University of Northampton
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File:Northampton University logo.png | |
Motto | Transforming lives, inspiring change |
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Type | Public |
Established | 2005 (gained University status) Nene College established 1975 |
Endowment | £1,156,000[1] |
Chancellor | Baroness Falkner of Margravine |
Vice-Chancellor | Professor Nick Petford |
Chairman of Governing Council | Mr Milan Shah[2] |
Students | 13,925[3] |
Undergraduates | 11,415[3] |
Postgraduates | 2,510[3] |
Location | , , |
Website | http://www.northampton.ac.uk/ |
The University of Northampton is a university in Northampton, Northamptonshire, England.
History
In 1924, Northampton Technical College was opened at St George's Avenue, site of the current Avenue Campus. A new 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.
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 and art 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the Privy Council that a Royal Decree, signed by King Henry III in 1265 following the Battle of Lewes, should be repealed.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 validated by the University of Northampton.
In January 2010, the School of Applied Sciences was renamed the School of Science and Technology and moved into the newly refurbished Newton Building at Avenue Campus. The Newton Building itself was officially opened in September 2010 by HRH The Princess Anne who is the Royal Patron of the Women Into Science and Engineering (WISE) campaign.
Campuses
The university has two sites: Park Campus at Kingsthorpe, a northern suburb of Northampton, and Avenue Campus just north of the town centre and opposite a large open park known as the Racecourse.
Avenue Campus was from 1924 the site of a college of technology which became 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 though few second or third years do so. Many of them live in the Abington area, north-west of the town centre. The main halls are:
- Simon Senlis (named after Simon de Senlis), Spencer Perceval and William Carey.
- Margaret Bondfield
- John Clare and Charles Bradlaugh Hall. One former ground floor flat in Charles Bradlaugh Hall serves as a Multi-Faith Chaplaincy Centre, Whilst another former ground floor flat in John Clare houses the Centre for Community Volunteering.
- Bassett-Lowke
The university also offers accommodation at Belinda Ferrison house in the Mounts area of the town centre of Northampton. In April 2012 Northampton Borough Council granted planning permission for a 464-room hall of residence on the site of the St John’s Surface Car Park in Northampton Town Centre. It is envisaged that this will mainly accommodate international and post-graduate students when it opens in 2014.[4]
New buildings include a Santander Bank, "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.
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.
The university achieved the Ecocampus Silver award in 2011.[5]
In May 2012, the university announced plans to establish a new riverside campus in Northampton town centre on the site of the disused Northampton Power Station on the south bank of the River Nene.[6] The site would be within the Northampton South East Midlands Northampton Waterside Enterprise Zone (known simply as Northampton Waterside)[7][8] and is subject to planning approval. If approved, construction could be completed by 2020 and the existing campuses would be gradually closed.
Organisation and structure
The current Vice Chancellor is Professor Nick Petford, who was preceded in the post by Ann Tate (who received an honorary degree from the university in 2011) and Martin Gaskell. On 10 February 2008 the university appointed Baroness Falkner of Margravine as its first Chancellor.
Academic profile
The university has just under 14,000 students spread across its two campuses. It is divided into six schools:
- The Arts
- Science and Technology (formerly Applied Sciences)
- Education
- Health
- Business
- Social Sciences
There is a separate business centre, the Sunley Conference 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 PhD level. It is one of only a handful of universities in the UK able to offer two-year fast-track degrees (currently for management and marketing and law) though it also offers four-year extended degrees with a year 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 and lift engineering. Degree programmes in Environmental Science subjects offer overseas fieldwork trips for undergraduate students to locations such as North America and the Canary Islands.
The annual summer fashion show attracts international attention, particularly the summer 2012 show, which for the first time was held at Silverstone Circuit.
Reputation and rankings
In the 2012 Guardian University League Table, the university was ranked first for 'value added' and climbed 31 places[9] but fell back on the 2013 figures.
