Nigel Hemmington , head of school, gives the lowdown on services management at Bournemouth University.

Total number of academic staff : 70

Permanent academic staff : 50

Number on fixed-term contracts : 8

Number of hourly paid/casual academic staff : 5

Number of other academic staff : 7

Number of professors or senior lecturers including readers : 42

Number of ethnic minority academic staff : We have staff originally from Malaysia, Germany, France, Italy and Romania - though whether they would consider themselves as ethnic minorities is difficult to say.

Number of female academic staff : 15

Number of female academic staff who are professors or senior lecturers/principal lecturers : 10

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Research assessment exercise rating : 3a

Teaching Quality Assessment : 2001 for tourism, hospitality, retail, leisure and sport. Score of 22/24

Current and approved vacancies? Two lecturer posts in marketing and sport, two tourism research staff at reader and senior lecturer level, three demonstrators and a manager for our hospitality business environment.

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Significant staff changes in the past six months? Promotion of Alan Fyall to reader in tourism management. Promotion of Stephen Calver to reader in market research.

"Star" teachers or researchers? Tony Jolley, e-learning; Stephen Wanhill, tourism economics; John Fletcher, tourism economics, tourism impacts; Steve Calver, tourism and leisure market research; Nigel Hemmington, hospitality and the experience economy, professional development; and John Edwards, food policy, public-sector food service (schools, hospitals, prisons, meals-on-wheels).

Research projects? European Union-funded project with the Government of Turkmenistan to develop the tourism potential of their cultural and natural heritage. London Development Agency - post-disaster marketing strategies.

National Trust - Market Research Group (within the school) conducts all the NT market research at all its properties. Six knowledge transfer partnership projects with local and national businesses. Local government - best-value research for local authorities. The school's portfolio is diverse and unusual, united by the central theme of the consumer experience and "experience economy" - those industries where the consumer experience drives value and profit.

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Main preoccupations of the department in the past six months?

Development of new practical resources for hospitality management in partnership with Scolarest to reflect industry demands for a different skills set from that developed by traditional "training restaurants".

Resource planning for the growing area of undergraduate sports management, coaching and psychology.