21st Century Campus Plan - Term Paper Example

Introduction: The importance of education is realized by those nations that were able to acquire knowledge centuries ago and due to their achievement in education, they managed to achieve milestones in every aspect and field making them advanced and prosperous economies of today. Europe and America have been two geographical locations from where many scholars and researchers emerged and managed to spread knowledge to rest of the world (Craig, 2009). Education has been the key secret behind the success of many prosperous nations of today, which has led to several developed nations spending heavily on their education sector and making the education free for all its citizens. The reason for this move by many developed nations is mainly because it has been certainly realized that education is necessary for their upcoming generation to continue to development process that began centuries ago and gave them competitive edge over other economies for over the years (Ryan, 2009). Today, countries like United States have been providing financial assistance to its students to pursue education till ‘Doctorate Level,’ whereas, countries like Sweden, Germany and other European Nations have completely waived off the tuition fee from students making it completely free. It is without any doubt that it was education that brought Industrial Revolution in Europe that resulted in advancement in the field of technology and due to which numerous countries realized the usefulness of education (Michael, 2008). In this regard, plans have been initiated by the government of England to come up with various higher education institutions where pupils can be provided with top class education in varies fields like arts, biology, engineering, and business. This paper mainly focuses upon a plan regards to creating a new higher education institution in England. Plan for a New Higher Education Institution in England: Planning is a chief factor whenever any venture or idea is finalized so that all the pros and cons are discussed in detail and a conclusion is made whether the plan must be carried out or it should be withheld for further planning till it is in a shape for the implementation (Alex, 2009). Similarly, if a proposal is brought up to open and run a higher education institution in England, then the proposal must come under discussion and a plan must be formulated to conclude whether the proposal of running a higher education institution is a viable option or not. “With the demand of education rising across England and European countries and many foreign and local students looking to pursue higher education, it becomes a viable option to come up with an institution that offers variety of courses and has qualified faculty that can educate the students” (Chambers, pp. 23-29, 2005). After the planning and research, the institution to be created would be named as Portsmouth Institute of Management and Technology and will be located in the heart of the city of Portsmouth located in the extreme south region of the UK. The reason for choosing this location is mainly for two factors. Firstly, the southern region of the UK is the only region where universities are in a few number and most of the students rely on University of Portsmouth and University of Bournemouth to obtain further education. Hence, in order to provide the students of the Southern part of England with more variety and flavor, Portsmouth Institute of Management and Technology can be one of the best choice students can make. Second reason behind choosing this location is because the entire region of Northern England is densely populated with people of almost all nationalities whereas Southern England is calm and quiet with not much population living in the region which greatly favors the studying environment sought by plenty of students. Demographic Features and Student Population: In terms of demographic features, the census conducted in the UK in 2009 states that there are almost sixteen thousand males and females that are in the age group of 19 to 24. They individuals of this age group are either studying in different universities or are engaged in doing different types of jobs (Damien, 2009). By keeping these figures in mind, the Portsmouth Institution of Management and Technology would be able to cater the educational needs of around 25-30 thousand full time and part time students, which clearly shows that local students living in the southern part of England can consider the option of getting enrolled in Portsmouth Institute of Management and Technology. Furthermore, international students too will be having the option of studying in the newly structured institution. The Institute will be having three highly specialized departments mainly as engineering, medical, and business. In order to provide best facilities to these three departments, campus will be extensively and comprehensively divided into 3 different buildings. Building one would be allocated to the foundations department where up to five thousand students can enroll in to various foundation courses such as in arts, science, engineering, medicine, business, and music (Chambers, 2005). This building would be a smaller building as it would only cater the foundation students. Furthermore, foundation studies are more theoretical and do not require much of the experimental education therefore the class rooms would be equipped with proper white boards and projectors to ensure that the students studying foundation courses are able to build up concrete foundations of whatever course they have opted to study. Apart from projectors and white boards, students for foundation courses will have be having a computer lab where they will have access to the internet to study more on their chosen courses and to get assistance for their course works and assignments. Building two would be a larger structure handling up to 18 thousand undergraduate students studying medicine, engineering, and business. The building would be equipped with finest laboratories for medical and engineering students so that they would be able to practice several different kinds of practical’s related to their studies whereas business students will be having a special library that will be having all the management related books and many other academic journals, which can be very helpful for research purposes and dissertations (Gumport, 2008). Last but not the least; Building 3 would be allocated for only post graduate students who wish to receive their master’s degree. Five thousand Business students would be catered to study post graduate business programs in the Institute whereas 1 thousand students for specialization (Medical) course