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Birkbeck, University of London
Birkbeck, University of London
Birkbeck is London’s only specialist provider of evening higher education. In 2006, the college was awarded a prestigious Queen’s Anniversary Prize for excellence in higher education research.
More than 80 percent of all research carried out at Birkbeck has been rated as being of international importance. The college recently surpassed universities such as Oxford, Cambridge, Imperial to become the top higher education institution in a league table of research funding success.
The College encourages applications from students without traditional qualifications and there are a wide range of programmes to suit every entry level. Over 95 percent of students are part-time and more than one in four students identify themselves as coming from an ethnic minority.
Quick facts:
- Over 19,000 students; more than 2,000 staff and lecturers; income of £67 million
- Courses for all levels, ranging from short introductory courses to full-time PhD degrees.
- Notable alumni include current Economic Secretary to the Treasury, Kitty Ussher MP; the first British astronaut, Helen Sharman; former British Prime Minister, Ramsay McDonald.
Contact details
Birkbeck, University of London
Malet Street
Bloomsbury
London, WC1E 7HX
Tel: +44 (0)20 7631 6000
Email: info@bbk.ac.uk
Web: www.bbk.ac.uk
**This profile is part of a series which forms a directory of London’s universities. You can read more university profiles here as they are published.**
Video: Birkbeck, University of London
The BFI IMAX. The cinema screen is more than 20 metres high (that's nearly the height of five double-decker buses!)
Sitting on the south bank of the River Thames under Waterloo Bridge, the British Film Institute (BFI) is a vast entertainment complex containing cinemas, a major film and TV library containing 46,000 books and an IMAX cinema screen – the largest in the UK.
It is also the place to visit if you want to watch a free film via their Mediatheque service. The Mediatheque allows you to watch films contained in the BFI’s vast film and TV archive. Using the Mediatheque is easy, you can simply turn up on the day, or book a viewing session in advance, and log-on at a viewing station.
To help you with your selection, films are clustered into themes such as London Calling which contains over 100 titles, enabling you to explore the city’s past and present through rarely seen film footage. The Mediatheque also contains classic British films such as The 39 Steps, Brief Encounter and Saturday Night and Sunday Morning.
It’s a perfect place to visit for inspiration.
Kevin – www.studylondon.ac.uk
Marta Rabikowska (centre), leading the research
The University of East London and Queen Mary, University of London have been awarded £125,000 by the Leverhulme Trust to fund a two-year project on the health of immigrants living in London.
The project will investigate the types of healthcare different ethnic minority groups living in London receive, including those in the Indian, Nigerian and Polish communities. The study will use filmed interviews to document how migrants from the three countries keep healthy and treat illness, including how traditional knowledge and practices may have changed since they first arrived in the UK.
It is hoped that the research will help doctors and other healthcare professionals to recognise the importance of culture when they treat different ethnic groups.
Kevin – www.studylondon.ac.uk
Tim Hunter collects his cheque
University of East London (UEL) student, Tim Hunter, has won £10,000 to start up his own business.
Tim, who is studying a physiology research degree, has created an innovative tool, called ‘Rehab Compass’, to help patients on home therapy programmes. He was one of eight finalists chosen to present their enterprising ideas at the E-Factor Business Plan Competition.
E-Factor is an annual event sponsored by Tate & Lyle and London City Airport which offers enterprising students from UEL the opportunity to win a £10,000 business start-up grant to transform their business concept into a fully operational company. In addition, students get a year’s free mentoring from an industry professional and a year’s tenancy at HotHatch, a hotdesking facility at UEL’s Knowledge Dock Business Centre.
Tim will develop his concept in the coming year, using trade conferences and targeting trade magazines to forge industry partnerships and turn his ideas into reality.
Kevin – www.studylondon.ac.uk
Video: E-Factor Business Plan Competition
University of Westminster
University of Westminster
The University of Westminster’s scholarship programme is the largest of its kind in the UK, with £4.3 million being awarded annually to over 500 students and the University won the Times Higher Education Award for Outstanding Support for Overseas Students in 2005.
The University is committed to innovation, research and creativity. Central to this is an increasing investment in, and focus on, innovative research. This includes the appointment of Professor Richard Owen, head of the Environment and Human Health Programme at the UK Environment Agency, to lead a new study into nanoparticles. The University will also be imbedding ‘green thinking’ in all it does – from the way that it heats its buildings to the structure of its courses.
The University has recently invested heavily in its teaching and residential buildings. After the recent completion of a ten-year £130 million renewal of its four sites.
The University’s Marylebone site is home to a vast new underground exhibition space for the creative industries, called P3. Since opening in 2007, it has already hosted the opening of London Fashion Week, Architecture Week and a range of student degree shows.
Westminster has nine top-rated subjects for teaching with a strong performance in languages. There are four internationally renowned research centres in law, linguistics,
Asian studies and media studies which are unique in the modern university sector.
