NEWS


Graduation day as youngsters complete ‘mini PhD’ in abacus


Twenty-three of the brightest minds in the UK – eighteen of which were from Scotland - were honoured in a ceremony in Glasgow recently to celebrate their completion of a leading abacus training programme. The War Memorial Hall in Bishopbriggs, packed with family and friends of the winners, rung with heartfelt applause when Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar MSP presented each of the children with their awards. The celebration was organised by computer scientist and educator, Dr Rashmi Mantri, head of The British Youth International College (BYITC), who set up the organisation in 2015 after teaching her own son, Druhv, maths using a counting tool that has been used for millennia – the abacus. Now BYITC and its Supermaths programme is the leading abacus training provider in the UK and has also developed the world’s first games-based abacus maths application.


“Clearing all levels of Abacus is no walk in the park as it requires a lot of hard work and typically takes students 3 – 4 years of practice to complete this. It really is like a mini PhD for these incredible young people,” said Dr Mantri.


“As well as enabling people to do mental arithmetic in super fast time, the abacus is a highly effective brain development tool for concentration. The touch and feel nature of it makes it very popular for children with dyslexia also for example.


“With Maths Week Scotland upon us, we want parents and teachers to


know that the abacus is a tried and tested tool to improve mental maths. Our annual maths competition called an Olympiad, opened on 25th September – it is very popular as it is open to anyone to enter and is free of charge.”


uhttps://www.byitc.org/


Derby awarded prestigious Gold status for teaching excellence


The University of Derby has been awarded Gold in the prestigious Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF) 2023 – making it one of the top universities in the country recognised for its outstanding student experience and student outcomes.


The TEF is a national scheme run by the Office for Students that aims to encourage higher education providers to improve and deliver excellence in the areas that students care about the most: teaching, learning and achieving positive outcomes from their studies.


As well as achieving an overall rating of Gold, in the two underpinning ratings of the TEF, Derby was awarded Gold for student experience and Silver for student outcomes.


Derby’s continued success in the TEF, as it was awarded Gold when the Framework first launched in 2017, comes off the back of recent achievements in the National Student Survey 2023, in which the University was ranked in the Top 20 nationally for assessment and feedback, as well as in The Times and The Sunday Times Good University Guide 2024, where the University was rated in the Top 20 for teaching quality, and in the Top 20 in the UK for overall student satisfaction in the Complete University Guide 2024.


The TEF ratings reflect the extent to which a provider delivers an excellent experience and outcomes for its mix of undergraduate students and across the range of its undergraduate courses and subjects. 228 providers took part in TEF 2023.


Professor Keith McLay, Provost – Learning & Teaching at the University of Derby, said: “Our approach to learning and teaching at Derby is one that is student-focused, tailored and inclusive, to ensure our students get an outstanding experience during their time with us and that they are challenged to fulfil their full potential.


10 www.education-today.co.uk October 2023


“We have invested significantly in our learning and teaching frameworks and take seriously our role in providing students with not only state-of-the-art facilities, but ensuring they are surrounded by academic rigour, excellence and expertise. We are therefore delighted with this result.”


uwww.derby.ac.uk


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