BU Research Blog

REF Review

The outcome of Lord Stern’s independent review makes 12 recommendations for the future of the REF. Notably, the report suggests that all research active staff should be returned in the REF and should be allocated to a unit of assessment. You can view the report here. Wonkhe has a piece which analyses how the sector has reacted to the recommendations.

Home Office

The Home Office released some updated guidance on Tier 4 of the points based system. The guidance reveals a two-year pilot scheme which eases visa rules for those applying to master’s courses at the University of Bath, University of Cambridge, University of Oxford and Imperial College London.  The pilot means that students applying to study a Masters course for 13 months or less at these institutions will be allowed to stay in the UK for six months after the end of their courses to find a graduate job here. You can view the guidance here (pg 92).

TEF

Chris Husbands, the Vice-Chancellor of Sheffield Hallam University, has been named as the first chair of the Teaching Excellence Framework. Professor Husbands, will lead the assessment panel that will make decisions on university ratings in the second and third year of the TEF (2017-18 and 2018-19), which will decide whether universities are allowed to raise their fees in line with inflation in 2018-19 and 2019-20. Chris Husbands appointed as TEF chair. (THE).  

 The Department for Education

In the recent report by the Department for Education Widening participation in higher education: 2016, the government reveals that 85% of private school pupils went to higher education, compared with 62% of those from state schools by the age of 19 in 2013-14. The figures also reveal a drop from 66% to 62% in state school pupils progressing to university between 2012-2013 and 2013-2014. You can view the report here.

Party Conferences

 The 2016 Party conferences have been announced

• Green Party of England and Wales – Friday 2 September to Sunday 4 September 2016 at the University of Birmingham
• UKIP – Thursday 15 to Saturday 17 September at the Bournemouth International Centre, Bournemouth
• Liberal Democrats – Saturday 17 September to Wednesday 21 September at the Brighton Centre, Brighton
• Labour – Sunday 25 September to Wednesday 28 September 2016 at the ACC Liverpool, Liverpool
• Conservatives – Sunday 2 to Wednesday 5 October at International Convention Centre, Birmingham
• Scottish National Party – Thursday 13 to Saturday 15 October at the Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre, Glasgow

Over recent years there has been a surge of interest in North Korea, especially concerning issues around human rights abuse. For instance, both the BBC and the Guardian have dedicated North Korea sections on their websites. Additionally, numerous publications have revealed the abhorrent reality faced by North Korean people under its highly secretive totalitarian regime (Demick 2010; Harden 2012; Jang 2014; Kang and Rogoulot 2001). As a consequence, a growing number of North Koreans are leaving their country to seek refuge elsewhere, risking their lives and often their families’. Since 2004, approximately 600 defectors have settled in the UK, creating the largest North Korean community among European countries (Free NK 2014). Yet, compared to defectors settled in other countries, such as South Korea (Lee 2015; Noh et al. 2015), little is known about the UK settlers and their experiences, particularly those who are involved in human rights activism, despite increased coverage of North Korea in the media.

As a South Korean born academic, I was instantly fascinated by the existence of a North Korean community in the UK when I discovered it as part of my research. Upon learning about it, I found out about Free NK, a human rights organisation founded and run by the defectors. According to the founder Mr Kim Joo-Il, Free NK aims to achieve two major goals through their activism: raising public awareness by illuminating the reality of North Korea to the world, whilst also working towards the subversion of the regime by informing its fellow remainders about the outside world through the distribution of newspapers in Europe and to their ‘homeland’. However, as emerged in my interviews with various members, it has faced a range of challenges and obstacles. Given the significance of their work and direct relevance to my research, it seems perfectly appropriate to organise an event as part of BU’s Festival of Learning for wider engagement with the public. Two guest speakers from Free NK travelled to BU on Tuesday 28 June to share their personal experiences in North Korea and the future direction of their work.

The first speaker, Mr Choi Joong-Wha, who served in the North Korean army since graduating high school, expressed his dismay at seeing the reality of the army first-hand. Completely different from what he was taught at school about the army as the protector of people and the country, stealing from ordinary citizens to resolve hunger and raping women were common practice. He also witnessed many soldiers suffering from malnutrition, including himself, with this sometimes resulting in death. When the audience asked him at the end of the event how he survived with little food, he opened up honestly that he was able to survive only through stealing crops and animals from farmers.

