, mottoeng = The truth shall set you free , established = 2005 – gained

University status A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, ...

1962 – teacher training college , type =

Public In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociology, sociological concept of the ''Öf ...

, religious_affiliation =

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Brit ...

, city =

Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a cathedral city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, situated in the heart of the City of Canterbury local government district of Kent, England. It lies on the River Stour. The Archbishop of Canterbury is the primate of t ...

, state =

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

, country = England, UK , coor = , chancellor =

Archbishop of Canterbury The archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and a principal leader of the Church of England, the ceremonial head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. The current archbishop is Just ...

, '' ex officio'' , vice_chancellor = Rama Thirunamachandran , students = () , undergrad = () , postgrad = () , other = 65 FE , free_label = , free = , colours = Cardinal red and purple , academic_affiliations =

Universities at Medway The Universities at Medway is a tri-partite collaboration of the University of Greenwich, the University of Kent and Canterbury Christ Church University on a single campus in Chatham, Medway in South East England. Site The historic HMS ''Pemb ...

Cathedrals Group
Million+ , website = , logo = Canterbury Christ Church University logo.svg , motto_lang = la Canterbury Christ Church University (CCCU) is a public university located in

, Kent, England. Founded as a

college for teacher training in 1962, it was granted university status in 2005. The university has developed rapidly since its inception in 1962 and now has around 15,000 students based at locations across Kent in

Medway Medway is a unitary authority district and conurbation in Kent, South East England. It had a population of 278,016 in 2019. The unitary authority was formed in 1998 when Rochester-upon-Medway amalgamated with the Borough of Gillingham to ...

(as part of the

partnership) and

Tunbridge Wells Royal Tunbridge Wells is a town in Kent, England, southeast of central London. It lies close to the border with East Sussex on the northern edge of the High Weald, whose sandstone geology is exemplified by the rock formation High Rocks. T ...

. As well as being Kent's largest centre of higher education for the public services – notably teacher training, health and social care and the emergency services – the university also offers academic and professional programmes, including doctorates and research degrees in the arts, humanities and social and applied sciences. The university offers a portfolio of

STEM Stem or STEM may refer to: Plant structures * Plant stem, a plant's aboveground axis, made of vascular tissue, off which leaves and flowers hang * Stipe (botany), a stalk to support some other structure * Stipe (mycology), the stem of a mushro ...

courses, including engineering and

medicine Medicine is the science and practice of caring for a patient, managing the diagnosis, prognosis, prevention, treatment, palliation of their injury or disease, and promoting their health. Medicine encompasses a variety of health care pr ...

, and works closely with STEM industry and businesses in the south-east. The university, in partnership with the

University of Kent , motto_lang = , mottoeng = Literal translation: 'Whom to serve is to reign'(Book of Common Prayer translation: 'whose service is perfect freedom')Graham Martin, ''From Vision to Reality: the Making of the University of Kent at Canterbury'' ...

, opened the

Kent and Medway Medical School Kent and Medway Medical School (KMMS) is a medical school based in Canterbury, Kent. It was created as a collaboration between the University of Kent and Canterbury Christ Church University, and offers around 100 places per year. Brighton an ...

in 2020. Canterbury Christ Church University is a member of the Cathedrals Group (officially the Council of Church Universities and Colleges or CCUC), and of

MillionPlus MillionPlus, formerly known as million+, the Campaign for Mainstream Universities, and the Coalition of Modern Universities (CMU), is a membership organisation, which aims to promote the role of " modern universities" in the UK higher education sys ...

, the Association for Modern Universities in the UK.

History

Establishment

Canterbury Christ Church College (CCCC) was founded in 1962 by the

in order to meet the needs of church schools at a time of teacher shortage. Classes were originally held in the

priory A priory is a monastery of men or women under religious vows that is headed by a prior or prioress. Priories may be houses of mendicant friars or nuns (such as the Dominicans, Augustinians, Franciscans, and Carmelites), or monasteries of ...

next to St Martin's Church. The founding principal was Frederic Mason. In 1968, the first-degree programme, the

Bachelor of Education A Bachelor of Education (B.Ed.) is an undergraduate professional degree which prepares students for work as a teacher in schools. In some countries such as Tanzania and Kenya, additional tasks like field work and research are required in order f ...

, was established as a one-year extension to the Certificate in Education. In 1976, the university launched its first non-teaching degree, a BA in Religious Studies. In the late 1980s, the college was substantially enlarged by the addition of health studies and by 1988 the university had 1500 students.

