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University Campus Oldham, Oldham College’s higher education provision has been awarded a Silver Award in the Teaching Excellence and Student Outcomes Framework (TEF) by the Office for Students (OfS). This places degrees at UCO on par with some of the best universities and higher education providers in the country.

The TEF is a system that assesses the quality of teaching of higher education providers in England. The framework was introduced by the government in 2017 to provide a resource for students to judge teaching quality in universities and to increase the importance of teaching when rating institutions. Institutions are classified gold, silver or bronze and the award is valid for two years.

The judging panel found that students from all backgrounds achieve excellent outcomes and levels of full-time student satisfaction with assessment and feedback, and academic support are exceptionally high. The panel also concluded the college offered excellent physical and digital resources at UCO, together with employability focussed courses and a highly regarded Graduate Hub helping students progress into meaningful and sustained employment.
Jonathan Edwards, Chair of the College, said: “There are many positive strengths in the assessment, but special praise is given to our relentless commitment to high standards and the investment we make in our superb staff. Coming alongside the recent Ofsted inspection this is a tremendous achievement for the college and the town.”

Alun Francis, Principal and Chief Executive said: “The college has a deliberate strategy of providing real alternatives to the A level and three year residential degree. This is a national and local priority and this judgement shows that the provision at UCO, which is supported by world class universities, is among the best in the country. It is relevant to work, taught well, and students get amazing results. It complements our apprenticeship and college courses so that anyone interested in a technical or professional career can now pursue their ambitions right here, knowing that they are going to have a great experience and can achieve at the highest level.”

Helen Mathers, Vice Principal HE and Higher Skills said: “This is the first year that we’ve been eligible to apply for a full TEF award so we are absolutely delighted and proud to be recognised for excellence at this level. This is great news for our staff and our students.”

Leader of the Council, Sean Fielding said: “This is more excellent news coming from Oldham College. UCO transferred to the college in 2012, and has delivered well over 1000 graduates since then. It is a unique provision, focussed on employment, academic excellence and tremendous individual support. It is clearly operating at a standard that is a credit to our town. We would urge more local people to visit the campus to see how they can enhance their career.”

Students and guests were invited to an autism conference at University College Oldham to hear from researchers and practitioners from the field.

The conference, held at UCO campus in Oldham was organised by the Early Years team who wanted to bring together a variety of experts that have a wealth of knowledge that can be shared both with learners and other professionals.

Workshops and seminars were delivered by Deborah Philip (University of Huddersfield) – Walking through treacle; the lived experience of autism, Shona Davison (Sheffield Hallam University) The Pro’s and Cons of Autistic Parenthood and Nadia Peters & Lorna Downer (Autism for the Arts) – Creative Sensory Workshop for early years – Working towards inclusion and access to the arts for people with autism and their families.

A special recital by performing arts students, Aaron Fletcher, Conor Fallon-Burgess and Ronan Gallagher explored the ‘lived experience’ of each individual demonstrating how personal autism is.

Gail Frampton, Faculty Lead for Early Years at University Campus Oldham said; “Our experience tells us that Autism is still not understood.  We wanted to bring this to the forefront for both our students and interest groups and as such selected speakers with first-hand experience and knowledge.  We are very happy with the attendance and hope to deliver more conferences around early years.”

The UCO offer to students is unique, with dedicated facilities it is easy for people to access higher education in Oldham.

For more information about the course content and how to apply click here.

Students from Cheadle Hulme School have been crowned Best Overall Company at the Greater Manchester Young Enterprise County Final, with Bolton School Girls Division and Withington Girls School both coming Runner-Up companies. The final, held at University Campus Oldham on 28^th March, celebrated students who have set up and run a company over the academic year as part of the Young Enterprise Company Programme, supported nationally by HSBC UK.

Twelve teams from across Greater Manchester competed across three categories – Teamwork, Sustainability, and Customer Service – with a prize for each. The winning team Eco Sippin’ from Cheadle Hulme School, along with the two runner up companies, Explore from Bolton School Girls Division and Warrior from Withington Girls School, will all go on to represent Greater Manchester at the North West Regional Company of the Year final in Lancaster on 8^th May 2019.

