University of East Anglia

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“UEA” redirects here. For other uses, see UEA (disambiguation).

University of East Anglia


Motto	Do different
Established	1963
Type	Public
Chancellor	Sir Brandon Gough
Vice-Chancellor	Professor Bill MacMillan
Students	13,692
Undergraduates	10,689
Postgraduates	3,003
Location	Norwich, Norfolk, UK
Campus	320 acres
Affiliations	1994 Group, Association of Commonwealth Universities
Website	www.uea.ac.uk

The University of East Anglia (UEA) is a campus university located in Norwich, Norfolk, England, founded as part of the British Government's New Universities programme in the 1960s.

Academically, it is one of the most successful universities founded in the 1960s, consistently ranking amongst Britain's top higher education institutions; Joint 1st in the National Student Survey 2006 and 18th in the The Times Good University Guide 2006, above that of Manchester, Birmingham, Reading, Newcastle, Sheffield and Exeter. In 2005 UEA was ranked as one of the top 200 universities in the world, in a study conducted by Shanghai Jiao Tong University. The university is a member of the 1994 Group of universities with an international reputation.

1 History and overview
2 Recent developments
3 Future developments
4 Notable academics
5 Notable alumni
6 External links

[edit] History and overview

Earlham Hall, home to the University of East Anglia's School of Law.

UEA admitted its first students in 1963 in temporary accommodation in Earlham Hall, on the western edge of the city of Norwich about 3 miles from the city centre, while a prefabricated "University Village" was built nearby and used until the early 1980s. The permanent campus was built on the adjacent Earlham Golf Course, principally to a design by Sir Denys Lasdun.

The UEA campus exhibits some interesting architectural features: the main teaching building takes the form of a continuous wall running approximately west-east. The early student residences built in the 1960s take the form of distinctive "ziggurats", but financial cutbacks by the early 1970s meant that the full original plan for building ziggurat residences had to be abandoned, and replaced by the less inspiring north-south wall of Waveney Terrace (which was demolished in 2006). This latter residence quickly gave rise to a popular and enduring urban legend on campus that the design had been based on that of a prison that was either Swedish, Russian, German or one of a number of European nations depending on the telling. UEA also took over the former RAF/US Air Force barracks at Horsham St. Faith airfield, and used them as residences. This outpost of campus life was formally known as "Fifers Lane" from the road it stood on, but was called "Horsham" or simply "Fifers" by its residents. It developed its own unique style of student life. Being adjacent to extant army accommodation, the on-site general shop was a branch of the NAAFI. It also reputedly featured its own ghost, the "headless airman". Fifers Lane eventually closed in 1994, when further residences, again in an advanced architectural style, were built on campus.

Constable Terrace - Award winning campus accommodation designed by Rick Mather and highly popular with students.

In the mid-1970s, extraction of gravel in the valley of the River Yare, which runs to the south of the campus, resulted in the university acquiring its own 'Norfolk Broad' or lake (known as simply 'The Broad'). At more or less the same time, a bequest of tribal art and C.20th painting and sculpture, by artists such as Francis Bacon and Henry Moore, from the Sainsbury supermarket family resulted in the construction of the striking Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts at the western end of the main teaching wall, one of the first major works of architect Norman Foster. In 2001 the campus gained an extensive new sports facility called the "Sportspark", built thanks to a £14.5 million grant from the Sport England Lottery Fund, and a purpose-built theatre. Because of the 1960s design, the university suffers in regard to providing access needs to all students, even though attempts have been made to improve facilities within the campus, the universities listed 1960s buildings are by law unadaptable.

The Sainsbury Centre for the Visual Arts was designed by Lord Norman Foster and opened in 1978. The building houses the internationally renowned art collection of Sir Robert and Lady Sainsbury.