University college status

In 1995, the college was awarded the authority by the

Privy Council A privy council is a body that advises the head of state of a state, typically, but not always, in the context of a monarchic government. The word "privy" means "private" or "secret"; thus, a privy council was originally a committee of the mo ...

to grant its own degrees for taught courses, upon which the college's name was changed to Canterbury Christ Church University College. This form of the name was adopted to avoid confusion with

Christ Church, Oxford Christ Church ( la, Ædes Christi, the temple or house, '' ædēs'', of Christ, and thus sometimes known as "The House") is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, the college is uniq ...

(one of the

Oxford University Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

colleges) and

University of Canterbury The University of Canterbury ( mi, Te Whare Wānanga o Waitaha; postnominal abbreviation ''Cantuar.'' or ''Cant.'' for ''Cantuariensis'', the Latin name for Canterbury) is a public research university based in Christchurch, New Zealand. It was ...

, in

Christchurch Christchurch ( ; mi, Ōtautahi) is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. Christchurch lies on the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula on Pegasus Bay. The Avon Rive ...

, New Zealand.

University status

The college was granted the university status in 2005, which recognised the successful delivery of degree programmes and adopted a new name, Canterbury Christ Church University (CCCU). The

was later appointed, by virtue of office, as chancellor. The inauguration of the university and the installation of

Rowan Williams Rowan Douglas Williams, Baron Williams of Oystermouth, (born 14 June 1950) is a Welsh Anglican bishop, theologian and poet. He was the 104th Archbishop of Canterbury, a position he held from December 2002 to December 2012. Previously the Bish ...

as chancellor took place in a ceremony at Canterbury Cathedral in December 2005. In 2007, the university attracted publicity due to its controversial policy forbidding civil partnership ceremonies to take place at its properties. This decision by the university's governing body has since been reversed and in 2018, the university sponsored Pride Canterbury. In 2009, the university was granted power to award research degrees by the

. The 50th anniversary of the foundation was celebrated in September 2012, with a ceremony in Canterbury Cathedral at which more than 60 surviving members of the first intake were awarded honorary Bachelor of Education degrees and the chancellor, Rowan Williams, was awarded an honorary doctorate. In February 2013, Justin Welby became the 105th Archbishop of Canterbury and became chancellor of the university. In October 2013, Rama Thirunamachandran joined the university and in March of the following year was officially installed as vice-chancellor and principal in a ceremony held at Canterbury Cathedral.

Campuses

Canterbury Christ Church University - geograph

North Holmes

The university's Canterbury Campus, at North Holmes Road overseen for many years by Bursar James (Jim) Blanthorn, is built on land which was once used for orchards and domestic buildings of the adjacent St Augustine's Abbey, part of Canterbury's World Heritage Site. The campus is a low-rise development centred on a courtyard adjacent to the chapel of Christ in Majesty. The chapel roof, formed of four isosceles triangles in glass, is a distinctive local landmark. The campus buildings are largely named after former Archbishops of Canterbury. The North Holmes site falls within the St Augustine Abbey element of the Canterbury UNESCO World Heritage Site (WHS) (the WHS also includes Canterbury Cathedral and St Martin's Church). The university includes an orchard containing local varieties of apple, a physic garden, and the growing of hops that are used to produce an annual brew of green hop beer. The nearby

Grade II listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern I ...

former church of St Gregory, has been developed as a performance space for the university's choirs and musical ensembles. Most of these performances are open to the public. In addition to its main Canterbury Campus, the university occupies other sites around the city including Christ Church Sports Centre, Augustine House and the St George's Centre.

Christ Church Sports Centre

In 2009 the university built Christ Church Sports Centre which houses health and fitness facilities for students and staff. The centre includes facilities for a variety of sports including cricket, volleyball, badminton, football and netball, an exercise studio, a climbing wall and a gym. The university was used as preparation grounds by the national team of

Puerto Rico at the 2012 Summer Olympics Puerto Rico competed at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, United Kingdom from July 27 to August 12, 2012. This was the nation's seventeenth consecutive appearance at the Olympics. Comité Olímpico de Puerto Rico sent a total of 25 athletes t ...

St George's Centre

The St George's Centre opened at the beginning of the 2012 academic year. This incorporates the

students' union A students' union, also known by many other names, is a student organization present in many colleges, universities, and high schools. In higher education, the students' union is often accorded its own building on the campus, dedicated to ...

facilities, bars and accommodation for 200 students.

