Public university in Northampton, England
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
]
13th century University of Northampton
[
edit
]
The town had a university in medieval times between 1261 and 1265 of
the same name
, established by
royal charter
after approval from
King Henry III
in 1261. It was the third university in England, after
Oxford
and
Cambridge
, and the 22nd in Europe. After being advised by
bishops
and
magnates
that Northampton was a threat to Oxford, Henry III dissolved the university in 1265, and signed a
Royal Decree
that banned the establishment of a university in Northampton.
Northampton Technical College
[
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]
Northampton Technical College
was opened at St George's Avenue?now the site of the Avenue Campus?in 1924. Eight years later, a new building for the college was formally opened by the
Duke
and
Duchess of York
. A School of Art opened later in 1937.
[4]
The College of Education and Nene College of Higher Education
[
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]
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.
[
citation needed
]
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
.
University College Northampton and University of Northampton
[
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]
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, should be repealed.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
Princess Anne
.
History 2010 onwards
[
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]
Until 2018 the university had three main sites: Avenue Campus, just north of the town centre, opposite a large open park known as the Racecourse; Park Campus in Kingsthorpe to the north of the town which was the main and largest campus and an Innovation centre opposite
Northampton railway station
. 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
[5]
and located within the
Northampton Waterside Enterprise Zone
(known simply as Northampton Waterside).
[6]
[7]
The Waterside Campus opened to students in September 2018 with the facilities on both Park and Avenue campuses transferring to it.
[8]
The main student halls of residence are now located in the student village of the Waterside Campus, and include
Francis Crick
;
Margaret Bondfield
;
John Clare
; and
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
. A 464-room hall of residence 'St John's Halls of Residence' opened in 2014 and mainly accommodates international and post-graduate students.
[9]
In November 2023 student protests at the 'unsafe and unsanitary conditions' in these halls were reported on by the BBC.
[10]
In December 2023 under Prof Anne-Marie Kilday's tenure as Vice Chancellor, the university announced the closure of the Institute for Creative Leather Technologies.
[11]
This had been based at the university due to a long tradition of leather working as the primary industry in Northampton.
[12]
Organisation and administration
[
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]
Governance
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]
The Vice-Chancellor is
Anne-Marie Kilday
, who was preceded in the post by
Nick Petford
,
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
Richard Coles
.
[13]
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.
[14]
Academic profile
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]
The university had 12,060 students in 2019/20.
[3]
It is divided into three faculties: the Faculty of Business & Law, the Faculty of Arts, Science & Technology, the Faculty of Health, Education & Society.
[15]
The university offers a wide range of undergraduate degrees, foundation degrees, diplomas and a variety of postgraduate opportunities up to PhD level.
Reputation and rankings
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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.
[20]
Northampton was the first Changemaker Campus in the UK and joins a global network of 21 other Changemaker Campuses.
Research
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]
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.
Student life
[
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]
Students' Union
[
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]
The Students' Union operates out of the redeveloped Engine Shed location on the Waterside Campus, which also operates as a daytime cafe and food outlet.The Students' Union is led by five 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.
[21]
Sports
[
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]
The Students' Union has 35 sports clubs
[22]
and enters 24 teams in Wednesday
BUCS
Leagues each week. The Students' Union operate on a policy of free sports membership, meaning all teams are free to join with no membership fee and offers a wide variety of sports including rugby league (Gremlins RL), football, netball, basketball, hockey and lacrosse. They are also one of a select SUs to offer equestrian as a sports club for their students. Sports is overseen by the Sports Coordinator with an elected Sports Part-Time Officer acting as a representative for the voice of student sports.
Since the start of the 2018?19 academic year, the Students' Union has contested a Varsity event against the
University of Bedfordshire
, with each institute taking it in turns to host the event each year. The SU also hosts an end of year Sports Awards event to recognise the achievement of all clubs, with awards including both performance based awards as well as charity and individual awards.
Societies
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Approximately 60 student societies are affiliated to The University of Northampton Students’ Union.
[23]
These range from special interest societies such as Doctor Who and Anime to faith-based societies such as the Christian Union and Hindu Society.
University technical colleges
[
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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
[
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]
Staff
[
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]
- Henry Bird
, taught drawing at the art school; his students included the architect
Will Alsop
[24]
- Dave Hill
, political and educational activist, professor of education (2007?12)
- Robert Kirk
, professor emeritus in the department of philosophy
Alumni
[
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]
- Will Alsop
, modernist architect; graduated from Northampton College of Art
- Jon Bewers
, footballer
- James D. Boys
, academic and media consultant
- Dallas Campbell
, television presenter and stage actor
- Andrew Collins
, writer and broadcaster
- James Densley
, academic and author
- Bill Drummond
, artist, musician, writer and record producer
- Felippe Moraes
, visual artist, art researcher and independent curator
- Daniel Middleton
, YouTuber and writer
- Owen Paterson
, Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (2012?2014); graduated from Leathersellers College
- Lisa Davina Phillip
, actress and singer
- Denys Watkins-Pitchford
, prolific author of children's books and of rural affairs; illustrator and artist; graduated from Northampton College of Art
- Sangheon Lee
, actor who starred in Netflix's
XO, Kitty
See also
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References
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External links
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