The University of Suffolk is a

public university A public university or public college is a university or college that is in owned by the state or receives significant public funds through a national or subnational government, as opposed to a private university. Whether a national universi ...

situated in

Suffolk Suffolk () is a ceremonial county of England in East Anglia. It borders Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south; the North Sea lies to the east. The county town is Ipswich; other important towns include ...

and

Norfolk Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the Nor ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

. The modern university was established in 2007 as University Campus Suffolk (UCS), the institution was founded as a unique collaboration between the

University of East Anglia The University of East Anglia (UEA) is a public research university in Norwich, England. Established in 1963 on a campus west of the city centre, the university has four faculties and 26 schools of study. The annual income of the institution f ...

and the

University of Essex The University of Essex is a public research university in Essex, England. Established by royal charter in 1965, Essex is one of the original plate glass universities. Essex's shield consists of the ancient arms attributed to the Kingdom of Es ...

. The university's current name was adopted after it was granted independence in 2016 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 ...

and was awarded

university 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 Stat ...

status.University Campus Suffolk
, University of Essex. Retrieved 28 September 2012.
''Daily Telegraph'', 21 June 2011. Retrieved 28 September 2012. The University of Suffolk is spread over four campuses: a central hub in

Ipswich Ipswich () is a port town and borough in Suffolk, England, of which it is the county town. The town is located in East Anglia about away from the mouth of the River Orwell and the North Sea. Ipswich is both on the Great Eastern Main Line ...

, and further campuses which focus on foundation courses which are located in

Bury St Edmunds Bury St Edmunds (), commonly referred to locally as Bury, is a historic market, cathedral town and civil parish in Suffolk, England.OS Explorer map 211: Bury St.Edmunds and Stowmarket Scale: 1:25 000. Publisher:Ordnance Survey – Southampton ...

Lowestoft Lowestoft ( ) is a coastal town and civil parish in the East Suffolk (district), East Suffolk district of Suffolk, England.OS Explorer Map OL40: The Broads: (1:25 000) : . As the List of extreme points of the United Kingdom, most easterly UK se ...

and

Great Yarmouth Great Yarmouth (), often called Yarmouth, is a seaside town and unparished area in, and the main administrative centre of, the Borough of Great Yarmouth in Norfolk, England; it straddles the River Yare and is located east of Norwich. A pop ...

(the latter in

, not

).University Campus Suffolk
University of East Anglia. Retrieved 28 September 2012. The university operates six academic faculties and in had students. Some 8% of the student body are classed as international students, 53% are classed as mature students, and 66% of the university's students are female. The university was ranked in the top 10 for Course and Lecturers in the WhatUni Student Choice Awards 2019. The current chancellor of the University of Suffolk is

Helen Pankhurst Helen Pankhurst (born 1964) is a British women's rights activist, scholar and writer. She is currently CARE International's senior advisor working in the UK and Ethiopia. She is the great-granddaughter of Emmeline Pankhurst and granddau ...

, an appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire ( CBE), as well as a scholar, writer, and the great-granddaughter of

Emmeline Pankhurst Emmeline Pankhurst (''née'' Goulden; 15 July 1858 – 14 June 1928) was an English political activist who organised the UK suffragette movement and helped women win the right to vote. In 1999, ''Time'' named her as one of the 100 Most Import ...

History

In 2003

Suffolk County Council Suffolk County Council is the administrative authority for the county of Suffolk, England. It is run by 75 elected county councillors representing 63 divisions. It is a member of the East of England Local Government Association. History Est ...

established a "stakeholder group" to investigate the possibility of establishing a university in the county. Suffolk was the largest

English county The counties of England are areas used for different purposes, which include administrative, geographical, cultural and political demarcation. The term "county" is defined in several ways and can apply to similar or the same areas used by each ...

that did not host a university. The group included representatives from the

, the

West Suffolk College West Suffolk College is a Further Education college in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk. The college delivers a range of courses, including vocational and technical courses, apprenticeships, and an array of higher-apprenticeships and bachelor's degree ...