Recent developments at the Canterbury campus

Following the university's purchase of the former Canterbury Prison site in April 2014, the university undertook a review of its entire estate to ensure that it was able to meet the university's strategic and academic vision. In April 2017, Canterbury City Council approved the university's plans for a new arts building on the North Holmes Campus. Named

Daphne Oram Daphne Blake Oram (31 December 1925 – 5 January 2003) was a British composer and electronic musician. She was one of the first British composers to produce electronic sound, and was an early practitioner of musique concrète in the UK. As a co ...

, the building officially opened in 2019, and provides a creative arts facilities and exhibition space. Plans for a new building for science, engineering, technology and health were approved in December 2017. The building project was awarded over £6m of government funding along with £7m of funding from the Higher Education Funding Council for England. The new building, named the

Verena Holmes Verena Winifred Holmes (23 June 1889 – 20 February 1964) was an English mechanical engineer and multi-field inventor, the first woman member elected to the Institution of Mechanical Engineers (1924) and the Institution of Locomotive Engineers ...

Building, opened in January 2021 and is home to the university's Kent and Medway Engineering, Design, Growth and Enterprise (EDGE) Hub and new courses in Biomedical Engineering, Chemical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Product Design and Software Engineering. It also provides teaching space for the Kent and Medway Medical School – a joint initiative with the

, which opened in 2020.

Medway

The Medway campus opened in October 2004 as part of the

partnership, which includes the three universities; Canterbury Christ Church University, the

and the

University of Greenwich The University of Greenwich is a public university located in London and Kent, United Kingdom. Previous names include Woolwich Polytechnic and Thames Polytechnic. The university's main campus is at the Old Royal Naval College, which along with it ...

. Programmes in health, social care and early years are provided here. The campus is home to the university's Centre for Health and Social Care and has been equipped with a mixture of teaching space, specialist facilities and staff offices. The two buildings on this campus are

Court (RWC), and Cathedral Court. Students and staff also have access to the re-furbished

Drill Hall Library The Drill Hall Library in North Road, Chatham in Kent, England, was built as a military drill hall in 1902, for the Royal Navy as part of '' HMS Pembroke'' shore establishment and barracks. The barracks closed in 1984. The Grade II listed build ...

, which has been created in the former

Royal Engineers The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually called the Royal Engineers (RE), and commonly known as the ''Sappers'', is a corps of the British Army. It provides military engineering and other technical support to the British Armed Forces and is head ...

Drill Hall, and is used by all students from the

partnership.

Tunbridge Wells

The university's Salomons Institute for Applied Psychology is based at Meadow Road, in the centre of Tunbridge Wells. This offers postgraduate clinical psychology programmes including a doctorate in clinical psychology and a PhD in professional practice. It also provides training for local NHS Trusts. It was formerly based at the Salomons Estate and moved to its present location in October 2017 with comedian, and former psychiatric nurse, Jo Brand officially opening the building.

Academic profile

Partnerships

The university has a diverse range of partnerships, which fall into five main categories: * Academic partners with whom the university develops its course to ensure they meet the needs of future employers and graduates * Research partners with whom the university works with on research and knowledge exchange * Education partners – as Kent's largest centre for teacher training, the university works in and alongside schools, colleges and education providers to promote access to learning. * Culture – the university is a major supporter and provider of arts and culture, and is principal partner and sponsor of the

Canterbury Festival The Canterbury Festival is Kent's international festival of the arts. It takes place in Canterbury (England) and surrounding towns and villages (including Faversham, Whitstable and Margate) each October/November and includes performances of a vari ...

. * Faith – the university is part of the global partnership of Anglican higher education institutions.

Research

The university's research was recognised in the 2014 Research Excellence Framework, which classed nearly 90% of its research as world-leading or internationally significant.

Teaching

In June 2017, the university was awarded a silver rating in the Teaching Excellence Framework. In its citation, the assessment panel said that the university ‘consistently exceeds rigorous national quality requirements for UK higher education’ and delivers ‘high-quality teaching, learning and outcomes for its students’. A report published by the Higher Education Funding Council for England in 2016 stated that the university was in the top 20 for the percentage of teaching staff holding a teaching qualification.

