Winter 2011 - Heriot-Watt University

news
Chevron invests
£182,000 into University
Professor Graeme White with Eric Sirgo
Scholarships, course books and funding to refurbish
teaching areas to the value £182,500 were presented
to Heriot-Watt by global energy company Chevron at
an event in September.
The investment is part of the company’s ongoing
University Partnership Program (UPP) which creates
long-term, strategic relationships between Chevron
and chosen universities. Heriot-Watt is one of eleven
non-US universities to be involved in UPP and one
of only two in Europe.
Now in its third year, Chevron’s partnership with
Heriot-Watt reached a milestone this year with the
graduation of the first cohort of Chevron scholars,
as was reported in the Summer edition of Network.
Two of these graduates have gained employment
with the company as drilling engineers.
At the event the scholarship awards and a cheque
were presented by Eric Sirgo, General Manager of
Operations of Chevron Upstream Europe.
Restoration gets the go ahead
The proposed £3m restoration of Panmure House, the historic
home of philosopher Adam Smith, in Edinburgh’s Canongate,
was given the go ahead in July.
The building is owned by Heriot-Watt’s
Edinburgh Business School (EBS), which bought
it from Edinburgh City Council in 2008, with
ambitious plans to invest in its restoration and
development as a centre for economics teaching
and research, and as a venue for meetings
and events in the heart of the Old Town.
Panmure House
The architect’s designs for the project
were subject to a long negotiation with the
City Council and Historic Scotland, which
culminated in a public inquiry in March.
EBS is co-ordinating a global fund-raising
scheme to support the development.
Professor Keith Lumsden, the Director
of EBS, said: Panmure House
is the home of
modern economics,
and when it came
up for sale by the
Council I saw it as
a once in a lifetime
opportunity to
preserve and
restore a key part of
Scotland’s heritage.
I am delighted that
we can now realise
our vision for this
historic building.
NSS
Results
Heriot-Watt
considerably improved
its position to 29th out
of 120 UK universities
in the 2011 National
Student Survey (NSS),
up from 47th last year.
Chemical Engineering came top
in the UK, with Chemistry second
and Civil Engineering fourth. Each
of these, along with Psychology
and Biology were top in Scotland,
and in all, nine subject areas were
ranked in the top ten UK-wide.
For the third year running 100%
of Chemical Engineering students
participating in the NSS reported
‘overall satisfaction‘ with their
degree programme.
With a response rate of 78%,
no other university in the UK had
a higher rate of participation in
the survey.
Professor Steve Chapman, Principal,
welcomed the results, which placed
seven subject areas in the top
quartile. “I am delighted with the
outcome of this year’s survey. Not
only have we seen considerable
improvement in Heriot-Watt’s
rating, but to have these based
on such a high student participation
rate means we can be sure that
these positive results represent a
real strength of feeling among
our students.
This excellent
outcome reflects the hard
work and dedication of our
staff in all areas of University
life, and also reflects the
positive partnerships we
have with students and their
representatives. Everyone
should feel a sense of pride
in our achievement.
4 network magazine