University of Northampton

Last updated

The University of Northampton
Arms of the University of Northampton.svg
Former names
University College Northampton,
Nene College of Higher Education (1975),
Northampton Technical College (1924)
Motto Latin: Ne Nesciamus
Motto in English
Let us not be ignorant
Type Public
Established2005 (gained University status)
1975 (Nene College established)
Endowment £0.95 m (2015) [1]
Chancellor Richard Coles
Vice-Chancellor Anne-Marie Kilday
Administrative staff
1,048 [2]
Students17,000 (2022/23) [3]
Undergraduates 11,405 (2022/23) [3]
Postgraduates 5,595 (2022/23) [3]
Location, ,
UK

52°15′02″N0°53′25″W / 52.2506°N 0.8903°W / 52.2506; -0.8903
Website northampton.ac.uk
UoN new logo.jpg

The University of Northampton is a public university based in Northampton, Northamptonshire, England. It was formed in 1999 by the amalgamation of a number of training colleges, and gained full university status as the University of Northampton in 2005.

Contents

History

13th century University of Northampton

The town had a university in medieval times between 1261 and 1265 of the same name, established by royal charter after approval from King Henry III in 1261. It was the third university in England, after Oxford and Cambridge, and the 22nd in Europe. After being advised by bishops and magnates that Northampton was a threat to Oxford, Henry III dissolved the university in 1265, and signed a Royal Decree that banned the establishment of a university in Northampton.

Northampton Technical College

Northampton Technical College was opened at St George's Avenue—now the site of the Avenue Campus—in 1924. Eight years later, a new building for the college was formally opened by the Duke and Duchess of York. A School of Art opened later in 1937. [4]

The entrance to Avenue Campus Avenuecampus.jpg
The entrance to Avenue Campus

The College of Education and Nene College of Higher Education

At the beginning of the 1970s, Northamptonshire was one of the few counties in England to lack a teacher-training college. A college in Liverpool lost its home and was transferred to what is now the Park Campus. The College of Education was opened by the Secretary of State for Education and Science, Margaret Thatcher, in 1972. In 1975, this college amalgamated with the Colleges of Technology and Art to become Nene College of Higher Education, taking its name from the River Nene. In 1978, it integrated the Leathersellers College from London. [ citation needed ]

In 1993, the college incorporated St. Andrew's School of Occupational Therapy and was granted undergraduate degree awarding powers. In 1997, it took in the Sir Gordon Roberts College of Nursing and Midwifery.

University College Northampton and University of Northampton

It became University College Northampton in 1999 and gained full university status in 2005. To gain university status it had to convince the Privy Council that a Royal Decree banning the establishment of a university in Northampton, signed by King Henry III in 1265 following the Battle of Lewes, should be repealed. In 2005, the university also received the power to validate its own research degrees, which had formerly been validated by the University of Leicester. In the graduation ceremonies in July 2006, seven students received the first doctoral degrees validated by the University of Northampton.

In January 2010, the School of Applied Sciences was renamed the School of Science and Technology and moved into the newly refurbished Newton Building at Avenue Campus. The Newton Building was officially opened in September 2010 by Princess Anne.

History 2010 onwards

Until 2018 the university had three main sites: Avenue Campus, just north of the town centre, opposite a large open park known as the Racecourse; Park Campus in Kingsthorpe to the north of the town which was the main and largest campus and an Innovation centre opposite Northampton railway station. In May 2012, the university announced plans to establish a new riverside campus in the town centre, on the site of the disused Northampton Power Station on the south bank of the River Nene [5] and located within the Northampton Waterside Enterprise Zone (known simply as Northampton Waterside). [6] [7] The Waterside Campus opened to students in September 2018 with the facilities on both Park and Avenue campuses transferring to it. [8]

The main student halls of residence are now located in the student village of the Waterside Campus, and include Francis Crick; Margaret Bondfield; John Clare; and Charles Bradlaugh. A former ground-floor flat in the latter is a multi-faith Chaplaincy Centre, and another in John Clare houses the Centre for Community Volunteering; Bassett-Lowke. A 464-room hall of residence 'St John's Halls of Residence' opened in 2014 and mainly accommodates international and post-graduate students. [9] In November 2023 student protests at the 'unsafe and unsanitary conditions' in these halls were reported on by the BBC. [10] In December 2023 under Prof Anne-Marie Kilday's tenure as Vice Chancellor, the university announced the closure of the Institute for Creative Leather Technologies. [11] This had been based at the university due to a long tradition of leather working as the primary industry in Northampton. [12]

The new Waterside Campus University of Northampton - Waterside Campus.jpg
The new Waterside Campus

Organisation and administration

Governance

The Vice-Chancellor is Anne-Marie Kilday, who was preceded in the post by Nick Petford, Ann Tate (who received an honorary degree from the university in 2011) and Martin Gaskell.

