About three weeks ago, I stumbled upon an intruiging announcement about a project called “Beacon For Wales – Talent Leader”.
[Cardiff University's Blackboard]
An application form and an interview later, I became one of four undergraduates representing the biosciences department. The other faculties involved are sociology, engineering and journalism, so that’s sixteen of us in total.
But what is ‘Beacon for Wales’ about?
Well, what it’s not about is the Brecon Beacons.
From what I gather it’s about boosting supply of talent into higher education. As talent leaders, we’ll be working with department staff to set up activities centred on uncovering how university can maximise their talents and direct them to the best possible career paths.
Here’s info about the Beacons project in general:
“The Beacons for Public Engagement project is one of the biggest initiative ever launched to support public engagement throughout the UK. Funded by the UK higher education funding councils, Research Councils UK (RCUK) and the Wellcome Trust, it has a simple goal: achieving a more joined up and strategic approach to public engagement.
The six beacons – collaborative centres made up of a number of higher education institutions and their partners – will be at the forefront of efforts to change the culture in universities, assisting staff and students to engage with the public. Their partners include further education colleges, museums, galleries, businesses, charities, TV and press, and public bodies. The National Co-ordinating Centre for Public Engagement will provide leadership and will work with the beacons, funders, policy-makers, and the whole HE sector to make engaging with the public a key part of what it is to be an academic.
What are the talent leaders going to do?
We’ll find out the exact details after our first meeting this Wednesday (22nd April). What I do know is talent leaders will be responsible for face to face and online communication between young people, as well as setting up department orientated workshops. As there’s a focus on digital story telling, I’ll be keeping blog updates too.
Here are some links for more information about the Beacon for Wales project.
“Wales’ leading lights to become Beacon for Wales and public engagement”
- Cardiff University, “New Welsh Beacon brings universities and public closer together”
- Cardiff University, “Young People’s Learning gets a boost from the Beacons”
- Public Engagement,”Beacons for public engagement”
- Research Council UK, “The Beacon for Wales”
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From what I gathered, if we thought we were busy with just normal university life, we may be in for a shock with this.
Filed under: Beacon For Wales, Cardiff University Tagged: | Beacon for Public Engagement, Beacon For Wales, Cardiff, Cardiff Unviersity, University
