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University of Chester

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University of Chester
Coat of arms of the University of Chester
Motto: Qui docet in doctrina
(he that teacheth, on teaching)
Established: 1839, with university status granted in 2005
Type: Public
Chancellor: The Duke of Westminster
Vice-Chancellor: Prof. Tim Wheeler
Staff: 1242[1]
Students: 15,095 [2]
Undergraduates: 11,655[2]
Postgraduates: 3,445[2]
Location: Chester and Warrington, Cheshire, UK
53°12′01″N 2°53′53″W / 53.200326°N 2.898073°W / 53.200326; -2.898073Coordinates: 53°12′01″N 2°53′53″W / 53.200326°N 2.898073°W / 53.200326; -2.898073
Campus: Urban
Colours: Burgundy[3]
       
Affiliations: NWUA
Website: www.chester.ac.uk
Logo of the University of Chester

The University of Chester is a university based in the city of Chester in the United Kingdom.

With origins dating back to the establishment of England's first purpose-built teacher training college in 1839, the institution evolved into a higher education college before gaining official university status in 2005. The University, based on a main campus in Chester and a smaller campus in nearby Warrington, now offers a full range of foundation, undergraduate, postgraduate and doctoral courses, as well as undertaking academic research.

Contents

[edit] History

The University of Chester was founded as Chester Diocesan Training College by a group of local leading figures in the Church of England, including future Prime Ministers William Gladstone and Lord Derby[4], in 1839 as the UK's first purpose-built teacher training college[5] — making it one of the oldest higher education institutions in the country[6]. Its first intake consisted of forty male student teachers. Soon after, in 1842, Gladstone opened the College's original buildings just outside Chester's city walls on the Parkgate Road site the University still occupies today[7].

In 1910, Chester began its association with the University of Liverpool and formally became an affiliated college of the university in 1930[8]. Thus, Liverpool awarded Chester's qualifications and Chester's students were able to use Liverpool's facilities (as they still can today).

The 1930s saw the institution threatened with closure, but its future was secured by the then Bishop of Chester in 1933[9]. From then on, the College continued to grow steadily. By the 1960s, the situation had turned around completely and, as the UK was massively expanding its higher education capacity in reaction to the Robbins Report, the College was touted as a candidate to be upgraded to university status. In the end, however, these proposals came to nothing.

Nevertheless, the College continued to expand. Women were first admitted in 1962 and the College's name was changed to Chester College of Education in 1963. In 1974, the number of courses was expanded beyond teaching to include Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Science degrees. To reflect its wider remit, the College was renamed again to Chester College of Higher Education.

Development continued and, in the early 1990s, the School of Nursing and Midwifery (now the Faculty of Health and Social Care) was established[4]. At the same time, the College began to offer a Bachelor of Theology degree, HNDs and more postgraduate courses, such as master's and PhDs[4], as well as embarking on a £10,000,000 campus improvement programme. By 1995, Chester had earned the right to call itself University College Chester. However, this name was short-lived as the government changed the requirements for university colleges in 1999 to include only those that had their own degree-awarding powers. Thus, Chester had to drop the University College tag and reverted to the title Chester College of Higher Education, though the more descriptive Chester, a College of the University of Liverpool was frequently used in publicity material[6].

The College further expanded in 2002 by buying the higher education faculty (and campus) of the nearby Warrington Collegiate Institute[4]. The further and adult education campuses of Warrington remained independent and are now known as Warrington Collegiate.

In 2003, Chester was granted its own degree-awarding powers, allowing it to be known as University College Chester once again[6].

In 2005, University College Chester was finally awarded full university status and became the University of Chester[10]. This was followed by the right to award its own research degrees in 2007[11].

[edit] Campuses

The original College building (still in use and now known as Old College) in 1843, a year after it opened

The University of Chester is a medium-sized institution with two campuses. The 32-acre (130,000 m2) main campus[10] is located on Parkgate Road, just north of Chester's famous city walls. It houses most of the University's academic and non-academic departments. The campus is a mixture of old, Victorian buildings (such as Old College, right, which includes a chapel) and more modern buildings (like the Binks Building, opened in 2003). The campus also features all the normal facilities, such as a fitness centre, swimming pool, bar and various shops.

