University of Suffolk


The University of Suffolk is a public university in Suffolk, England. The institution was established in 2007 as University Campus Suffolk ; the current name was adopted in 2016 when it was awarded university status.
The University operates at five sites: a central hub in Ipswich and secondary sites at another location in Ipswich, Lowestoft, Bury St Edmunds, and Great Yarmouth. The University operates two academic faculties and in had students. Some 30% of the student body are classed as mature students and 68% of University students are female.

History

In 2003, Suffolk County Council established a "stakeholder group" to investigate the possibility of establishing a university in the county. Suffolk was the largest English county that didn't host a university. The group included representatives from the University of East Anglia, the University of Essex, West Suffolk College, the East of England Development Agency, the Higher Education Funding Council for England, Suffolk Learning and Skills Council, Suffolk County Council, Ipswich Borough Council, Suffolk Chief Executive's Group and the Suffolk Development Agency.
Following funding pledges from Ipswich Borough Council and Suffolk County Council in 2004, the plan was backed by the Higher Education Funding Council for England with £15m worth of funding in 2005 and attracted a £12.5m grant from the East of England Development Agency in 2006 The institution was officially launched under the name 'University Campus, Suffolk' on 1 August 2007 and welcomed its first students in September of the same year.
Because UCS did not have degree-awarding powers, its students received their degrees from either the University of East Anglia or the University of Essex via a cooperative agreement. The institution was later granted degree-awarding powers by the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education in November 2015, and in May 2016 it was awarded University status by the Privy Council. As a consequence, UCS was renamed The University of Suffolk in August 2016 and began awarding degrees in its own right.

Schools

The University is split into six Schools, each facilitating various courses.
School of Law and Social Sciences – offering courses single honours bachelor's degrees in areas such as Law, Criminology, Sociology and also numerous joint honours variants.
School of Health Sciences – featuring courses in areas such as Adult Nursing, Mental Health Nursing, Radiography and also Postgraduate qualifications such as the MSc in Public Health Nursing, and in Advanced Clinical Practice.
School of Psychology and Education, offering courses such as Counselling, Psychology, Early Childhood Studies and also various postgraduate and joint honours degrees which combine these study areas.
School of Science, Technology and Engineering.
School of Arts, Design and Humanities.
The Suffolk Business School.

Sites

University of Suffolk, Ipswich

The University Campus is based on the Ipswich waterfront. The Waterfront building, designed by RMJM Architects, is the centre of the hub, opened in September 2008 and cost £35 million. It has three lecture theatres, and 34 smaller teaching rooms. The six-storey James Hehir Building was officially opened in March 2011 at a cost of £21 million It is named after the former chief executive of Ipswich Borough Council and includes Cult Cafe. Campus North houses the library or "Learning Resource Centre". Onsite student accommodation is provided in the 600-place Athena Hall, located adjacent to the James Hehir building.
A range of undergraduate and postgraduate courses are offered at Ipswich, including Art and Design, Business Management, Computing, Education, Film, Health, Nursing and Midwifery, Humanities, Social Sciences and Initial Teacher Training.

University of Suffolk at Suffolk New College

is located next to the Ipswich campus and was developed from the Further Education centre of Suffolk College. It is a centre for civil engineering degrees, initial teacher training and FdA/BA Fashion Communication & Promotion.

University of Suffolk at West Suffolk College

The Bury St Edmunds Centre is located at the site of West Suffolk College. A range of foundation degrees in subjects including Art, Engineering and Logistics and Transport and Management are taught at the site as well as degrees in Business Management, Education, English and History, CIOB accredited Construction Management and initial teacher training. Over 700 students follow degree and foundation degree courses at the site. The site, which was remodelled in 2011, has an industry-standard recording studio.

University of Suffolk at East Coast College (Great Yarmouth Campus)

The Great Yarmouth centre is located at the Southtown site of East Coast College in neighbouring Norfolk. Subjects such as Computing, Counselling, Engineering, Fashion, Music, and Photography are available at the centre, which has a modern recording studio.

University of Suffolk at East Coast College (Lowestoft Campus)

The Lowestoft Centre is located at the site of East Coast College. Lowestoft offers degrees in Children's Care, Learning and Development, Design, Inclusive Practice and Integrated Working, Operations Engineering, Supporting Inclusive Learning and Practice, and Social Science.

East Contemporary Art Collection

The University of Suffolk is home to the "East Contemporary Art Collection", which is exhibited at the Waterfront Gallery. Founded by artists Robert Priseman and Simon Carter in 2013 the "East Contemporary Art Collection" contains 160 works of art by 115 artists and was formed to make the first public collection of contemporary art in the East of England.
Artists represented in the collection all have a working connection with the seven east of England counties of Suffolk, Norfolk, Essex, Cambridgeshire, Lincolnshire, Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire and included Maggi Hambling, Amanda Ansell, Susan Gunn, Nicholas Middleton, Justin Partyka, Anne Schwegmann-Fielding, James Dodds, Linda Ingham, Stephen Newton and Mary Webb. The works of art in the collection were all produced after the year 2000 and are designed to be available for public display and as a learning resource for the University and students from the wider educational community.

Accommodation

The on-campus halls of residence, Athena Hall, is located on the Ipswich Waterfront and houses up to 590 students. Athena Hall offers a mixture of cluster flats and studio rooms. There is currently no accredited accommodation for the partner colleges in Bury St Edmunds, Great Yarmouth and Lowestoft.

Sustainability

The University operates as a "Centre for Applied sustainability". An example of its work with sustainability is the Phase 1 campus development which was assessed as BREEAM Excellent. This signifies that the development is setting the "best practice in sustainable development".
The University is also actively engaged in the New Anglia Local Enterprise Partnership Green Economy Pathfinder.

Academic profile

Rankings and reputation

Union

The Union was formed on 1 August 2007, the same day the University was officially launched. It provides support for its students and looks after their well-being during their studies.
The union is the representative of the student body at the management level of the university, and as such its positions are manned by paid and unpaid students who are based at the Union office in the heart of the campus's East building. The Union also looks after the university social calendar, with multiple events run during the academic weeks and special Freshers weeks at the beginning of each academic year.
The President and Vice-President of the Union are, subject to a sufficient number of votes, elected every March, and take office for 12 months from July to July, overseeing the totality of one academic year. The candidates come from the student body and must compete in the election campaigns in March/April. There is a current two-year maximum term for the positions. The current President is Georgia Downs and the Vice-President is Amy Grant, both newly elected for 2018.