University of Northampton

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This article is about the present day university. For the one in existence from 1261 to 1265, see University of Northampton (13th century).
The University of Northampton
University of Northampton Crest.png
Former names
 University College Nene College of Higher Education (1975),
Northampton Technical College (1924),
Motto Transforming lives, inspiring change
Type Public
Established 2005 (gained University status)
1975 (Nene College established)
Endowment £0.95 m[1]
Chancellor Rev Richard Coles
Vice-Chancellor Nick Petford
Administrative staff
 1,048[2]
Students 12,850 (2016/17)[3]
Undergraduates 10,485 (2016/17)[3]
Postgraduates 2,365 (2016/17)[3]
Location Northampton, Northamptonshire, UK
Website northampton.ac.uk
UoN new logo.jpg

The University of Northampton is a public university based in Northampton, Northamptonshire, England. It was formed in 1999 by the amalgamation of a number of training colleges and gained full university status as The University of Northampton in 2005.

History[edit]

In 1924, Northampton Technical College was opened at St George's Avenue, site of the Avenue Campus. A new building for the college was formally opened by the Duke and Duchess of York in 1932. A School of Art opened later in 1937.[4]

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 college in Liverpool lost its home and was transferred to what is now the Park Campus. The College of Education was opened by the Secretary of State for Education and Science, Margaret Thatcher, in 1972. In 1975, this college amalgamated with the colleges of technology and art to become Nene College of Higher Education, taking its name from the River Nene. In 1978 it integrated the Leathersellers College from London.

In 1993, the college incorporated St. Andrew's School of Occupational Therapy and was granted undergraduate degree awarding powers. In 1997 it took in the Sir Gordon Roberts College of Nursing and Midwifery.

It became University College Northampton in 1999 and gained full university status in 2005. To gain university status it had to convince the Privy Council that a Royal Decree banning the establishment of a university in Northampton, signed by King Henry III in 1265 following the Battle of Lewes, should be repealed. 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 was officially opened in September 2010 by HRH The Princess Anne.

Campuses[edit]

Main entrance to the Avenue Campus

The university has two sites: Park Campus at Kingsthorpe, a northern suburb, 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 that became part of the university.

The university has various types of halls of residence in its two campuses, with just over 1,600 rooms. Most first year students live in halls and 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; William Carey; Margaret Bondfield; John Clare; Charles Bradlaugh (a former ground-floor flat in the latter is a multi-faith Chaplaincy Centre, and another in John Clare houses the Centre for Community Volunteering; Bassett-Lowke.

Simon Senlis hall

The university also offers accommodation at Belinda Ferrison house in the Mounts area of the town centre. 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 the town centre. It opened in 2014 and mainly accommodates international and post-graduate students.[5]

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 Newton Building

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, 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.[6]

In May 2012, the university announced plans to establish a new riverside campus in the town centre on the site of the disused Northampton Power Station on the south bank of the River Nene.[7] The site would be within the Northampton Waterside Enterprise Zone (known simply as Northampton Waterside)[8][9] and is due to start accepting students in 2018. This site is going to be known as The Waterside Campus.

Organisation and administration[edit]

Governance[edit]

The Vice-Chancellor is 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. In July 2017, she was succeeded by the BBC radio presenter Reverend Richard Coles.[10]

The Board of Governors are the members of the Higher Education Corporation and act both as Governors and charitable trustees. There are 17 members of the Board of Governors. They are drawn from the private, public and voluntary sectors as well as from the staff and students of the University.[11]

The current membership of the Board of Governors is listed below.

Governor Role
David Baker Independent Governor
Sue Dutton Independent Governor
Rafael Garcia-Krailing President of the Students’ Union
Sara Goodwin Independent Governor
Richard Horsley Independent Governor
Sylvia Hughes Co-opted Governor
Frank Jordan Professional staff Governor
Lee Machado Governor nominated by Senate – Academic Staff
Mark Mulcahey Independent Governor
Nick Petford Ex Officio Governor Vice Chancellor
Martin Pettifor Independent Governor
Nick Pitts-Tucker Independent Governor
Nicholas Robertson Independent Governor
Andrew Scarborough Co-opted Governor and Chair of the Board of Governors
John Skelton Independent Governor
Danjie Zhong Vice President: Education of the Students' Union
Jeff Halliwell Independent Governor

Credit union[edit]

The Changemaker Credit Union is a joint initiative between the university and Northamptonshire Credit Union, providing financial services to students and staff.[12] Northamptonshire Credit Union is a member of the Association of British Credit Unions Limited.[13]

Academic profile[edit]

The university had 12,850 students spread across its two campuses in 2016/17.[3] It is divided into four faculties: the Faculty of Business & Law, the Faculty of Arts, Science & Technology, the Faculty of Health & Society; and the Faculty of Education & Humanities.[14]

The Sunley Conference Centre is for management training and development and also provides a large part of the university's conference facilities.

