University of the West of England

The University of the West of England (abbrev. UWE, often pronounced "you-we") is a university based in the English city of Bristol. Its main campus is at Frenchay, about 7 km north of the city centre with a smaller campus at St Matthias, a Faculty of Health and Social Care at Glenside in north-east Bristol and an Art school, Bristol School of Art, Media and Design, located at Bower Ashton, near Ashton Court in south-west Bristol.

There are also regional centres in Bath and Swindon, and an associate faculty specialising in agricultural and sports related courses in Hartpury, Gloucestershire. This satellite college has staged the European Young Rider Championship, a horse riding competition. Bristol Old Vic Theatre School is an associate school of the Faculty of Humanities, Languages and Social Sciences.

With around 30,000 students and 3,000 academic staff, UWE is the larger of the two universities in the city (the longer established University of Bristol has 23,000 students). 86% of students at UWE are from state schools. The well-stocked library on the Frenchay site is called the Bolland Library, named after Dr Robert Bolland, the first director of Bristol Polytechnic from 1969 to 1974. The main Frenchay campus is situated close to the M32 motorway, twenty minutes walk from the well-connected Bristol Parkway railway station. By train, Cardiff is half an hour away, and Birmingham one hour and fifteen minutes.

The Chancellor of UWE is the Rt Hon Baroness Elizabeth Butler-Sloss, GBE. Professor Steven West is the acting vice chancellor.

UWE is rated as a top five university in teaching league tables compiled by the Quality Assurance Agency and achieved 64th place (out of 108) in the 2006 "good honours" table compiled by the Times Higher Education Supplement using Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) data. UWE is considered to be one of the leading modern universities.

History
UWE was founded in 1970 as Bristol Polytechnic, but can trace its roots back to the foundation of the Merchant Venturers' Navigation School in 1595. Part of this institution (to which the Universities of Bristol and Bath also partly owe their origins) became a technical college which, after merger with various other colleges, in turn became the polytechnic. Like the other former polytechnics, this gained University status and its present name as a result of the Further and Higher Education Act, 1992.

The Bower Ashton site was formed in 1969 as the West of England College of Art which was formerly the art school of the Royal West of England Academy in Queens Road, Bristol. The St Matthias site was a former teacher training college as was Redland College, and became part of Bristol Polytechnic around 1976. The Avon and Gloucestershire College of Health (now the Glenside Campus) and the Bath and Swindon College of Health Studies joined in January 1996. Hartpury joined in 1997.

A new £80 million student village built by Carillion at the Frenchay campus which includes a sports centre and rooms for 2000 students opened at the end of August 2006.

The name 'The University of the West of England, Bristol', is often considered overlong and cumbersome, and the issue of renaming the institution has occasionally raised its head. Possible names have included Bristol Frenchay University, Bristol Avon University, Bristol Severn University, the University of North Bristol and the simplified University of Western England.



Structure
The University is currently divided into faculties most of which are then subdivided into schools:
 * Faculty of Applied Sciences (Frenchay Campus)
 * School of Biomedical Sciences
 * School of Biosciences
 * School of Environmental & Interdisciplinary Sciences
 * School of Human & Analytical Sciences
 * School of Psychology
 * Bristol School of Art, Media and Design (Bower Ashton Campus)
 * School of Communication Design and Media
 * School of Design and Applied Arts
 * School of Fine Arts
 * School of Foundation Studies
 * Bristol Business School (Frenchay Campus)
 * School of Accounting and Finance
 * School of Human Resource Management
 * School of Marketing
 * School of Organisation Studies
 * School of Operations and Information Management
 * School of Strategy and International Business
 * School of Economics
 * Faculty of the Built Environment(Frenchay Campus)
 * School of Civil Engineering
 * School of Construction Economics, Management and Engineering
 * School of Geography and Environmental Management
 * School of Housing and Urban Studies
 * School of Land and Property Management
 * School of Planning and Architecture
 * Faculty of Computing, Engineering and Mathematical Sciences (Frenchay Campus)
 * School of Computer Science
 * School of Information Systems
 * School of Mechanical, Manufacturing and Aerospace Engineering
 * School of Computing and Electrical Engineering
 * School of Mathematical Sciences
 * Faculty of Education (Frenchay Campus)
 * Faculty of Health & Social Care (Glenside Campus)
 * School of Adult Nursing
 * School of Allied Health Professions
 * School of Health, Community and Policy Studies
 * School of Maternal and Child Health
 * School of Mental Health and Learning Disabilities
 * Faculty of Humanities, Languages and Social Sciences (St Matthias Campus and Frenchay Campus)
 * School of Media and Cultural Studies
 * School of English and Drama
 * School of History
 * School of Languages, Linguistics and Area Studies
 * School of Politics
 * School of Sociology
 * Faculty of Law (Frenchay Campus)

