Missenden Centre seminar experiences
“The content of your courses promotes critical thinking on the future of higher education in a global context. Participation offers space to share ideas, reflect on problems, and consider solutions whilst in peaceful and comfortable surroundings. I come back from Missenden Centre with renewed enthusiasm.”
Professor Linda McKie,
Professor in Sociology, University of Durham
“Hello John, I hope you remember but I attended a last minute rae submission session at missenden a few years back run by yourself and john rogers. We got the result of our submission to UOA 66 today and while I cannot tell you the scores because they are embargoed till midnight and information services are probably scanning my email as I write, and in any case you will get them on Thursday I expect, I wanted to let you know that it is much much better than I reasonably expected and a quantum improvement on our 2001 submission. I think that is in no small part a consequence of my attendance at Missenden which was a very modest outlay and an absolute bargain with the hindsight of today’s news. I hope other attendees were at least as successful. Anyway I wanted to thank you personally for the help and support and the practical demonstration that critical thinking is an encouragement, which of course I know intellectually but like most people struggle to do in practice. Please also convey my thanks to John Rogers. I will certainly be recommending the Centre's work to others and intend to attend the next relevant session if circumstances permit. So once again thanks very much. ”
Jeremy Valentine,
Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh
“A lot of conventional conference activity involves being “talked at” by a series of speakers, sometimes for an entire day. In many cases, the same amount of learning can be achieved in a fraction of the time through reading a summary paper.
But the Missenden seminar on widening access, facilitated by Prof John Wakeford, used a much more interactive format within which participants offer their own experiences as case study material which is then critically explored by the rest of the seminar group. This allows for a pooling of expertise, an in-depth analysis of issues, and maximum relevance. So I was immediately able to put into effect the advice I received at the seminar.
Furthermore, it is an enjoyable and stimulating process because everyone contributes in a constructive way.”
Danny Saunders,
Head of Centre of Lifelong Learning, University of Glamorgan