The university offers a wide range of undergraduate degrees, 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 to offer two-year fast-track degrees (currently for management and marketing and law) and 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.

Reputation and rankings[edit]

Rankings
Global rankings
Complete[15]
(2019, national)		 113
The Guardian[16]
(2019, national)		 111
Times/Sunday Times[17]
(2018, national)		 97
British Government assessment
Teaching Excellence Framework[18] Gold

In the 2012 Guardian University League Table, the university was ranked first for 'value added' in UK.[19]

The university was awarded 'The Outstanding HEI Supporting Social Entrepreneurship Award' at the UnLtd/HEFCE ‘Dare to be Different’ national conference in June 2011.[20] 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.[21] In February 2013, the university received international recognition for its commitment to social innovation and entrepreneurship by being designated a 'Changemaker Campus' by Ashoka U.[22] Northampton is the first Changemaker Campus in the UK and joins a global network of 21 other Changemaker Campuses.

Research[edit]

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.[23]

Research, consultancy and knowledge transfer at the university are centred on a number of cognate research groupings. It carries out internationally renowned research into lift engineering and technology, using the Express Lift Tower in the town, reflecting the town's historic role in lift manufacturing.

The university 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 provided lab facilities for the Channel 4 programme "How Clean Is Your House".

Learning and Teaching[edit]

The Institute of Learning and Teaching in Higher Education, directed by Prof Alejandro Armellini, is a central point of support and reference for all staff and services across the University of Northampton. It focuses on three areas: intellectual capital, student experience, and learning and teaching enhancement and innovation.[24] The Institute aims to enable transformational learning experiences through inspirational teaching. It works on developing capability in learning design, innovation and excellent teaching practice, underpinned by the latest pedagogic research.[25]

Student life[edit]

Students' Union[edit]

The Students' Union has multiple venues across the two campuses.

On Park Campus, there is Central Park, the daytime bar and food outlet. Upstairs there is The Attic, a 500-capacity venue that hosts club nights and numerous other student-led events. On the other side of campus there is Pavilion, which serves food and drink throughout the day and evenings, serves Starbucks Coffee and offers a range of entertainment, including live music.

The Union building on Avenue Campus was refurbished in 2011; it has a bar and diner and is home to the Union’s radio station. It is host to live music, stand-up comedy and karaoke nights.

The Students' Union also operates the UniExpress retail outlet on Park Campus and Art Shop in the Maidwell building on Avenue Campus.

The Union was awarded a national Gold award,[26] 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.

The Students' Union is led by three full-time Sabbatical Officers, backed by hundreds of volunteers including an extended Elected Officer Team of Part Time Officers and supported by almost 200 staff – both student and career staff[27].

In 2017 Rafael Garcia-Krailing, Students' Union President, proposed the creation of a fourth sabbatical officer to represent the interests of the student body to the University of Northampton. The proposed role would look to work collaboratively with the University in enhancing its welfare and wellbeing support services in addition to running proactive campaigns on such issues. The proposal was passed at the Union's Student Council and Board of Trustees in December of that year and ratified at the University of Northampton's Board of Governors in January 2018. The post was first appointed on 13 March 2018 with candidate Shangyin Ji.[28]

University of Northampton Students' Union Sabbatical Officers
Students' Union President Vice President: Education Vice President: Union Development Vice President: Welfare
2016/17 Liam Bligh Danjie Zhong David Lewis
2017/18 Rafael Garcia-Krailing Danjie Zhong David Lewis
2018/19 Rafael Garcia-Krailing Gemma Lovegrove Ryan Bradshaw Shangyin Ji

Sports[edit]

The Students' Union has 35 sports clubs[29] and enters 24 teams in Wednesday BUCS Leagues each week.

The University of Northampton enjoys a friendly sporting rivalry with the University of Derby, its annual Varsity Tournament contested by major sports teams from the two institutions.

The most successful clubs are rugby league, in the South BUCS Premier League, which has produced numerous participants in the Student Rugby league Home Nations tournament, and Men's Basketball, which narrowly lost the 2011 BUCS Conference Cup final. The latter also competes in the English Basketball National Leagues.

The university has a very competitive Trampolining Club, which has several members who compete at both national and international competitions and is based at the NTGA (Northamptonshire Trampoline and Gymnast Academy).

