The Centre for Sikh and Panjabi Studies at the University of Wolverhampton is hosting an inaugural conference which charts the history of Sikh studies through the years.

The conference, ‘A Journey of 550 Years: Sikh Studies in Academia’ is being held in the Chancellor’s Hall at the University’s City Campus from Tuesday 3^rd September until Thursday 5^th September.

The three-day Conference will host internationally renowned scholars of Sikh Studies in showcasing the ground-breaking research which has been taking place in the academic discipline of Sikh Studies at Universities across the world.

Attendance at the Conference is free but tickets are available at £5 per person for a dinner being held at Sitara Hall in Wolverhampton on the evening of the 3^rd September. Tickets are also available at £20 per person for a dinner on the evening of 4th September in the Chancellor's Hall at the University.

Places are limited and will be allocated on a first come, first served basis.

A new initiative to develop links and increase awareness of social science subjects at local schools has been launched by the University of Wolverhampton.

Teachers from schools in Shropshire and the Black Country were invited to a networking dinner to find out more about the University provision, outreach initiatives, and meet University staff from a range of subject disciplines.

The inaugural partnership dinner was hosted in the Chancellor’s Hall in Wolverhampton and attended by 70 guests, with representation from 13 schools and colleges, as well as staff from across the University.

The event celebrated the work being done in collaboration with school and college partners to offer outreach opportunities to young people. In addition to showcasing activities offered by the Business School, Law School and School of Social, Historical and Political Studies, there were opportunities to explore new ways of working together to provide rewarding and inspirational initiatives for young people in the year ahead.

During the current academic year the Faculty of Social Sciences delivered over 60 outreach events, involving 42 different schools and colleges, to a collective audience of over 1000 participants. Guests heard about activities such as the Entrepreneurial Pitching Competition, Law Mooting Competition, the annual Holocaust Lecture, and the Crime and Social Injustice conferences.

Stephen Grady, Associate Dean Recruitment, Marketing and Outreach, said: “This networking event has provided an excellent opportunity to create stronger relationships with our school and college partners, as well as explore new outreach initiatives which are more closely aligned to the needs of the participants and the schools or colleges to which they belong. Going forward, many of these new initiatives will be integrated into our outreach programme in 2019/20."

Yesterday's GCSE exam pass rate went up to 67.3% in the UK – an increase of 0.4 percentage points on last year’s figure.

The percentage of papers given a top grade (7 or A and above) rose 0.3 percentage points to 20.8% on 2018.

More than 700,000 teenagers received GCSE results this year following a number of reforms to the exams system. A new numerical grading system and tougher exams have been introduced in England, while elsewhere many GCSEs are still graded A* to G.

It is the third year of results for the new-style GCSE exams in England, which have more complex content, a greater reliance on final exam results and replace the previous A* to G grades with a scale running from 9 to 1. The new GCSEs have been criticised in recent days by headteachers and teaching unions for increasing levels of stress among pupils, and for being too demanding for many pupils, including those with special needs.

Geoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College leaders, said: “It mirrors what we were seeing last week when we saw more girls doing sciences than boys at A-level.

“What is encouraging is that females are thinking ‘this is as much a part of my world as it is boy’s’, so I think that’s a really good thing.”

Derek Richardson, vice president and responsible officer at the Pearson examinations body, said: “Increases in computing entries and outcomes - for both females and males - show that young people recognise the changing nature of the world and are preparing themselves for needing an increasingly digital toolkit for their future studies or careers.

“It’s encouraging to see female entries are up 14% on last year.”

The Mayor of the West Midlands and leaders from universities across the East and West Midlands joined forces this week to outline ambitions to counter the region’s annual ‘brain drain’ of graduates to London.

The discussions took place as findings from a new YouGov poll of 2,096 UK adults carried out by the construction and consultancy company Mace. The research revealed that respondents who selected a region outside of London for having the best choices of universities ranked the Midlands as third (chosen by 15%), just behind Scotland (chosen by 16%) and some distance behind the South East (chosen by 29%) perhaps owing to the Oxbridge effect.

The Midlands is well known for its strong industrial sectors including aerospace and car manufacturing, which are bolstered by an array of courses that can be studied in its flagship universities from Electronics and Chemical research, to Physics and Systems Engineering.

Of all those with an opinion on which UK region (excluding London) offers graduates the best career prospects, 10% chose the Midlands, again just slightly ahead of Scotland (chosen by 8%) and with the South East leading, as chosen by 55%.

The polling also revealed that younger people (aged 16-24) who expressed an opinion are more likely to identify the Midlands (17%) as the best region in the UK for graduate career prospects, compared to those in the 40-54 bracket (6%).

Simon Dale, director of the Midlands at Mace, said: “It’s encouraging to see evidence that the Midlands’ universities and its graduate prospects are viewed favourably, especially amongst younger people. This is no doubt owing to the strength of the region’s offer – with institutions like the University of Birmingham and University of Warwick continuing to rank highly in the annual league tables.

