An insight into life at LSE through the tales of people who study and work here.http://www.lse.ac.uk/newsAndMedia/videoAndAudio/channels/storiesFromLSE/LSE Film and Audio Teamcomms.filmandaudio@lse.ac.ukhttp://www.lse.ac.uk/newsAndMedia/videoAndAudio/channels/storiesFromLSE/Copyright © Terms of use apply see http://www.lse.ac.uk/termsOfUse/SQL Serverhttp://www.lse.ac.uk/assets/richmedia/webFeedImages/storiesFromLSE_1400.jpg2016-11-17T12:36:14.270Z

Contributor(s): Jonathan Leape, Professor Luc Bovens, Professor Lord Nicholas Stern, Professor Michael Cox, Dr Piers Ludlow | LSE100 is an innovative new course set up as part of a major series of initiatives to improve teaching at LSE. It introduces first year undergraduates to the fundamentals of thinking like a social scientist, by exploring some of the great intellectual debates of our time from different perspectives. In this film, Director of LSE100, Dr Jonathan Leape, sets out the thinking behind the course. "No issue can be understood through a single lens," he says. "We need to be able to adopt different perspectives to understand fully what is involved in a particular issue". Focussing on questions such as "How should we manage climate change?" and "Why are great events so difficult to predict?" LSE100 offers students the chance to explore different approaches to evidence, explanation and theory used in the different social sciences taught at LSE -- from anthropology to economics, from statistics to international relations. Leading academics at LSE, all of whom teach on the course, comment on its intellectual value. Professor Luc Bovens, head of the department of philosophy, says, "These various social sciences involve a common core. So why not try and teach the common core?". Professor Bovens also stresses the creativity that comes from interdisciplinary working: "I think a lot of good thinking comes about in the social sciences when things become interdisciplinary -- when people start using economic techniques in order to do international relations, for example." Following a successful pilot in 2010, the course is now compulsory for all first year students. In the film, made possible by HEIF4 funding, students discuss the value of the course, both to their own understanding of the social sciences and also to employers looking for students who can work well in groups, write cogent arguments and see an issue from a range of perspectives. Professor Nicholas Stern comments, "I think it is an absolutely fascinating course and I think it is the right way to start your life in the social sciences and your life at LSE."

Jonathan Leape, Professor Luc Bovens, Professor Lord Nicholas Stern, Professor Michael Cox, Dr Piers Ludlowhttp://www.lse.ac.uk/newsAndMedia/videoAndAudio/channels/storiesFromLSE/player.aspx?id=13802012-02-29T12:00:00Z

Contributor(s): Rachel Leighton, Candice Holdsworth, Professor Anne West, Damian Roberts, Mike Lucas, Sarah Leighton, Ailsa Lucas | Graduation is one of the best and busiest times of the year for students and staff at LSE, and this latest film from the "Stories from LSE" series tells the story of a graduation day through the eyes of Rachel Leighton and her family. A student in social policy, Rachel graduated last year with a 2:1 and was joint winner of the Janet Beveridge award for conspicuous achievement in final examinations. The film features Rachel's parents and sister who came down for the big day, and spoke of Rachel's journey from small market town to big city. "We live in a rural market town of about 6-7000 people," says her stepfather. "It is quite cloistered. We brought her down here three years ago and the three years have just flown past -- she really has got a lot more confident." Rachel is keen to put her experience to good use and encourage greater participation in higher education following graduation. "What I really want to get into is widening participation to universities -- getting children from non-traditional backgrounds into higher education," she says. The move is supported by Professor Anne West of the department of social policy. "I think she is eminently suited to a career in widening participation ..above all she is very optimistic and very positive and I think that young people who might not have considered going to higher education will find that very comforting." The film takes viewers through the day, from gown fitting and graduation photograph to getting her degree from Sir Howard Davies, then director of the School. Damian Roberts, registry manager who oversees the graduation ceremonies, explains how LSE runs its graduation ceremonies and comments, "It is really nice to be involved in this positive emotional side to the student experience."

Rachel Leighton, Candice Holdsworth, Professor Anne West, Damian Roberts, Mike Lucas, Sarah Leighton, Ailsa Lucashttp://www.lse.ac.uk/newsAndMedia/videoAndAudio/channels/storiesFromLSE/player.aspx?id=10832011-07-18T12:00:00Z