, the

East of England Development Agency The East of England Development Agency (EEDA) was a non-departmental public body and the regional development agency for the East of England region of England. It came into operation on 1 April 1999 and assumed the regional powers of English Par ...

, the

Higher Education Funding Council for England The Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) was a non-departmental public body in the United Kingdom, which was responsible for the distribution of funding for higher education to universities and further education colleges in Engla ...

, Suffolk Learning and Skills Council,

Ipswich Borough Council Ipswich Borough Council, founded in 1974 after the abolition of the County Borough of Ipswich, governs the non-metropolitan district of Ipswich in Suffolk. It is the second tier of a two-tier system, fulfilling functions such as refuse collectio ...

, Suffolk Chief Executive's Group and the Suffolk Development Agency. Following funding pledges from Ipswich Borough Council and Suffolk County Council in 2004, the plan was backed by the

(HEFCE) with £15m worth of funding in 2005 and attracted a £12.5m grant from the East of England Development Agency in 2006University plan wins £12.5m grant
''BBC News'', 20 March 2006. Retrieved 28 September 2012. The institution was officially launched under the name 'University Campus Suffolk' on 1 August 2007New university officially opened
''BBC News'', 1 August 2007. Retrieved 28 September 2012. and welcomed its first students in September of the same year.University open to first students
''BBC News'', 10 September 2007. Retrieved 28 September 2012. Because UCS did not have degree-awarding powers, its students received their degrees from either the

or the

via a cooperative agreement. The institution was later granted degree-awarding powers by the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education in November 2015, and in May 2016 it was awarded University status by the

. As a consequence, UCS was renamed The University of Suffolk in August 2016 and began awarding degrees in its own right.

Campuses

Ipswich

The University of Suffolk's main hub is located in Ipswich on the historical

Ipswich Waterfront The Ipswich Waterfront is a cultural and historically significant area surrounding the marina in the town of Ipswich, Suffolk. The modern dock was constructed in 1842 and the area was a functioning dock up until the 1970s. At the time of comple ...

. The Ipswich campus is spread across a compact area on the Waterfront with various university buildings. The principal university building is known simply as the Waterfront Building and was designed by RMJM Architects, the Waterfront Building was opened in September 2008 and cost £35 million to build.University Campus Suffolk (UCS)
''The Independent Freshers Guide, 2012'', 3 August 2012. Retrieved 28 September 2012.Flagship university building open
''BBC news website'', 29 September 2008. Retrieved 28 September 2012. It has three lecture halls, and 34 smaller teaching rooms.University guide 2013 University Campus Suffolk
''The Guardian'', 31 May 2012. Retrieved 29 September 2012. The six-storey James Hehir Building was officially opened in March 2011 at a cost of £21 millionUCS opens £21m James Hehir Building in Ipswich
''BBC news website'', 27 January 2011. Retrieved 28 September 2012. It is named after the former chief executive of Ipswich Borough Council and includes Cult Cafe. Campus North houses the library or "Learning Resource Centre". Onsite student accommodation is provided in the 600-room Athena Hall, located adjacent to the James Hehir building. The most recent addition to the growing campus is The Hold, this building houses the majority of the Suffolk Record Office's collection and provides various facilities to the university including a lecture hall. The Ipswich campus offers a range of undergraduate and postgraduate courses, including Art and Design, Business Management, Computing, Education, Film, Law, Nursing and Midwifery. RS1497 Waterfront location (32)-lpr

Great Yarmouth

The

centre is located at the Southtown site of East Coast College in neighbouring

. Subjects such as Computing, Counselling, Engineering, Fashion, Music, and Photography are available at the centre, which has a modern recording studio.

Lowestoft

The

Centre is located at the site of East Coast College. Lowestoft offers degrees in Children's Care, Learning and Development, Design, Inclusive Practice and Integrated Working, Operations Engineering, Supporting Inclusive Learning and Practice, and Social Science.

