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University of Northampton

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This article is about the present day university. For the university in existence from 1261 to 1265, see University of Northampton (thirteenth century).
The University of Northampton
File:Northampton University logo.png
MottoTransforming lives, inspiring change
TypePublic
Established2005 (gained University status)
Nene College established 1975
Endowment£940,000 [1]
Vice-ChancellorProfessor Nick Petford
Chairman of CouncilMrs Deirdre Newham
Students10,645[2]
Undergraduates9,065[2]
Postgraduates1,580[2]
Location
Northampton
,
Northamptonshire
,
UK
Websitehttp://www.northampton.ac.uk/

The University of Northampton is a university in Northampton, Northamptonshire, UK.

History

In 1924, Northampton Technical College was opened at St George's Avenue, site of the current Avenue Campus. The building for the college was formally opened by the then Duke and Duchess of York in 1932. A School of Art opened later in 1937.

The entrance to Avenue campus

At the beginning of the 1970s, Northamptonshire was one of the few counties in England to lack a teacher training college. A teacher training college in Liverpool lost its home and was transferred to what is now the Park Campus of the University of Northampton. The college was opened by the then Secretary of State for Education and Science, Margaret Thatcher, in 1972.

In 1975, this teacher training college amalgamated with the college of technology to become Nene College of Higher Education, taking its name from the River Nene in Northamptonshire.

In 1993, the College incorporated St. Andrew's School of Occupational Therapy and was granted taught degree awarding powers. In 1994 it took in the Leathersellers College and in 1997 the Sir Gordon Roberts College of Nursing and Midwifery. It became University College Northampton in 1999 and gained full university status as The University of Northampton in 2005. In order to gain university status it had to convince the Privy Council that a Royal Decree, signed by King Henry III in 1265 following the Battle of Lewes, should be repealed. This decree banned the establishment of a university in Northampton.

In 2005 the University also received the power to validate its own research degrees, which had formerly been validated by the University of Leicester. In the graduation ceremonies in July 2006 seven students received the first doctoral degrees to be validated by the University of Northampton.

In January 2010, the School of Applied Sciences was renamed the School of Science and Technology and was moved into the newly refurbished Newton Building at Avenue Campus. The Newton Building itself was officially opened in September 2010 by HRH Princess Anne who is the Royal Patron of the Women Into Science and Engineering (WISE) campaign.

Campuses

The University of Northampton occupies two sites: Park Campus at Kingsthorpe, a suburb of Northampton; and Avenue Campus, close to Northampton town centre and opposite one of the largest open parkland areas in Northampton.

Avenue Campus was from 1924 the site of a college of technology that after merger formed part of the university.

The university has various types of halls of residence in its two campuses, with just over 1,600 rooms in total. Most first year students live in halls, while very few second or third years do so; many of them live in the Abington area of Northampton. The main halls are:

Simon Senlis hall

£74m has been spent over the last ten years developing the campuses at Northampton and a further £80m will be spent over the next ten years developing these campuses further. This has already included the building of a "one-stop" student centre on Park campus, an innovation centre at Avenue campus for small and start-up businesses and a complete re-fit of the editing and sound studios at Avenue campus. Further plans include a large sports centre and extended development at Avenue campus. A design competition was launched in Autumn 2008 with the RIBA to produce plans for the Avenue Campus development. These plans are to include a new restaurant and cinema as well as extended research and teaching facilities[4].

The University recently took ownership of the Grade II listed former Kingsley Park Middle School next door to Avenue Campus. This has undergone an £11m refurbishment and now houses most of the School of Science and Technology, which was formerly split between Avenue Campus and Park Campus. The building has been renamed the Newton Building after Sir Isaac Newton; since there is a village in Northamptonshire called Newton, the new building also follows the University's tradition of naming buildings after local towns and villages.

The University managed 41st place in the 2007 Green League of university's environmental performance[5] as well as being ranked the 8th cheapest university in the UK to study for a degree.[6].

Organisation and structure

The Vice Chancellor of the university is Professor Nick Petford. His predecessors in this position were Ann Tate and Martin Gaskell. On 10 February 2008 the university appointed Baroness Falkner of Margravine as its inaugural Chancellor.

Academic profile

The University of Northampton has approximately ten thousand students spread across its two campuses. It is principally divided into the following six schools:

The university has also developed a stand-alone business centre, the Sunley Management Centre. This is a dedicated centre for management training and development that also provides a large amount of the university's conference facilities.

