University of Greenwich

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
University of Greenwich
The University of Greenwich logo
Motto "To learn, to do, to achieve."
Established 1992 - University of Greenwich
1970 - Thames Polytechnic
1890 - Woolwich Polytechnic
Chancellor Lord Hart of Chilton[1]
Vice-Chancellor Professor David Maguire
Students 27,723[2]
Undergraduates 21,903[2]
Postgraduates 5,820[2]
Location Greenwich Campus, London, Avery Hill Campus, London, Medway Campus, Kent
51°29′06″N 0°00′14″W / 51.485111°N 0.003905°W / 51.485111; -0.003905Coordinates: 51°29′06″N 0°00′14″W / 51.485111°N 0.003905°W / 51.485111; -0.003905
Website http://www.gre.ac.uk

The University of Greenwich is a British university with campuses in south-east London and north Kent. These include the Greenwich Campus, located in the grounds of the Old Royal Naval College in the Royal Borough of Greenwich, London, England. It is the largest university in London by student numbers and the greenest in the UK as assessed by the People & Planet Green League Table.

The university’s wide range of subjects include architecture, business, computing, education, engineering, humanities, natural sciences, pharmacy and social sciences. It has a strong research focus and well-established links to the scientific community.

Contents

History [edit]

The Old Royal Naval College with Queen's House (behind the statue).
The University of Greenwich from the Isle of Dogs.

The university dates back to 1890, when Woolwich Polytechnic was founded as the second-oldest[3] polytechnic in the United Kingdom. In 1970, Woolwich Polytechnic merged with various other higher education institutions to form Thames Polytechnic. In the following years, Dartford College (1976), Avery Hill College (1985), Garnett College (1987) and parts of Goldsmiths College and the City of London College (1988) were incorporated.

In 1992, Thames Polytechnic was granted university status by the Major government (together with various other polytechnics) and renamed University of Greenwich.

Campuses and schools [edit]

Avery Hill Campus [edit]

Avery Hill Campus comprises two sites, Mansion Site and Southwood Site. Both are situated in the 86-acre Avery Hill Park in the Royal Borough of Greenwich, south-east London.

The campus is home to the School of Architecture, Design & Construction, the School of Education, and the School of Health & Social Care.

Facilities include computer laboratories, a library and a TV studio, as well as a sports and teaching centre with a sports hall and 220-seat lecture theatre. Southwood Site also has a number of clinical skills laboratories. These replicate NHS wards, enabling trainee health professionals to gain hands-on experience.

The Village complex provides student accommodation, a general shop and a launderette. The Dome, in the centre of the complex, houses a food outlet and gym. Additional sporting facilities are nearby.

Greenwich Campus [edit]

Greenwich Campus is located in the Old Royal Naval College, part of the Maritime Greenwich World Heritage Site. It is the university’s largest campus and is centred on three baroque buildings, Queen Anne Court, Queen Mary Court and King William Court, designed by Sir Christopher Wren at the end of the 17th century.

Three of the university’s schools are based here: the Business School, the School of Computing & Mathematical Sciences and the School of Humanities & Social Sciences. The campus is also home to the university’s Greenwich Maritime Institute, a specialist maritime studies teaching and research institute.

The campus has a library which houses an extensive collection of books and journals, language labs and a 200-PC computing facility. Other facilities include specialist computer laboratories, a TV studio and editing suites. The Stephen Lawrence Gallery, in Queen Anne Court, showcases the work of contemporary artists.

Medway Campus [edit]

Medway Campus is located on a former Royal Navy shorebase (called HMS Pembroke) opened in 1903 at Chatham Maritime, Kent.

The Schools of Engineering and Science are based here, as is the Natural Resources Institute, a centre for research, consultancy and education in natural and human resources. It is also the home of Medway School of Pharmacy, a joint school operated by the Universities of Greenwich and Kent. The School of Health & Social Care offers a number of its programmes at Medway.

Facilities include laboratories, workshops, a computer-aided design studio and a training dispensary. The Drill Hall Library is a learning resource centre with a library, computers, study areas and teaching rooms. Social facilities include a sports hall, bar, gym and outdoor tennis courts.

The university is a member of Universities at Medway, a partnership of educational establishments at Chatham Maritime that is developing the area as a major higher education centre in the Medway region.

Teaching [edit]

The university is currently ranked by the Sunday Times University Guide as joint third in London for student satisfaction with teaching quality, covering the quality of lectures, assessment and promptness and usefulness of academic feedback. This is ahead of 17 other universities in the capital.

Teaching staff include a winner of the Times Higher Education Most Innovative Teacher Award and several National Teaching Fellows, a status which recognises exceptional teaching.

The university works with employers to help design and shape programme content with the aim of ensuring that teaching reflects developments in industry and students acquire the appropriate career skills.