Young Enterprise is a national charity which works to equip young people with the skills, knowledge and confidence they need to succeed in the changing world of work. This year, students across the country have set up almost 1,000 companies over the academic year, making all the decisions about their business, from deciding the company name and product, to creating a business plan, managing their finances and selling their products.

The winning team, Eco Sippin’ created and sold metal straws to tackle the growing issue of plastic waste.  The two runners-up; Warrior created a wooden wristband aimed at raising awareness of mental health; and Explore created a children’s book called ‘Hello World’ which explores different countries and cultures.

The Managing Director of the winning team, from Cheadle Hulme School, said: “The experience of being part of the Young Enterprise Programme has been amazing. It has helped me develop so many skills that will help me in the future. I have learnt a lot about the running of a business from our business adviser and managing a large team has helped me to improve my leadership and communication skills. Winning the Greater Manchester Final has given us all so much confidence and has proven the importance of teamwork. I am very proud of the whole team.”

Andrew Hornsby, teacher at Cheadle Hulme School, added: “Attending the Greater Manchester Final was an excellent experience for our team.  The standard of competition was very high and winning has given everyone in the team a lot of confidence and enthusiasm to keep going. Everyone in the team is passionate about the environmental issues that excessive use of plastic causes and they will continue to raise awareness of this issue with the products they sell.”

The companies were judged by Annie Wigglesworth (GM Chamber of Commerce), Alexandra Munro (GE), and Andrew Lightowler (Civica). The judges also awarded trophies for Teamwork, Sustainability and Customer Service to students from Bury Grammar Schools, The Blue Coat School and Oldham Hulme Grammar School.  Founder and CEO of Team Spirit, Ian Taylor gave an inspirational speech to the participants about his career and what it’s like to run a successful business.

Judge, Andrew Lightowler, Development Manager for Civica, said: “This is the first time I have been involved with Young Enterprise and I have to say how much I have enjoyed the experience. It was great to meet and talk to the teams and see first-hand the depth of talent from the students and their passion and enthusiasm for their products and services.

I was impressed with both the variety and quality of their enterprises and how the teams had really taken sustainability, environmental and wider social impact into the heart of what they were doing.

I’d like to wish the EcoSippin, Explore and Warrior teams the best of luck in the next stage of the process.”

“The Civica Award for Customer Service was awarded to the “Make and Design” team, who had identified, designed and manufactured an innovative product that really solved a customer problem. They had actively sought feedback from their customers through social media and their website. Their product had been extensively tested and so confident where they of its quality, that they even offered a money back guarantee!”

Kashif Ashraf, Oldham Enterprise Trust, said: “We were delighted to kick off our Oldham Festival for Business with the Young Enterprise Greater Manchester County Final. The Oldham Enterprise Trust has invested greatly in Young Enterprise’s Company Programme over the years and is a proud supporter of what the programme achieves. The teams tonight all did themselves proud and demonstrated just what the future has to offer in business.”

Katherine Griffiths, University Campus Oldham, said: “It was our pleasure to host the YE Greater Manchester event and support such a positive initiative.

The young people displayed creativity, resilience, and imagination, and have all worked really hard along their journeys to produce such high-quality projects.

Their professionalism and the range of topics was great to see, and what really struck me was the team work as I watched them set up, rehearse and prepare for their meetings with the judges and their presentations.”

Ian Stuart, HSBC UK CEO, said: “HSBC has supported the Company Programme for the last 32 years with colleagues across the UK volunteering their time and expertise to nurture the next generation of entrepreneurs. It’s fantastic to see students deal with real life business decisions and develop employability skills such as creativity, resilience and communication.

The Company Programme is a great way for young people to prepare themselves for the future world of business.”

The schools competing in the Greater Manchester Young Enterprise Company Programme Final were:

Speakers and delegates were welcomed to University Campus Oldham’s 2nd Annual Criminology Conference.

