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School Visits 2008 Scholarships The Annual Worsfold Scholarship NZFGW Hutt Valley Postgraduate Scholarship

School Visits 2008

YEAR 13 DAY
Around 160 Year 13 students from nine secondary schools in the Wellington region attended the ‘Nineteenth-century New Zealand’ stream at the History Day organised by History, VUW, in conjunction with the Wellington Area History Teachers Association on Friday 29 August. The students heard lectures by Charlotte Macdonald, Graham Langton (Archives New Zealand) and Claudia Orange (Te Papa-Museum of New Zealand), with additional commentaries by Bruce Taylor (Correspondence School) and Gregor Fountain (Wellington College).

Glyn Parry spoke to over 200 Year 13 students from Wellington schools who are taking the Tudor-Stuart option. He talked about the role of the Tudor Court and how the forgotten religious divisions of that Court were the ultimate source of both factions at the time and accusations of ‘factions’ ruling Elizabeth since. He also talked about popular religion and its many varieties.

History Teachers' Day

On 18 August 2008, the History Programme sponsored a "History Teachers' Day," a professional development programme for teachers of history in the Wellington region. Co-organised by Simone Gigliotti from the History Programme and Michael Harcourt from Wellington High School, the event aimed to guide teachers into adopting new practices and topics, in light of current revisions to the History Curriculum from Years 11-13. Three staff members from the History Programme provided fabulous, thought-provoking contributions, and each was accompanied by visual and interactive media: Steve Behrendt demonstrated how to utilise the newly-released database on the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade (www.slavevoyages.org) in which he has been centrally involved, and the research potential in examining the lives and crimes of non-elite peoples, as archived in proceedings from the Old Bailey in London (www.oldbaileyonline.org). Dolores Janiewski utilised film excerpts and testimonies in her presentation on the My Lai massacre, while Simone Gigliotti presented options for using graphic narratives of the Holocaust, such as the highly-acclaimed Maus, in the classroom, to complement the History curriculum's current focus on Nazi Germany. The day’s focus on content and methods was complemented by a presentation from Professor Keith Barton, a visiting Fulbright Scholar from the University of Indiana, who is collaborating with Mark Sheehan, a Senior Lecturer in the School of Primary & Secondary Teacher Education in the Faculty of Education (VUW), on several projects concerning history teaching and learning. In his talk, Professor Barton considered the ethical dimensions of history teaching and its relationship to cultural citizenship. Allan Sylvester updated teachers on the Wellington City Council project, Wellington Loop, an initiative designed to build an innovative and interactive web platform for education users. The final presentation, from Michael Harcourt, asked "What might an ecological philosophy of history education look like?" and gave a brief introduction to ecological theories of learning and historical causation.
The day was received very well by teachers who commented especially on how much they enjoyed the focus on "big ideas" in history education rather than more technically-oriented professional development associated with NCEA and assessment.

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Victoria University Scholarships

Victoria University of Wellington offers a range of generous postgraduate scholarships that are available to both domestic and international students. Information on all these awards, including closing dates, application forms and regulations, can be downloaded from the scholarships website www.victoria.ac.nz/scholarships. You should remember that enrolling as a student at Victoria and applying for a Victoria University Scholarship are two separate processes. Although you may apply for a scholarship before your enrolment documentation is complete, the offer of any Victoria University Scholarship is always conditional upon the gaining acceptance into your intended programme of study and admission to the University.

Victoria PhD Scholarships
Each year there are two rounds of these scholarships, a mid year round and a round that closes 1 November. PhD Scholarships are for up to three years and currently have a stipend of $20,000 per annum, plus tuition fees.

Victoria Masters (by thesis) Scholarships
These scholarships close on 1 November of each year and have a one year tenure. They have a stipend of $15,000, plus domestic tuition fees. Students must be undertaking a thesis of at least 90 points.

Victoria Graduate Award
Graduate Awards are open to students who will be enrolled full-time or part-time for Honours or Master's degrees taken via coursework, or a combination of coursework and a thesis/research project of less than 90 points. Students studying for a postgraduate Diploma are also eligible. Graduate Awards are not available for students enrolled for honours in a Bachelor of law (LLB) or Masters of Business Administration degree.

External  Scholarships
Candidates are encouraged to also apply for external funding. External scholarships are often prestigious and have a high value. Information regarding external funding can also be obtained from the scholarships website.Examples of available external funding are the Bright Future Scholarships administered by the Tertiary Education Commission. http://www.tec.govt.nz/templates/standard.aspx?id=672

Bright Future Top Achiever Doctoral Scholarships provide support for 36 months of study. While this may involve part or full-time study, it is expected that most scholarships will support students engaged in full-time study. Applicants would expect to have an A average in their past two years of study. There are two rounds of Top Achiever Doctoral Scholarships each year. The funds included in the scholarship are:

• an annual stipend of $25,000 (an overseas loading will be applied where the scholarship is undertaken in a country other than New Zealand)
• conference attendance to a maximum of $3,000 (GST included) per annum
• medical insurance (if the scholarship is undertaken overseas and the insurance is justified)
• the annual course fee required by the host tertiary education provider

Bright Futures Enterprise Scholarships
support New Zealand students, in partnership with private companies, to undertake a course of study involving a significant research component at a New Zealand tertiary education institution. The scheme supports study and research (with a minimum of 20 percent research) at PhD, Masters, Honours, post-graduate diploma and post-graduate certificate. Applications are welcomed from students who have secured funding from a company, or from a company and host tertiary education institution with an agreed research project. Applications are accepted on the first of each month.

New Zealand International Doctoral Research Scholarships are available to international students at doctoral level, scholarship information is available from the Education New Zealand website. www.newzealandeducated.com . Education New Zealand also offers Postgraduate Study Abroad Awards for short-term travel for research purposes. www.victoria.ac.nz/scholarships

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The Annual Worsfold Scholarship

Named in honour of James E. Worsfold, a former president of the Wellington Historical Early Settlers Association (WHESA), this scholarship worth $2000 is awarded annually to a postgraduate student at Victoria who is doing postgraduate research on a topic related to the history of Wellington region. If you think you might be eligible for this scholarship, you should contact Dr Dolores Janiewski or for more information and an application form, please click James E Worsfold Scholarship.

A condition of the scholarship requires the successful applicant to deliver a public presentation related to their research, usually in June. And WHESA publishes the lecture in pamphlet form.

Recent Worsfold Scholarship holders and their lecture topics are:

• Andrew Francis (2006)

PhD Candidate, History Programme, Victoria University 'Patriotism and Citizenship: a study of New Zealand anti-alienism during the Great War'.

• Debbie Stowe (2005):

MA Candidate, History Programme, Victoria University'
'John Pascoe's photography: "Representing life in New Zealand during World War Two".'

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The NZFGW Hutt Valley Postgraduate Scholarship

The Hutt Valley Branch of the NZ Federation of Graduate Women awards a postgraduate scholarship each year to students at Victoria. The value of the scholarship each year varies, but it is at least $1000. See the noticeboard outside OK405 for more details, or contact the Victoria University Scholarship Office.

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