The University of West London (UWL) is a public university in the United Kingdom which has campuses in Ealing and Brentford in London, as well as in Reading in Berkshire.
The university has roots back to 1860, when the Lady Byron School was founded, which later became Ealing College of Higher Education. In 1990, Ealing College of Higher Education, Thames Valley College of Higher Education, Queen Charlotte's College of Health Care Studies and the London College of Music merged to form the Polytechnic of West London. In 1992, the Polytechnic of West London became a university and adopted the name Thames Valley University. In 2004, Thames Valley merged with Reading College and School of Arts and Design. A former campus in Slough was closed in 2010.
In August 2010, the university announced that it had been granted permission to change its name to the University of West London, to reflect a focusing of operations onto its Ealing and Brentford campuses. The new name was formally adopted on Wednesday 6 April 2011.
History
The University of West London traces its roots back to 1860, when the Lady Byron School was founded at what is now University of West London's Ealing campus. The school later became Ealing College of Higher Education.
The Slough campus was founded in January 1912 as a selective secondary school in William Street. By the 1960s, it had become Slough College of Further Education. In the 1970s it became Thames Valley College of Higher Education and in 2011 it was closed down.
In 1990, Ealing College of Higher Education, Thames Valley College of Higher Education, Queen Charlotte's College of Health Care Studies and the London College of Music were merged to become the Polytechnic of West London. Two years later, the polytechnic became a university under the Further and Higher Education Act 1992, and adopted the name Thames Valley University.
In 2004, the university merged with Reading College and School of Arts and Design (which had been founded in 1947 as Reading Technical College). Reading College's sites at Kings Road and Crescent Road became TVU sites.
In 2009, the university decided to divest itself of its further education courses, together with its Kings Road site, that it had inherited from the Reading College and School of Arts and Design. In 2010 the responsibility for further education, along with the Kings Road site, were transferred to a relaunched Reading College. Although some 40 miles west of London, the university retained its other sites in Reading, including the Crescent Road site that also originated with the Reading College and School of Arts and Design.
In May 2009, the university announced that it would be closing its Slough campus in 2010 due to the relocation of nursing students, who make up the majority of the student body there, to Reading. Other courses will be moved to one of the university's west London campuses, although some part-time and nursing courses will remain in Slough at a different site.
In August 2010, it was announced that the university would change its name to the University of West London, with the Privy Council subsequently granting permission for the change. The university unveiled a new logo in April 2011. Vice-Chancellor Peter John stated that the changes reflected the university's development since 1992 and new focus on its Brentford and Ealing campuses.
Campuses
There are two campus sites in west London, located in St Mary's Road, Ealing and at Paragon House in Brentford. There is also a third site in Reading, Berkshire.
New Campus
The University of West London has planning consent for the redevelopment of the St Mary's Road site in Ealing. The development was originally opposed by Ealing residents so a new planning permission was submitted and accepted. In 1992 the University signed an agreement to landscape the site for the community.
Organisation
The University of West London comprises eight schools. These are Claude Littner Business School, the London Geller College of Hospitality and Tourism, the School of Computing and Engineering, London College of Music, the College of Nursing, midwifery and Healthcare, the School of Law and Criminology, the School of Human and Social Sciences, and the London School of Film, Media and Design.
The Graduate School (based in Ealing) co-ordinates and provides support to research activities and research degree courses. The University offers traditional Phd programmes and Professional Doctorates.
The university also works with the Met Film School, a private film school that is based at Ealing Studios in London, United Kingdom. The school, which launched in 2003, offers two and three year Bachelors programs as well as various master's degree programs, which are accredited through the University of West London.
Academic reputation
Academic rankings
In the 2015 edition of the major rankings of British universities the university was placed 97 out of 116 in The Guardian university guide, and the University has been in a relatively similar position of 96 in 2017. The University rank in the latest league table in The Sunday Times in 2017 shows a good progress with rank 84.
The University of West London has recorded the best results of any university in London in the annual National Student Survey (NSS) in 2016, with students’ responses showing it to be the best University in London for student satisfaction. in the NSS 2016, There were 100 per cent overall satisfaction rates for nine courses across the University’s eight schools, ranging from Midwifery to Business Studies and Music Technology to Hospitality Management. Among these 100 per cent overall satisfaction rates, the University recorded the best overall satisfaction rates in the UK for Civil Engineering and Building courses in the NSS 2016.