The future
The University Management Group have decided on changes to the structure of the naming of the faculties in the future and will have the required staffing structure in place to launch them from March 2007 ready for the academic year 2007/08. The new names are:


 * Faculty of Creative Arts
 * Faculty of Environment and Technology
 * Faculty of Health and Life Sciences
 * Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities

How the different schools will fit into this four faculty model is yet to be publicly announced.

Coat of arms
To reflect Bristol's long connection with the sea and the Merchant Venturers' Navigation School the top of the crest depicts a small fleet with a ship's mainmast and rigging. The flaming firebasket depicts guidance, hope and the desire for learning.

The shield at the centre is adapted from that of the College of St Matthias with the wavy line down the middle representing the rivers of Avon and Severn. The unicorn is taken from the arms of the City of Bristol and the sea stag from those of the former County of Avon. Both these creatures have round their necks a crown of King Edgar, regarded as a local monarch because he was crowned in Bath Abbey. The circles with wavy lines on the their shoulders represent the fountain of knowledge and learning.

The unicorn and sea stag each support an apple tree, known as the tree of knowledge and taken from the coat of arms of the Council for National Academic Awards which used to accredit degrees awarded to students of Bristol Polytechnic.

The motto Light, Liberty, Learning is a Disraeli quotation and corresponds directly to the symbolism of the coat of arms. The firebasket represents the Light, the Avon and Bristol supporters Liberty, and the trees of knowledge Learning.

History and background
University of the West of England Students' Union ("UWESU"), formerly known as Bristol Polytechnic Students' Union (BPSU) until it changed its name in line with its parent establishment becoming a university in 1992, is based at Frenchay Campus and was established in 1971. It is run by a team of four sabbatical officers, who are elected annually from the student population. The Students' Union operates bars at all main sites, "Escape" and "Red" at Frenchay, "Bar 75" at Glenside, the "St Matt's Bar" and "Bower Ashton Bar". There are also shops at Frenchay, Glenside, St Matthias and Bower Ashton.

UWESU Jobshop provides employment opportunites for students.

UWE facilities
At Frenchay campus a NatWest bank and Blackwell's book store operate for the benefit of students and staff on campus.

The University House Services department operates three bars ("Core24", "OneZone Lounge" and "Street Café"), one canteen named "OneZone" (formally "Merchants' Refectory" before August 2006 and four coffee shops named "Cribs B", "Cribs Q", "Phaz" and "Sports Café". Staff only facilities at Frenchay include "Felixstowe Court", "Paninos" and "Café Severn".  At each of the other campuses House Services operate canteens named "Traders". "Core24" at Frenchay was once a "Traders" in line with all the other satellite campuses before it was refurbished in 2004.

In August 2006, a new Sports Centre was opened at Frenchay, including a large main hall with a wooden sprung floor and two glass back squash courts. The hall has court markings for a variety of sports including, badminton, basketball, netball, 5-a-side football, volleyball and indoor hockey. There is also a 70 station fitness suite, changing rooms and adjacent all-weather pitches. At St Matthias campus there is a small sports hall and outdoor pitches.

The Centre for Student Affairs offers advice, counselling and career development guidance to students and there is also a university-wide multi-faith chaplaincy, based at the Octagon Centre at Frenchay.

Student accommodation
In September 2006 Frenchay Student Village opened providing on-campus accommodation for 1,932 students, adding to the 252 units already provided in Carroll Court. Campus accommodation is also provided at Glenside and St Matthias campuses. In partnership with UNITE Student Housing afurther 1,500 places are provided in Bristol City Centre and UWE Accommodation services also places students in vetted private rentals.

Notable alumni

 * Ian Cognito (Comedian)
 * Samantha Cameron (Business executive)
 * David Hempleman-Adams (Explorer)
 * Kyran Bracken (Rugby Union)
 * Dawn Primarolo (Labour Party Member of Parliament)
 * Jack Russell (Cricketer)
 * Lady Davina Windsor (Member of British Royal Family)
 * Edward Bear Grylls (Former youngest Briton to climb Mount Everest)
 * Simon Shaw (Rugby Union)
 * Marko Stanojevic (Rugby Union—Italy international)
 * Kieron Bracken (Rugby Union-England internationall)