| Leeds Metropolitan University | |
|---|---|
| Established | 1992 - gained University Status 1824 - Leeds Mechanics Institute |
| Type | Public |
| Endowment | £140,000[1] |
| Vice-Chancellor | Professor Susan Price[2][3] |
| Admin. staff |
3601[4]
|
| Students | 41,215[5] |
| Undergraduates | 23,310[5] |
| Postgraduates | 3,905[5] |
| Other students | 14,030 FE[5] |
| Location | Leeds, England |
| Campus | Urban |
| Colours | Purple, Green and White |
| Website | http://www.leedsmet.ac.uk/ |
Leeds Metropolitan University is a British University with three campuses. Two are situated in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England while the third is situated in Bhopal, India.[6] It gained university status in 1992; prior to this date it was known as Leeds Polytechnic. The number of students is listed by the HESA 2008/09 data as the 15th largest in Britain.[7]
The current Vice Chancellor, Professor Susan Price, joined in January 2010 and three new deputy Vice Chancellors have been appointed to lead the areas of strategic development, research and enterprise, and student experience.[8]
The university’s origins can be traced back to 1824, with the foundation of the Leeds Mechanics Institute. Leeds Polytechnic was formed in 1970 and was a constituent part of the Leeds Local Education Authority until it became an independent Higher Education Corporation on 1 April 1989. In 1992 the institution was given University status and changed its name to Leeds Metropolitan University.
Leeds Metropolitan University recently announced that Lord Woolmer of Leeds has been appointed the new Chair of the Board of Governors. Lord Woolmer has been a member of the House of Lords since 1999. He was Chairman of the House of Lords Selection Committee on European Internal Market Policies for four years and is currently a member of the Select Committee on European Economic and International Trade Policies.[9]
In November 2006, the University won the award for "outstanding contribution to the local community" at the annual higher education awards ceremony hosted by The Times Higher Education Supplement. It also came second in the main category, "the University of the Year", which was won by the University of Nottingham. In this category, the University was highly commended for its "low-charging, high impact" strategy.[10]
In June 2007, Leeds Met received recognition of its environmentally friendly attitude by being ranked number one in the UK in the Green League 2007: a ranking of sustainability in the higher education sector, compiled by People & Planet.[11][12]
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The University occupies the following campus locations:
This comprises an expanding number of locations in Leeds city centre. In addition to the former Polytechnic site, several other buildings have recently been acquired. These include: Cloth Hall Court, in the legal district of the city; Old Broadcasting House, the former home of the BBC in Leeds; Electric Press, a building on Millennium Square; and Old School Board, the birthplace of school education in Leeds and domicile of the Centre for Tourism and Cultural Change (CTCC).[15] The latest additions for the 2008/09 year are the Rose Bowl, the new home of the Leeds Business School, opposite the Civic Hall, and Old Broadcasting Place, providing teaching space for the Faculty of Arts and Society and student accommodation. It also plans to build a "Senator George Mitchell Centre for Peace and Conflict Resolution" on the former Polytechnic site, once several of the current buildings have been demolished.[16]
This is a 100-acre (0.40 km2) campus sited in Beckett Park, Headingley. The oldest property on this site is the Grange, a 1752 farmhouse once occupied by John Marshall.[17] The site is mostly made up of low-rise 19th century buildings set around a central lawn. The site is in a park location and has many open areas on campus. In the 1990s, the University closed existing Halls of Residence on campus, converting the units to lecture theatres and teaching facilities. In 2006, the Campus extended beyond the confines of Beckett Park to include the Carnegie Stand at the Headingley Stadium. This dual-purpose stand accommodates more than 4,500 spectators, and also provides teaching rooms and a hall. After bulldozing R.W.Rich Hall,[18] a student hall of residence built in the late 1900s, the Carnegie Village was opened in August 2009, providing on-campus accommodation for 479 students.[19]
Leeds Metropolitan University has also become the first university in UK to set up a campus in the city of Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India.[6] Leeds Met India initiative is a joint venture between the Leeds Metropolitan University and JSWS (non-profit organization). Built across 36 acres (150,000 m2) the campus currently provides various courses in business management where students in India get a chance to study at the university and visit UK for one semester of study. The campus is equipped with facilities like wi-fi network, computer lab, library, basketball court ,pool and fitness centre etc.
