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In 2004 the University of Nottingham opened its branch campus, the University of Nottingham Ningbo China (UNNC). Degree-awarding powers for UNNC remain with the UK, but there is recognition that Nottingham must understand the specific context of its Chinese branch; provision therefore operates according to the principal of equivalence rather than of replication. This paper explores stakeholder attitudes towards the University"s Nottingham Advantage Award. This is an extra-curricular programme designed to support students in the development of their "employability". Launched in the UK in 2008, it was piloted at UNNC in 2010-11 and has now completed its first full year of operation. Twenty-three interviews were conducted with staff and students at UNNC. These were analysed alongside interviews carried out in the UK and with reference to the research literature. This provided an understanding of the role of the Award overall and in the UNNC context. The study shows that while stakeholders hold broadly similar views in the UK and China, there are subtle differences of emphasis concerning the understanding of, and responsibility for, learning for employability. In addition, a group of China-specific themes emerged from the UNNC interviews that indicated recognition of the need to differentiate priorities and provision for each site. The paper concludes that the challenge for the Award at UNNC is to serve both global and local agendas and that it should strive to reduce the "information asymmetry" existing between stakeholders to promote effective graduate employability.

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Few areas of medieval research have been so polarised in the late 20th century as castle studies. With two schools of thought pulling in opposite directions, one towards the castle as fortress, one towards the castle as residence, efforts have been channelled into justifying these camps rather than exploring common ground. Yet many of the approaches on offer are compatible both with each other and with a more inclusive examination of medieval society that examines castles as venues and stages for human behaviour rather than as mere architectural forms. The key to moving forward and opening up new vistas is multi‐ and inter‐disciplinarity; using a wider range of models and sources to examine function and use, and using our historiographical skills to reduce mechanism and determinism in favour of a holistic approach to medieval ‘real’ life.

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