and 1 thousand more students for Specialized Engineering Course at Masters Level (Johnstone, 2007). To conclude with demographics, it can be assumed that the entire institute would be able to cater up to 30 thousand full time and part time students offering them a vast variety of courses in two different intakes of January and September of every year. Geographical Features: It is always advisable to decide the location of any business or project sensibly to ensure that the target market will always find it easy to locate the desired location without any hurdles (Smith, 2009). If the location is decided haphazardly without considering key factors, then there are massive chances that the target market might not be able to obtain the services offered by the business to them hence no relationship can be established between the two parties. Hence, the wise thing to do in such situations is to decide the location which actually suits the venture and the target market is always accessible to obtain services of the business (Johnstone, 2007). In terms of choosing the best location for an institution, the best thing to do is to locate it where students can easily make their way to the institution. The institution must be located near bus and metro stations as most of the students prefer taking bus or train to travel to their respective colleges or universities (Stewart, 2009) Keeping in view of such factors, Portsmouth institute has also located itself at a very strategic location. The Institution is in the heart of the city of Portsmouth, right next to City Centre where the King Cross Metro station is located making it extremely easy for the students to reach Institution through the metro. Moreover, buses from suburbs also stop at the City Centre which is another easy mean of reaching to the Portsmouth Institute of Management and Technology for students who either live in the city or the suburbs. The location is even more convenient for those students who prefer riding to the institute by their bicycles. Cultural Information: Education has become so essential for everybody living today that people have started taking it pretty serious that they must acquire education from institutions that have high teaching standards. Since education of high standard with qualified faculty is not available in every country, therefore, people generally think of moving abroad to countries like the UK, USA and Canada to acquire education (Darren, 2008). England remains the first priority for students to head towards as it is home to hundreds of universities that have rich history in education and have variety of courses available that are not available commonly in other countries. Due to this factor, thousands of students from various cultures take admission in various universities in the UK and many other western countries which results in multicultural environment at the campus. Like all other universities and institutions, Portsmouth institute of Management and Technology would be having a multicultural environment in its campus as not only local (British) students would be coming for certain courses but international students from Asia, Africa and Europe would be enrolling themselves to pursue their educational career at the institute. Majority of the students from Asia are Indians, Pakistanis, and Chinese as students from these countries are more optimistic and focused in acquiring education from foreign countries like the UK. From African countries, Kenya, Nigeria, Botswana and few more countries are the ones from where students take admissions in numerous universities (Damien, 2008). Although there are no limitations or hurdles for students from any country to enroll in Portsmouth Institute, however due to various nationalities the cultural environment becomes rich and students get to make friends with students of other countries and know more about their culture, country’s history and the current challenges facing to the country. National Policies to be applied to the Institute: In the UK, most of universities and higher education institutes are funded by the government due to which the educational institutions and universities are required to follow certain government policies, which are imposed by the government for the education sector. Although private universities too exist in the UK, but government policies have influence on those universities as well. Similarly, those national policies are to be implemented in Portsmouth Institute of Management and Technology (Gumport, 2008). National Policy states that the local (British) students are to be charged 1/4 of what is charged from the foreign students as the fee for the whole academic year. In simple words, if an international student is paying 9000 GBP then a local student will be paying 3250 GBP. This policy has been implemented not to discriminate international students but to offer incentive to the local British students to focus more towards studies (Smith, 2009). The other government policy which has to be implemented is that the institute must be audited by the body of BAC (British Accredited Colleges) to make sure that the institute is not just by name but is actually providing quality students to the ones that are enrolled. As there have been reports that there are many colleges and universities across the UK that are not offering education to the students hence it became important for the government to introduce this policy (Dalton, 2006) and keep a strict check on all the universities and their teaching standard, therefore this policy too will be implemented by the management of Portsmouth Institute of Management and Technology. The institution will be having two academic sessions and intakes will be held in January and September to follow the UCAS system. According to the national policy, there will be certain scholarships for the students as well who are outstanding in their Academics whereas those active in extracurricular activities like sports, debates and clubs too would be given scholarships and financial assistance from the government (Dalton, 2006). Institution’s stakeholders and the Organizational Structure: Stakeholders are regarded as all those groups of people that have direct or indirect impact of the organizational activities. Stakeholders of an organization are normally its investors/owners, customers, employees, creditors, debtors, government and society as in whole. “Organizational structure explains the hierarchical structure of an organization highlighting whether the structure is chain of commands or span of control” (David, pp. 59-64, 2008). As mentioned earlier that there are both government and private universities in the UK. The government universities are