Sustainability

Sustainability is a key priority for the university and is one of the cross-cutting themes of the university's strategic framework (2015 to 2020). In May 2018, the university won a prestigious International Green Gown Award for "Continuous Improvement: Institutional Change" in recognition of its commitment to sustainability and its progress in this area. In 2019, this was followed by the university's Zulfi Ali winning the Green Gown award for individual Sustainability Champion. Between 2010 and 2016, the university reduced its gas and electricity consumption by almost 25%. In 2013, it became one of the first universities to commit to and achieve ‘zero waste to landfill’ and it also achieved

ISO14001 ISO 14000 is a family of standards related to environmental management that exists to help organizations (a) minimize how their operations (processes, etc.) negatively affect the environment (i.e. cause adverse changes to air, water, or land); (b) ...

certification for its Environmental Management System. It became one of the first universities to achieve the new standard in 2017. In 2022, the university opened th
Academy for Sustainable Futures
a collective entity to drive forward the university’s commitments to sustainability.

Governance and structure

The university is governed by its Governing Body comprising 18 elected, appointed and co-opted members. The Governing Body meets four times per year. The day-to-day management of the university is the responsibility of the Vice-Chancellor and his senior management team. Canterbury Christ Church is organised into academic faculties that contain schools and centres for teaching and research as well as professional service departments that provide central services The three academic faculties are: * Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Education * Faculty of Medicine, Health and Social Care * Faculty of Science, Engineering and Social Sciences

Rankings and reputation

In the 2015 ''Guardian'' rating of UK universities, CCCU has ranked the 92nd university out of 119, a gain of 12 places from 2014. However, it fell to 101 in the 2016 rankings.

Student life

Students' Union

Canterbury Christ Church Students’ Union is based at the St George's Centre in Canterbury. It is a registered charity whose role is to support and represent students studying at Christ Church. It offers a range of support and advice services and runs campaigns throughout the academic to promote student health and wellbeing, sustainability and equality and diversity. Christ Church Students' Union also supports over 100 student-led clubs and societies including societies related to courses offered at the university along with cultural, political, recreational and sports societies.

Canterbury Varsity

Each year, for over 20 years, the sports clubs at Canterbury Christ Church University and the University of Kent go head to head in Canterbury Varsity. Varsity sports include football, rugby, lacrosse, netball, volleyball, swimming, dance, basketball, hockey, tennis and many more.

Student media

CSR
the Community and Student Radio Station, starting broadcasting in 2007. The station holds a Community FM licence and it was the first student-led community radio station to be award this licence. The station broadcasts shows 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, from two studios, one based at the university’s Canterbury Campus and another at the University of Kent. CSR won Best Station Sound at the 2021 Student Radio Awards.
Unified
is the university's student news outlet. In 2017 it won the Best Development in the South of England Award from the Student Publication Association.

Notable alumni

Rob Beckett Robert Anthony Beckett (born 2 January 1986) is an English comedian, narrator, and presenter. He was a co-host on the ITV2 spin-off show '' I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! NOW!'' from 2012 to 2014. Since 2016, Beckett has been a team capta ...

– Comedian studied Tourism Management between 2004 and 2007 *

Kate Blewett Kate Blewett is a documentary film-maker in the United Kingdom. She is best known for her documentaries on human rights abuses, such as ''The Dying Rooms'' and ''Bulgaria's Abandoned Children''. Life Kate Blewett grew up in Hong Kong, Mala ...

– producer and director with the BBC *

Phil Gallagher Phil Gallagher is a British children's television presenter who is best known for playing the title character in the CBeebies children's television show ''Mister Maker''. Early life Gallagher attended Rainham Mark Grammar School in Rainh ...

– children's TV presenter * Abdulrazak Gurnah - winner of the

Nobel Prize in Literature ) , image = Nobel Prize.png , caption = , awarded_for = Outstanding contributions in literature , presenter = Swedish Academy , holder = Annie Ernaux (2022) , location = Stockholm, Sweden , year = 1901 , ...

Jon Holmes Jon Holmes (born 24 April 1973) is a British comedian, writer, presenter and broadcaster known for his work on such programmes as ''The Now Show'', '' Listen Against'' (for BBC Radio 4), along with both music and spoken word radio. He has ap ...

– writer, script editor and presenter * Joel Hopkins – BAFTA award-winning film writer–director *

Geraldine McCaughrean Geraldine McCaughrean ( ; born 6 June 1951) is a British children's novelist. She has written more than 170 books, including '' Peter Pan in Scarlet'' (2004), the official sequel to '' Peter Pan'' commissioned by Great Ormond Street Hospital, ...

– children's author * Dorothée Munyaneza – actor, singer, dancer and choreographer * Jesse Smith - actor, baby in the sun in the Teletubbies

References

External links

* {{authority control Educational institutions established in 1962 1962 establishments in England Universities UK