The University offers a wide range of undergraduate degrees with over 250 courses as well as foundation degrees, diplomas and a variety of postgraduate opportunities up to Ph.D. level. It is one of only a handful of universities in the UK that is able to offer two-year fast-track degrees (currently for management and marketing only) though it also offers four-year extended degrees that include a year's placement in industry. The University is internationally renowned for Waste Management education and research. Other centres of excellence include Centre for Children and Youth (childhood and Children's Geographies), Transpersonal Psychology, leather technology (essentially a materials science) and lift engineering. Degree programmes in Environmental Science subjects offer overseas fieldwork opportunities for undergraduate to locations such as North America (the USA field course) and the Canary Islands.

The annual summer fashion show attracts international attention.

Admissions

The average UCAS points range required for entry into undergraduate degree programmes is 220 - 260.[7]

Reputation and rankings

The Northampton Business School ("NBS") has been placed 18th for its business subjects out of 81 institutions in UK surveyed by the National Student Survey (NSS) 2006 and enjoys student satisfaction scores averaging above four (out of a maximum of five) according to the NSS 2006, just 0.37 behind a top of the table position. NBS also achieved a top 10% ranking for 'Quality of Teaching'. Other subjects with NSS student satisfaction scores of 90% and above include: Education, Biological Sciences, Geography and Environmental Science, History, Languages and Psychology [8].

NBS was ranked 4th equal for 'value added education' out of 109 business schools nationally in the guardian league tables 2007.[citation needed]

In February 2010 Northampton was accredited with Fairtrade University status, achieving an 'excellent' report from the Fairtrade Foundation [9]. University of Northampton is ranked at 1788 out of 8000 universities in the world. [10].

UK University Rankings
2011 2010 2009 2008 2007
Times Good University Guide 89th[11] 92nd[12] 84th 82nd 103rd[13]
Guardian University Guide 94th[14] 100th[14] 79th[15] 92nd -
Sunday Times University Guide 104th= 100th 92nd=[16] 99th[17]
Independent / Complete 100th[18] 104th=[18] 93rd=[19] 95th=[19]
Daily Telegraph 96th[20]

Business links

Northampton University has managed to form several business links with local business and undertakes various other initiatives in this area. It has been particularly successful with an initiative backed by the UK Government’s Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (formerly known as the Department of Trade and Industry) called Knowledge Transfer Partnerships. Through this scheme, the University links up with a business and lends its expertise in research, academia or development to the business. The University has so far taken part in 25 of these partnerships, achieving high gradings from the DTI.

The Senate building on Park Campus

Most of the University’s business links operate via its dedicated Knowledge Exchange department, which aims to act as one stop-shop for such links. Through this, the University provides support through consultancy and assisting in research projects as well as providing support for other postgraduate projects. Avenue campus is host to the Portfolio Innovation Centre, a unit that houses small or start-up companies by providing office accommodation and administrative support. It currently hosts ten small companies, mainly in the design and arts fields, but also a couple of IT firms.

Research

In the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise (RAE) the University achieved significant ratings in Business and Management; Health; Education; History; Metallurgy and Materials; English; Drama, Dance and Performing Arts; Art and Design; and Asian Studies.[21]

Research, consultancy and knowledge transfer at the University of Northampton is centred around a number of cognate research groupings, including:

  • The Centre for Children and Youth takes an interdisciplinary and multi method approach to the study of children and young people.
  • The Social and Cultural Research in Psychology Group (SCRIP) explores intersection of psychological, social and cultural issues.
  • The Centre for the Study of Anomalous Psychological Processes (CSAPP) A Parapsychology research unit investigating alleged instances of Psychokinesis, ESP and a controversial Mediumship study. Located within the Division of Psychology.
  • The Centre for the Historical Experience of War
  • The SITA Centre for Sustainable Wastes Management
  • Centre for Research on Leather and Materials Science
  • The China and Transitional Economies Research Centre
  • Centre for Learning and Enterprise in Organisations
  • Centre for Special Needs Education and Research
  • The Landscape and Biodiversity Research Group
  • Centre for Practice-led Research in the Arts
  • The Centre for Contemporary Fiction and Narrative
  • The Biosciences Research Group

It also carries out internationally renowned research into lift engineering and technology, something which reflects the town's now historic role in lift manufacturing. As a result of this research activity, the University is currently investigating the possibility of purchasing the former Express Lift Tower in the town to use as a base for future research and study.[22]

It also provides numerous other business support schemes, such as Business4Women and programmes for new companies. These are often run through the University’s Sunley Management Centre. Other schemes run by the university include an art loan facility for offices or conferences. The University has also provided lab facilities for the Channel 4 programme “How Clean Is Your House”.

Newton Building contains a science and technology research and development centre, which has backing from partners in the United States, and the British Institute for Non-Destructive Testing.

