| Kingston University | |
|---|---|
| Established | 1992 – gained University Status 1899 – Kingston Technical Institute |
| Type | Public |
| Endowment | £1.45m[1] |
| Chancellor | Sir Peter Hall |
| Vice-Chancellor | Professor Julius Weinberg[2] |
| Students | 23,135[3] |
| Undergraduates | 18,200[3] |
| Postgraduates | 4,805[3] |
| Other students | 130 FE[3] |
| Location | Kingston upon Thames, England, United Kingdom |
| Campus | Urban |
| Colours | Blue and Black |
| Sports | Kingston University Boat Club |
| Website | http://www.kingston.ac.uk/ |
Kingston University (informally Kingston) is a public research university located in Kingston upon Thames, southwest London, United Kingdom. It was originally founded in 1899 as Kingston Technical Institute, a polytechnic, and became a university in 1992.
Campuses are located in Kingston and Roehampton. There is a range of undergraduate and postgraduate work spread across seven faculties, as well as some further education provisions.
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The Kingston Technical Institute opened in 1899.[4] A School of Art in Kingston was founded in the 1890s. In 1970 the two institutions were merged in Kingston Polytechnic, which was granted university status under the Further and Higher Education Act 1992.
This is the main university campus located close to Kingston town centre. In addition to teaching facilities, it features a library, health centre and canteen. Students based here study; Arts and Social Sciences, Civil Engineering, Computing and Information Systems and Mathematics, Earth Sciences and Geography, Statistics, Science, and Radiography. Across the road is the Reg Bailey Theatre which houses a stage area used by drama and dance students. Recent developments on this site has seen the opening of the John Galsworthy Building, providing extra teaching and office space.
The site also features Kingston University Students' Union (KUSU), which, next door to is Penrhyn road's Student Union bar, The Space Bar. Penrhyn Road also houses the recently refurbished Fitness Centre. A short walk from the campus is Cooper House, also known as the Student Information and Advice Centre, which houses a number of student services and administration departments as well as the credit control department who collect tuition and other fees.
There are the usual facilities on the main campus for printing, health and fitness, shops and cafes. A free bus service for students runs between the campuses and Kingston town centre.
This campus underwent a major redevelopment in 1997. With its own halls and numerous car parks (including the main seven storey car park) Kingston Hill mainly caters to Nursing, Law, Education, Business, Music, Health and Social Sciences. Located near the top of Kingston Hill, it connects to the other campus sites by use of a free University Bus service. Recent development at this site has seen an extension to the current Learning Resources Centre. Massive construction projects took place and recently a new modern building in memory on John Galsworthy was finished. Prior to 1989, this campus was known as Gipsy Hill.
The music department is situated in Coombehurst House, which was once owned by Florence Nightingale's aunt and uncle. Nightingale was a frequent visitor to the house and indeed the new Learning Resource Centre on Kingston Hill was named the Nightingale Centre after her.[5]
This campus, located on Grange Road, close to Penrhyn Road, is the home of the University's Faculty of Art, Design & Architecture, and provides undergraduate courses in Architecture, Art & Design History, Interior Design, Product & Furniture, Graphic Design, Filmmaking, Photography, Illustration & Animation, Fine Art and Fashion amongst others. The facility also features a student bar, café and arts library. The building is on the River Hogsmill (the banks of which were immortalised in the Pre-Raphaelite painting of Ophelia (painting) by John Everett Millais). The 'Middle Mill' hall of residence is situated across from the campus, close to the University's Stanley Picker Gallery.[6]
The Roehampton Vale campus is based on Friars Avenue, on the outskirts of Kingston. Students studying all Engineering courses (except for Civil Engineering) are based here. Facilities on site include a wind tunnel, engineering workshops, flight simulator, a flying condition Learjet-200 plus automotive and aeronautical learning resources. Recent development at this site has seen the opening of the Hawker Wing, providing further teaching space.
In addition to the four main campuses are three administration buildings: Cooper House near the Penrhyn Road Campus, Millennium House and River House in Kingston town centre – the latter is so named as it is overlooks the River Thames and includes the office of the Vice-Chancellor.
Teaching and research are organised in five faculties.
