Our university has come a long way in a short amount of time and we currently have over 17,000 students of which 1,500 are international students from around 130 countries.
We have a strong professional orientation with a focus on academic excellence and graduate employability. By way of illustration, we are recognized as the only Centre for Excellence in Media Practice in the UK and graduates from the National Centre for Computer Animation have worked in Hollywood on such films as Lord of the Rings, Gladiator, Star Wars, Madagascar and King Kong. Areas of research expertise include forensic archaeology and crime scene science where, for example, staff is currently investigating genocide in Iraq, Bosnia and Rwanda and the implications of unearthing 40,000 year old human footprints in central Mexico.
Location and Facilities
Bournemouth University is at the heart of the largest non-industrial conurbation in Europe. It is in a wonderful location sandwiched between the UK's newest National Park, best beaches and largest natural harbor. It is home to a major financial services sector (JP Morgan Chase, Nationwide Building Society and Liverpool Victoria among others) as well as having the largest concentration of language schools outside London and many national headquarters including the Royal National Lifeboat Institution and Sun seeker International.
Bournemouth is world renowned as an international conference centre, and plays host to major academic, professional and of course, political conferences. It also offers one of the largest exhibition and entertainment venues on the south coast.
The university is a powerful player in the economic and cultural life of South West England. We are at the hub of a network of educational, business and local government partners and also played our part in the region's preparations for the 2012 Olympics.
Research
Bournemouth University has an excellent reputation among students, their parents and staff in colleges and schools. However, since my arrival in September 2005 we have been considering what Bournemouth University should be like in the future, to ensure that we strengthen still further this reputation. As a result many exciting changes are now in train. In particular, we are building on our strengths while developing new professionally-relevant areas; investing over 100 million pounds in staff and facilities and reorganising ourselves to ensure that we maintain our traditional focus on academic excellence.
Today, BU is home to over 18,000 students and almost 2,000 staff. We contribute over 1 million pound a day to the local economy, and our research has a global impact. We work with some of the biggest names in the industry, and you can find our alumni in senior positions in organizations across the globe. All this has been achieved from relatively humble beginnings.
The History of BU
Our origins can be traced to the early 20th century, with the foundation of Bournemouth Municipal College. Our modern history began in the early 1970s with the creation of the Bournemouth College of Technology, and the construction of new buildings on the largest farm in Talbot Village - the area now known as our Talbot Campus.
By the time the new buildings were completed, in 1976, the Dorset Education Committee had reviewed the way it provided further and higher education throughout the county. The result was that our name changed again, this time to the Dorset Institute of Higher Education.
In 1990, we successfully met the requirements of the Polytechnics and Colleges Funding Council and became Bournemouth Polytechnic, but that name only lasted a little over two years. Under the Higher & Further Education Act 1992 we finally became Bournemouth University, with an inauguration ceremony on 27 November that year.
As a full university, we were able to validate our own degrees for the first time, and we have grown steadily ever since. Today, we're proud to offer over 150 undergraduate degrees and almost 100 Master's degrees. We conduct world-leading research, and our academic staff are heavily involved in developing professional practice in many different industries.
Awards
QAA
In 2013, we became the first UK University to receive 'commended' status for the quality of our learning opportunities. The status, awarded by the QAA (the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education), recognizes the many ways we provide students with the opportunity to succeed. The QAA looked at the many different ways we support our students, including the quality of teaching they receive, academic support, resources such as libraries and IT facilities, and the general support available.
Queen's Anniversary Prize
In 2012, we were awarded The Queen's Anniversary Prize in recognition of our contribution to world-leading excellence and pioneering development in computer animation. The Queen's Anniversary Prizes are part of the national honors system, and are the most prestigious awards in UK education. The award celebrates our National Centre for Computer Animation (NCCA), based in The Media School, which has been at the forefront of computer animation education and research since 1989.
EcoCampus Gold Award
Our EcoCampus Gold Award demonstrates our commitment to the environment, and acknowledges our environmental practices, procedures and management systems. To achieve the gold standard, we had to demonstrate best practice and compliance in areas including roles and responsibilities, environmental training, communication, documentation, operational control, and emergency preparedness and response. We're now working towards achieving platinum standard.
Vision and Plans
BU2018: Creating, Sharing, Inspiring
Our vision builds on BU's current success to create a distinctive offer based on academic excellence underpinned by service excellence. At the heart is the powerful fusion of research, education and professional practice, creating a unique academic experience where the sum is greater than the component parts. To achieve this we combine inspirational teaching, world-class research and the latest thinking in the professions to create a continuous and fruitful exchange of knowledge that stimulates new ideas, learning and thought-leadership.
You can read more, and see case studies and video clips that illustrate the key concepts and strategic aims, at Vision & Values: BU2018: Creating, Sharing, Inspiring.
Strategic Plan 2012-18
Following the launch of BU's new Vision & Values, BU2018: Creating, Sharing, Inspiring last summer, all staff and students were invited to help us shape the strategies that will support and underpin our vision. The strategies are based around four key themes: Creating, Sharing, Inspiring; Finance; People; and Environment.
The key points of the plan are:
- At the heart of BU will be a powerful fusion of research, education and professional practice, creating a unique academic experience where the sum is greater than the component parts. Fusion will be the key differentiator of BU, and this will inform and shape our marketing strategy.
- We will invest in the delivery of Fusion through the establishment of a 3m pound per annum Fusion Investment Fund. The fund will support a range of practical initiatives that will underpin and deliver Fusion.
- Areas of focus will include encouraging staff and students to work together to co-create and co-produce knowledge and research; driving excellent teaching and pedagogic innovation; improving staff and student mobility and networking; aligning our research themes to societal need; and increasing our share of the de-regulated higher education market (students entering with AAB and above or equivalent at A-level, international and postgraduate students).