“Improving perceptions goes hand in hand with ongoing investment and the growth of core cities like Birmingham over the past couple of decades. However, while high profile projects such as the redevelopment of Birmingham New Street, HS2 and plans for the 2022 Commonwealth Games are contributing towards Birmingham’s strong performance in graduate retention, we need to ensure this positive effect is felt across the entire region so that the Midlands can become a central driver for the UK’s post-Brexit economic growth.”

Over 2 in 5 who chose an option (43%) underestimated that the Midlands had only 2 or less universities in the Complete University Guide’s Top 20 UK universities for 2019.  Although 29% correctly picked the right number of Midlands universities (4) which made the list.

West Midlands Mayor Andy Street, said: “With initiatives like our Local Industrial Strategy and the West Midlands Skills Deal, we’re doing everything we can to boost skills across the region and encourage even more graduates to remain in the Midlands once they have finished university.

“It’s therefore fantastic that our region is ranking so highly when it comes to how its universities are perceived on the national stage. The Midlands has a number of leading academic institutions which are to be celebrated for their efforts in driving many of our diverse scientific and industrial sectors such as automotive, advanced manufacturing, life sciences and rail.”

Award-winning international superstar Laura Mvula was further recognised after receiving an honorary doctorate from Birmingham City University.

The city-born music composition graduate was acknowledged for her outstanding contribution to music before an audience of music and art graduates at the world-renowned Symphony Hall after receiving the award by the University’s vice-chancellor Philip Plowden and following a welcome by the chancellor Sir Lenny Henry.

Recognised as one of the brightest musical talents to emerge from the city in recent years, Ivor Novello award winner Dr Laura, a former Alumna of the Year and MOBO Best Female Act and Best R&B Act 2013, rose to global success in 2013 with the release of breakout single Green Garden and debut album Sing to the Moon, landing her first of two Mercury Prize nominations.

In her acceptances speech, she gave a few words of wisdom, saying: "It’s difficult to describe the depth of honour and thanks I feel to be conferred an Honorary Doctorate from the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire.

“I was taught to embrace the excitement and turbulence of a creative musician’s life with the goal being to make music that was honest, innovative, from the heart.

“There’s no race, there’s no rush, despite the pressures and pace of our millennial, modern life, constantly wrestling with the expectation that we should probably have it all figured out.

“There’s no competition”.

32-year-old Dr Laura, from Kings Heath, in Birmingham, laid foundations for her career following her graduation from the prestigious Conservatoire as a member of a capella group Black Voices and in the role as director of Lichfield Community Gospel Choir.

She has recorded, performed and collaborated with some of the biggest names in contemporary and classical music including Niles Rogers, Tom Odell, London Symphony Orchestra, Jules Buckley and the Metropole Orkestra.

Her song Sing to the Moon, taken from her 2013 debut album, will feature in the 2019 Last Night of the Proms concert, with Sakari Oramo conducting the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Chorus at the Royal Albert Hall.

She released her second studio album The Dreaming Room in 2016.

A new artificial grass pitch at a school in Sandwell is giving young footballers the chance to become stars of the future – and have ambitions of playing for their country.

As the England Women's team played brilliantly in the World Cup in France this summer, young players at Ferndale Primary School have been able to practice their skills on the new small-sized grass 3G pitch.

Stars from West Bromwich Albion FC Women's football team – including head coach Louis Sowe and defender Anna Wilcox unveiled the new pitch with young footballers from the school.

The project at the school’s site at Ferndale Avenue, Great Barr, was made possible with a £145,480 grant from the Premier League, the FA and the Government’s Football Foundation.

School head teacher Ruth Gillett said: “We are delighted to get this fantastic new facility because Ferndale Primary School is committed to physical and mental health support.

“This new pitch is great for all of our pupils. We have further developed our partnership with the Albion Foundation to provide football sessions for girls and people with disabilities.”

The grant comes as part of a national campaign to improve facilities by the Football Foundation Founded in 2000, the Football Foundation is the largest sports charity in the UK funded by the Premier League, The FA and Government, via Sport England.

It develops new and refurbished grassroots sports facilities in order to improve the quality and experience of playing sport at the grassroots level.

Paul Thorogood, chief executive of the Football Foundation, said: “The support of the Premier League, The FA and Government enables the Football Foundation to help improve community sports facilities like this one across the country. Their funding has played a key role in delivering this new all-weather pitch and I am delighted for everyone associated with Ferndale Primary School.”

Since it was launched in 2000, the Foundation has awarded 16,000 grants worth more than £655m towards improving grassroots sport, which it has used to attract additional partnership funding of £862m – totalling over £1.5bn of investment into the grassroots game.

Since 2000, the Football Foundation Funding Partners’ investment has provided 432 grants worth £21.2m towards grassroots sports projects worth over £49.4m across the whole of Birmingham County FA.