Teaching standards
In 2009, the university was the only university to win the Queen's Anniversary Prize for outstanding achievement and excellence in hospitality education â€" and it regularly wins awards from major industry bodies. University of West London Careers and Employment Service is a member of the Association of Graduate Careers Advisory Services and has been awarded the Matrix Standard for Quality.
Student life
Students' Union
The University of West London Students' Union (UWLSU) is the recognised student organisation of the University of West London. It was ranked the best student union in London in 2016. The Students' Union represents the 47,000 students at all its sites. UWLSU is affiliated to the National Union of Students.
The union has the ground floor of the North Building at the St. Mary's Road campus at which the Coffee Shop, Freddie's Bar and Gym are located, with a secondary site at the Paragon campus. The union aims to bring students the biggest events, ways to take up a new activities or sports, support and advice services, and a place to socialise.
The official radio station for the university is Blast Radio, based on campus in 'The Heartspace'.
Student accommodation
Prior to 2006 the university operated halls of residence only at the Reading campus, although a number of private houses in the Ealing area were rented by the university and allocated to students studying there. In September 2006 the university began to offer halls of residence accommodation to students from the Ealing and Slough campuses at a student and keyworker accommodation site named Paragon. The site won the 'Major Housing Project of the Year' category at the 2007 Building awards, and is in Brentford, approximately two miles away from the Ealing campus.
Paragon is home to the tallest building to be completed using Modern Methods of Construction (MMC) in the UK, which serves as a 130,000 sq ft (12,000 m2) academic facility for the university's human sciences facility.
The student accommodation at Paragon has been criticised by its residents for being too expensive, costing the highest of all London universities' halls of residence along with SOAS in the 2007â€"2008 year. TVU defended the costs, asserting that the halls are of an especially high standard.
Controversies
In the mid-1990s, its high-profile Vice-Chancellor, Mike Fitzgerald, ushered through a networked "New Learning Environment" for undergraduate students, involving a shift to online delivery and assessment. The NLE was discontinued in this form, and Fitzgerald resigned in 1998 following a negative Quality Assurance Agency report stating there were "significant management failures" in the delivery of this model. The University suffered severe financial shortfalls in the years that followed.
Notable people
Staff
- Mike Fitzgerald, Vice Chancellor, 1991â€"1998.
- Claire Gorham, English journalist and television presenter, best known for The Girlie Show in the late 1990s.
- Mike Howlett, teacher of music technology at the university, who previously performed with the bands Gong and Strontium 90, and produced many new wave acts in the 1970s and 1980s.
- Francis Pott, Head of Composition and Research Development at the London College of Music.
- Pip Williams, teaching music technology at University
- Lola Young, Baroness Young of Hornsey
- David Foskett, Head of the University's London School of Hospitality and Tourism, has been named as one of the most influential people in public sector catering for 2013.
- Christopher Small (1927â€"2011), musician and influential author on musicology, sociomusicology and ethnomusicology, was Senior Lecturer in Music between 1971â€"86.
- Barbara Tate (1927-2009), artist and author and an Honorary Professor of the university
Alumni
In Media, Music & Film Industry
Several alumni at the University of West London are world-famous artists, musicians and Oscar nominees:
- Alex da Kid (English record production/songwriter, now based in LA)
- Matt Tong of Bloc Party
- Ben Salter (who worked with Nile Rodgers in the United States)
- Fodhla Cronin O'Reilly, 2013 OSCAR nominee in the Best Animated Short Film
- Robert Orton (worked with Trevor Horn, The Police and won 2 Grammys for mixing Lady Gaga)
- John Webber (Engineer Blue Pro Mastering, Polar Bear, Grammy winners Ian Prince & The Swingle Singers, Nerina Pallot and Mr Hudson).
- Freddie Mercury, lead vocalist and lyricist of the rock band Queen
- Pete Townshend, LCM, Ealing Art College (UWL) â€" English rock guitarist, vocalist, songwriter and author.
Claude Littner Business School, School of Law and Criminology, College of Nursing, Midwifery and Healthcare, London Geller College of Hospitality and Tourism
- Chris Galvin, BSc International Culinary Arts â€" Galvin Restaurants (Galvin Bistrot de Luxe, Galvin at Windows, Galvin La Chapelle, Galvin Cafe a Vin).
In Politics
- Diane James, former leader of the UK Independence Party
- James Cleverly MP, Conservative Member of Parliament for Braintree
References
External links
- University of West London website
- West London Students' Union website
- London College of Music Website