1. CETL for maths and stats support The sigma CETL is a joint project between Coventry and Loughborough Universities, led by Duncan Lawson at CU and Tony Croft at LU with £4.85m funding over 5 years (2005 - 2010)

2. Three main threads:  Enhancement of maths support facilities at Coventry and Loughborough  Outreach – new centres and hubs in UK HEIs and abroad, secondments, mini project funding  Research into pedagogy and technology for maths support

3. Aim: to build a community of practice in mathematics and statistics support through Funded Centres Initiative Hubs Scheme Mini-Project Funding sigma Secondments Annual National Conferences (CETL-MSOR) The mathcentre website (mathcentre.ac.uk) Pilot statstutor online resources

4. Achievements in Outreach and Dissemination:  Start-up funding for centres at Bath, Leeds, Sheffield  Pilot regional hubs in South-West and Scotland  21 mini-projects and secondments  Four CETL-MSOR conferences (plus funding for next three years)  Close association with maths support in Scotland and the Republic of Ireland  sigma prizes for achievement in maths support

5. The future: in partnership with the HE-STEM programme (a £21m HEFCE initiative) till 2012  A current funding call to establish 4 new mathematics support centres o £15k each over two years o Requires institutional commitment to sustain the provision  Four new regional hubs to cover England and Wales, supplementing existing hubs in o South-West (coordinated by Jane White in Bath) and o North-East (coordinated by Liz Meenan in Leeds)

6. For more information about sigma, visit the website: http://www.sigma-cetl.ac.uk  Follow the link to Funding Opportunities on the right-hand side of this page for details of the sigma/HE STEM call for new centres.  Anyone interested in joining a hub should contact moira@sigma-cetl.ac.uk