In February 2010 it was accredited with Fairtrade status, achieving a 'good' report from the Fairtrade Foundation.[10]
2014 | 2013 | 2012 | 2011 | 2010 | 2009 | 2008 | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
The Times Good University Guide[11] | 102 | 89 | 92 | 104 | 102 | ||
Guardian University Guide[12] | 86/120 | 63 | 94 | 100 | 109 | 92 | |
Sunday Times University Guide[13] | 82/122 | 108/122 | 104/121 | 100 | 92 | 99 | |
Independent / Complete[14] | /62 | 101/116 | 105 | 100 | 105 | 93 | 95 |
Notes (i) '=' means equal with one or more other institutions (ii) 86/120 means 86th out of 120 institutions evaluated
Enterprise
Portfolio Innovation Centre
The University of Northampton offers a unique centre for emerging businesses in the design, digital and creative sector. Portfolio Innovation Centre, based at the University's Avenue Campus, opened as a single-storey building in 2006 and has now expanded to a three storey centre with 46 studios and offices. The Centre's mission is simple: to nurture talent and innovation and to provide its resident entrepreneurs with all the tools, advice and resources they need to achieve, succeed and thrive.[15]
iCon
The University of Northampton's energy efficient iCon building reached the top 10 shortlist for the commercial sector in the latest World Architecture News (WAN) awards. The iCon Centre achieved an 'excellent' rating from BREEAM, and uses renewable energy and innovative features to reduce energy consumption.[citation needed] The building has the lowest CO2 emissions of any commercial building in the UK and is currently home to up to 30 new and early-stage companies.[16]
Enterprise Club
Enterprise is a key part of the student experience at the University of Northampton. The Enterprise Club offers one-to-one business advice and mentoring, business skills training, networking with other entrepreneurs and access to funding opportunities, and membership is free to students.[17]
Social enterprise
The University aimed to become the number one university in the UK for social enterprise by 2015 and can claim, with some justification, to have achieved this aim two years early. Social enterprise for Northampton is both a series of activities and a way of operating as a modern university. Their work is underpinned by three core values:Delivering an enhanced student experience, Delivering entrepreneurial, innovation and enterprise skills, and Delivering inclusion and social innovation. Social enterprise is increasingly being integrated with teaching, learning and research across the university and all students have the opportunity, as part of their degree, to work in a social enterprise.[18]
The University was awarded 'The Outstanding HEI Supporting Social Entrepreneurship Award' at the UnLtd/HEFCE ‘Dare to be Different’ national conference in June 2011.[19] and has also been named the Midlands most 'Enterprising University of the Year' for both 2011 and 2012, in recognition of its work in social enterprise.[20] In February 2013, the University received international recognisation for its commitment to social innovation and entrepreneurship by being designated a 'Changemaker Campus' by Ashoka U.[21] Northampton is the first Changemaker Campus in the UK and joins a global network of 21 other Changemaker Campuses.
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.[22]
Research, consultancy and knowledge transfer at the university is centred around a number of cognate research groupings, including:
- Advanced Technologies Research Group
- Centre for Health and Wellbeing Research
- Centre for Practice-led Research in the Arts
- Centre for Special Needs Education and Research
- East Midlands Centre for Non-Destructive Testing
- Institute for Creative Leather Technologies
- Natural Environment Research Group
- NVision (immersive projection technologies and modelling centre)
- Science and Technology Research in Pedagogy (STRiPe)
- The Biosciences Research Group
- The Centre for Children and Youth takes an interdisciplinary and multi method approach to the study of children and young people.
- The Centre for Contemporary Narrative and Cultural Theory
- The Centre for Entrepreneurship, Enterprise and Governance (CEEG)
- The Centre for Sustainable Wastes Management
- The Centre for the Study of Anomalous Psychological Processes (CSAPP)
- The Social and Cultural Research in Psychology Group (SCRIP) explores intersection of psychological, social and cultural issues.
It also carries out internationally renowned research into lift engineering and technology, using the Express Lift Tower in the town, reflecting the town's now historic role in lift manufacturing.
It also provides numerous other business support schemes 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”.
Student life
Students' Union
The Students' Union has various venues across the two campuses. On Park Campus, there is Central Park, the daytime bar and food outlet, with a pool table and frequent showings of live sport on the big HD screen. Upstairs there is NN2, a 500-capacity venue which hosts regular club nights and events involving live bands and famous DJs. On the other side of campus, there is the Pavilion Bar, which serves food and drink throughout the day and evenings, and offers a range of entertainment, including karaoke and quiz nights. The Union building on Avenue Campus has recently been refurbished; it has a bar and diner, two 55 inch 3D TVs, and is home to the Union’s newspaper and radio station. It is host to live music, stand-up comedy and bingo nights. There are Union shops on both campuses, offering a range of convenience goods and University hoodies.
