Pozzoni Academy - Student mentoring Scheme

Pozzoni Academy - Student mentoring Scheme

As part of our developing Academy programme and commitment to architectural education, we are interested in linking with universities to help them introduce students into Practice. Some 14 or so years ago my fellow
Partner, David Hughes, introduced the student mentoring initiative during his term as President of the Manchester Society of Architects.

This has worked well for us and we currently have 2 fully qualified architects with us who both joined Pozzoni as 3rd year students back in 2003. We are looking to offer up to 3 placements for the 2011/12 academic year
starting ideally in January 2012. Ideally these placements would be to students starting either the final year of their Part 1 course or the first year of their Part 2 course.

What has worked well previously for both us and the students involved, is a monthly breakfast get together at our offices when we can provide whatever support the student needs, whether it be design and technical tutoring on one of their projects, IT skills development or general assistance on any aspect that will help further their own personal development and awareness of an architect in
practice.

We would look to build a specific programme for each student based on their individual needs, rather than offer a ‘one size fits all’ approach. Whilst we would expect that each student gains individual benefits and
strengthens both their confidence and experience through this initiative, we would hope that this may lead to employment with us at some stage in the
future. Of course we cannot guarantee this, as it is subject to our own workload and the economic climate prevailing at the time.

Interested applicants should send their CV to Nick Dunn in the first instance who will shortlist with Pozzoni, Please send me your CVs no later than Friday 16th December.

Thanks,

Nick

EXTENDED DEADLINE TO STUDY ABROAD IN 2012-2013 - CONTACT US BY 14 DECEMBER 2011

For Architecture students only the deadline to apply for studying abroad through the worldwide exchange scheme in 2012-2013 has been extended to 6 January 2012.


Students interested to apply have to contact Jenny Hogg the very latest by Wednesday 14 December 2011 (Jenny.hogg@manchester.ac.uk). Please also copy isabelle.doucet@manchester.ac.uk in the email.

This applies to worldwide exchange, not Erasmus: see below for explanation of the difference.

For an academic exchange placement during their BArch, students have two 'paths' that they can follow to study abroad - they can either go to Europe on an 'Erasmus' exchange, or they can go abroad to a non-European country (e.g. USA, Canada, Australia, Singapore etc) through one of our 'Worldwide' exchange agreements.

WORLDWIDE EXCHANGES

Typically, Architecture students would go to the University of Melbourne or the University of Sydney in Australia, but you could also go to the National University of Singapore, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign or the University of Missouri at Columbia. All of these partners have been chosen by the school in Manchester as having a strong academic department abroad, and they teach in English, so there would be no problem for you to attend classes and take exams at any of these universities.

You could possible attend any of our partners that teach suitable courses for you to take abroad that would be a good match for what you would miss here in Manchester. Please note however that some of our partners do have restrictions when enrolling students into their high level Architecture classes and so would not be a suitable option for you (for example the University of Hong Kong; also the University of California only accepts full year exchange students).

For a full list of our Worldwide exchange partners please see:http://www.manchester.ac.uk/international/studyabroadandexchanges/exchange/partneruniversities/

To be eligible to go abroad you would need an average of at least 55% (60% for Melbourne) as the process is very competitive.

ERASMUS EXCHANGES

Through Erasmus, Architecture have a link in Poland, which teaches all its courses in English. To able to study at Cracow University of Technology you would also need at least 55% average in your academic grades. You can find further details about the exchange in Cracow atwww.erasmus.pk.edu.pl/incoming.php. The deadline for Erasmus applications is usually around Easter time each year.

One of the biggest advantages of going abroad through the Erasmus scheme is that you would be entitled to receive an Erasmus grant worth about 200 Euros per month for the time that you were abroad. As long as you successfully completed your placement, you would never need to re-pay this funding.

DEADLINES

The deadline for a worldwide exchange is this 15 December 2011 !! – so you actually need to apply now for an exchange next year. For Erasmus, there is more time left. Please get in touch with me right away if you’re interested to apply and we can still make it work.

HOW WILL STUDYING ABROAD AFFECT YOUR STUDIES AT MSA?

Going on exchange is a very positive experience both personally and education-wise. However, you should be aware that, at your return, you would have to catch up on a few courses that are compulsory within our RIBA-accredited education – even if you collected all the necessary credits during your exchange.

You will have to collect 40 MSA credits [20 ECTS] during your semester abroad. Usually most of those credits are collected through design studio.

On your return, you will have to catch up on the following courses:

**Dissertation: the methodology courses for dissertation are taught in the first semester so you won’t miss out on that. You will also be allocated a supervisor before you leave on exchange so you will need to discuss your process during your absence with him/her. Usually you will get an extended submission deadline – September instead of May, but in any case it means that you should progress with your dissertation while you are on exchange.

**Professional Studies: you will miss this course during your absence so you will have two options to catch up during your sixth year: in semester one or in semester 2 [then you’ll follow it with the BArch 5

"Students who will be receiving an automatic offer and are interested in such an exchange may begin the process now, even thought the offer has not yet arrived."

Study BArch Year 5 abroad - Application deadline 15 December 2011

Dear student,

You have studied the Architecture BA course at MSA and you are currently in your year out. There are possibilities to go study abroad in the BArch 5, in semester 2 of academic year 2012-13 [Spring]. In order to apply for a worldwide Exchange next academic year, you need to apply this year already. For Erasmus you can still apply later.

We have not heard from you about an interest in such exchange but we do realize that this structure is quite unique [applying while you’re in your year out]. Therefore I still want to give you this last minute opportunity to apply.

The deadline for worldwide exchange is 15 December 2011 – so next week.

If you are sure you’ll be returning to MSA in 2012-13 and that you want to go on exchange, please do get in touch with me so we can still process your application.

This email provides you already with some basic information [see below]: read this carefully as to what are the requirements and how study abroad will affect your studies at the MSA.

Kind regards, Isabelle

isabelle.doucet@manchester.ac.uk