Latest news with #CanterburyChristChurchUniversity
Yahoo
20-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Second person charged over fires at Keir Starmer-linked properties
A second person who has been charged over fires at two properties and a car linked to Keir Starmer has been denied bail. Stanislav Carpiuc, 26, a Romanian national, is accused of conspiring with Roman Lavrynovych, who has already been charged with three counts of arson with intent to endanger life, and others unknown. Scotland Yard's counter-terrorism command took over an investigation after a spate of fires in north London. One of the fires took place at the prime minister's family home in north-west London, which he now lets out to his sister-in-law. The blaze was reported to police by firefighters in the early hours of Monday last week. Police said damage was caused to the property's entrance but no one was hurt. A car that Starmer had sold to a neighbour last year was set alight four days earlier on the same street. On 11 May, firefighters dealt with a small fire at the front door of a house where the prime minister is understood to have lived in the 1990s, before it was converted into flats. Police have arrested three people in total over the fires. A third man, 34, was arrested in Chelsea, west London, on Monday. The prosecutor Sarah Przybylska told a hearing at Westminster magistrates court on Tuesday: 'At this stage, the alleged offending is unexplained.' Carpiuc, who is said to have been born in Ukraine, was arrested on Saturday at Luton airport. He denies being present at the scene of any of the fires, the court was told. A Russian-language interpreter was involved in translating proceedings for him. Jay Nutkins, a barrister appearing for Carpiuc, said the suspect had lived in the UK for nine years and had just recently finished a two-year business studies degree from Canterbury Christ Church University. He was now working in construction and living in east London. The chief magistrate Paul Goldspring denied the application for bail, which had been opposed by Przbylska, appearing for the Crown Prosecution Service. Carpiuc was remanded in custody until an appearance at the Old Bailey on 6 June. Last week, Lavrynovych, a 21-year-old Ukrainian national, was charged with three counts of arson with intent to endanger life. He was the first person to be arrested, last Tuesday morning in Sydenham, south-east London.
BBC News
02-05-2025
- Science
- BBC News
Kent primary schools involved in butterfly release project
An academic has teamed up with primary schools in Kent as part of a butterfly release scheme aims to encourage expression through positive change with children creating poetry and artwork based on the natural Delahunt, a senior lecturer in Nursing at Canterbury Christ Church University, has been hosting reading sessions with children, and planting butterfly sanctuaries in school gardens as part of his PhD research into creative therapeutics."Butterflies are my metaphor for further change within the current education system for those like me who are hidden disabled," said Mr Delahunt, who has dyslexia. Pupils at Blean Primary School have been working with Mr Delahunt since have watched the insects morph from caterpillars into chrysalises, with their final transformation into butterflies expected in the next head teacher Lynda Prior said: "The children have enjoyed the project. "I wanted them to open up their minds and this has really enabled them to do that."The project is centred around Mr Delahunt's book, the Butterfly Farmer, and it is hoped children involved will be encouraged to be creative. Mr. Delahun, who is also a poet, said: "For neurodivergent individuals, the world is not just a series of fixed, quantifiable events, but a dynamic dance of patterns, music, and colour."When safe and valued, these minds have the unique capacity to see, feel, and express the more subtle, intricate dimensions of existence."Hero, who is in year five at Blean Primary School, said she now has the confidence "to write or draw whatever" comes into her classmate, Tess, has worked at home with her family on a painting of a tree "that shows that all of your thoughts and worries can fall away like leaves."Other schools involved in the project include Bridge, Challock, St Peter's Methodistt, Lady Joanna Thornhill primary and Whitstable Junior.
Times
01-05-2025
- Lifestyle
- Times
How do we sustain our long-distance passion?