The University has now outgrown its campus and some departments have moved off-site (though all to locations within walking distance of the main campus). The Department of English, for example, is located in a Grade II-listed former Victorian vicarage, while the Department of History is split across the eighteenth-century Blue Coat School (which is also Grade II-listed) and the Cheshire Military Museum in Chester Castle, which is also a fully-operational museum open to the public. Chester Business School is housed in more contemporary accommodation, which used to be the Plantation Inn hotel.

There is a substantial amount of University-owned student accommodation (primarily reserved for first year and foreign students), either in the form of halls of residence and a student village on the campus, or houses just off it.

The smaller Warrington campus, which started life as a camp for Canadian officers in World War II, is located in the Padgate area of Warrington. The campus includes the North West Media Centre, which has close ties to Granada Television.

There are also a number of even smaller bases (at, for example, hospitals for nursing students) dotted around Cheshire and The Wirral.

[edit] Organisation

The University is organised into eight faculties of study. Five of these are also subdivided into academic departments[12]. The Faculties and departments are:

In addition, a number of research centres operate alongside the departments.

[edit] Students and faculty

Most of Chester's 15,000 students are from the UK, with a quarter being mature students. There are twice as many female students as male (partially due to the number of nursing, midwifery and teaching students). There is also a small number of foreign students, primarily from an active exchange policy.

There are approximately 1500 members of staff 569 of whom are academic. Many of them take part in research and often publish their work through the institution's own publishing house, Chester Academic Press.[13]

[edit] Chester Students' Union

Chester Students' Union (CSU)[14] provides a wide range of services and offers a number of facilities, such as running the union bars (CH1 on the Chester campus and Padgates on the Warrington campus) as well as a food and separate clothing shop on the Chester campus and a comprehensive vending area on the Warrington Campus. The Union also runs over 75 sports clubs and societies; with each campus having its own teams, many of which compete in BUSA competitions, and once a year the Union runs an intercampus competition known as Varsity on the Warrington campus where not only sporting societies such as 7 - aside football compete but also the none sporting societies such as poker. In addition to the sport societies, there are a number non-sporting societies ranging from the Drama society to an Amnesty International Society. A student radio station, The Cat 125.1, is based on the Warrington campus and broadcasts every day of the year, with presenters on air from September until June.

The Union is made up of a number of full-time staff, part-time student staff (these form the support staff for union operations) and elected volunteers (these form the Executive Committee and the Union Council), as well as three elected sabbatical officers (the president, a vice-president for the main campus and a vice-president for the Warrington campus). The Executive Committee is elected each year before the end of March and each has a different role, such as entertainments representative, welfare and campaigns representative, publications representative and so on. Once elected into position, Officers (Executive, Sabbatical and Council) serve one year in office before re-elections with Sabbatical officers serving a maximum of 2 years. The Executive Committee members are the trustees of the union.

The Union is a member of the National Union of Students, and is currently under going a governance review in order to comply with recent legislation.

[edit] Reputation

The University of Chester generally enjoys a good reputation, with its teacher training, nursing and sports science courses being particularly recognised. Its strong links with nearby businesses and involvement with external events, such as the Chester Literature Festival, means that the University is also well-regarded within its local area.

The University's profile has been boosted by the popularity of the teen soap opera Hollyoaks, which is set at a college of higher education in Chester. This institution is often assumed to be the University of Chester, though the programme is in fact set at the fictional Hollyoaks Community College and filmed mainly in Liverpool.

[edit] Coat of arms

The University of Chester's coat of arms was granted by the College of Arms in 1954, when the institution was still known as Chester Diocesan Training College.

The arms, pictured above, are made up of an argent shield featuring the St George's cross (as the institution is located in England), on which there is a golden wheatsheaf, representing the institution's home county of Cheshire. In the upper-left portion of the shield is a clasped open book, symbolising learning. The crest features a bishop's mitre, signifying the institution's founding by the Church of England, in front on two crossed swords, which are taken from the County of Cheshire's coat of arms. The golden scroll contains the institution's Latin motto, 'qui docet in doctrina', which is taken from St Paul's epistle to the Romans and translates as 'he that teacheth, on teaching' (though the University's preferred translation is the looser 'let the teacher teach')[15].