Partnerships

The University of Suffolk community extends to embrace unique and integrated partnerships, central to its identity. With partner colleges, East Coast College and Suffolk New College, the network provides access to higher education ‘on the doorstep’ of many young and mature students in Suffolk and Great Yarmouth, alongside attracting students from further afield who are interested in a particular course and keen to enjoy the distinctive environments offered by each partner college. Also central to the University of Suffolk's identity are partnerships, recognised both nationally and internationally, with the Global Banking School, London School of Commerce, Unicaf, a pan-African, independent, internationally accredited university and Unitas, an education charity specialising in criminal justice. Working collaboratively with education partners is demonstration of the university's outward looking, innovative approach to learning. The university also delivers a now well established accelerated two-year Dance degree in partnership with DanceEast, which when launched was the first of its kind to be offered in the UK.

Organisation and administration

Faculties and departments

The university is split into four schools, each facilitating various courses. • School of Social Sciences and Humanities. Exploring and understanding human relationships, societies and culture: fact and fiction, past, present and future. Whatever your course, you will be part of an academic community which is exploring and defining how we understand human society and culture, and how we might make a positive contribution to its development. • Suffolk Business School. • School of Health and Sports Sciences. The School of Health and Sports Sciences is passionate about health and performance. We seek to unlock the potential in our students, providing you with opportunities for the future and ensuring you are given the knowledge and tools you need to have a transformative effect on the health and performance sector. We pride ourselves on our close working relationships with our placement providers and clinical partners, and all of our programmes are designed in partnership with industry experts and the relevant regulatory bodies. Employability is a priority for the School and we are proud of our student's employment rates after completing their studies. • School of Engineering, Arts, Science and Technology – EAST. Our dynamic learning and innovation environment is an ideal place for people with curious minds and a passion for solving problems. Our Programmes provide stronger integration of Arts, Science, Engineering and Creative Technologies to equip our graduates with the skills they need to meet the demands of the ever-changing societal needs.

East Contemporary Art Collection

The University of Suffolk is home to the "East Contemporary Art Collection", which is exhibited at the Waterfront Gallery. Founded by artists

Robert Priseman Robert Priseman (born in Spondon, Derbyshire in 1965) is a British artist, collector, writer, curator and publisher who lives and works in Essex, England. Over 200 works of art by Priseman are held in art museum collections around the world in ...

and Simon Carter in 2013 the "East Contemporary Art Collection" contains 160 works of art by 115 artists and was formed to make the first public collection of

contemporary art Contemporary art is the art of today, produced in the second half of the 20th century or in the 21st century. Contemporary artists work in a globally influenced, culturally diverse, and technologically advancing world. Their art is a dynamic ...

in the

East of England The East of England is one of the nine official regions of England. This region was created in 1994 and was adopted for statistics purposes from 1999. It includes the ceremonial counties of Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Essex, Hertfordshire, ...

. Artists represented in the collection all have a working connection with the seven east of

counties of

Essex Essex () is a Ceremonial counties of England, county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the Riv ...

Cambridgeshire Cambridgeshire (abbreviated Cambs.) is a county in the East of England, bordering Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the north-east, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfordshire to the south, and Bedfordshire and Northamptonshire to t ...

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (abbreviated Lincs.) is a Counties of England, county in the East Midlands of England, with a long coastline on the North Sea to the east. It borders Norfolk to the south-east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south-we ...

Bedfordshire Bedfordshire (; abbreviated Beds) is a ceremonial county in the East of England. The county has been administered by three unitary authorities, Borough of Bedford, Central Bedfordshire and Borough of Luton, since Bedfordshire County Council ...

and

Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is one of the home counties in southern England. It borders Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire to the north, Essex to the east, Greater London to the south, and Buckinghamshire to the west. For gov ...

and included Maggi Hambling,

Amanda Ansell Amanda Ansell (born 1976) is an English artist. She studied Fine Art at Norwich University of the Arts between 1995 and 1998 and then at the Slade School of Fine Art, University College London from 1998 to 2000. After living in London for sev ...

