University of Bedfordshire - Misplaced Pages

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University of Bedfordshire
Logo of the University of Bedfordshire
Type	Public
Established	2006 elements date back to 1882
Chancellor	Sir Robin Biggam
Vice-Chancellor	Les Ebdon
Location	Luton and Bedford, Bedfordshire, UK
Website	www.beds.ac.uk

File:University-of-Luton.jpg

University of Bedfordshire - Learning Resources Centre, Luton Campus

The University of Bedfordshire is a university created by the merger of the Bedford campus of De Montfort University and the University of Luton, on 1 August 2006.

History

The University of Luton was a university based in Luton, Bedfordshire, a northern home county. 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, the preferred name of the University of Bedfordshire came into effect on the 1 August 2006.

Campuses

The university has three main campuses: Luton (in the town centre), Putteridge Bury (on the outskirts of Luton), and Bedford (on Polhill Avenue). There is also teaching for nursing and midwifery degrees on satellite sites at the Luton and Dunstable, Bedford Stoke Mandeville and High Wycombe General hospitals.

Faculties

The University of Bedfordshire has four faculties, encompassing a number of schools, departments and divisions.

Faculty of Creative Arts, Technologies and Science
- Computing and Information Systems
- Education Studies
- Media, Art and Design
- Psychology
- Science
- Sport and Exercise Science
Faculty of Education and Contemporary Studies
- Business and Applied Social Sciences
- Education
- Performing Arts and English
- Physical Education and Sports Sciences
Faculty of Health and Social Science
- Applied Social Studies
- Healthcare (Nursing and Midwifery)
University of Bedfordshire Business School
- Business and Marketing
- Language and Communication
- Law, Accounting and Strategy
- Tourism, Leisure and Human Resource Management

Educational partner institutions

The University works together with a number of partner institutions to offer a wide range of courses.

Barnfield College
Bedford College
British School of Osteopathy
Broxtowe College, Nottingham
Dunstable College
Grantham College
Leicester College
Luton Sixth Form College
Milton Keynes College
Oxford and Cherwell Valley College
Tresham Institute of Further and Higher Education

Student body

In 2004-05, Luton/Bedfordshire had 11,815 students, 70 per cent from the UK, and 30 per cent from abroad. Such a high proportion of overseas students seems to have caused anxieties in official circles. In April 2005, the Guardian reported that the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) was monitoring Luton/Bedfordshire because it feared it was 'at risk' of financial failure. It alleged that a HEFCE document had labelled the university as "heavily dependent on overseas students, with a poor public and press image". The Guardian also noted the University’s reaction: 'Professor Les Ebdon, vice-chancellor of Luton University, confirmed it was being monitored by HEFCE. He described the language in the document as inflammatory and said they had improved recruitment of home students last year by 60%: "A lot of that has to do with the fact that our reputation has turned around"'

The latest performance indicators show that Luton was above its benchmark for the number of young students it takes from low-participation neighbourhoods (where there are few people going to higher education). Its intake is 18.2 per cent against a benchmark of 14.2 per cent.

Its proportion of state school students is 99.5 per cent against a benchmark of 95.6 per cent and it admits 43.4 per cent from the lowest social classes against a benchmark of 35.7 per cent. Hand in hand with financial viability, the university became much better at attracting students.

It has also become better at retaining students. It increased its home and European recruitment of students by 59.9 per cent. "We made ourselves a more welcoming and friendly university," says Ebdon. "We really transformed our open days. We became much more customer-focused."

But the vice chancellor is not resting on his laurels or on the unsolicited praise he received from Charles Clarke when the former Education Secretary said "Everyone knows that the teaching quality at Luton is bloody brilliant". It will be a challenge to find students this autumn with a combination of the new name, the arrival of top-up fees and with applications from mature students taking a hit. Forty-three per cent of Luton's student body are mature.

Investment

In recent years, the University has continued to invest heavily in its facilities, adding a £5.5m media arts centre, an £8.2m learning resources centre and a £20m accommodation block. It estimates that, by 2007, £45m will have been spent on the Luton and Bedford campuses.

In 2005, the Times Higher Education Supplement noted that some of the University's investment plans were not proceeding as anticipated. Luton/Bedfordshire had announced, amidst much publicity, that it was to build a multimillion pound student plaza, but it had then decided not to proceed, in the process writing-off £750,000. Basic financial practice, the paper reported, had been repeatedly ignored: indeed, depositions released under the Freedom of Information Act showed that the institution had made four separate serious breaches of its own financial regulations during the early stages of the project, 'including failing to put contracts out to tender and failing to have signed contracts in place'. Amongst other things, it was revealed that the University had paid out £500,000 in invoices despite the fact that there were no corresponding purchase orders. Roger Kline of the teaching union NATFHE commented: '"One wonders how many jobs might have been saved if proper financial procedures had been in place at the time"' (see Phil Baty, 'Luton's plan broke basic finance rules', Times Higher Education Supplement, 4 March 2005).