The coat of arms was used as the College's logo until the early 1990s when a new logo, with a depiction of the Old College building, was introduced. The coat of arms returned to the College's logo in 2002 when a simplified version became part of the logo. The University's current logo, introduced in 2005, features the shield and scroll from the coat of arms.

[edit] Notable alumni

See also: Category:Alumni of the University of Chester

[edit] Notable faculty

See also: Category:Academics of the University of Chester

[edit] References

  1. ^ "University of Chester Gender Equality Scheme and Action Plan 2007 - 2010" (MS Word Document). University of Chester. 2007-04-30. p.20. http://www.chester.ac.uk/diversity/gender/main.doc. Retrieved on 2007-08-22. 
  2. ^ a b c "Table 0a - All students by institution, mode of study, level of study, gender and domicile 2006/07" (Microsoft Excel spreadsheet). Higher Education Statistics Agency. http://www.hesa.ac.uk/dox/dataTables/studentsAndQualifiers/download/institution0607.xls. Retrieved on 2008-04-05. 
  3. ^ http://chesterrep.openrepository.com/cdr/bitstream/10034/6440/7/IMAGE_MAKEOVER.pdf
  4. ^ a b c d University of Chester: Annual Report 2003 - 04
  5. ^ University of Chester: News and Events
  6. ^ a b c University of Chester: News and Events
  7. ^ Statuette of W. E. Gladstone
  8. ^ History of the affiliated education colleges - TEACHING QUALITY SUPPORT DIVISION - University of Liverpool
  9. ^ Twentieth century Chester 1914-2000 - The economy, 1918-39 | British History Online
  10. ^ a b Chester, University of - A-Z Unis & Colleges , Getting Into University - The Independent
  11. ^ a b c d e The Cestrian, 2008
  12. ^ University of Chester: Departments
  13. ^ "Chester Academic Press". University of Chester. http://www.chester.ac.uk/academicpress/. Retrieved on 1 December 2008. 
  14. ^ Chester Students' Union. Official website. Retrieval Date: December 31, 2007.
  15. ^ A Cheshire Armorial - The Arms of The University of Chester
  16. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Alumni - Alumni Stories
  17. ^ Jim Bowen, From a Bundle of Rags: The Autobiography of Jim Bowen (London: Robson Books, 1992)
  18. ^ a b c d Student News, Summer 2008 - Chester Chronicle
  19. ^ About Alwyn - The Science of Total Training
  20. ^ Voice from heaven, family from hell ... The dangerous world that singer Duffy left behind | Mail Online
  21. ^ a b http://www.chesteralumni.com/view.php?title_id=319
  22. ^ a b Obituary: Sir Walter Winterbottom | Football | The Guardian
  23. ^ The Collegian, 1999
  24. ^ University of Chester: Department of Sport and Exercise Sciences
  25. ^ University of Chester: Department of Theology and Religious Studies
  26. ^ University of Chester: Department of English
  27. ^ University of Chester: Department of History and Archaeology
  28. ^ http://www.chem.ox.ac.uk/icl/heyes/lanthact/biogs/crookes.html

[edit] Further reading

  • Astbury, Stanley, A History of Chester Diocesan Training College (Chester: Chester College, 1946)
  • Bradbury, John Lewis, Chester College and the Training of Teachers, 1839-1975 (Chester: Chester College, 1975)
  • Dunn, Ian, The University of Chester, 1839-2005: The Bright Star in the Present Prospect (Chester: Chester Academic Press, 2005)
  • Newton, Elsie, The Padgate Story 1946-2006 (Chester: Chester Academic Press, 2007)
  • White, Graeme J (ed.), Perspectives of Chester College: 150th Anniversary Essays, 1839-1989 (Chester: Chester College, 1989)

[edit] External links


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