UK's Equine Initiative renamed UK Ag Equine Programs

stakeholders to better reflect the breadth of equine offerings at UK and the college's long-term commitment to serving the state's signature equine industry.

The Equine Initiative was launched in 2005 when the College of Agriculture set out to radically change how it served Kentucky's signature equine industry and provide a suite of services appropriate for a land-grant university. In a nod acknowledging the success of those efforts and a continued commitment to the state's equine industry, the college has adopted a new name to better position its equine programs for continued success.

"In short, we have indeed transformed the ‘initiative' into established, world-class, service-oriented programs across the board," said Nancy Cox, UK College of Agriculture associate dean for research, Kentucky Agricultural Experiment Station director and administrative leader for the UK Ag Equine Programs.

That was a sentiment echoed...
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Equine Reproduction Facilities open at UK's Maine Chance Equine Campus
LEXINGTON, Ky., (Feb 9, 2012)
UK Equine facilityA grand opening celebration for University of Kentucky's Equine Reproduction Facilities was held Feb. 2 at UK's Maine Chance Equine Campus. The celebration recognized the generosity of supporters who funded the remodeling.

The...
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UK climate change workshop to stimulate ideas, collaborations
LEXINGTON, Ky., (Feb 9, 2012)
tractor in droughtFor those interested in remaining competitive in an agricultural future that could be defined by a changing climate, the University of Kentucky College of Agriculture's Climate Change Working Group is offering the Climate Change and Small Grains Production...
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School will help producers ready their IPM plans for 2012
PRINCETON, Ky., (Feb 9, 2012)
What has been a considerably mild winter thus far has many producers wondering if and how the warmer temperatures will affect diseases and insect pests in their fields in the upcoming growing season. The University of Kentucky’s Integrated Pest Management School can help producers get a jumpstart on their 2012 management strategies.

The school is March 7 at the UK Research and Education Center in Princeton.

Registration begins at 8 a.m. CST, and presentations by UK College of Agriculture...
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UK College of Agriculture engineer recognized for safety work

The beef industry is always changing, sometimes very rapidly with regard to weather, market prices, fuel and other input costs. Add in external forces such as national and world politics, economics, animal rights and consumer perceptions, and beef producers have many situations to manage and overcome to be profitable.

NEWS BY:http://www.ca.uky.edu/news

Super university for Manchester

A new super university will be created in autumn next year with the merger of Manchester University and Umist after the councils of the two universities gave their final agreement.

The merger had been first discussed in March last year. It was formally agreed by the two university councils last October, but was dependent on funding being found.

It will create the largest UK university outside of London. London nominally remains the largest UK university but that structure has become less important as the autonomy of the colleges has increased.

More than £82m in grants has now been secured for the new institution whose name will be decided in less than three months' time.

The package of funding includes £65m from the higher education funding council for England, the office of science and technology and the north-west development agency. A further £17m will come from the science research investment fund.

The vice-chancellor of Manchester University, Sir Martin Harris and John Garside, the principal and vice chancellor of Umist (the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology), said: "We are delighted that central government and the north-west development agency have provided the practical financial support to help the universities to realise their vision. The extra investment on this scale is unique.

"We have a solid foundation on which to build a truly world-class university that will continue to attract the best students, the most talented staff and significant research funds from around the world.

The new university will have an annual income of £420m and will have the breadth and quality of research and teaching to attract staff and students. It will have around 34,000 students and the merger will cut competition and duplication, streamline administration and create a clearer identity.

Lord Sainsbury, the science minister, said: "The merger will establish a centre for world-class research in Manchester, both in terms of size and resources." 

NEWS BY:http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2003/mar/07/highereducation.administration

College research shows cause for concern about ready-made spectacles

The results of research commissioned by the College of Optometrists shows that many ready-made spectacles are not of appropriate quality to match the advertising around them.

Following the publication of a Which? report on ready-made reading glasses in October 2010, the College commissioned Professor David Elliott at Bradford University to carry out some further research in this area based on a much larger sample size.  The original Which? report pointed to some potential issues with the quality of ready-made  spectacles, and possible discrepancies between the standards claimed by the manufacturers and those actually found in the glasses tested for their report.   Although the Which? report highlighted an issue that was of interest (and if their findings were accurate, concern) to our members and the public, the conclusions were based on a sample of 14 ready readers, which opened the findings to question.

After assessing over 300 ready readers from a wide range of high street stores, with costs ranging from £1 to £32, Professor Elliot’s team found that:

    Just over half of all ready-made spectacles used in the study provided the optical standards required of them by the relevant British and European Standard.
    
    Higher-powered ready-made spectacles were more likely to have errors (+3.50DS).
    
    The quality of these ready-made spectacles could be easily improved by the use of more appropriate inter-pupillary distances for the work they are intended for.

The team at Bradford ran a range of tests on the spectacles.   They examined each pair’s quality in terms of:

    how closely they met their advertised specifications
    
    the positioning of the lenses in the frames
    
    whether the frames positioned the lenses in such a way that the distance between the focal centres of the lenses was likely to fall within the range for average distance between pupils in the UK population.

Professor Elliott’s report on this research will be published in the research journal of the American Academy of Optometry (Optometry and Vision Science) later this year.

NEWS BY:http://www.college-optometrists.org/en/knowledge-centre/news/index.cfm/ready_readers_1_12

London Tasmac college linked to UoW closes suddenly

A college in London which awards degrees validated by the University of Wales (UoW) has closed suddenly.

The UoW said it was offering "direct support" and assisting in the transfer of 650 students at Tasmac London School of Business to other colleges.

It is a further difficulty for the UoW which has recently faced widespread criticism over its validation of degrees at partner colleges.

UoW confirmed the closure. The BBC was unable to contact the college.

The investigation by BBC Wales' Week In Week Out programme examined how overseas students were being made offers to cheat their way to UoW degrees and UK graduate work visas. Tasmac college did not feature in the BBC programme.

The university said it wanted to repair its "tarnished brand" and would stop validating courses at all other institutions in the UK and abroad.

The UKBA and the Metropolitan Police subsequently launched two investigations which led to raids being carried out.

"University of Wales academics and officers travelled to London last week and are meeting the students today," a statement from UoW said.

"The university has been in discussions with other collaborative centres to arrange for the 650 students on University of Wales programmes to transfer to programmes at these institutions".

NEWS BY:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-south-west-wales-15197683