Q. My partner and I have been together for three years but for the past six months we have been in a long-distance relationship due to work, only seeing each other at weekends. The sex has felt much more passionate and we've been more connected. How can we keep that going when we're seeing each other every day again? A. Although things feel wonderful now, the reality of living apart long term is not ideal. A rather lovely qualitative study called Sex, Love and Security: Accounts of Distance and Commitment in Living Apart Together Relationships from Canterbury Christ Church University found that living apart can become a way of keeping control over one's life and that this can create emotional distance for some couples. Just
The Hindu
26-04-2025
- Science
- The Hindu
Why we need the Humanities
There has been some bad news for the Humanities. A year ago, the University of Kent, the U.K., confirmed that it would phase out Art History, Anthropology, Health and Social Care, Journalism, Music and Audio Technology, and Philosophy and Religious Studies. Citing financial reasons, Canterbury Christ Church University in Kent announced in November 2024 that it would stop offering English Literature programmes from September 2025. Cardiff University does not want to continue with the Ancient Language modules due to a huge financial deficit. Goldsmiths, University of London, has also decided to scrap a few Arts and Humanities modules. In India too, certain Arts departments are not secure about their future and some Humanities programmes have already been staggered. During the Renaissance, the focus in educational institutions was on studia humanitatis or 'studies of humanity,' especially Greek and Latin classics, Grammar and Rhetoric and Languages, Literature, Philosophy and History. The Humanities refer to those academic disciplines that focus on human beings and rely on hermeneutics or theories of interpretation as their predominant methodology. They differ from Pure Sciences because of their content and pedagogy. Subjects like Physics and Chemistry focus on matter and depend on laboratory experiments for their data. Sociology, Anthropology and Psychology deal with human beings but their insistence on positivistic and empirical methodology differentiates them from the Humanities and categorises them as Social Sciences. Why are the Humanities being side-lined? We need to realise that the neglect of the Humanities is not a recent phenomenon, for as early as the 19th century, German philosopher Wilhelm Dilthey classified all academic disciplines into two groups: the Human Sciences and the Natural Sciences. What is appalling is that even the Humanities were forcibly brought under the sciences. Dilthey went a step further and proclaimed that, to survive, the Humanities should adopt the empirical methodology. Challenges What are the problems that plague the Humanities departments? First, it is a fact that there are not many takers for certain Arts programmes. In India, very few applications are received for programmes like History and Philosophy, making them financially unviable. In the West too, not many students are enthusiastic about the Humanities. Second, in the job market all over the world, STEM students pocket most of the placements. Humanities students are increasingly ignored by recruiting companies. Third, Sciences depend on laboratory experiments and deal with facts, and believe that truth is singular. But the Humanities, especially from a postmodern perspective that has called for an 'incredulity towards metanarratives', speak of truths in the plural. This has unnerved not only the hard sciences but also the Social Sciences that rely predominantly on quantitative data. Fourth, there is sometimes a feeling that Humanities students are not quite as diligent and hard-working as their Science counterparts who spend long hours in their labs. Put differently, poetry, novels and films are considered subjects that do not rigorous classroom teaching. Last and most important, today's digital world is heavily data-based and everything is worked out in terms of numbers, percentages and ratios. Such a world has deepened the divide between the Sciences and the Humanities. Pressing need The world certainly needs the Humanities, which talk about transcendence while the Sciences are confined to immanence. This is one of its strengths. Second, a study of the Humanities ingrains a sense of empathy, which is vital to the survival of the humankind. Aristotle talked about pity and terror and the resultant catharsis. Only because the learners are empathetic to the tragic protagonists do they experience pity and fear. Third, the Humanities help enhance the learners' emotional intelligence. Fourth, the Humanities promote hermeneutics, the theory of interpretation. The Social Sciences — and Pure Sciences too to some extent — need hermeneutics to interpret data, both quantitative and qualitative. Finally, the Humanities teach us to look at the world aesthetically and appreciate even 'the meanest flower that blows'. C.P. Snow in his Rede Lecture (1959) remarked that 'the intellectual life of western society is increasingly being split into two polar groups ... literary intellectuals at one pole — and at the other scientists' ('Two Cultures'). Ultimately, there should be a rapprochement between the two and we should strive to bridge the gap, making the Humanities incrementally scientific/systematic as in the case of Digital Humanities, and the Sciences more humanistic, especially in terms of methodology. Without ethics, aesthetics and hermeneutics that constitute the soul of the Humanities, the world will not be an ideal place for human beings. The writer is Emeritus Professor, Gandhigram Rural Institute-Deemed to be University.
Yahoo
23-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
University funding 'not working'
The vice chancellor of Canterbury Christ Church University has called for the government to increase tuition fees in line with inflation. Professor Rama Thirunamachandran told the BBC the "funding model for higher education is not working", citing changes in student visa rules and rising costs as reasons why his institution is having to cut costs. The university is planning to axe up to 400 jobs, and has already cut 148 through a voluntary redundancy scheme. "This government inherited a sector facing serious financial risk and has taken tough decisions to fix the foundations of higher education," the Department of Education said. Prof Thirunamachandran said: "The tuition fees which were set in 2013 have only been slightly upgraded. They are worth two thirds of what they were." Canterbury Christ Church University is also phasing out its English Literature degree after current students graduate. The vice chancellor said this was necessary because of a lack of student demand, adding "not every university can run every subject when the demand has fallen". Freya Hodge, a second year English literature and history student, said: "In Canterbury, you've got an abundance of literary legends, like Chaucer, Aphra Benn." She added: "To now actually get rid of the subject is just a betrayal of the city's legacy." Craig Potter, the chair of the local branch of the University and Colleges Union (UCU) said the cuts have taken an emotional toll on staff. "To be under threat of losing their jobs is incredibly hard for everybody," he said. "I have people come to me at the beginning of the day, at the end of the day in tears, and people having to go off sick at the stress of it all," he said. The University of Kent is aiming to save nearly £20m this year, mostly through a voluntary redundancy scheme and not filling vacant roles. It is also phasing out six courses, including health and social care, art history, and philosophy. Dr Taymaz Azimi, a philosophy lecturer at the University of Kent, said he will be entering a sparse job market when his course ends in 2026. "Not only do new positions not open, we are losing the existing positions every year," he said. "So losing your job means really struggling." In a statement, the University of Kent said: "Sector finances are under severe pressure and, like many other institutions, we have been making wide-ranging changes to our operation to address this and reflect what students and government are looking for from universities." Follow BBC Kent on Facebook, on X, and on Instagram. Send your story ideas to southeasttoday@ or WhatsApp us on 08081 002250. Canterbury university axes literature degrees University of Kent confirms six courses to be axed University of Kent Canterbury Christ Church University
