University of Bedfordshire
Encyclopedia
Luton
Luton is a large town and unitary authority of Bedfordshire, England, 30 miles north of London. Luton and its near neighbours, Dunstable and Houghton Regis, form the Luton/Dunstable Urban Area with a population of about 250,000....
and Bedford
Bedford
Bedford is the county town of Bedfordshire, in the East of England. It is a large town and the administrative centre for the wider Borough of Bedford. According to the former Bedfordshire County Council's estimates, the town had a population of 79,190 in mid 2005, with 19,720 in the adjacent town...
, the two largest towns in the English
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
county of Bedfordshire
Bedfordshire
Bedfordshire is a ceremonial county of historic origin in England that forms part of the East of England region.It borders Cambridgeshire to the north-east, Northamptonshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the west and Hertfordshire to the south-east....
. The university was created by the merger of the University of Luton and the Bedford campus of De Montfort University
De Montfort University
De Montfort University is a public research and teaching university situated in the medieval Old Town of Leicester, England, adjacent to the River Soar and the Leicester Castle Gardens...
on 1 August 2006 following approval by the Privy Council. The University of Luton purchased the De Montfort campus in Bedford for £15 million.
History
The University of Luton was a universityUniversity
A university is an institution of higher education and research, which grants academic degrees in a variety of subjects. A university is an organisation that provides both undergraduate education and postgraduate education...
based in Luton
Luton
Luton is a large town and unitary authority of Bedfordshire, England, 30 miles north of London. Luton and its near neighbours, Dunstable and Houghton Regis, form the Luton/Dunstable Urban Area with a population of about 250,000....
, 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
Privy council
A privy council is a body that advises the head of state of a nation, typically, but not always, in the context of a monarchic government. The word "privy" means "private" or "secret"; thus, a privy council was originally a committee of the monarch's closest advisors to give confidential advice on...
, the preferred name of the University of Bedfordshire came into effect on 1 August 2006.
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. These merged with a further education college to become the Bedford College of Higher Education
Bedford College of Higher Education
Bedford College of Higher Education was a higher education institution in Bedford, England, specializing in teacher training.-History:Until 1976, three separate institutions offered tertiary education in Bedford: Bedford College of Physical Education in Landsdowne Road , Bedford College of...
. In 1994 the higher education areas of the college merged with De Montfort University
De Montfort University
De Montfort University is a public research and teaching university situated in the medieval Old Town of Leicester, England, adjacent to the River Soar and the Leicester Castle Gardens...
(based in Leicester
Leicester
Leicester is a city and unitary authority in the East Midlands of England, and the county town of Leicestershire. The city lies on the River Soar and at the edge of the National Forest...
). 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 road
A505 road
The A505 is an A-class road in the United Kingdom. It follows part of the route of the Icknield Way and the corresponding Icknield Way Path.-Bedfordshire:...
to Hitchin
Hitchin
Hitchin is a town in Hertfordshire, England, with an estimated population of 30,360.-History:Hitchin is first noted as the central place of the Hicce people mentioned in a 7th century document, the Tribal Hidage. The tribal name is Brittonic rather than Old English and derives from *siccā, meaning...
. 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
Domesday Book
Domesday Book , now held at The National Archives, Kew, Richmond upon Thames in South West London, is the record of the great survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086...
. The building was completed in 1911 and was designed by architects Sir Ernest George
Ernest George
Sir Ernest George RA was an English architect, landscape and architectural watercolour painter, and etcher.-Life and work:...
and Alfred Yeats in the style of Chequers
Chequers
Chequers, or Chequers Court, is a country house near Ellesborough, to the south of Aylesbury in Buckinghamshire, England, at the foot of the Chiltern Hills...