Student life

Students' Union

File:Studentunion.JPG
The SU on Park Campus

The Students' Union has various venues across the two campuses. Its main building is at Park Campus and houses a nightclub venue 'NN2', that is also used as a student diner during the day as well as small shop and deli/bar downstairs.

Avenue Campus has the St George's bar, so called because of Avenue Campus's location on St George's Avenue. This plays host to a rather eclectic mix of DJ's and like the Park Campus union, reverts to a student diner during the day.

The union voted to disaffiliate itself from the National Union of Students (NUS) in 2001, but re-affiliated in October 2007.


Sports

Club Captains Andrew Harris and Lewis Done of The University of Northampton Men's Hockey 1st XI team who had a highly successful 2005/06 season, leading them to the Universities European Cup final (also known as the Calella Plate). The team lost but the performance was described as a "heroic performance of the highest standard".[23] The following year, under the captaincy of Luke Meaton, they went on to win the European Final.

The University also has strong football teams, with four men's and one women's team. The men's 3rd team, also known as Stanhope Wanderers, won the 05/06 Calella 7's Plate. The participation in lacrosse is very popular amongst the students. The University's golf team also tasted success in 2007, reaching the national final held at the Royal Liverpool Golf Club.

The Rugby League team, captained by Steve Durning, has also tasted success and in 2009 reached the National Shield Cup final, in which they narrowly lost with a last minute try. The club also boasts a proven track record on producing student internationals, most recently Steve Durning, Habib Miah, Graeme Spencer, Tommy Andrews and Danny Vento.

The University also enters two football teams into the local Northampton league. These teams are called the Northampton Llamas. They won the Gorell Barnes trophy 07/08 and reached the final in 08/09.

Notable people

Recipients of honorary doctorates and degrees have included Former F1 world champion and president of the British Racing Drivers' Club Damon Hill in February 2009, renowned creative director Martin Lambie-Nairn in July 2010, Kettering born comedian Hugh Dennis in 2008, fashion designer Zandra Rhodes in 2007, broadcaster and film columnist Andrew Collins in 2006, Radio 1 DJ Jo Whiley, who was born in Northampton, in 2002, and singer Joan Armatrading in 2003.

Prominent alumni include Bill Drummond Stephen Morris, Andrew Collins, Anthony Dunn, Gavin Douglas, Max Griggs, Darren Millstone III, Stephen Richardson and Andrew Harris.

External links

References

  1. ^ http://www2.northampton.ac.uk/portal/page/portal/Finance/docstore/statutory-accounts/un-full-accounts-2009.pdf
  2. ^ a b c "Table 0a - All students by institution, mode of study, level of study, gender and domicile 2006/07" (Microsoft Excel spreadsheet). Higher Education Statistics Agency. Retrieved 2008-04-11.
  3. ^ a b c "University College Northampton Facts and Figures 2004-2005" (PDF). Retrieved 2007-01-04.
  4. ^ "RIBA Design Competitions List: RIBA website". RIBA. Retrieved 2008-11-26.
  5. ^ "People and Planet Green League". Retrieved 2007-08-19.
  6. ^ "Independent Online". The Independent. London. 2007-10-25. Retrieved 2007-10-27.
  7. ^ "push.co.uk university ratings". Retrieved 2007-10-27.
  8. ^ "NSS publications". HEFCE. Retrieved 2009-01-11.
  9. ^ "Northampton University news". Northampton Uni. Retrieved 2010-02-22.
  10. ^ "World University Ranking". webmetrics. Retrieved 2010-04-05. [dead link]
  11. ^ The Times Good University Guide 2011
  12. ^ Watson, Roland; Elliott, Francis; Foster, Patrick. "Times University Guide". The Times. London.
  13. ^ Watson, Roland; Elliott, Francis; Foster, Patrick. "The Times Good University Guide 2007 - Top Universities 2007 League Table". The Times. London. Retrieved 2007-11-03.
  14. ^ a b "The Guardian University Guide". The Guardian. London. 2010-06-8. Retrieved 2010-07-19. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help) Cite error: The named reference "autogenerated3" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  15. ^ Guardian university tables 2009
  16. ^ Sunday Times University Guide 2008
  17. ^ "University ranking based on performance over 10 years" (PDF). London: Times Online. 2007. Retrieved 2008-04-28.
  18. ^ a b The COmplete University Gide - Northampton
  19. ^ a b "The Independent University League Table". The Independent. London. 2008-04-24. Retrieved 2010-05-27.
  20. ^ "University league table". The Daily Telegraph. London. 2007-07-30. Retrieved 2007-10-29.
  21. ^ "RAE 2008 results". Retrieved 2008-12-24.
  22. ^ "BBC News report". 2007-02-27. Retrieved 2007-09-11.
  23. ^ englandhockey.co.uk, April 2006
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