On 10 February 2008, the university appointed Baroness Falkner of Margravine as its first Chancellor. In July 2017, she was succeeded by the BBC radio presenter Richard Coles. [13]

The Board of Governors are the members of the Higher Education Corporation and act both as governors and charitable trustees. There are 17 members of the Board of Governors. They are drawn from the private, public and voluntary sectors as well as from the staff and students of the university. [14]

Academic profile

The university had 12,060 students in 2022/23. [3] It is divided into three faculties: the Faculty of Business & Law, the Faculty of Arts, Science & Technology, the Faculty of Health, Education & Society. [15]

The university offers a wide range of undergraduate degrees, foundation degrees, diplomas and a variety of postgraduate opportunities up to PhD level.

Reputation and rankings

Rankings
National rankings
Complete (2025) [16] 120
Guardian (2025) [17] 113
Times / Sunday Times (2025) [18] 125
Global rankings
QS (2025) [19] 1201–1500

In February 2013, the university received international recognition for its commitment to social innovation and entrepreneurship by being designated a 'Changemaker Campus' by Ashoka U. [20] Northampton was the first Changemaker Campus in the UK and joins a global network of 21 other Changemaker Campuses.

Research

Research, consultancy and knowledge transfer at the university are centred on a number of cognate research groupings. It carries out internationally renowned research into lift engineering and technology, using the Express Lift Tower in the town, reflecting the town's historic role in lift manufacturing.

Student life

Students' Union

The Students' Union operates out of the redeveloped Engine Shed location on the Waterside Campus, which also operates as a daytime cafe and food outlet. The Students' Union is led by five full-time Sabbatical Officers, backed by volunteers including an extended Elected Officer Team of Part Time Officers and is supported by almost 200 staff – both student and career staff. [21]

Sports

The Students' Union has 35 sports clubs [22] and enters 24 teams in Wednesday BUCS Leagues each week. The Students' Union operate on a policy of free sports membership, meaning all teams are free to join with no membership fee and offers a wide variety of sports including rugby league (Gremlins RL), football, netball, basketball, hockey and lacrosse. They are also one of a select SUs to offer equestrian as a sports club for their students. Sports is overseen by the Sports Coordinator with an elected Sports Part-Time Officer acting as a representative for the voice of student sports.

Since the start of the 2018–19 academic year, the Students' Union has contested a Varsity event against the University of Bedfordshire, with each institute taking it in turns to host the event each year. The SU also hosts an end of year Sports Awards event to recognise the achievement of all clubs, with awards including both performance based awards as well as charity and individual awards.

Societies

Approximately 60 student societies are affiliated with The University of Northampton Students’ Union. [23] These range from special interest societies such as eSports & Gaming, Anime, or Crochet, to faith-based societies such as the Christian Union and Hindu Society.

University technical colleges

The university is an academic sponsor of two university technical colleges which opened in September 2013. Daventry University Technical College specialises in engineering, construction and environmental sustainability, Silverstone University Technical College in motorsports engineering, event management and hospitality.

Notable people

Staff

Alumni

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Northampton</span> Town in Northamptonshire, England

Northampton is a town and civil parish in the West Northamptonshire unitary authority area of Northamptonshire, England. It is the county town of Northamptonshire and the administrative centre of the unitary authority of West Northamptonshire. The town is situated on the River Nene, 60 miles (97 km) north-west of London and 50 miles (80 km) south-east of Birmingham. Northampton is one of the largest towns in England; the population of its overall urban area was recorded as 249,093 in the 2021 census.

