena SWAN and its commitment can be found on the Equality Challenge Unit website.

SportBU’s intructional courses for this term start this week, between the 3 and 15 October, giving you the chance to get active your way.

There are some new classes for you to choose from, as well as your favourites. It doesn’t matter what your level of fitness, experience or ability is – our qualified instructors will coach you to set your own pace.

Courses run from 4 – 9 weeks and cost between £10 – £80 depending on the course you choose.

4 week courses:

• Surfing (start 7 October)

6 week courses:

• Tennis (start 3 October)
• Cycling (start 7 October)
• Skiing (start 7 October)
• Snowboarding (start 7 October)

9 week courses:

• Pole Fitness (start 12, 13 and 15 October)
• Street Dance (start 12 October)
• Jiu Jitsu (start 14 October)
• Thai Boxing (start 15 Octobeer)
• Kung Fu (start 15 October)

Find dates, venues and prices on the SportBU website.

BU has moved up 11 places in The Complete University Guide league table, to a high of 54^th nationally.

The league table, published each year, looks at measures such as staff-to-student ratios, investment in facilities and graduate prospects to come up with the final league positions.

BU’s rise to 54^th in the league tables, up from 65^th the year before, reflects the university’s ambition to become a top 50 university by 2018.

Vice-Chancellor Professor John Vinney said, “I am absolutely delighted that Bournemouth University has rocketed 11 places in this year’s Complete University Guide rankings to 54^th in the UK.

“It is an excellent reflection of the hard work and commitment of the whole of the BU community and of our continued investment in academic and professional talent. Over the past year we have also been busy transforming our two campuses to ensure that we have world-class facilities as we pursue our ambition of becoming a top 50 university.”

As well as climbing the national table, BU has also become the 4^th best university in the South West based on final league table position, behind Exeter (11^th), Bath (12^th) and Bristol (15^th) respectively.

BU was among 11 universities to climb by ten places or more in the Complete University Guide table.

Dr Bernard Kingston, principal author of TheCompleteUniversityGuide.co.uk, said, “UK students seem to be getting a better deal for their higher tuition fees in almost every area. It remains to be seen how far this trend can continue but in the short team at least, students are benefitting from spending on facilities that affect them directly.

“There is significant evidence that universities’ efforts to develop employability skills have had a knock-on effect on graduate prospects.”

Full details are available at www.thecompleteuniversityguide.co.uk

Bournemouth University has been ranked first ‘class’ in the University League 2015, formerly the Green League, for its environmental and ethical performance.

BU was placed seventh out of 151 universities in the table, compiled by People & Planet, and achieved a ‘first class’ rating for the fifth year.

The University League is the only comprehensive and independent league table of UK universities, ranked by environmental and ethical performance.

Criteria include carbon reduction, student and staff engagement, sustainable food, workers’ rights, ethical investment and education for sustainability. 

Jim Andrews, Chief Operating Officer, said “At BU we have always taken our responsibilities around sustainability very seriously and it’s a core element of everything we do.

“We are delighted that this has once again been recognised by People and Planet, where we have now maintained our first class award for five years.

“This is a real testament to our staff, students and partners who have shown a commitment to this, making BU one of the top universities in the UK for sustainability.”

Recent BU green initiatives have included a bike loan scheme and enhancements to the Bus for BU service.

Overall carbon emissions at the university have also decreased by over 16 per cent since 2005.

Gareth Williams, Programme Manager for the Carbon Management Plan at BU, said “We are very pleased that our work on sustainability has been recognised. 

“The university has worked hard at embedding sustainability and we still have a lot more to do.  We look forward to progressing this work and building on our success in future years.”

See the full league table