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University of West London

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The University of West London (UWL) is a public research[4] university in the United Kingdom with campuses in Ealing, Brentford, and Reading, Berkshire.

University of West London
Former names
Thames Valley University, Polytechnic of West London, Lady Byron School, Ealing College of Higher Education, Thames Valley College of Higher Education, Queen Charlotte's College of Health Care Studies
TypePublic
Established1992 (as Thames Valley University)
1860 (as the Lady Byron School)
Endowment£1.76 million (2022)[1]
Budget£168.6 million (2021–22)[1]
ChancellorLaurence Geller
(since 1 August 2010)
Vice-ChancellorPeter John
(since 1 July 2017)
Students19,375 HE (2022/23)[2]
Undergraduates15,375 (2022/23)[2]
Postgraduates4,000 (2022/23)[2]
Other students
28,290 FE[3]
Location
Ealing, Brentford, and Reading
,
United Kingdom
Websiteuwl.ac.uk

The university has roots in 1860 when the Lady Byron School was founded, later Ealing College of Higher Education. In 1992, the then-named Polytechnic of West London became a university as Thames Valley University (TVU). 18 years later, after several mergers, acquisitions and campus moves, it was renamed to its current name.[5]

The University of West London comprises nine schools: The Claude Littner Business School, the London Geller College of Hospitality and Tourism, the School of Computing and Engineering, the London College of Music, the College of Nursing, Midwifery and Healthcare, the School of Law, the School of Human and Social Sciences, the School of Biomedical Sciences and the London School of Film, Media and Design.

History

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The University of West London traces its roots back to 1860 when the Lady Byron School was founded at what is now the University of West London's Ealing campus. The school later became Ealing College of Higher Education.

 
Ealing College, founded in 1860 by Lady Byron

The Slough campus was founded in January 1912 as a selective secondary school on William Street. By the 1960s, it had become Slough College of Further Education. In the 1960’s the St Mary’s Road site was known as Ealing Technical College, offering CNAA degrees in law (and others). In the 1980s it became Thames Valley College of Higher Education but was closed in 2011.

In 1991, Ealing College of Higher Education, Thames Valley College of Higher Education, Queen Charlotte's College of Health Care Studies and the London College of Music were merged to become the Polytechnic of West London. Two years later, the polytechnic became a university under the Further and Higher Education Act 1992 and adopted the name Thames Valley University (TVU). In 1994, the university merged with Northwick Park School of Nursing, Riverside College of Nursing and the North West Thames Regional Authority's AIDS unit. In 1995, it merged with the Berkshire College of Nursing and Midwifery.

In 2004, the university merged with Reading College and School of Arts and Design, which had been founded in 1947 as Reading Technical College. Reading College's sites at Kings Road and Crescent Road became TVU sites.

 
Paragon Campus in Brentford (former TVU branding)

In 2009, the university decided to divest itself of its further education courses, together with its Kings Road site that it had inherited from the Reading College and School of Arts and Design. In May 2009, the university announced that it would be closing its Slough campus in 2010 due to the relocation of nursing students, who make up the majority of the student body there, to Reading. Other courses would be moved to one of the university's Greater London campuses.[6] In July 2009, the university was awarded the Queen's Anniversary Prize for outstanding achievement and excellence in hospitality education.

In 2010 the responsibility for further education, along with the Kings Road site, was transferred to a relaunched Reading College. Although some 40 miles west of London, the university retained its other sites in Reading, including the Crescent Road site that also originated with Reading College and the School of Arts and Design.[7][8]

In August 2010, it was announced that the university would change its name to the University of West London, with the Privy Council subsequently granting permission for the change.[5] The university unveiled a new logo in April 2011. Vice-chancellor Peter John stated that the changes reflected the university's development since 1992 and a new focus on its Brentford and Ealing campuses.

In 2015, a £100m expansion of the Ealing campus was completed. This work included new facilities such as a new library, student union and updated teaching facilities - building which was highly unpopular with many of the locals.

In 2019 the university merged with Drama Studio London in Ealing, and in 2021 it merged with Ruskin College, Oxford.

Campuses

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There are two campus sites in western Greater London, located at St Mary's Road, Ealing and Paragon House in Brentford. There is also a third site in Reading, Berkshire, which is some 35 miles (55 km) from the Ealing sites.

 
Walpole House in Ealing, housing the university's administration.

In 2015, the St Mary's Road, Ealing campus underwent a £100m transformation, with a new social area, library, student union, gym and updated facilities. In 2017, a further £1m was invested in the development of the Paragon campus in Brentford and the addition of a nursing simulation centre in the Reading campus.

The Ealing campus is home to The Heathrow Archive, a collection of more than 800 artefacts that tell the story of Heathrow Airport's history from 1946 to 2016.