The Union was awarded a national Gold award,[23] as well as 'Best Club', in the national NUS Best Bar None awards 2011. This award confirms the Union as being a safe venue with effective policies on drink and drugs, crime prevention, fire, security and first aid.
Sports
The University of Northampton has 26 Sports Clubs and enters 24 teams into Wednesday BUCS Leagues each week.
The most successful clubs are Rugby league, who play in the South BUCS Premier League and have produced numerous participants in the Student Rugby league Home Nations tournament, and Men’s Basketball, who narrowly lost the 2011 BUCS Conference Cup final. The latter also compete in the English Basketball National Leagues.
The University also has a very competitive Trampolining Club, which has several members which compete at both national and international competitions and are based at the impressive NTGA (Northamptonshire Trampoline and Gymnast Academy).
Societies
Approximately 30 student societies are affiliated to The University of Northampton Students’ Union. These range from special interest societies such as Anime and Rock Soc, to faith-based societies such as the Christian Union and Islamic Society.
NUMedia, the student-led, run and managed media society, was launched in September 2011 and is responsible for the NUNews newspaper, NURadio broadcasts and NUTube video productions.
Parents and carers organise, run and staff a crèche for students and staff during half-term holidays.
University Technical Colleges
The University of Northampton is a lead academic sponsor of two university technical colleges that are due to open in September 2013. Daventry University Technical College will specialise in engineering, construction and environmental sustainability, while Silverstone University Technical College will specialise in motorsports engineering, event management and hospitality.
Notable people
Lecturers
- Henry Bird taught drawing at the Art school; his students included the architect, Will Alsop.[24]
Alumni
- Jon Brown - writer of sitcom Mongrels
- Owen Paterson - Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
- Andrew Collins - Writer and broadcaster
- Bill Drummond - Artist, musician, writer and record producer
References
- ^ a b "un-full-accounts-2010.pdf". Retrieved 2011-08-17.
- ^ "Membership of the Governing Council – Downloads – The University of Northampton". Retrieved 2011-08-17.
- ^ a b c "institution0910.xls" (Microsoft Excel spreadsheet). Higher Education Statistics Agency. Retrieved 2011-08-17.
- ^ "University granted planning permission". Retrieved 2012-05-11.
- ^ "Ecocampus register". Retrieved 2011-10-27.
- ^ "BBC News - University plans £300m new campus". Retrieved 29 May 2012.
- ^ Northampton Waterside Enterprise Zone on Northampton Borough Council website - NOTE Power station site shown as 21B, railway station as 12 on map ; accessed 30 May 2012
- ^ "Waterside Restoration Master Plan 2004 Appendix" (PDF). Retrieved 17 February 2010.
- ^ "Guardian University League Tables". The Guardian. Retrieved 2010-02-22.
- ^ "Northampton university news". Northampton Uni. Retrieved 2010-02-22.
- ^ http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/public/gug/
- ^ "The Guardian University Guide". The Guardian. London. 2011-05-17. Retrieved 22 May 2012.
- ^ Sunday Times University Guide 2012 (pub. 11 September 2011
- ^ The complete University Guide
- ^ http://www.northampton.ac.uk/info/20409/departments-and-services/49/portfolio-innovation-centre
- ^ http://www.northampton.ac.uk/info/20523/work-space/1023/icon-environmental-innovation-centre
- ^ http://www.northampton.ac.uk/info/200278/the-enterprise-club
- ^ http://www.northampton.ac.uk/info/200332/social-enterprise/1443/leading-on-social-enterprise
- ^ "The University of Northampton wins top Social Entrepreneurship Award". Retrieved 2011-10-31.
- ^ http://www.northampton.ac.uk/news/article/418/midlands-enterprising-university-of-the-year-for-the-second-year-running/200332
- ^ http://www.northampton.ac.uk/news/article/462/university-recognised-internationally-as-the-uks-number-one-for-social-enterprise/200332
- ^ "RAE 2008 results". Retrieved 2008-12-24.
- ^ "NUS Best Bar None assessments 2010/11" (PDF). Retrieved 2011-12-13.
- ^ Alsop W. (June 28, 2001). Drawing on the experiences of life help create better work. Architects Journal