Quick facts:
- More than 22,000 students; over 800 academic staff; income of £146 million.
- A wide range of degrees, including Masters, research, professional programmes and short courses, part-time and evening study.
- Notable alumni include Burberry’s creative director Christopher Bailey; architect and founder of charity Architecture for Humanity, Cameron Sinclair; fashion designer Vivienne Westwood.
Contact details
University of Westminster
309 Regent Street
London, W1B 2UW
Tel: +44 (0)20 7911 5000
Email: course-enquiries@westminster.ac.uk
Web: www.westminster.ac.uk
**This profile is part of a series which forms a directory of London’s universities. You can read more university profiles here as they are published.**
Video
The University of Greenwich has won funding worth £200,000 to conduct research that will help improve financial services for some of the world’s poorest people.
The City of London, a world-leader for financial services
The initiative will focus on microfinance, which helps people in developing countries to climb out of poverty by allowing them to save safely, insure against risks and fund small businesses.
Researchers will study microfinance systems in Peru, India and Tanzania, focusing on how people and organisations collaborate.
Once the project is complete, researchers at Greenwich will make recommendations to improve the stability of this vital financial service.
Simon – www.studylondon.ac.uk
University of London
University of London
The University of London is a federation of 19 internationally renowned, self-governing Colleges and a central University which includes:
The School of Advanced Study, which is made up of 10 prestigious postgraduate research institutes which cover a wide range of subject fields in the humanities and social sciences. The 10 institutes are the Institutes of: Advanced Legal Studies; Classical Studies; Commonwealth Studies; English Studies; Germanic & Romance Studies; Historical Research; Musical Research; Philosophy; Study of the Americas; and the Warburg Institute.
Contact details
The School of Advanced Study
Senate House
Malet Street
London, WC1E 7HU
Tel: +44 (0)20 7862 8659
Email: school@sas.ac.uk
Web: www.sas.ac.uk
The External System offers students the opportunity of obtaining a University of London degree through distance learning. Currently 41,000 students in 180 countries participate in more than 100 study programmes ranging from social sciences to law to health. Notable Alumni include five Nobel Prize winners: Sir Frederick Gowland Hopkins; Ronald Coase; Wole Soyinka; Derek Walcott; and Nelson Mandela.
Contact details
External Programme
Senate House,
Malet Street
London, WC1E 7HU
Tel: +44 (0)20 7862 8398
Email: enquiries@london.ac.uk
Web: www.londonexternal.ac.uk
**This profile is part of a series which forms a directory of London’s universities. You can read more university profiles here as they are published.**
Goldsmiths, University of London has joined TIGA, the leading UK computer games trade association, to pave the way for collaborative research opportunities and boost student employment prospects.
(source: London Games Festival)
Students from the MSc in Computer Games and Entertainment at Goldsmiths will work with leading industry professionals, ensuring their CV is equipped with the latest skills, from maths and graphics to team management and entrepreneurship.
The partnership will also ensure the UK’s computer games industry builds on its position as the world’s third largest producer of computer games.
Whether students become programmers or 3D animators, upon graduating they can pursue careers with the giants of the computer game industry including EA, THQ Sony and Microsoft.
Simon – www.studylondon.ac.uk
University of Greenwich
University of Greenwich
The University of Greenwich has three campuses – Avery Hill, in the south-east London district of Eltham; Greenwich; and Medway, at Chatham Maritime, Kent.
Greenwich also has a site at Folkestone shared with Canterbury Christ Church University and is custodian of 16 buildings that have been listed by English Heritage as having special architectural or historic interest.
The university offers research expertise, technology transfer, business advice and staff training, working in partnership with business, industry, government and public bodies.
Quick facts:
- 23,850 students; approximately 660 academic staff; income of £134 million.
- Over 1,400 courses at Undergraduate and postgraduate levels.
- Notable alumni include engineer and inventor of fibre optics, Charles Kao; 800 metre gold medal winning Olympic athlete, Ann Packer MBE; and Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for International Development Gareth Thomas MP.
Contact details
University of Greenwich
Old Royal Naval College
Park Row
Greenwich
London, SE10 9LS
Tel: +44 (0)20 8331 8000
Email: international@greenwich.ac.uk
Web: www.gre.ac.uk
**This profile is part of a series which forms a directory of London’s universities. You can read more university profiles here as they are published.**
Video: University of Greenwich
Imperial College London
Imperial College London’s new £2 million geochemistry laboratories will help tackle climate change, combat pollution and develop a deeper understanding of Parkinson’s disease.
The Mass Spectrometry and Isotope Geochemistry (MAGIC) facilities boast a newly refurbished geochemistry laboratory, the latest equipment to analyse the chemical content of materials, and a large clean room facility.
Students using the new laboratories will investigate the chemical content of materials to further our understanding of humans, our environment, the Earth and the solar system.
Simon – www.studylondon.ac.uk
“London is a city where different cultures and thoughts meet. Living in this city, I never feel bored.