The second speaker, Mr Kim Joo-Il, who was an army officer and founded Free NK since his arrival in the UK, focused his talk on Free NK activism and the future of North Korea. He outlined a range of methods that human rights activists deployed to send messages to people remaining in the secret regime, such as the use of balloons and drones. He talked of his experience during his service at the De-militarised Zone near the border with South Korea. During this period, he used to listen to South Korean radio programmes at night because they often spent the late hours in complete darkness due to limited electricity. According to him, these programmes were more enticing because they were not propagandistic but ordinary radio programmes, which revealed a comparatively free life in South Korea. Drawing on this personal experience, Free NK activists try to send newspapers that cover mostly usual news items and adverts to North Korea, rather than containing propagandistic messages.

Mr Kim also pointed out that the successful transformation of North Korea can only be achieved by the ordinary people, not by the privileged class targeted by the international society. Although the ultimate vision of many North Korean defectors is the unification of the North and South through the democratization of the former, both speakers are acutely aware of the huge chasm between the two due to different historical, political and economic paths taken by them. Until then, it will be a long journey.

The event was a great success with excellent engagement from the audience. It was also chosen by BU’s Media and Communications team as a press release that was picked up by the Bournemouth Daily Echo on 4 July 2016.

If you want to know more about my research on North Korean defectors, please email hlim@bournemouth.ac.uk.

References:

Chung, B-H. (2009) Between Defector and Migrant: Identities and Strategies of North Koreans in South Korea. Korean Studies, 32, 1-27.

Demick, B. (2010) Nothing to Envy: Real Lives in North Korea. London: Granta.

Free NK (2014). North Korean Residents Society. Available at: http://www.ifreenk.com [Accessed 20 May 2015].

Harden, B. (2012) Escape from Camp 14. London: Mantle.

Jang, J-S. (2014) Dear Leader. London: Ridler Books.

Kang, C-H and Rigoulot, P. (2001) The Aquariums of Pyongyang: Ten Years in the North Korean Gulag. New York: Basic Books.

Lee, H. (2015) The Girl with Seven Names: A North Korean Defector’s Story. New York: HarperCollins.

Noh, J-W., Kwon, Y-D., Yu, S., Park, H-C., and Woo, J-M. (2015) A Study of Mental Health Literacy among North Korean Refugees in South Korea. Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health, 48, 62-71

What is FoMO and how does it shape event decision-making and event experience?

The Department of Events & Leisure within the Faculty of Management is at the forefront of research on FoMO (Fear of Missing Out) in events and it has recently held the first workshop on the topic. The project was developed under BU’s Undergraduate Research Assistantship (URA) scheme.

Helena Jarman, a final year BA Events Management student, spent 6 weeks researching the topic under the supervision of Dr. Miguel Moital. Besides researching the topic, Helena helped prepare and deliver the one-day workshop, which was attended by event managers from local Charities.

As part of the legacy of her research assistanship, they recorded two videos:

• In this video, Dr. Miguel Moital interviews Helena about the findings of their research.
• In this second video, Helena talks about her 6 week research assistanship

The workshop was a success, with participants providing very positive feedback:

“This workshop helped me to understand how people use social media and the thought processes and emotions behind it. It’s a lot more complex than I realised. The information was clear and examples useful / relevant. I thought the workshop was really well put together, just the right balance of information and opportunity for discussion. It was good to have the opportunity to discuss events and share our marketing materials with other participants in a supportive environment. Thank you very much for an enjoyable and informative day. I would certainly recommend the training to others.”

Events & Fundraising Coordinator, Bournemouth

“The course has encouraged me to look at our events and establish ways to make them prestigious. It has also re-enforced the concept of providing the right tools to the potential attendees to enable the creation of FoMO. I have left the course understanding the language needed and the moral implications of FoMO. I would say therefore that the course has significantly increased my confidence in using FoMO as a marketing tool.”

Digital Projects Co-ordinator, Bournemouth

Helena also participated in the 1st Global Festival of Learning organised by Bournemouth University at Sunway University, Malaysia, where she co-presented with Miguel the results of their research.

The department is planning to stage future workshops (in Bournemouth and London), so if you know any event managers/professionals who could be interested, ask them to register their interest by sending an email to Miguel (mmoital@bournemouth.ac.uk).

Popular Culture and the Austerity Myth: Hard Times Today, a project co-led by CEMP’s Julian McDougall, is featured here on Open Democracy.