THAMES VALLEY UNIVERSITY

'Thames Valley University' ('TVU') is a British university based on campuses in Slough, Reading and Ealing, all in the Thames Valley area west of London.

Contents

History

Student accomodation

Organisation

Controversy

Academic Reputation

Notable alumni

Notable staff

External link

See also

References

History

Originally founded in 1860 as 'Lady Byron School', the former 'Ealing College of Higher Education' became a university in 1992, merging with 'Slough Technical College' and the 'London College of Music', which relocated from central London.
In 2004, TVU (then based at Ealing and Slough) merged with 'Reading College and School of Arts & Design' to form a university that is very large by UK standards; since then a major rebranding has taken place. As a university, TVU is unconventional. It appeals almost exclusively to a West London and Thames Valley student body, with many students commuting from home. It offers a variety of professional training courses unavailable elsewhere. Some 45% of students come from non-white ethnic groups, and 60% study part-time (Guardian 2006).

Student accomodation

As of September 2006, TVU offers its students at the Ealing and Slough campuses halls of residence accommodation on a student and keyworker accommodation site named 'Paragon', which won the 'Major Housing Project of the Year' category at the 2007 Building awards. The site is located in Brentford, approximately a mile away from the Ealing campus.
Paragon is home to the tallest building to be completed using Modern Methods of Construction (MMC) in the UK, which when opened will serve as a 130,000 sq ft academic facility for the university's human sciences facility.

Organisation

TVU currently comprises four Faculties: the Faculty of the Arts (FOTA), formerly the London College of Music and Media, and now incorporating the London College of Music, relaunched in March 2007; the Faculty of Professional Studies; the Faculty of Health and Human Sciences; and the Faculty of Technology. There is also a 14-19 Academy, based at Reading and structured as a department of the University,^[2] offering predominantly GCSE and A level courses. Finally, the Graduate School^[3] (based in Ealing) co-ordinates and provides support to research activities^[4] and research degree courses.
The university's students are represented by Thames Valley University Students' Union.

Controversy

The University has weathered several storms in its short life. In the mid-1990s its high-profile Vice-Chancellor, Mike Fitzgerald, ushered through a new networked "New Learning Environment" for undergraduate students, involving a shift to online delivery and asessment. The NLE did not last in that form, and in 1998 Fitzgerald resigned following a negative Quality Assurance Agency report (QAA 1998) that cited serious management failures in the delivery of this model (Webster 2000).
By 2003 the QAA report on the University had returned a much more positive verdict [1], repeated in 2005 ^[5]. The NLE has now become a VLE (virtual learning environment) with a "blended e-learning" approach to teaching. In 2006 admissions were down and the University has consistently struggled to meet financial targets. Lower admissions in 2006 were evident across the HE sector following the introduction of tuition fees^[6]
An article in The Guardian newspaper has recently stated that Thames Valley University is one of three Universities currently considered "at risk" as a result of financial difficulties. The names of these universities have not been officially released.^[7]. The names of 46 other Universities that had been on this list between 1998 and 2003 have been officially announced. Most of these Universities have apparently recovered from their difficulties.

Academic Reputation

In newspaper league tables of British universities, TVU is currently placed 112 out of 130 in The Guardian university guide (2008) ^[8] and 110 out of 119 in the The Sunday Times university rankings (2006)^[9]

Notable alumni

★ Jason Kay — musician, member of Jamiroquai

★ Freddie Mercury — musician, member of Queen

★ Ray Davies — musician, member of The Kinks

★ Ron Wood — musician, member of The Rolling Stones,The Faces

★ Peter Townshend — musician, member of The Who

★ Robert Voegeli — American musician, member of The Goldhawks, Panic

★ Matt Tong - musician, member of Bloc Party

Notable staff

★ Former staff include Prof. Tim Lang of City University, a national expert on food issues, who was the UK's first Professor of Food Policy at TVU from 1994-2002.

★ Pip Williams - a course leader teaching music technology at Thames Valley University, Ealing. Philip (Pip) Williams, (born October 7, 1947) is a record producer, arranger and guitarist, best known for producing albums for Status Quo and The Moody Blues.

★ The composer Francis Pott is Head of Composition and Research Development in the Faculty of the Arts.

★ The composer Andrew McBirnie is Chief Examiner in Music for London College of Music Examinations.

★ Mike Howlett is a teacher of music technology at the university, who previously performed with the bands Gong and Strontium 90, and produced many New Wave acts in the 1970s and 1980s.

External link

★ TVU website

See also

★ Ealing Art College

References

1. Table 0a - All students by institution, mode of study, level of study, gender and domicile 2005/06
2. TVU: Sixth Form Academy
3. TVU: Graduate School
4. TVU: Research
5. http://www.qaa.ac.uk/reviews/reports/institutional/ThamesValley06/findings.asp
6. Guardian
7. http://education.guardian.co.uk/higher/news/story/0,,2120902,00.html
8. http://browse.guardian.co.uk/education?Institution=Thames+Valley
9. http://extras.timesonline.co.uk/stug2006/stug2006.pdf


★ QAA (1998). Special Review of Thames Valley University. The Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education, 9/11/1998.

★ University profiles: Thames Valley University

★ Integrating hard and soft technologies in HE: The new learning environment at Thames Valley University