Susan Gunn Susan Gunn is a British artist. She was born in present-day Greater Manchester, England in 1965, and studied at Norwich University of the Arts where she was awarded a First Class BA Honours in Fine Art Painting in 2004. In 2006 she was awarded ...

, Nicholas Middleton, Justin Partyka,

Anne Schwegmann-Fielding Anne Schwegmann-Fielding (born 1967) is a British sculptor and mosaic artist, who has been producing artworks made from recycled materials since the early 1990s. Schwegmann-Fielding established her studio in Colchester, Essex in 1993, a coup ...

, James Dodds, Linda Ingham,

Stephen Newton Stephen Cox Newton (21 April 1853 – 16 August 1916) was an English cricketer who represented, and captained, Somerset County Cricket Club in the late 19th century. During a 14-year first-class cricket career, he also represented Cambridge ...

and

Mary Webb Mary Gladys Webb (25 March 1881 – 8 October 1927) was an English romance novelist and poet of the early 20th century, whose work is set chiefly in the Shropshire countryside and among Shropshire characters and people whom she knew. Her ...

. The works of art in the collection were all produced after the year 2000 and are designed to be available for public display and as a learning resource for the university and students from the wider educational community.

Sustainability

The university operates as a "Centre for Applied sustainability". An example of its work with sustainability is the Phase 1 campus development which was assessed as

BREEAM BREEAM (Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method), first published by the Building Research Establishment (BRE) in 1990, is the world's longest established method of assessing, rating, and certifying the sustainability of ...

Excellent. This signifies that the development is setting the "best practice in sustainable development". The university is also actively engaged in the New Anglia Local Enterprise Partnership Green Economy Pathfinder.

Student life

Student housing

The on-campus halls of residence, Athena Hall, is located on the Ipswich Waterfront and houses up to 590 students. Athena Hall offers a mixture of cluster flats and studio rooms. There is currently no accredited accommodation for the partner colleges in Bury St Edmunds, Great Yarmouth and Lowestoft.

Union

The Union was formed on 1 August 2007, the same day the university was officially launched. It provides support for its students and looks after their well-being during their studies. The union is the representative of the student body at the management level of the university, and as such its positions are staffed by paid and unpaid students who are based at the Union office in the heart of the campus's East building. The Union also looks after the university social calendar, with multiple events run during the academic weeks and special Freshers weeks at the beginning of each academic year. The president and vice-president of the Union are, subject to a sufficient number of votes, elected every March, and take office for 12 months from July to July, overseeing the totality of one academic year. The candidates come from the student body and must compete in the election campaigns in March/April. There is a current two-year maximum term for the positions. The current president is Daniel Goulborn and the vice-president is Mauro Cardoso, both newly elected for 2020.

Academic profile

As one of the newest universities in the UK, the University of Suffolk does not carry the same level of recognition and reputation as other older universities around the country. As it stands, the university ranks low on national rankings but has made good progress with its worldwide recognition in recent years, bringing in many students from the UK and abroad seeking an education in a fully modern establishment. The university was ranked in the top 10 for Course and Lecturers in the WhatUni Student Choice Awards 2019, which was based on a survey of over 41,000 students nationwide, rising 60 places from the previous year.

Rankings

The University of Suffolk ranked 129 by The Complete University Guide in 2021.

Notable alumni

Leila Lopes Leila Luliana da Costa Vieira Lopes Umenyiora (born 26 February 1986) is an Angolan model and beauty queen best known for having been crowned Miss Universe 2011. She had previously won Miss Angola UK 2010 and Miss Angola 2010. Early life Lop ...

–

Miss Universe 2011 Miss Universe 2011 was the 60th Miss Universe pageant, held at the Credicard Hall in São Paulo, Brazil on September 12, 2011. At the end of the event, Ximena Navarrete of Mexico crowned Leila Lopes of Angola as Miss Universe 2011. It is the ...

References

External links

Official websiteUnionSuffolk New CollegeEast Coast CollegeLEAP
{{authority control University of East Anglia University of Essex Buildings and structures in Ipswich Education in Ipswich Educational institutions established in 2007 2007 establishments in England Universities established in the 21st century