University of Bedfordshire

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University of Bedfordshire


Established	2006 elements date back to 1882
Type	Public
Chancellor	Sir Robin Biggam
Vice-Chancellor	Les Ebdon
Students	12,050 ^[1]
Undergraduates	10,315 ^[1]
Postgraduates	1,735 ^[1]
Location	Luton and Bedford, Bedfordshire, UK
Telephone	01234 400 400
Campus	Urbanlink
Website	http://www.beds.ac.uk

University of Bedfordshire - Luton Campus

The University of Bedfordshire is a university created by the merger of the University of Luton and the Bedford campus of De Montfort University on 1 August 2006 following approval by the Privy Council^[2]. Bedfordshire is a county in southern England. The University of Luton purchased the De Montfort campus in Bedford for an undisclosed sum believed to be in the region of £13.8m.^{[citation needed]}

1 History
2 Reputation
3 Campuses
4 Faculties
5 Educational partner institutions
6 Notable alumni
7 Photo Gallery
8 See also
9 References
10 External links

History

The University of Luton was a university based in Luton, the largest town in Bedfordshire. The institution was founded as the Modern School in the 1890s. It became Luton College of Higher Education with the merger of Luton College of Technology and Putteridge Bury College of Education in the mid-seventies. With the passing of the Further and Higher Education Act, 1992 it converted to university status in 1993. On the 15 December 2005, the University announced that it was taking over the Bedford campus of De Montfort University. With permission from the Privy Council, the preferred name of the University of Bedfordshire came into effect on the 1 August 2006^[3].

The campus at Bedford dates back to the Bedford Training College for Teachers which was founded in 1882 and Bedford Physical Training College founded in 1903. There are currently just under 3,000 students based in Bedford.

Putteridge Bury is a neo-Elizabethan country mansion located on the edge of Luton on the A505 to Hitchin. The campus is situated in approximately thirty acres of landscaped gardens. Putteridge Bury can be traced back to Edward the Confessor's time and has links to the Domesday Book. The building was completed in 1911 and was designed by architects Sir Ernest George and Alfred Yeats in the style of Chequers, having had various redesigns and rebuilds over the years. The campus is home to the university's postgraduate business school as well as the university’s Conference Centre.

Reputation

Luton came 108th out of 109 in the Times Top Universities 2007 League Table (Times) ^[4]. Although the Sunday Times awarded the university the title of Best New University in 2004 (prior to the merger of the University).^[5]

National league tables rates the University of Bedfordshire fourth in the country for Nursing and Midwifery programmes.^[6]

The QAA conducted a thorough institutional audit of the University as a whole in 2005 (prior to the merger of the University), this resulted in the audit team’s questioning of the academic standards of its awards and its lack of confidence in the universities quality standards. ^[7]

A small number of staff have complained in a survey about racism at the University. ^[8]

Campuses

The University has three main campuses^[9]: Luton (in the town centre), Putteridge Bury (on the outskirts of Luton), and Bedford (on Polhill Avenue). There is also teaching for nursing and midwifery degrees on satellite sites at the Luton and Dunstable, Bedford, Stoke Mandeville and High Wycombe General hospitals.

Faculties

The University of Bedfordshire has four faculties, encompassing a number of schools, departments and divisions.^[10]

Faculty of Creative Arts, Technologies and Science
- Computing and Information Systems
- Education Studies
- Media, Art and Design
- Psychology
- Science
- Sport and Exercise Science
Faculty of Education and Contemporary Studies
- Business and Applied Social Sciences
- Education
- Performing Arts and English
- Physical Education and Sports Sciences
Faculty of Health and Social Science
- Applied Social Studies
- Healthcare (Nursing and Midwifery)
University of Bedfordshire Business School
- Business and Marketing
- Language and Communication
- Law, Accounting and Strategy
- Tourism, Leisure and Human Resource Management

Educational partner institutions

The University works together with a number of partner institutions to offer a wide range of courses. ^[11]

Barnfield College
Bedford College
British School of Osteopathy
Castle College Nottingham (previously Broxtowe College, Nottingham)
Dunstable College
Grantham College
Leicester College
Luton Sixth Form College
Milton Keynes College
Oxford and Cherwell Valley College
Tresham Institute of Further and Higher Education

Notable alumni

Becky Jago - Presenter of BBC's Newsround - Media Performance.
Gemma Hunt - Presenter of CBBC - Media Performance.^[12]
Charlie George - Presenter on MAX TV - Media Performance. ^[13]
Matt Fisher - Station Sound Imaging Producer BBC Radio 1 - Media Performance with Radio. ^[14]
Debbie Randle - Senior Broadcast Journalist BBC Radio 1 - Modern English Studies. ^[15]
Marie Kemp - Presenter on BBC Radio Berkshire - Media Performance and Radio.^[16]
Peter Paddon - Systems Security Administrator for the Walt Disney Company - Media Production, Video Production and Animation.^{[citation needed]}
Paul Woloszyn - BBC Digital Text - Modern English Studies.^[17]

Photo Gallery

University of Bedfordshire, Luton campus	University of Bedfordshire Bedford campus	University of Bedfordshire Bedford campus sports hall	University of Bedfordshire Bedford campus library
University of Bedfordshire Bedford campus	University of Bedfordshire Putteridge Bury campus	Student Union 'SubClub' Nightclub, Luton campus	Student Union 'Bar Soviet', Bedford campus