GRADUATES OF the University of Abertay Dundee receive the benefit of “student at the centre” policies, they heard at their winter graduation ceremony yesterday, writes Andrew Argo, education reporter.

As they collected their degrees in the Caird Hall, over 400 students were told by vice-principal Professor Mike Swanston that the university was proud of their success.

He continued, “Our aim is to provide an educational experience for students that meets, and indeed exceeds, their expectations, providing them with the opportunity to flourish personally and professionally. We put the student at the centre of everything we do and plan for, so that we can serve both our students and the community to which we belong.”

Professor Swanston, who was deputising for Principal Bernard King, who was indisposed, summarised the changes at Abertay since it was granted a university title a decade ago.

These include the new library, the soon-to-be-completed student centre, major research centres like SIMBIOS for biological modelling and IC CAVE for computer games, and a new psychology teaching and research centre.

He also outlined new developments, such as the planned student village with 500 rooms, the Abertay Centre for the Environment, new facilities for computer arts and sociology, and also a new sports centre.

Teaching and learning at Abertay has developed just as rapidly, Professor Swanston said, referring to profound changes in the range of courses offered. “Many of the courses we have introduced were the first of their type in Scotland, the UK or even sometimes the world, as was the case with our masters degree in software engineering for computer games,” he explained.

Of the 10 programmes with the most applicants this year, over half did not exist when Abertay became a university in 1994, such as computer arts and criminological studies. This year, amongst others, the university has introduced new natural resources management and games production management degrees.

There had been a rapid expansion of Abertay’s overseas activities, with around one in six students in Dundee now coming from outside the UK. Abertay is the largest provider of UK degrees in Malaysia and one of only a handful of British universities approved by the Chinese education ministry to deliver courses with a Chinese university.

Although much has changed, certain principles remain as strong as ever, he added, with the vast majority of students at Abertay still coming from Scotland and many of them from backgrounds where university education was a new opportunity.

About two-thirds of Tayside school leavers entering higher education apply to Abertay, and he said the university greatly values its links with the high schools in Dundee and Tayside. “With the schools, we will continue to support initiatives to communicate the benefits of a university education,” he pledged.

To help students achieve success, the university is placing more emphasis on continuing learner support by offering more class contact time and study skills tutorials as well as library and information technology facilities.

Looking to the future, Professor Swanston said, “We are now operating in a world of mass higher education and Scotland’s future will depend on people being educated to the highest international standards. So we will continue to react to changing demand from students and employers by adapting our educational programmes and focusing our research to support teaching, learning and economic development.

“We will continue to service the knowledge economy, carrying out research and producing graduates that directly support the new knowledge-based industries. Abertay is acknowledged to have had a major influence on the development of the creative industries and we fully expect to see the emergence of Dundee as a world-renowned centre for these industries, driven by our graduates and by the rapidly developing, new interactive entertainment technologies.”

Degrees were conferred on graduates from the school of computing and creative technologies, Dundee Business School, the school of contemporary sciences and the school of health and social sciences.