22nd December 1999

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The University of Ulster has been chosen to form part of a new £30 million national initiative to improve the quality of teaching and learning in universities throughout the United Kingdom.

The project, which will bring over £1.25m in new funding to the UU, is to begin in January.

Known as the Learning and Teaching Support Network Centre for Information and Computing Sciences, organisers say it will provide the finest network in the world for the support, information and discussion of Information Technology teaching and learning issues in higher education.

Almost two dozen universities will take part in the project - each specialising in a particular subject area.

The University of Ulster will be the Network's specialist Centre for Information and Computing Sciences. The team, based on the Jordanstown campus, will lead a consortium of four other universities:

Professor Terri Scott will direct the project:

"The task before us is very large, with a lot of important issues to address. More and more people want to study Information Technology and to do so at different levels and in different ways. Universities have to be able to cope with that.

"There is also the issue of keeping staff up to date with the constantly changing world in computing- the idea of having lecture notes which can be used year and year simply does not apply to those teaching IT"

The Centre will have five staff in the first instance. It will be managed by Sylvia Alexander:

"Access to the most effective and up to date teaching methods and technologies is vital if we at UU are to continue as one of the UK's leading centres for the teaching of informatics and computing science.

This new Centre will put us way out in front, helping us attract and retain the finest lecturers and students in the field."

For further information, please contact:

Press Office Department of Communication and Development
Telephone: 028 9036 6178
Email: pressoffice@ulster.ac.uk