News – Page 16 of 32

8Dec

By Michele TheilNo Comments

News

Referendum on NSS Boycott Announced

Royal Holloway’s Student’s Union has called for a referendum to vote on whether or not the RHSU should continue to boycott the National Student Survey (NSS). The boycott was passed in a referendum in March of this year, with 282 votes. The original boycott was called for, in conjunction with the National Union of Students (NUS), in response to the NSS being used with the Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF) to possibly allow universities to charge higher tuition fees. The NSS measures student satisfaction while the TEF measures quality of teaching and results of study. Universities can score Gold or Silver and be placed on the higher end of the spectrum or they could be scored with a Bronze, which is a lower rating. Thus, those that achieved Gold or Silver, under the Government’s initiat...

1Dec

By Michele TheilNo Comments

News

Big Giving for RHUL’s Future Students

On Tuesday 28 November, Royal Holloway launched the Big Give Christmas Challenge here. It is an annual event in the UK that was founded by RHUL Honorary Fellow Sir Alec Reed in 2007. The premise of the Big Give Challenge is simple: any online donations made within the allotted time will be matched in funding, essentially doubling the donation at no extra cost to the donator. It is the UK’s biggest online match funding campaign. The campaign opened nationally on Tuesday at 12pm and will go on until 12pm on Tuesday 5 December. RHUL is attempting to raise funds for scholarships and work placements to be given to students that require financial support to attend university or undergo important work experience. The official statement on RHUL’s website regarding scholarships tells us th...

Offenders Sentenced in Sexual Exploitation Ring

29Nov

By Michele TheilNo Comments

News

Offenders Sentenced in Sexual Exploitation Ring

A sexual exploitation ring has been discovered in North Surrey and West London. Two people were convicted by a jury in Guildford Crown Court in April, finding them to be guilty of the exploitation of teenage girls in the surrounding areas. Between January and February of 2016, 21 year-old Daniel Pusey and 40 year-old Diane Chilcott would attempt to lure young girls to hotels in Staines, Twickenham, Tolworth and Heathrow. The victims were aged between 13 and 15 at the time of the incidents. They would first consume large amounts of alcohol and smoke cigarettes at Chilcotts House in Chertsey before being driven by the two perpetrators to various hotels. Upon arriving at these hotels, Pusey would subject them to sexual abuse. During the trial, Pusey was found guilty of seven counts o...

Model Defers Royal Holloway Due to Debilitating Illness

29Nov

By Michele TheilNo Comments

News

Model Defers Royal Holloway Due to Debilitating Illness

Destiny Sedlacek, a 19-year old girl from Weybridge, Surrey was diagnosed with Ehlers Danlos Syndrome in 2016. Ehlers Danlos syndrome is a rare genetic disorder that affects a person’s connective tissue. It would lead to symptoms such as skin being stretched out, loose joints and abnormal-looking scars. Prior to her diagnosis, Destiny was previously a model featured in Vogue Magazine. She was the official model for films like The Amazing Spider-Man 2 and Fury. She has also modelled for popular make-up brand Rimmel London UK. She studied Forensic Science at college but her diagnosis meant she was unable to attend her classes. She “had to finish [her] college work in hospitals”. This has impacted her future ambitions, which includes to go on to Royal Holloway, University of London, to ...

Royal Holloway students win technology competition

29Nov

By Maria GreenNo Comments

News

Royal Holloway students win technology competition

A team of five Royal Holloway students have won the Cisco University Challenge. At the annual event, over 70 students from the UK’s top universities compete against each other in a two-day hackathon: a competition in which teams of developers build products to address a set of challenges. This year, Royal Holloway sent two teams of students to Feltham to compete in the challenge that took place on the 26th – 27th October. The winning team, referred to as Team Shark, comprised of Megan Goh, Hugh Wells, Dulcie Jackson, Awen Saunders and Shaurya Puri. The winning team’s entry to the competition was a programme called TrainShark, aimed at improving IT throughout the rail network in the UK. Their programme would allow train passengers to determine which carriage is least crowded befor...

