Although it was granted university status as recently as 1992, this new university has earned an enviable reputation for academic excellence Sited in Britain’s picturesque midlands region and granted university status as recently as 1992, the University of Wolverhampton (UoW) has quickly earned an enviable reputation in the international higher education market for its contemporary hi-tech learning facilities, teaching innovations and academic excellence. Spread across four campuses, this new university, which recently inaugurated its South Asia regional office in Delhi, boasts an enrollment of 23,000 including 3,000 international students. It was the first varsity in the UK to be awarded the Charter Mark for excellence in customer service. Although UoW was designated a university in 1992, its origin can be traced back to the promotion of the Wolverhampton and Staffordshire Technical College in 1931. In 1969 this technical college was merged with the local College of Art to form Wolverhampton Polytechnic, which in 1992 became the University of Wolverhampton. Since grant of university status, UoW has invested millions of pounds in providing some of the most state-of-the-art learning and student facilities in Britain. In 1994 it inaugurated a multi-million pound campus in Telford and two years later the Wolverhampton Science Park in partnership with the Wolverhampton Council. In 1997, two hi-tech learning centres in Telford and Wolverhampton offering the most advanced facilities to students and staff were promoted. And in 2000 the university management announced its most ambitious plan — a £60 million (Rs.4,560 crore) seven-year building programme “to create some of the most modern facilities in UK higher education”. Comments Prof. Caroline Gipps, vice chancellor of UoW: “Wolverhampton is a first-class regional university with a strong widening access agenda, high-quality teaching and learning provision, well-established links with key players in the regional economy and wonderful new buildings. I look forward to leading the university into the next stage of development and helping it gain the national recognition it so richly deserves.” Adds Pragyat Singh, the Delhi-based South Asia representative of UoW: “Wolverhampton offers several advantages over London University. Among them: 20-25 percent lower tuition fee and 40-50 percent savings in terms of residential accommodation.” Wolverhampton. A 20-minute rail journey from Birmingham, Britain’s second largest city, Wolverhampton or ‘the high town on the hill’ as it’s historically known, is a well-developed city of 250,000 people (including a large south Asian population). Sited in the scenic west midlands, Wolverhampton is surrounded by the picturesque Shropshire and Staffordshire country-side, historic houses and an extensive leisure canal network. Strategically located at the heart of the motorway and rail networks, Wolverhampton is within easy reach of London and boasts an excellent public transportation network, ranging from the Midland Metro to city centre cycle lanes. Campus facilities. UoW is spread across four campuses (City, Crompton, Telford and Walsall) in the west midlands. The main City campus is sited in the heart of Wolverhampton and is home to the Millennium City Building, which contains state-of-the-art psychology laboratories, a hi-tech 300-seat lecture theatre, food court and social learning spaces. The…
University of Wolverhampton, UK
EducationWorld May 06 | EducationWorld