owned and funded by government whereas private universities are owned by individuals but they do have government influence in their policies. Portsmouth Institute of Management and IT is a privately owned university which is partially funded by the government of England. The stakeholders of the university include the investors (Sainsbury Group) that has invested huge sum of money to build the campus and equip it with high tech instruments such as laptops, projectors, libraries, labs, and many other facilities. The investors have their main objective of getting maximum number of students to the Institute so that revenue streams could be broadened. Other stakeholders include the lecturers and professors who are working for the Institute, providing students with interesting and knowledgeable lectures. Students studying in the Institute are also the stakeholders as they are investing certain amount of money in studying certain courses and expect to get the best education in return (McDonald, 2002). Society as a whole is also regarded as a stakeholder as it wishes that education must be provided to every individual to live a successful and crime free life. Without education people are most likely to live life either in poverty or by committing crimes which is harmful for the society therefore society too is counted as a stakeholder for the university (Darren, 2008). Organizational structure of the Institute is more like a span of control structure in which the power rests with the board of directors that are mainly the investors. Those investors have hired the entire faculty which report to the dean of the Institution. Three Academic Departments of the Institution: As mentioned earlier, the Portsmouth Institute of Management and Technology will be having three departments in the initial stage of its formation. Those departments will include engineering, medicine, and business management. The students enrolling in to the institution first carry on with foundations program that gives them ground roots information and knowledge regarding their respective fields (Craig, 2009). Once the students are done with their foundation course then they are transferred to their respective faculties. School of business offers undergraduate and post graduate courses in business administration, accounting and finance, marketing and human resource. School of engineering offers undergraduate and post graduate courses in electronic engineering, civil engineering, mechanical and chemical engineering. School of medicine offers undergraduate courses in nursing, dentistry, and neurology. All the courses are accredited and moderated by top US and Australian universities. The campus offers all sorts of facilities to the students that help them understand their courses and perform better in their examinations. Aspects of Higher Education: Education provides endless opportunities to the ones who go ahead, acquire it and implement what has been learnt by them. By acquiring higher education, a person can either start working in some organization or can be well able to start up his/her own enterprise (Walton, 2008). Socially, education makes people understand each other better in a society and that leads towards coordination being increased among the groups of people. When education is being taken by the individuals, poverty is eradicated from society and people are more likely to spend life in a better way that also increases the living standard of the people living in a society (Gumport, 2008). Ethically, education makes people learn the basic rules that are to be applied in life and the ways to deal with individuals. Education differentiates between right and wrong and direct people towards righteous deeds and keeps them away from the wrong ones. In all the ways, education is more like a blessing for a society as it keeps the people united and pushes them away from committing acts that cause trouble in the society (Benson, 2007). Funding Sources: As mentioned earlier, education institutes are fully or partially funded by the UK government so education is provided at high standards to the local citizens. However the universities that are not funded fully by the government are often funded by some high profile multinationals who have agreements with various universities to provide them with brilliant students (Chambers, 2005). In other cases, NGO’s also contribute in some universities to help the deserving students who are suffering from financial constraints. Moreover, scholarships are often available in many universities to help the deserving and needy students. Conclusion: Education is a lifelong process and in order to spread it within the society, it is the responsibility of the educational institutions to come ahead and provide quality education to the pupil so that evils can be eradicated and prosperity can be prevailed. In order for education to be provided to the community, it is important to have better and high class institutions to provide quality education. From this paper, it has been learning that in order to establish an institution that offers higher education, a lot many challenges are to be faced after which an institution is founded and ready to provide education to thousands of students. The challenges can be from various segments such as society that can be against such plans of an educational institution being established. At times funding from government sector becomes a challenge that can halt the plans of coming up with a higher institution. Similarly, many challenges were encountered while Portsmouth Institute of Management and Technology was being established. Funding or the finance became a challenge at certain stages whereas negativity from society too became a challenge when the plan was opposed by society against the need of an institution but things worked out well till the end when the institution finally came into existence. References Alex, T. (2009). Essence of Project Management. New York: Prentice Hall. Benson, S. (2007). Project Management today. New York: Pearson Publishing. Chambers, A. (2005). Higher education for the public good: Emerging voices from a national movement. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Craig, A. (2009). Academics for the century. Cambridge: OUP. Dalton, J. C. (2006). Encouraging authenticity and spirituality in higher education. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Damien, C. (2008). Higher Education in the 21st Century. Cambridge: OUP. Darren, H. (2008). Higher Education and Its Significance. New York: Prentice Hall. David, C. (2008). An introduction to project management and issues. New York: Prentice Hall. Gumport, P. 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