Many of the university's programmes include placement opportunities. These were rated highly in the National Student Survey 2012, with the students’ positive response to ‘My placements have helped me to develop my skills in relation to my course’ eliciting 89%, the highest satisfaction rating in the UK for this part of the survey.

The university plays a regional role in training teachers, nurses, social care professionals and further education lecturers.

Research [edit]

The Sunday Times Guide 2013 describes the university’s research profile as “among the strongest in the modern university sector, spanning several subjects with engineering, architecture, history and nursing scoring particularly well in the last ratings in 2008”.

Other significant areas of research and consultancy include landscape architecture, employment relations, fire safety, natural resources, social network analysis, education, training, educational leadership and public services.

The university has won three Queen’s Anniversary Prizes for Higher and Further Education. The last was awarded in 2008 for its work on a project to encourage entrepreneurship in Africa.

Examples of research [edit]

• The university’s Natural Resources Institute has developed an artificial cow that attracts and kills tsetse fly. This was recognised by a Universities UK survey in 2009 as one of the ten most important discoveries to be made in a UK university over the past 60 years.

• The Fire Safety Engineering Group, part of the School of Computing & Mathematical Sciences, is a world leader in computational fire engineering, including expertise in aircraft, building, ship and rail evacuation and fire modelling. It has developed airEXODUS, a leading evacuation model in the aviation industry.

• A University of Greenwich research team helped restore the Cutty Sark after it was badly damaged by fire.

• Researchers working on 19 sustainable development and agriculture projects in India helped the university to win the 2010 Times Higher Education Award for Outstanding International Strategy.

• Two University of Greenwich scientists have developed a technology which converts contaminated land and industrial waste into harmless pebbles – capturing large amounts of carbon dioxide at the same time.

• The Greenwich Maritime Institute makes internationally recognised contributions to research in maritime history and economics, such as its exploration of the governance of the River Thames since the 1960s and the effects this has had on the economic development of adjacent communities.

The university's Greenwich Campus is on the site of the Old Royal Naval College on the south bank of the river Thames in Greenwich, London. Several of the university's buildings are pictured: Queen Anne Court (front left), Queen Mary Court (back left with dome) and King William Court (back right with dome).

.

Notable alumni [edit]

Prominent alumni of the university and its predecessor organisations include Nobel Laureate Charles Kao, who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2009 for his work on transmission of light in fibre optics. Former British Minister for Transport Richard Marsh, former British Minister of State Gareth Thomas, and business leader George Rose also studied at the university or its predecessors. A more extensive list is given below.

Fortune-West, Reynolds and Bedingfield left their courses prior to graduation.

Partner colleges [edit]

The university has a well-established partner college network comprising eight separate institutions. The university and its partners work together to help meet the demand for higher education at local, regional, national and international levels.

UK Based Institutions

The university also has a number of Link Colleges, including:

Greenwich is also the university sponsor of Royal Greenwich University Technical College, a new university technical college which is opening in the New Charlton area of in the Royal Borough of Greenwich in September 2013.

Ranking [edit]

The university is ranked 88 out of 120 institutions [13] according to the Guardian University Guide 2013 University League Table.

The Complete University Guide ranks Greenwich 95 out of 124 in its league table for 2014.[14]

The university was rated as the greenest in the UK by the People & Planet Green League Table.

References [edit]

  1. ^ "Public Relations - Lord Hart Appointed as Chancellor". University of Greenwich. 2008-01-21. Retrieved 2008-04-15. 
  2. ^ a b c "University of Greenwich Student Enrolments 2010 - 2011". University of Greenwich. Retrieved 2012-05-14. 
  3. ^ "About Greenwich - University of Greenwich". Gre.ac.uk. 2010-09-29. Retrieved 2012-11-08. 
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j "Alumni Profiles A-L". University of Greenwich. Retrieved 2007-08-19. 
  5. ^ "Rev John Behr". St. Vladimir's. Archived from the original on 2008-02-04. Retrieved 2008-02-12. 
  6. ^ "In Memory of Siobhan Dowd". English Pen. Retrieved 2008-02-06. 
  7. ^ "6 players to follow". London: independent.co.uk. 1995-08-12. Retrieved 2009-07-06. 
  8. ^ "ZoomInfo Web Profile: Sammy Lee". ZoomInfo. Retrieved 2008-02-15. 
  9. ^ a b c d e f g h i "Alumni Profiles M-Z". University of Greenwich. Retrieved 2007-08-19. 
  10. ^ "Shipwrecked star moves to city". The Argus. Retrieved 2009-07-06. 
  11. ^ "In Depth - Klaxons". Celebrity Spy. Retrieved 2007-08-19. [dead link]
  12. ^ "Dave Rowntree". NNDB. Retrieved 2007-08-19. 
  13. ^ "University league table". The Guardian (London). 2012-05-21. 
  14. ^ Complete University Guide 2014

External links [edit]

Video clips [edit]
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=University_of_Greenwich&oldid=555430893"