Diary of a Mature Student

I managed to qualify to enter Junior Honours in History of Art, a subject I am really passionate about. This semester, I am studying Caravaggio, one of my favourite painters. The history around his time is very colourful but it was a violent time for everyone on the streets and Caravaggio liked to parade about with his sword to denote a higher ranking in society. Anyway, I love the course and the lecturer is very passionate about Caravaggio so makes it all come to life.

We are an exceptionally large year in Junior Honours which I think has shocked the Department. It is a department highly ranked in the University league tables and very much in demand as it also provides for students who have completed level 2 History of Art at the Colleges of the Auction Houses, Christies and Sothebys.

Unfortunately, I broke my leg last week on the Cowal Way and I am now home after surgery but I am housebound so I have missed the last two weeks of lectures and seminars. The Student Disability Services are helping me out by providing a note taker for the last week. I was due to make a presentation on Caravaggism with two others. Fortunately, I was able to email my notes, handout and powerpoint presentation to the lecturer to be delivered to the class in my absence. I have been on the Powerpoint course and now feel quite confident using it.

Over the next few weeks I will be writing my essay as best as I can as there were more books I would like to have read. As the exam is not until May, it was essential to have as many notes as possible for revision purposes.Hopefully, I will be able to walk again in late December so hope to be fit to continue the course with Architecture in Modernity and Methodology.

Otherwise on the campus, the Mature Students Association is doing well with a record number of members. Ironically, one of the other committee members has a broken bone but in the arm. I am regretting missing all the Xmas parties and festivities but there is always next year!

It has been such a busy year for me with various family matters that I have not updated the diary so I will try to cover the Academic year in a few paragraphs. In 2010/2011 I have been studying level two History of Art. I have a real passion for the subject and I left it to the end of the subject credits that I needed to go into Junior Honours.

In terms of classes and seminars, it has not been a demanding year but in the second semester I was required to complete a 3,500/4,000 word essay with some original research as a practice for the dissertation required for an Honours degree. I did well in the essay and have been invited into the Junior Honours course. As I am part time, I will have to discuss with History of Art in the School of Cultural and Creative Arts how the course can be broken down to cover five years rather than two years full time.

I have enjoyed History of Art immensely this year studying specialist subjects that were all new to me. It has four components over two semesters. These were Gothic Cathedrals, Sites of Modern Art, Voyages of Captain Cook and Women in Transition in Chinese Art in the Twentieth Century. They were all fascinating and I particularly enjoyed Captain Cook as it covered new countries and culture with a backdrop of Georgian England. Most people would not regard Captain Cook's voyages as a History of Art course but it is very much with artists on board ships sailing to the New World along with convicts sentenced to the penitentiary in Australia who turned out to be excellent artists!

This year I discovered the Special Collections on the top floor of the library where many rare books are stored. Lectures were in the basement lecture room of the Hunterian Art Gallery and I managed to catch interesting exhibitions there such as Durer prints and Joseph Beuys.

In the Spring of 2010, there was an unfortunate incident in my little haven, The Mature Students Association, which led to a case going before Senate for bullying and harassment. I was pleased to find that the University has a very robust system for dealing with such matters. A new committee at the MSA was formed in the Autumn with excellent office bearers who have drawn up a new constitution and the Club is now on a secure footing. It is still a place to share experiences with students from other subjects and enjoy the social chit chat. Glasgow University Union allows us to use their facilities and we had a good end of term karaoke night there.

In September it is back to academia and I am looking forward to it. Anyone care to join me as a mature student? Ten years to study part time for a four year full time degree is the way to do it for us more mature students.

I finished my exam on History of Art last week so no more University until mid September. A very long holiday but well deserved as there was a mountain of work this semester in History of Art. I suppose you could get by on minimum work but I am passionate about the subject and did a power of reading on it. We covered nearly a thousand years of the history of art in two semesters and it has been an excellent foundation for study in the coming years. Not only was it a thousand years but we saw about a thousand images on the screen during the course of the lectures! Thank goodness for Moodle, the University facility online, where we can see all the images from the course and download them.

My memory is very poor when it comes to remembering dates and names so I devised a system of flashcards of works of art in chronological order to let me revise at any time and try and fix the details in my head. It seemed to work for me. Some of the questions in the exam were unexpected but I had so much background reading that I was able to recall information to address the questions and merrily scribbled away for an hour and a half. The results are not due for some time but fingers crossed I have achieved a reasonable grade.

I only discovered the Hetherington Club this year at the University and it was convenient to the History of Art department and the lecture theatre to have a lunch or coffee there and meet people. However, it closed in February but there is hope of it reopening and I certainly hope it does as it is a valuable resource for mature students. Meanwhile, I am making use of the Fraser Building for lunch. It is a lovely white, cool, refectory, although, in a recent newspaper article it was found to be more expensive to buy food there than in local shops. I hope the University take another look at their pricing as many students are on a very tight budget.

There are two other mature students I should mention as excellent examples of learning in later life. Sarah attended DACE (Department of Continuing and Adult Education) at the University on evening courses for years and as a part time matrculated student she accumulated enough credits to pick up an MA. She had left school at 15 years old and had no other qualifications so was delighted to graduate. Cathy is in a similar position to Sarah and is beavering away as a part time student working towards a degree. If you are older and would like to study, there is the possibility of starting DACE accredited courses in September, attending the University Access course or starting a part time or full time degree course. The University have advisers to assist you in making the best choice for you so don't delay in enquiring.
DACE

I am looking forward to going into level 2 History of Art in September. There were friendly, mature students this year and I hope they continue into level 2. I like the young students very much and some are exceptionally bright but it is nice to have mature students in my class to confer with over a coffee. The university has a lot to offer with an excellent gym facility and numerous coffee places and clubs.