Contributor(s): Sophie Giscard D'estaing, Andrew Rajanathan | LSE is known for having one of the most active student bodies in the world and LSE is working to create a world class building that will feature the best facilities for students and will enhance the student experience. In this short film, LSE students Sophie Giscard D'estaing and Andrew Rajanathan set out to discover why the School is building a new students' centre and what the building will look like. 'It's a shame to lose a very old building' comments Andrew after a tour of the St Philips building, which will be demolished to make way for the new centre, 'but it's not very practical right now is it? The corridors are really small and it's quite dark and dingy. I can see now why they want to change it.' The architects working to create a far more open and engaging building are Sheila O'Donnell and John Tuomey. But the new build is about more than designing a more accessible building. 'What we always hear from our societies is that they need bigger and better facilities to expand, to develop' says Aled Dilwyn Fisher, general secretary of the LSE Student's Union. 'The ambition will continue to grow and our facilities have to keep up with that. Having this new students centre on campus will show that LSE is committed to the student experience and in providing the best for its students.'Students from the Media Group agree that there is a need for new and improved student facilities. 'We're getting an editing room' says Mark Richardson, head of Loose TV. 'That's going to be an amazing resource to draw from. If you can't edit properly you're not going to be able to produce a professional production so having a professional style production room will be really good and will really take the society forward in the future.''We want a world class building, the best in the UK and we've set some very high environmental standards for this building' says Julian Robinson, head of Estates at LSE. 'I see this as an absolute career highlight. It's going to be very hard to top this building.

Sophie Giscard D'estaing, Andrew Rajanathanhttp://www.lse.ac.uk/newsAndMedia/videoAndAudio/channels/storiesFromLSE/player.aspx?id=6932010-02-17T12:00:00Z

Contributor(s): Paul Krugman | LSE's motto, 'To know the causes of things' is exemplified in its lively public events programme. Every term up to 90 often high profile speakers come to the School to explain, examine, and debate important economic, social and political issues. This short film provides a taster of the exciting events programme which has brought luminaries such as Nelson Mandela, Chancellor Angela Merkel, Alan Greenspan, George Soros and President Dmitry Medvedev of Russia to LSE. With an emphasis on stimulating open debate the School provides an environment where even contentious issues can be discussed freely. It gives a platform to prime ministers, top academics and economists, for example, but it also provides students and members of the public a rare opportunity to put their questions to these speakers. As Nobel prize winning economist Paul Krugman explains in the film: 'The LSE is in some ways better than any place in the world. If you give a speech at Oxford, Cambridge or even Princeton, you are not in the middle of things. Here you are at the core of a lot of activity – overlapping policy, business [and] academia.'

Paul Krugmanhttp://www.lse.ac.uk/newsAndMedia/videoAndAudio/channels/storiesFromLSE/player.aspx?id=5282009-12-18T12:00:00Z

Contributor(s): Eno Alfred, Pavel Kireyev; Tom Clarke; Jumpei Satomi | The last in this initial batch of three Stories from LSE videos focuses on professional student musicians who have found that LSE is about more than economics - and that they can pursue their musical ambitions while studying at the School.

Eno Alfred, Pavel Kireyev; Tom Clarke; Jumpei Satomihttp://www.lse.ac.uk/newsAndMedia/videoAndAudio/channels/storiesFromLSE/player.aspx?id=4092009-06-29T12:00:00Z

Contributor(s): Eno Alfred, Emma Dyer, Margaret Coffey, Mazida Khatun, William Storey, Methela Haque | The second in the series of Stories from LSE features students from non-traditional backgrounds, either the first in their family to go to higher education or from schools that do not traditionally send students to Russell group universities.These include Mazida Khatun, born in London to Bangladeshi parents. 'We are pretty much a working class family, my dad was a cook and my mother a housewife in my section of the community there was more emphasis on just going out and getting a job,' she says in the film, as she describes how LSE Choice taught her to think more broadly and ambitiously.LSE Choice, supported by the Sutton Trust and The Goldman Sachs Foundation, is aimed at identifying the most talented young people from London state schools and colleges and giving them the tools they need to successfully apply to LSE and other competitive universities.

Eno Alfred, Emma Dyer, Margaret Coffey, Mazida Khatun, William Storey, Methela Haquehttp://www.lse.ac.uk/newsAndMedia/videoAndAudio/channels/storiesFromLSE/player.aspx?id=4082009-06-23T12:00:00Z

Contributor(s): Professor Conor Gearty, Adam Sandell, Heather Rogers QC, Eno Alfred | In the first of an initial series of three videos, Professor Conor Gearty, professor of law and head of human rights at LSE, talks of his passion for teaching - and what makes teaching at LSE so special. 'One of the remarkable features of a successful institution such as LSE's Department of Law is that... most of the colleagues are teaching stuff of which they are a part and that makes for good teaching at university level,' he argues, as the video follows him from lecture theatre to Matrix Chambers, where he is a founding member and practising barrister. Raised in Ireland, his family was 'extremely involved in both sides of the fight for Irish freedom', and he developed an early interest in human rights and the power of teaching. 'The main thing that makes a teacher a good teacher across any level of education is interest in the person being taught - whether it's a four year old, a fourteen year old or a 24 year old,' he says.

Professor Conor Gearty, Adam Sandell, Heather Rogers QC, Eno Alfredhttp://www.lse.ac.uk/newsAndMedia/videoAndAudio/channels/storiesFromLSE/player.aspx?id=4072009-06-11T12:00:00Z