Societies[edit]

Approximately 60 student societies are affiliated to The University of Northampton Students’ Union.[30] These range from special interest societies such as Doctor Who and Anime 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.

University Technical Colleges[edit]

The university is an academic sponsor of two university technical colleges which opened in September 2013. Daventry University Technical College specialises in engineering, construction and environmental sustainability, Silverstone University Technical College in motorsports engineering, event management and hospitality.

Notable people[edit]

Staff[edit]

  • Henry Bird – taught drawing at the art school; his students included the architect Will Alsop.[31]
  • Dave Hill – political and educational activist, professor of education (2007–12)
  • Robert Kirk – professor emeritus in the department of philosophy

Alumni[edit]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ http://www.northampton.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/Signed-University-of-Northampton-Accounts-2014-1511.pdf
  2. ^ "University of Northampton accounts-2011.pdf" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 16 September 2013. Retrieved 17 August 2011. 
  3. ^ a b c d "2016/17 Students by HE provider, level, mode and domicile" (CSV). Higher Education Statistics Agency. Retrieved 25 March 2018. 
  4. ^ "History of the University of Northampton – The University of Northampton". Retrieved 20 January 2018. 
  5. ^ "University granted planning permission". Retrieved 11 May 2012. 
  6. ^ "Ecocampus register". Retrieved 27 October 2011. 
  7. ^ "University plans £300m new campus". 25 May 2012. Retrieved 29 May 2012. 
  8. ^ Council, Northampton Borough. "Northampton Waterside Enterprise Zone". Northampton Alive with Enterprise. Retrieved 20 January 2018. 
  9. ^ "Waterside Restoration Master Plan 2004 Appendix" (PDF). Retrieved 17 February 2010. 
  10. ^ "The Chancellor – Reverend Richard Coles – The University of Northampton". Retrieved 20 January 2018. 
  11. ^ "Board of Governors | The University of Northampton". The University of Northampton. Retrieved 3 April 2018. 
  12. ^ Changemaker Credit Union Archived 2 April 2015 at the Wayback Machine. The University of Northampton (retrieved 7 March 2015)
  13. ^ Credit unions in membership of ABCUL Association of British Credit Unions (retrieved 1 November 2014)
  14. ^ . University of Northampton https://www.northampton.ac.uk/about-us/academic-faculties/. Retrieved 20 December 2017.  Missing or empty |title= (help)
  15. ^ "University League Table 2019". The Complete University Guide. Retrieved 26 April 2018. 
  16. ^ "University league tables 2019". The Guardian. 29 May 2018. Retrieved 29 May 2018. 
  17. ^ "The Times and Sunday Times University Good University Guide 2018". Times Newspapers. Retrieved 24 September 2017. 
  18. ^ "Teaching Excellence Framework outcomes". Higher Education Funding Council for England. Retrieved 11 June 2018. 
  19. ^ "Guardian University League Tables". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 22 February 2010. 
  20. ^ "The University of Northampton wins top Social Entrepreneurship Award". Retrieved 31 October 2011. 
  21. ^ "Midlands Enterprising University of the Year for the second year running – The University of Northampton". Retrieved 20 January 2018. 
  22. ^ "University recognised internationally as the UK's number one for social enterprise – The University of Northampton". Retrieved 20 January 2018. 
  23. ^ "RAE 2008 results". Retrieved 24 December 2008. 
  24. ^ "About ILT – ILT – The University of Northampton". Retrieved 20 January 2018. 
  25. ^ https://www.northampton.ac.uk/ilt/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/06/Final-Version-of-the-LT-Plan-2015-2018.pdf
  26. ^ "NUS Best Bar None assessments 2010/11" (PDF). Retrieved 13 December 2011. 
  27. ^ "Who We Are @ University of Northampton Students' Union". northampton.unioncloud.org. Retrieved 3 April 2018. 
  28. ^ "Welcome your 2018/19 Sabbatical Team @ University of Northampton Students' Union". northamptonunion.com. Retrieved 3 April 2018. 
  29. ^ Northampton Students' Union. Northampton Students' Union https://www.northamptonunion.com/activities/sports/sport-at-northampton. Retrieved 20 December 2017.  Missing or empty |title= (help)
  30. ^ University of Northampton Students' Union https://www.northamptonunion.com/activities/societies/societies-at-northampton. Retrieved 20 December 2017.  Missing or empty |title= (help)
  31. ^ Alsop W. (28 June 2001). Drawing on the experiences of life help create better work. Architects' Journal

External links[edit]

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