St Matthias is one of the campuses belonging to the University of the West of England

University of the West of England

The University of the West of England is a university based in the English city of Bristol. Its main campus is at Frenchay, about five miles north of the city centre...

. The campus is located in the suburb of Fishponds in Bristol

Bristol

Bristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, with an estimated population of 433,100 for the unitary authority in 2009, and a surrounding Larger Urban Zone with an estimated 1,070,000 residents in 2007...

.

History

The campus was previously a teacher training college, originally called the Gloucester and Bristol Diocesan Training Institution for School Mistresses, which opened in 1853.

The original buildings were constructed in 1851-2 by John Bevan with Jonathan Clarke, in a Gothic Revival style. The building was extended in 1903. Today it is a grade II listed building and the Lodge is listed Grade II.

Departments and Courses

St Matthias is home to departments within the faculty of Creative Arts, Humanities and Education, including:

• Department of Culture, Media and Drama
• Department of History, Philosophy and Politics
• Department of English, Linguistics and Communication

Buildings & Facilities

The campus has some attractive Victorian Gothic

Gothic Revival architecture

The Gothic Revival is an architectural movement that began in the 1740s in England...

 buildings, and is set around a quad. The campus has also a refectory, a gymnasium, a Students' Union bar, a library and on-site accommodation.

Activities

As home to the department of Drama, several small theatre companies exist on the campus. The Bristol Centre for Performing Arts bases its drama group here, as does the UWE Drama Society. The Regional History Centre is also based at St Matthias, and consists primarily of members of the department of History.

Planned Closure

The University plans to close the campus by 2015 as a part of a relocation project. The plan is to consolidate the various departments of the faculty of Creative Arts, Humanities and Education from St Matthias and Bower Ashton

Bower Ashton

Bower Ashton is a small district in south west Bristol on the western boundary with North Somerset, lying within the Southville ward, approximately two miles from the city centre...

 to move to new facilities at Frenchay

Frenchay

Frenchay is a suburb of Bristol, England, to the north east of the city, but located mainly in South Gloucestershire and the Civil Parish of Winterbourne....

campus. Leaving St Matthias would save money that is spent on maintaining the old buildings, which can be instead invested into teaching and resources.

The project's planned facilities will be new lecture and seminar rooms and specialist facilities for drama and media students.

The project was originally intended to be completed by September 2011, but the time frame was extended at the time to September 2012. It was revealed in August 2011 that the completion of phase 2 of the project was under review and the September 2012 open date was no longer planned.