Students and guests were invited to a criminology conference at University College Oldham to hear from researchers and practitioners from the field.

The conference, held at UCO campus in Oldham included speakers covering a range of topics: Dr Linda Asquith: Auschwitz and Memory, Dr Melanie Flynn: The Nature and Extent of Wildlife Crime, Dr Dara Mojtahedi: The Fallibility of Eye Witness Testimony, Kalliopi Tzani-Pepelasi: Profiling Tax Scammers, Daniel Hunt: Media Appeals and Missing Children, Jan Cunliffe: The Misuse of Joint Enterprise and Guilt by Association.

This is the second conference offered by the faculty, designed by Course Leader Kate Clegg and lecturer Matt Kinsella.  Kate has been lecturing in criminology for 10 years. Currently Kate is leading the Criminology and Criminal Justice FdA and BA hons degrees at University Campus Oldham in partnership with the University of Central Lancashire.

Kate is currently working towards a PhD exploring the temporal profiles of serial predatory offenders, alongside this Kate is currently involved in researching the experiences of prisoners who undertake the alpha course.

Matt Kinsella is currently lecturing in Criminology and Psychology at University Campus Oldham. Matt completed his undergraduate degree at UCO and his masters at the University of Huddersfield, where his research focused on concealed information testing.

When developing the first conference in February of 2018, Kate had a vision to bring a range of criminology researchers and practitioners to the widening participation campus. Both Kate and Matt champion what UCO offers to our students and are driven to ensure they facilitate a higher education experience which provides challenges as well as opportunities by responding to diverse needs, and understanding the varied motives of students in embarking on their higher education journey.

The Criminology faculty at UCO is only in its second year of delivery but is growing rapidly

For more information about the course content and how to apply click here.

Former undergraduate student, PGCE student and Graduate Intern, Rachael Mcloughlin, has achieved Associate Fellowship Status to the Higher Education Academy. The HEA is the badge of recognition for tutors, lecturers, and academics working in Higher Education. Her success has come from work completed with students at UCO. Rachael evidenced how she provides an effective learning environment, student support and supports learning as part of UCO’s peer-assisted learning scheme.

Since January last year, Rachael has been a Graduate Intern at UCO, working part-time as the administrator and research assistant within the newly developed Academic Success Hub, part of a HEFCE-funded catalyst bid for innovations in teaching and learning.

Rachael’s current work as a Graduate Intern also played a large role in her successful application, as she could share with the HEA how the work that she does within the Academic Success Hub, in ensuring that students have access to the resources needed to further their academic development and experience, ensures a successful learning environment for all.

Students on the Children & Young People Foundation Degree participated in a guest lecture delivered by Susan Rowen and Lucky Deb from Home-Start Oldham, Stockport & Tameside on Monday, 26 February 2018.

Students took part in an in-depth discussion on troubled families in the local area with case studies and examples. The group looked at the work done by the Home-Start charity to support families within Oldham, Stockport and Tameside, and discovered the process of becoming a volunteer. The event was arranged to bring to life the subject of supporting troubled families and enhance the teaching and learning. Sue and Lucky were able to demonstrate expert knowledge from their experiences of working within practice.

Students also took part in a question and answer session with Sue and Lucky to explore future employment pathways and insight into the valuable work that they do.

Children & Young People Lecturer, Leonie Sweeney, explained, “It’s an amazing opportunity for students to hear first hand what it’s really like to work with troubled families in the Oldham area, and to consider volunteering and employment options which they may wish to pursue in the future.”

After the event, student Rebecca Chapman added, “I found the session to be incredibly helpful, not only for my report but mainly for my nursery and the families I come into contact with every day. They are running an incredible service, and were very knowledgeable on their roles and on Oldham in general.”

Student Wendy Bailey commented, “It was eye opening to learn there is no timescale on how much time they spend building up confidence with families to gain help and achieve their goals – whatever they may be.”