Other notable features of the UEA campus are "The Square", a central outdoor meeting place flanked by concrete steps; "The Blend", a recently renovated cafe/coffee shop, "Zest" a newly refurbished student canteen and "The Street" which features a 24-hour launderette, the Union Food Outlet, Union Paper Shop, Union Post Office, a sandwich shop called "Mango", branches of NatWest, HSBC and Barclays Bank and a Waterstone's book shop. Connected to both "The Street" and "The Square" is one of the most popular Union venues: the "Union Pub and Bar" which underwent a massive extension and refurbishment at the cost of £1.2 million in 2002. The pub took over "Breakers", a rather low-rent eatery with a scrapyard theme which was briefly turned into an unpopular pasta place. Other bars include "The Hive" (which, due to efforts from the Student Union, was refurbished for the start of the 2004/05 year), and the "Graduate Students Club". In the same building is The LCR, known in full as either The Large [1] or Lower [2] Common Room. The LCR is home to weekly campus discos, as well as the many touring gigs. The students' union also run "The Waterfront" venue off campus in Norwich's King Street.

UEA has had notable successes in terms of courses taught. Malcolm Bradbury for many years taught in the School of English and American Studies and his 1975 novel The History Man is believed to be based on his experiences there, satirising as it does life and work in a modern 1960s-built University campus. The German emigre novelist W. G. Sebald taught in the School of Literature until his untimely death, from a car accident, in 2001. The Climate Research Unit in the School of Environmental Sciences was an early centre of work on climate warming.

The UEA Union has a large range of services on offer for its students including a large selection of sports clubs and societies. These range from football and rugby clubs to a newer range of environmental societies such as 'The Campus Sustainability Initiative' who aim to set up a fund for environmental projects on campus called 'The Sustainability Initiative Fund'.

The Elizabeth Fry building. Considered by Building Magazine to be one of the "best buildings ever" for its energy efficiency, user comfort and design.

Aside from the independent student newspaper Concrete, there is a thriving student media across a range of areas. In the 1970s, there was a highly successful student newspaper named Phoenix, which rose from the ashes of the original Concrete, that ran for several years. Livewire, the campus radio station, which transmits to air on 1350AM in the vicinity of the university as well as broadcasting on the internet, was established in 1989. Nexus UTV, the campus television station broadcasting news, documentaries, comedy shows and various other types of programming, shows regularly in the bar and is one of the oldest still-running student television stations in the country, having been established in 1968.

As at 1 December 2004, the university had 10,689 undergraduate students, 1,949 postgraduate taught students, and 1,054 postgraduate research students, giving a total of 13,692 students, of whom 73% were full-time students, 10.4% came from outside the European Union, and 63% were female. As at 31 July 2005 the university employed 2445 staff (including 517 academic staff, 368 research staff, 469 secretarial and clerical staff, 146 technical staff, and 287 administrative, senior library and computing staff). In the year ending 31 July 2005 the university's income was £124,161,000, and its expenditure was £120,040,000. (Statistics from the 2004-05 Annual Review).

[edit] Recent developments

Colman House opened in September 2004, creating accommodation for 400 students. The latest residences, Britten, Victory, Kett, Browne, and Paston Houses, were built around the Waveney Terrace area and were opened in September and October 2005. Half of Waveney Terrace was demolished in September 2005, and replaced with Britten House; the remaining demolition was completed in September 2006, and work is ongoing on the second half of Britten House. The residences are named after Benjamin Britten, Horatio Nelson's ship HMS Victory, Robert Kett, Sir Thomas Browne and the Paston family who wrote the Paston Letters.

A new building for the School of Nursing and Midwifery (NAM) opened in February 2006; adjacent to the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital, it is named after Edith Cavell. The new campus Health and Community Centre, comprising the University Health Centre, a Laundrette and a Nursery for pre-school aged children, was also completed in 2006.

The 2002 Medical School (MED) is already being expanded to provide more lecture space and research labs. Anticipated completion is in June 2007.

Norfolk and Suffolk Terraces are undergoing internal refurbishment in keeping with their Listed Building status; Suffolk Terrace was completed in the summer of 2006, with completion for Norfolk Terrace scheduled for 2008.