The University of Brighton is a public university based in Brighton on the south coast of England. Its roots can be traced back to 1858 when the Brighton School of Art was opened in the Royal Pavilion. It achieved university status in 1992.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brunel University of London</span> University in Uxbridge, London

Brunel University of London is a public research university located in the Uxbridge area of London, England. It is named after Isambard Kingdom Brunel, a Victorian engineer and pioneer of the Industrial Revolution. It became a university in June 1966, when Brunel College of Advanced Technology was awarded a royal charter and became Brunel University; in 2014 the university formally adopted the name Brunel University London. The university is sometimes considered a British plate glass university. Brunel became the University of London's 17th member on 1 October 2024.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">De Montfort University</span> Public university in Leicester, England

De Montfort University Leicester (DMU) is a public university in the city of Leicester, England. It was established in accordance with the Further and Higher Education Act in 1992 as a degree awarding body. The name De Montfort University was taken from Simon de Montfort, a 13th-century Earl of Leicester.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">University of Hertfordshire</span> University in England

The University of Hertfordshire (UH) is a public university in Hertfordshire, United Kingdom. The university is based largely in Hatfield, Hertfordshire. Its antecedent institution, Hatfield Technical College, was founded in 1948 and was identified as one of 25 Colleges of Technology in the United Kingdom in 1959. In 1992, Hatfield Polytechnic was granted university status by the British government and subsequently renamed University of Hertfordshire. It is one of the post-1992 universities.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">University of East London</span> Public university in London, England

University of East London (UEL) is a public university located in the London Borough of Newham, London, England, based at three campuses in Stratford and Docklands, following the opening of University Square Stratford in September 2013. The University of East London began as the West Ham Technical Institute and it was officially opened in October 1898 after approval was given for the construction of the site by the West Ham Technical Instruction Act Committee in 1892 following the Technical Instruction Act of 1889. It gained university status in 1992. It was formerly known as College of East London.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">University of Sunderland</span> Public research university in Sunderland, England

The University of Sunderland is a public research university located in Sunderland in the North East of England. Its predecessor, Sunderland Technical College, was established as a municipal training college in 1901. It gained university status in 1992. It now has campuses in Sunderland, London and Hong Kong, and has about 21,000 students as of 2022.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bournemouth University</span> University in Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole, England

Bournemouth University is a public university in Bournemouth, England, with its main campus situated in neighbouring Poole. The university was founded in 1992; however, the origins of its predecessor date back to the early 1900s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">University of Central Lancashire</span> University in Lancashire, UK

The University of Central Lancashire is a public university based in the city of Preston, Lancashire, England. It has its roots in The Institution For The Diffusion Of Useful Knowledge, founded in 1828. Previously known as Harris Art College, Preston Polytechnic and Lancashire Polytechnic, in 1992 it was granted university status by the Privy Council. The university is the 19th largest in the UK in terms of student numbers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">University of Derby</span> University in Derby, United Kingdom

The University of Derby, formerly known as Derby College, is a public university in the city of Derby, England. It traces its history back to the establishment of the Derby Diocesan Institution for the Training of Schoolmistresses in 1851. It gained university status in 1992.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Teesside University</span> Public university in Middlesbrough, England

Teesside University is a public university with its main campus in Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire in North East England. It was officially opened as Constantine Technical College in 1930, before becoming a polytechnic in 1969, and finally granted university status in 1992 by the Privy Council.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">University of Chester</span> Public university in England

The University of Chester is a public university located in Chester, England. The university originated as the first purpose-built teacher training college in the UK. As a university, it now occupies five campus sites in and around Chester, one in Warrington, and a University Centre in Shrewsbury. It offers a range of foundation, undergraduate and postgraduate courses, as well as undertaking academic research.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bath Spa University</span> Public university in Bath, England

Bath Spa University is a public university in Bath, England, with its main campus at Newton Park, about 3+12 miles (5.6 km) west of the centre of the city. The university has other campuses in the city of Bath, and one at Corsham Court in Wiltshire.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cardiff Metropolitan University</span> University in Cardiff, Wales

Cardiff Metropolitan University, formerly the University of Wales Institute, Cardiff and commonly referred to as Cardiff Met, is a university located in the city of Cardiff.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">University of Winchester</span> University in Winchester, United Kingdom

The University of Winchester is a public research university based in the city of Winchester, Hampshire, England. The university has origins tracing back to 1840 as a teacher training college, but was established in 2005.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">University of Chichester</span> University in West Sussex, UK