“It’s Okay To Be White” posters appear across Egham

26Nov

By Shannon GrayNo Comments

News

“It’s Okay To Be White” posters appear across Egham

A number of posters have been spotted around the Englefield Green area stating "it's okay to be white". These posters began to appear around the 1st and 2nd of November near St Jude's School and Victoria Street. They are supposedly the product of an anti-left wing campaign launched by the web forum 4chan, on which an anonymous user posted the 'game plan' which stated the posters were to be put up on campuses worldwide around Halloween, as costumes provided anonymity, and the reactions of left-wing individuals would inform white people that they are 'hated' by the left wing, and thus they would sway towards far right views. The posters have been seen on multiple US campuses such as Tulane, Princeton and Rocky River, Ohio. US citizens have taken to twitter to call the posters "a distur...

Royal Holloway declared ‘Most Beautiful Campus’

26Nov

By Abbie CheesemanNo Comments

News

Royal Holloway declared ‘Most Beautiful Campus’

Royal Holloway has recently picked up the prize for the ‘UK’s Most Beautiful University’. It beat off competition from 14 other universities to claim the coveted prize, and attracted over 21,000 votes through the Holiday Lettings website. The university won with 31% of the votes. What with the new flagship Emily Wilding Davidson Library, and the historically renowned grade 1 listed Founders building, it should come as no surprise that Royal Holloway was a shoe in for this award. The state-of-the-art Emily Wilding Davison Building, which was officially opened last month by Her Royal Highness Princess Anne, continues to impress visitors and students alike, and needless to say Founders still stands as impressive and eye catching as always. According to Royal Holloway’s website, www.r...

Football coach from Staines jailed for attempt to meet underage girl for sex

25Nov

By Maria GreenNo Comments

News

Football coach from Staines jailed for attempt to meet underage girl for sex

Ashley Emery, 44, has been jailed for a year for attempting to meet a 15-year old girl for sex. The football coach from Staines-upon-Thames was exposed by two vigilantes from the Internet Interceptors Group after they posed as a fictional school girl through messages. After exchanging sexual messages, Emery suggested they meet in central London, where he was confronted with two ‘paedophile hunters’ instead of a child. They filmed the encounter and posted the 10-minute clip on Youtube, in which Emery can be seen sitting with his head in his hands on a bench outside Parliament. The film was then given to police. Emery was convicted in September after a trial at Southwark Crown Court, and was sentenced to 12 months in prison on 3 November. He has also been made subject of a sexual ha...

22Nov

By Natasha LamNo Comments

News

Silence Will Fall

People marched through London on Saturday 14th October 2017 as part of a protest calling for the end of modern slavery around the world. The Walk for Freedom march is organised by A21, a charity organisation fighting human trafficking and slavery. It is an annual event that aims to get people to stand together against “forced labour, servitude and sexual exploitation”. A21’s Walk for Freedom is organised all over the world, with marches in 48 states in the US and over 20 counties in the UK. There are also participating walks in most of the EU, Australia, Canada, South America and in a few Asian countries. Charlie Blythe, director of A21’s UK division and the organiser of the walk, stated that the walk is “one of those things that makes you feel great, to do something for others… it i...

10Nov

By Shannon GrayNo Comments

News

Top Of The Charts

Royal Holloway has risen six places in The Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide of 2018, making it the fourth highest performing university in London, and 28th in the country. The principal, Professor Paul Layzell, states: “The rise in such a highly regarded guide, is a result of our university’s commitment to its student community. We are dedicated to inspiring our students to succeed through our high-quality teaching and world-class research.” The Times and Sunday Times University Guide uses a variety of factors to decide on a university’s position, such as employment prospects, degree results achieved, and performance in the National Student Survey (NSS). In the 2017 National Student Survey, Royal Holloway retained its title of the highest student satisfaction in London, desp...