Quality issues

Assessments by the government's quality watchdog, the Quality Assurance Agency (QAA), between 1997 and 2000 judged courses at Luton to be good (TQA scores of 22 or above in six subjects - Building (1997), Communication and Media studies (1998), Biosciences (1999), Nursing (1999), Psychology (1999) and Art and Design (2000)), but since then the University has made 64 academic staff compulsorily redundant, and completed voluntary redundancy agreements with at least 77 others, and has featured in several articles in the Times Higher Education Supplement about declining standards (for example, '40% of Luton students would not recommend alma mater', 24 September 2004, and 'Caught in vicious cycle of declining standards', 19 November 2004). On 8 February 2004, a story in the Sunday Telegraph about Luton was headlined 'Is this the worst university in Britain?' (see also earlier story on same theme in issue dated 21 December 2003). The University claims that recent confidential QAA 'Developmental Engagement' reports about some of its taught subjects are broadly positive, especially about teaching quality. However, on 19th November 2004, the Times Higher Education Supplement reported:

"In April, the governors were told that after a private inspection of law courses ,the Quality Assurance Agency had expressed concern about the 'demands being made on academic staff, whom it regarded as streched to the limit to deliver the range of subjects required'. In June, the academic board heard that an inspection of nursing courses had raised similar concerns. (see 'Caught in vicious cycle', ibid.)".

What is certain is that when the QAA conducted a thorough institutional audit of the University as a whole in 2005, it came to the following overall conclusion:

"As a result of its investigations, the audit team's view of the University is that: limited confidence can be placed in the soundness of the University's current and likely future management of the quality of its academic programmes and the academic standards of its awards. "

The Times Higher Education Supplement commented: "the report means that Luton is only the fourth higher education institution to receive a 'limited confidence' judgement from more than 100 audits so far carried out" .

Luton's performance in the Times newspaper Good University Guide annual league tables (which are based upon official figures)is also worth recording. In 2003-04, the University was 75th overall, in 2004-05 74th overall, but in 2005-06 it came 92nd, and in 2006-07 118th (second from last). Looking more closely at the 2006-07 results, it is notable that the University came fourth from bottom as regards student satisfaction and second from bottom as regards 'graduate destinations' (i.e. the proportion of UK graduates entering 'graduate level' employment). Commenting on the 2006-07 results, the University's Vice Chancellor, Les Ebdon, reportedly told the local Luton Today newspaper: "'I don't think anybody takes them seriously. Readers of the Times expect to see certain universities at the top and certain universities at the bottom. It's a snob's table'". He alledged that "the national newspaper adjusted criteria in its report to guarantee institutions like Cambridge and Oxford always maintained their position at the front while Luton and other newer places brought up the rear".

In the 1996 Research Assessment Exercise the university came last although it received a grade of 3b for Communication, Cultural and Media Studies. In the 2001 RAE it moved up six places with grades of 4 (History) and 3a (Communication, Cultural and Media Studies, Linguistics, Social Work and Business and Management).

However, the University closed down its History Department in the same year that it became the highest ranked subject for research. Also in 2001, the University shut down almost all its teaching in Politics, Foreign Languages, English, Mathematics, Geoography, Environment and a number of other subjects.

Alfred Vella, the university’s former associate dean for computing research and development told the Times “Misplaced Pages is not an advertising medium, and Bedfordshire is still the Luton of old”

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Commenting on some of the advertising hype that Luton and now Bedfordshire put out, former Associate Dean, Computing Research and Development, Dr Alfred Vella, claims to have witnessed the bullying of students and staff by a senior manager as well as the fabrication of documents to show Luton in a better light than deserved.

Dr Vella said:

"Administrative staff have claimed to have been forced to take Luton courses to boost student numbers and inflate the University's record on widening participation.

Staff and students have complained about racism at Luton.

For example, in 1999-2000: a) a technician plus the Head of Technical Services plus the Head of Computing and Information Systems were amongst those who complained about the Dean of a faculty. b) amongst students who complained about racisms was a Greek studying in the same faculty."

Dr Alfred Vella was dismissed from Luton in 2000 for 'gross misconduct' - what he describes as whistle-blowing. He subsequently lost his case at a tribunal and at an appeals tribunal. He continues to be banned from all university premises but continued to help his PhD students until they graduated this year.

A spokeswoman for the university says that its lawyers are on the case, adding that Vella left the university six years ago.

Student Union

UBSU, the student union, provides the MainBar and SubClub at its main base in Luton, as well as an ever-increasing presence in Bedford. The student radio station, Luton FM, broadcasts over the internet and in May every year on 87.9FM in Luton Town Centre.

Alumni

Becky Jago - Presenter of BBC's Newsround - Media Performance.
Gemma Hunt - Presenter of CBBC - Media Performance.
Charlie George - Presenter on MAX TV - Media Performance.
Matt Fisher - Presenter on Chiltern FM - Media Performance with Radio.
Debbie Randle - News Editor for Chiltern FM - Modern English Studies.
Marie Kemp - Presenter on BBC Radio Berkshire - Media Performance and Radio.
Peter Paddon - Systems Security Administrator for the Walt Disney Company - Media Production, Video Production and Animation.
Paul Woloszyn - BBC Digital Text - Modern English Studies.

Photo Gallery

University of Bedfordshire, Luton campus
University of Bedfordshire Bedford campus
University of Bedfordshire Bedford campus
University of Bedfordshire Putteridge Bury campus
Student Union 'SubClub' Nightclub, Luton campus Student Union 'SubClub' Nightclub, Luton campus
Student Union 'Bar Soviet', Bedford campus Student Union 'Bar Soviet', Bedford campus