The University of Chichester is a public university located in West Sussex, England, which became a university in 2005. Campuses are based in the city of Chichester and the nearby coastal resort of Bognor Regis and an associate campus for commercial music on the Isle of Wight.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">University of Cumbria</span> Group of university campuses in England

The University of Cumbria is a public university in Cumbria, with its headquarters in Carlisle and other major campuses in Lancaster, Ambleside, and London. It has roots extending back to the Society for the Encouragement of Fine Arts, established in 1822, and the teacher training college established by Charlotte Mason in the 1890s. It opened its doors in 2007 as a university.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Edge Hill University</span> English public university

Edge Hill University is a campus-based public university in Ormskirk, Lancashire, England. The university, which originally opened in 1885 as Edge Hill College, was the first non-denominational teacher training college for women in England, before admitting its first male students in 1959. In 2005, Edge Hill was granted Taught Degree Awarding Powers by the Privy Council and became Edge Hill University on 18 May 2006.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nick Petford</span> British academic (born 1961)

Nick Petford is a British academic and former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Northampton. Previously he was Pro-Vice Chancellor at Bournemouth University and before that Professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences at Kingston University. He has also worked for BP and on academic and commercial research projects throughout the world. As an academic he is known for his expertise in magmatic systems and volcanology. His publicly available Google Scholar Nick Petford account records over 200 journal articles, pieces of journalism, published abstracts and book chapters in this and other fields. He is a deputy lieutenant for Northamptonshire and in 2021 was granted Freedom of the City of London.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Canterbury Christ Church University</span> University in Kent, UK

Canterbury Christ Church University (CCCU) is a public research university located in Canterbury, Kent, England. Founded as a Church of England college for teacher training in 1962, it was granted university status in 2005.

References

  1. "Annual Report and Consolidated Financial Statements for the year ending 31 July 2015" (PDF). www.northampton.ac.uk. The University of Northampton. Retrieved 11 July 2024.
  2. "University of Northampton accounts-2011.pdf" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 16 September 2013. Retrieved 17 August 2011.
  3. 1 2 3 4 "Where do HE students study?". Higher Education Statistics Agency . Retrieved 23 September 2024.
  4. "History of the University of Northampton – The University of Northampton" . Retrieved 20 January 2018.
  5. "University plans £300m new campus". 25 May 2012. Retrieved 29 May 2012.
  6. Council, Northampton Borough. "Northampton Waterside Enterprise Zone". Northampton Alive with Enterprise. Retrieved 20 January 2018.
  7. "Waterside Restoration Master Plan 2004 Appendix" (PDF). Retrieved 17 February 2010.
  8. "Waterside Campus" . Retrieved 24 October 2018.
  9. "University granted planning permission" . Retrieved 11 May 2012.
  10. "Northampton students protest over rent and conditions". BBC News. 9 November 2023. Retrieved 17 February 2024.
  11. "University of Northampton closes £5.5m leather institute". BBC News. 22 December 2023. Retrieved 17 February 2024.
  12. "University of Northampton closes £5.5m leather institute". BBC News. 22 December 2023. Retrieved 17 February 2024.
  13. "The Chancellor – Reverend Richard Coles – The University of Northampton" . Retrieved 20 January 2018.
  14. "Board of Governors | The University of Northampton". The University of Northampton. Retrieved 3 April 2018.
  15. "About us". University of Northampton. Retrieved 20 December 2017.
  16. "Complete University Guide 2025". The Complete University Guide. 14 May 2024.
  17. "Guardian University Guide 2025". The Guardian. 7 September 2024.
  18. "Good University Guide 2025". The Times. 20 September 2024.
  19. "QS World University Rankings 2025". Quacquarelli Symonds Ltd. 4 June 2024.
  20. "University recognised internationally as the UK's number one for social enterprise – The University of Northampton" . Retrieved 20 January 2018.
  21. "Who We Are @ University of Northampton Students' Union". northampton.unioncloud.org. Retrieved 3 April 2018.
  22. "Sport at Northampton". www.northamptonunion.com. Northampton Students' Union. Archived from the original on 17 August 2015. Retrieved 9 April 2023.
  23. "Societies at Northampton". www.northamptonunion.com. University of Northampton Students' Union. Archived from the original on 17 August 2015. Retrieved 9 April 2023.
  24. Alsop W. (28 June 2001). Drawing on the experiences of life help create better work. Architects' Journal