Our graduate successes come at all educational levels – foundation year, undergraduate, Masters, PGCE and other postgraduate qualifications, and indeed at the highest of all academic qualification - the doctorate.
The success in all cases is that of the student, but it is also one for teachers, tutors, mentors and supervisors. Learning is a collective activity, and we make the journey together.
One of our postgraduate students, Edward Collyer, started with us at our university as a new graduate as he began his Secondary English PGCE in 2016, joined us then as an hourly-paid lecturer, researched and published with us in several academic journals, and this year has completed his PhD with us, undergoing successful defence of his thesis at viva voce examination in January.
Clare said: "As his mentor and supervisor for both PGCE and PhD, I can honestly say that it has been an honour to work with him throughout, to learn from and with him and to travel alongside him. As he comes to the end of his education, Edward has kindly shared his thoughts as he looks back on 10 years at Lincoln Bishop University."
Tapestry
The early days have faded.
Locked down somewhere,
Perhaps. High definition
burned into sepia.
Out of those embers, one
memory remains: the
guidance – no, insistence -
to do something exciting.
To do something strange.
To take your time!
Even though I pretended
not to hear.
This was all before
the temple greys, the
deepening crow’s feet
the baby monitor blinking
through each chapter.
Wrinkles etched by screen light.
Teeth ground to dust.
Now, I’ll continue to age
elsewhere, in another sector.
But those words will still come to me,
punctuated by the Zoom crackle:
‘It’s about the journey,
Not the destination.
This is just a stop.’
Dr Edward Collyer