, 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
In 2004, Luton University's then high drop-out rate, and proposals to relax the consequences for students failing second-year exams, had led the Sunday Telegraph to ask "Is this the worst university in Britain?" Luton's vice-chancellor responded by noting the challenges inherent in its mission as an access institution to offer the life-changing experience of higher education to people from families with little or no experience of university and for whom university is not an obvious destination after school; and drew attention to its teaching quality, which had been rated 14th out of 121 similar institutions the previous year by The Times. However, The Sunday Times awarded the University of Luton the title of Best New University in 2004 (prior to the purchase of the Bedford campus and rebranding).The QAA conducted a thorough institutional audit of the University as a whole in 2005 (prior to the merger of the University), which resulted in the audit team’s questioning of the academic standards of its awards and its lack of confidence in the university's quality standards. However, after the audit was taken the QAA was provided with information that indicates that appropriate action was taken by the University in response to the findings of this report. As a result the audit was signed off in July 2007.
In 2007 the University of Bedfordshire was short-listed for the Times Higher Education Supplement's University of the Year 2007.
In 2008 Professor Les Ebdon said that he had accepted voluntary redundancy from 30 staff members. The university said that less than half were academic staff. Professor Ebdon said: "I don't know of any university in the East of England which isn't making some adjustment to staff numbers. Most of us have squeezed other expenditures as much as we can. Staffing is the area left where expenditure can be taken out, and it is the biggest cost." According to the same article "Relative to many other universities, Bedfordshire spends a low proportion of its income on staff."
Bedfordshire was ranked 71 of 114 British universities in The Times Good University Guide league table, released in June 2009, 72 out of 113 in The Independent Complete University Guide, and 88 out of 117 in The Guardian University Guide. The Guardian's league tables are compiled mainly on the basis of teaching data (staff/student ratio, job prospects, inclusiveness), and The Timess also include data on research ratings and the percentage of students who complete a degree.
The university has been criticised for its association with the Institute for Optimum Nutrition, an unacredited and controversial organisation whose founder, Patrick Holford's advocacy of vitamin C as better than conventional drugs to treat AIDS was described as 'very scary' by the British Dietetic Association.
According to the THES in 2008 the university threatened legal action against a web site after one of its course was labelled "shocking" because of its staff-to-student ratio.
After the QAA audit conducted in 2009 the University was awarded a “Confidence” rating.
| 2011 | 2010 | 2009 | 2008 | 2007 | 2006 | 2005 | 2004 | 2003 | 2002 | 2001 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Times Good University Guide | 71st= | 89th | 84th | ||||||||
| Guardian University Guide | 103rd | 88th | 91st | 95th | |||||||
| Sunday Times University Guide | 102nd | 102nd= | 98th | 104th | 106th | 83rd | 82nd | 74th | 100th | ||
| The Complete University Guide | 101st= | 72nd | 86th= | 86th= | |||||||
| The Daily Telegraph | 86th |
Campuses
The university has two main campuses: LutonLuton
Luton is a large town and unitary authority of Bedfordshire, England, 30 miles north of London. Luton and its near neighbours, Dunstable and Houghton Regis, form the Luton/Dunstable Urban Area with a population of about 250,000....
(in the town centre), and Bedford
Bedford
Bedford is the county town of Bedfordshire, in the East of England. It is a large town and the administrative centre for the wider Borough of Bedford. According to the former Bedfordshire County Council's estimates, the town had a population of 79,190 in mid 2005, with 19,720 in the adjacent town...
(on Polhill Avenue). Both these campuses have on campus accommodation. There are also two dedicated campuses for the teaching of nursing
Nursing
Nursing is a healthcare profession focused on the care of individuals, families, and communities so they may attain, maintain, or recover optimal health and quality of life from conception to death....
and midwifery
Midwifery
Midwifery is a health care profession in which providers offer care to childbearing women during pregnancy, labour and birth, and during the postpartum period. They also help care for the newborn and assist the mother with breastfeeding....
degrees at Butterfield Park
Butterfield Green
Butterfield Green is an area on the edge of Luton, England. It is the location for the new Butterfield Business and Technology Park.The site will have up to one million square feet of office space in a low density development in a parkland setting....
on the outskirts of Luton and at the Buckinghamshire campus at Oxford House in Aylesbury. The university also has a fifth site which is Putteridge Bury
Putteridge Bury
Putteridge Bury is a country house on the edge of the built-up area of Luton, Bedfordshire, England but actually over the county boundary in the parish of Offley in Hertfordshire.-Mansion:...