Based at the Knights Park campus, the Faculty of Art, Design and Architecture can be traced back to the original School of Art in Kingston which was founded in the 1890s. The Dean of Faculty is Dr Simon Ofield.
The faculty delivers both Undergraduate and Postgraduate programmes of study across the following schools – Architecture & Landscape, Art & Design History, Fine Art, Surveying & Planning, 3D Design and Communication Design. The Faculty also has a school of Foundation Studies which delivers the BTEC Foundation in Art and Design which prepares undergraduate students for entry into honours degree Art and Design programmes.
The Stanley Picker Gallery[6] is the Faculty's exhibition space which is now used to present a variety of research-based projects, fellowships and exhibitions.
In 2003, the Stanley Picker Gallery gave birth to transitstation,[7] which was created/curated by Stanley Picker Fellow Dagmar Glausnitzer-Smith,[8][9] and the then gallery curator Charles Ryder.[10]
In 2003, The Director of Foundation Studies in Art and Design, Paul Stafford, converted a run-down public convenience in Kingston town centre into The Toilet Gallery.[11]
Kingston University also runs Dorich House[12] which houses a huge collection of sculptor Dora Gordine's work, plus fine examples of Russian Imperial art and furniture. Dorich House is also used as meeting and conference venue.
Primarily based at the Penrhyn Road campus, although as part of a restructure in 2005, the faculty also incorporates the now former School of Music and the School of Education which are both based at the Kingston Hill Campus. The faculty offers a 15-credit (30 for special studies and dissertations) modular degree system for undergraduate courses, and a range of taught and research postgraduate programmes of study.
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) and Masters by Research (MA) degrees can be undertaken in any of the following areas – Drama, Dance, Creative Writing, Criminology, Economics, Education, English Literature, European Studies, Film Studies, History, Human Rights, Journalism, Linguistics and Languages, Media, Music, Politics, Psychology, Sociology.
Based at the Kingston Hill campus and incorporating the Kingston University Business School and Kingston Law School. The dean is Professor Jean-Noël Ezingeard. The Faculty is home to almost 5,000 students.
The Faculty of Business and Law offers undergraduate and postgraduate courses as well as executive education in the five following groupings: Law, Accounting and Finance, Informatics and Operations Management / Business, Information Technology, Leadership, Human Resources and Organisation and Strategy, Marketing and Entrepreneurship.
The faculty also offers PhD and DBA research degrees in addition to its MBA programme. The Business School was the first in the world to receive AMBA accreditation for its MBA, DBA and Masters in Business Management. Other accreditations include the Law Society, the Bar Council, CIMA, CIPD.
A collaboration with St George's, University of London (SGUL), the faculty is based at St. George's Hospital in Tooting, and Kingston Hill (KH) and Penrhyn Road (PR) at Kingston University. Subjects offered include all branches of Nursing (KH), Midwifery (KH), Paramedic Sciences (SGUL), Physiotherapy (SGUL), Diagnostic Radiography (PR), Therapeutic Radiography (PR) and Social Work (KH), along with postgraduate and Continuing Professional Development courses for those already employed in the healthcare profession.
Degrees within the Faculty of Health and Social Care are awarded by either Kingston University (Nursing, Social Work, Midwifery) or the University of London (Radiography and Physiotherapy).
The Faculty of Science, Engineering and Computing was formed in summer 2011. The Faculty is composed of eight schools: Aerospace and Aircraft Engineering; Civil Engineering and Construction; Computing and Information Systems; Geography, Geology and Environment; Life Sciences; Mathematics; Mechanical and Automotive Engineering; and Pharmacy and Chemistry.
The Faculty's teaching is split between undergraduate and postgraduate programmes. Students benefit from extensive facilities at the Roehampton Vale campus including a Learjet 25, flight simulator, wind tunnel and automotive workshops including a range of vehicles and testing facilities.
The current dean is Professor Edith Sim.
The Faculty of Arts & Design runs a number of research centres:
The Faculty of Business & Law has a number of specialist research units which cover the principal business disciplines. It achieved the highest grade point average of all post-1992 University Business Schools in the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise. These research units include: Asia Business Research Centre, Business-to-Business Marketing Research Centre, Centre for Insolvency Law and Policy, Centre for Working Life Research, Consumer Research Unit, Marketing in New Contexts Group, Small Business Research Centre, Centre for Research in Employment, Skills & Society, Institute of Leadership & Management in Health.