Leeds Met also has a South Asia Office in New Delhi, India. The office was officially opened by Edmund Marsden, Director British Council, India on 22 April 2005. Leeds Met South Asia is a one-stop shop for information about study opportunities at Leeds Met and acts as a catalyst for the development of partnerships in the region.
The University provides 4,500 bedrooms in a variety of locations and all first year undergraduates are guaranteed a place in university accommodation.[20] Carnegie Village was new for September 2010 and provides Passivhaus standard townhouses and apartments at Headingley Campus. The largest hall is Kirkstall Brewery on Broad Lane which has places for over 1,000 students and is located about 2 miles (3.2 km) from the Headingley campus. As its name suggests it is a former brewery property, but is mostly modern blocks. The second largest is Sugarwell Court, in Meanwood, which is about 1.5 miles (2.4 km) from the Civic campus, and accommodates 388 students. This is also a converted industrial site.
Accommodation types vary. Across North Leeds there are many sites which are primarily low-rise buildings, often converted from a former industrial use. The growing number of sites around the city centre has led to the building of new highrise complexes, these include Opal 3, The Skyplaza and Broadcasting Tower.
There are also several sites owned by Opal Property Group in Burley near The Leeds Studios.
In common with many institutions in the UK, and globally, the University maintains an open access repository that comprises an Open Access research archive and an OER repository: A store of Open Educational Resources produced at Leeds Met that are freely available for reuse under a Creative Commons (Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 UK: England & Wales) licence
Both the research and OER collections can be browsed from http://repository.leedsmet.ac.uk/
This is a network of colleges that have entered partnership with the University to provide access to some of its courses around the region and beyond. The following colleges are members of the RUN:
Belfast Metropolitan College, Bishop Burton College, Bradford College, Calderdale College, Chesterfield College, Craven College, Dearne Valley College, Dewsbury College, Grimsby Institute of Further & Higher Education, Harrogate College, Hull College, Kirklees College, Leeds City College, Leeds College of Building, Leeds College of Technology, Leeds Thomas Danby College, Loughborough College, Manchester College, New College Durham, Newcastle College, Park Lane College, South Eastern Regional College, Wakefield College, West Nottinghamshire College, and York College.
The University has established a number of sporting and cultural partnerships, both in the UK and overseas.
Simon Lee embarked on a controversial programme of partnerships with external bodies during his time as vice-chancellor, which came to be dubbed as "rubbing shoulders" after the university took a majority stake in the Leeds Tykes[25] rugby club, renaming it Leeds Carnegie. It was later revealed that the club signed Waisale Serevi after he had already been paid for other work at the university.[26] Subsequently the university sold their stake back in April 2009.[27]
The university spent large sums in several other partnerships, including £423,000[28] to the Northern Ballet Theatre and £283,000 to the Irish Football Association.
In October 2009, the Quality Assurance Agency gave the university a "limited confidence" rating,[29] due to concerns over maintenance of academic standards.
In 2009, the then vice-chancellor Simon Lee resigned from his position[30] following a series of controversies including ongoing arguments over the university's fees strategy, allegations of bullying[31] and foreign travel for his wife paid for by the university.[32] The chancellor of the university, Brendan Foster, also resigned less than a month later. Some of the controversies that led to these resignations formed part of the subject matter of the 29 July 2010 edition of the BBC Radio 4 documentary "Face the Facts".[33]
In 2006, students and staff from the University developed The Student Wiki, a new source of knowledge about student life.
Leeds Met University Students' Union operates out of offices at both the Beckett's Park and Civic Quarter Campuses. Its live music venue has played host to bands such as Kaiser Chiefs, The Fratellis and We Are Scientists. The Union runs three bars, with one at each site and another at the Kirkstall Brewery halls of residence, a Student Advice service as well as being a source of volunteers working in the local community.
In recent years Leeds Metropolitan has awarded honorary degrees to Geoffrey Boycott, Dame Fanny Waterman, Sir George Martin, James Caan and Alexander Skarsgård.
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