, home of the University of Bedfordshire's Knowledge Hub and postgraduate Business School.
2012 Olympics
The Bedford Campus of the University has been selected as an official training site for the LondonLondon
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
2012 Olympics. The campus is hoping to attract a major national team to train there for the event, and will act as a main hub for other training sites in the Bedford area. In June 2009 it was reported that over 13 national teams have expressed an interest in using the Bedford campus for their olympic preparations.
Faculties
The University of Bedfordshire has four faculties, encompassing a number of schools, departments and divisions.- Faculty of Creative Arts, Technologies and Science
- Art and Design
- Computer Science and Technology
- Journalism and Communications
- Media Arts and Production
- Performing Arts and English
- Science
- Faculty of Education and Sport
- Education
- Physical Education and Sport Studies
- Sport and Exercise Sciences
- Tourism, Leisure and Sport Management
- Faculty of Health and Social Sciences
- Acute Health Care
- Applied Social Studies
- Community Services
- Psychology
- Sports Therapy
- University of Bedfordshire Business School
- Accounting and Finance
- Business Systems
- Language and Communication
- Law
- Marketing
- Strategy and Human Resource Management
Educational partner institutions
The University works together with a number of partner institutions to offer a range of courses.- Barnfield College
- Bedford CollegeBedford College (Bedford)Bedford College is a further education college in the Cauldwell area of Bedford, Bedfordshire, England. It is the only public further education college in the Borough of Bedford, and it is a member of the 157 Group of high performing schools....
- British School of OsteopathyBritish School of OsteopathyThe British School of Osteopathy is the largest and the oldest school of osteopathy in the United Kingdom.The BSO holds Recognised Qualification status from the statutory regulatory body for osteopathy in the UK, the General Osteopathic Council....
- Castle College NottinghamCastle College NottinghamCastle College Nottingham was a British further education college located in Nottingham. It was formed on 1 June 2006 from the merger of Broxtowe College and The People's College Nottingham...
(previously Broxtowe College, Nottingham) - Central Bedfordshire College
- Grantham CollegeGrantham CollegeGrantham College is a British further education and Sixth Form college located in Grantham, Lincolnshire.-History:It was known as the Grantham College for Further Education....
- Leicester CollegeLeicester CollegeLeicester College is a further education College in Leicester, England. It is one of the largest and most successful colleges in the UK, with more than 26,000 learners, 1,600 staff, plus an annual budget of £51million....
- Luton Sixth Form CollegeLuton Sixth Form CollegeLuton Sixth Form College is a sixth form college situated in Luton, Bedfordshire, England.-Admissions:It is noted for its multiethnic population; 62% of the College's students are from minority ethnic groups.-History:...
- Milton Keynes CollegeMilton Keynes CollegeMilton Keynes College is a general further education and training college, serving the Borough of Milton Keynes. It also serves the surrounding areas...
(through the University Centre Milton KeynesUniversity Centre Milton KeynesThe University Centre Milton Keynes is a small higher education institute in Milton Keynes, England that is formally part of Milton Keynes College. The centre was opened on 29 September 2008: its long term aim is to be the seed for a new, independent university in Milton Keynes...
) - Oxford and Cherwell Valley CollegeOxford and Cherwell Valley CollegeOxford & Cherwell Valley College is a multi-campus college in Oxfordshire, England. It was created in 2003 as "Oxford & Cherwell College" - a result of the merger between Oxford College of Further Education, North Oxfordshire College in Banbury and Rycotewood College in Thame...
- Tresham Institute of Further and Higher EducationTresham Institute of Further and Higher EducationTresham College of Further and Higher Education is a further education college in the East Midlands of England.-Admissions:...