[edit] Future developments

INTO@ UEA is a partnership project being undertaken by INTO, Espalier and the UEA. The building will be situated between the main car park and the Health & Community Centre and will provide teaching, living, eating & social space for approximately 350 international students. The students will spend a year at INTO getting used to the British university system and culture before hopefully entering the University system at UEA. The project is anticipated to start in January 2007. Work to connect the site to electrical and other services was completed in the summer of 2006.

In partnership with the University of Essex, and with the support of Suffolk County Council, the East of England Development Agency, Ipswich Borough Council, Suffolk College, and the Learning and Skills Council, UEA has secured £15 million funding from the Higher Education Funding Council for England with the aim of creating a new campus in the Waterfront area of Ipswich, called University Campus Suffolk (UCS).

[edit] Notable academics

Christopher Bigsby: British literary analyst and novelist and Professor of American Studies at the university.
Malcolm Bowie: acclaimed scholar of French literature and former lecturer at the university.
Sir Malcolm Bradbury: novelist and founder of the universities world renowned MA creative writing.
Angela Carter: novelist and journalist and former academic at the university.
John Charmley: British diplomatic historian and a professor modern history at the university.
Amit Chaudhuri: is an author and currently a creative writing tutor at the university.
Mike Douglass: American urban planner and social scientist and former member of the School of Development Studies at the university.
Anthony Edward Dyson: British literary critic and former academic at the university.
Richard J. Evans: British historian of Germany and former academic at the university.
Ian Gibson (politician): is the Labour Member of Parliament for Norwich North and former dean of biology at the university. He became an honorary professor of the university in 2003.
Garry L. Hagberg: author, professor, philosopher, and musician. He currently holds a chair in philosophy at the university.
Richard Hodges: contemporary British archaeologist whose work primarily concerns trade and economics during the early part of the Middle Ages. He is a professor of the university.
Patricia Hollis, Baroness Hollis of Heigham: Labour member of the House of Lords. She was a lecturer in modern history, reader and Dean at the university from 1967 until 1990.
Hubert Lamb: an English climatologist who founded the Climatic Research Unit in 1971 in the School of Environmental Sciences at the university.
Phil Jones: is director of the Climatic Research Unit and a Professor in the School of Environmental Sciences at the University.
Ludmilla Jordanova: former professor of the History of Arts and Science at the university.
Paul Kennedy:is a British historian specializing in international relations and grand strategy. He was a Professor of History at the University of East Anglia between 1970 and 1983.
Michael Laskey: is a poet and editor, Chairman of The Poetry Trust and lecturer in creative writing at the university.
Paul Magrs: author and former academic at the university.
Andrew Motion: is an English poet, novelist and biographer who is the current Poet Laureate. He was formerly professor of Creative Writing at the university.
Julian Myerscough: is a writer, record producer, broadcaster and contributor to BBC Radio 4. He is a lecturer in Law at the university.
Shirley Pearce: is the Vice-Chancellor of Loughborough University and formerly professor of Health Psychology at the university and Dean of the Institute of Health.
David Pearl: British lawyer and former Professor of Law at the university.
Brian Runnett: former lecturer in music at the university.
Lorna Sage: award winning literary critic and author, and former Professor of English Literature at the university.
W. G. Sebald: former head of German Literature at the university.
Steve Smith (academic): Vice-Chancellor of the University of Exeter,and formerly Director of the Centre for Public Choice Studies at the university.
Lawrence Stenhouse:was a founder member of the Centre for Applied Research in Education (CARE) at the university.
Peter Trudgill: lecturer in the School of language, linguistics and translation studies (LLT) at the university and an honorary professor of sociolinguistics.
Angus Wilson: British novelist and short story writer. He jointly helped to establish the now renowned creative writing course at the university.
John Wymer: was a British archaeologist and one of the leading experts on the Palaeolithic period. He was formerly a lecturer at the university.
Solly Zuckerman, Baron Zuckerman: was a UK public servant, zoologist, and scientific advisor. He taught at the university from 1969-1974.