The Faculty of Computing, Information Systems & Mathematics' research interests are spread across a wide range of topics, from emerging wireless and network technologies for healthcare, computationally intensive computer vision to computer-based learning technologies, networking and mathematics. Research activities are organised into smaller research groups and larger research centres. The three current research centres are:
The Faculty of Engineering places emphasis on commercially useful research with significant funding from external bodies. The faculty has three research centres –
Kingston University Students' Union (KUSU) is a charitable organisation in place primarily to represent the student body and provide services and activities beneficial to that body. They are a student union in the mearning of the term given in the Education Act 1994 and whilst independent of the university are funded by a compulsory block grant from them.
The main offices are housed on the Penrhyn Road campus along with the 'Space' bar and the Penrhyn Road Students' Union shop. From their head office Kingston University Students' Union represents student views to the University through membership on university committees and the board of governors.
They also support students to enhance their experience at university through sports, societies and volunteering. Over 30 sports clubs and 70 societies are operated by KUSU and the volunteering department is the largest supplier of volunteers for the Royal Borough of Kingston. KUSU also offers independent advice (including Citizens' Advice) and representation through their Student Support services. They can advise on a range of issues from Housing to Academic Misconduct. This department also delivers a course rep system to the university's 26,000
KUSU runs 3 bars and 2 shops and the money is reinvested in the student benefit. Hannafords bar is located on Kingston Hill along with the Kingston Hill shop. Penrhyn Road is host to the space bar, KUSU's largest venue and the penrhyn road shop. Knights Park boasts a popular bar set on the bank of the Hogsmill river.
The Students' Union is run by an executive committee composed of mostly part time officers. The four full time elected officers take a sabbatical year to work full time for the Students' Union as President, Vice President Education, Vice President Activities and Vice President Communications.
Elections are held every year to elect a new executive committee and KUSU is in the process of registering as a charity.
The University has six halls of residence. Chancellors' and Walkden are based at the Kingston Hill campus. Middle Mill is adjacent to Knights Park campus, while Clayhill and Seething Wells are on opposite sides of Surbiton. Finally, there is Kingston Bridge House which is situated on the edge of Bushy Park at the Hampton Wick end of Kingston Bridge, London.
There are also contracted out halls of residence which are not owned by the university but licensed by them. IQ Wave halls were contracted due to Rennie being demolished to make way for a new education building at Kingston Hill.
The university operates a "headed tenancy" scheme in which the university sublets local properties to students from landlords.
In 2008, an audio recording obtained by student media included two psychology lecturers asking students to inflate their graded opinions given as part of the National Student Survey.[18] One member of staff was recorded as encouraging students to boost specific satisfaction scores, because "if Kingston comes down the bottom [of the league tables], then the bottom line is that nobody is going to want to employ you because they are going to think your degree is shit".[18][19] In response, Vice-Chancellor Peter Scott confirmed that the recording was genuine but added that he believed that the incident was an isolated one.[20] In July 2008, the Higher Education Funding Council of England removed the University's Department of Psychology of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences from the League Tables for the year as its sanction for having fraudulently manipulated the National Student Survey results.[21]
In 2008, the BBC obtained e-mails circulated within Kingston's School of Music, relating to the opinions of an external examiner moderating the BMus course.[22] The messages showed that her final report caused considerable concern within the department. The examiner was persuaded to moderate her criticism following contact from a member of the University's staff. The e-mails also detailed a plan to replace her (at the end of her term) with a more experienced and broad-based external examiner, a process which Kingston stressed breaks no rules relating to the appointment of such examiners.[22] In October 2008, Peter Williams, Chief Executive of the UK Quality Assurance Agency (QAA), presented the agency's findings to a Parliamentary Select Committee charged with investigating standards in British higher education. Following an investigation of the allegations by a former University staff member that undue pressure was applied to the School of Music's External Examiner, QAA upheld all charges of wrongdoing, as alleged.[23][24][25]
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