Organisation

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The University of West London comprises nine schools: The Claude Littner Business School, the London Geller College of Hospitality and Tourism, the School of Computing and Engineering, the London College of Music, the College of Nursing, Midwifery and Healthcare, the School of Law, the School of Human and Social Sciences, the School of Biomedical Sciences, and the London School of Film, Media and Design.[9]

The Graduate School[10] (based in Ealing) coordinates and provides support to research activities[11] and research degree courses. The University offers traditional PhD programmes and Professional Doctorates.

The university also works with the Met Film School, a private film school that is based at Ealing Studios in London, United Kingdom.[12] The school, which launched in 2003, offers two and three-year bachelor's programmes as well as various master's degree programmes, which are accredited through the University of West London.

Academic reputation

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Academic rankings

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Rankings
National rankings
Complete (2025)[13]58=
Guardian (2025)[14]30
Times / Sunday Times (2025)[15]57=
Global rankings
THE (2025)[16]1001–1200

The new Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide 2018 rankings placed the University of West London in 56th place nationally on 24 September 2017, thus putting UWL in the top half of UK universities. On 5 September 2020, The University of West London was ranked 34th best university (out of 130+ institutions) in the UK by the 2021 edition of the Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide.

In the 2015 edition of the major rankings of British universities the university was placed 97th out of 116 in The Guardian university guide,[17] and in 2017 the University had risen to the position of 58th.[18] By 2021, the university had risen to 34th[19] and the university was named the top modern university in London in The Guardian University Guide 2022.

The University of West London (UWL) is ranked 801-1000 in the Times Higher Education Impact Rankings 2024 that evaluates universities worldwide based on their contributions to the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). As such, within specific Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), UWL achieved the following rankings: 101-200 for Reduced Inequalities (SDG 10), 301-400 for Responsible Consumption and Production (SDG 12), and 801-1000 for both Good Health and Well-being (SDG 3) and Partnerships for the Goals (SDG 17).

 
A lecture at the University of West London, Ealing Campus

The University of West London has recorded the best results of any university in Greater London in the annual National Student Survey (NSS) in 2016, with students' responses showing it to be the best University in Greater London for student satisfaction.[20] In the NSS 2016, there were 100 per cent overall satisfaction rates for nine courses across the University's eight schools, ranging from Midwifery to Business Studies and Music Technology to Hospitality Management. Among these 100 per cent overall satisfaction rates, the University recorded the best overall satisfaction rates in the UK for Civil Engineering and Building courses in the NSS 2016.[20] In 2021, UWL was named the university of the year for student experience in The Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide.[21]

Teaching standards

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In 2009, the university was the only university to win the Queen's Anniversary Prize for outstanding achievement and excellence in hospitality education – and it regularly wins awards from major industry bodies.[22] University of West London Careers and Employment Service is a member of the Association of Graduate Careers Advisory Services and has previously been awarded the Matrix Standard for Quality.[22]

Student life

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The new UWL Students' Union, opened in 2013

Students' Union

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The University of West London Students' Union (UWLSU) is the recognised student organisation of the University of West London. It was ranked Number 1 in London and Number 3 in the UK for the NSS for the last 5 years. UWLSU is affiliated with the National Union of Students.

The union has the ground floor of the North Building at the St. Mary's Road campus and is home to their cafe - Coffee Union and their social space - Freddie's. The Sports Centre is also located on the Park Road entrance of the St. Mary's Road campus which is open exclusively to UWL staff, students, alumni, and residents that live within the local area. The union also have a space on the second floor at the Paragon campus and a third space on the 9th floor at the Reading campus.

The union aims to bring students academic advice and advocacy support, events, ways to take up new activities, and sports, and a place to socialise. With the course representative programme run by their Student Voice team, students can apply to be a course or school representative to help advocate for academic change.

Student accommodation

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The University of West London Campus at St Mary's Road, Ealing.

Before 2006, the university operated halls of residence only at the Reading campus, although several private houses in the Ealing area were rented by the university and allocated to students studying there. In September 2006 the university began to offer halls of residence accommodation to students from the Ealing and Slough campuses at a student and keyworker accommodation site named Paragon. The site won the 'Major Housing Project of the Year' category at the 2007 Building Awards, and is in Brentford, approximately two miles 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 serves as a 130,000 sq ft (12,000 m2) academic facility for the university's human sciences facility. The student accommodation at Paragon had been criticised by its residents for being too expensive, costing the highest of all Greater London universities' halls of residence along with SOAS in the 2007–2008 year. TVU defended the costs, asserting that the halls are of an especially high standard.[23]

In 2020, Notting Hill Genesis, the company that owned the Paragon student lets site, controversially closed the entire student halls of residence[24] due to fire safety concerns, asking students to immediately evacuate. Students were moved to temporary housing in nearby Wembley whilst the university found suitable housing. Accommodation for students at UWL now varies from shared housing to student lets in Ealing, Acton and the surrounding area.[25]

Controversies

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In the mid-1990s, its high-profile vice-chancellor, Mike Fitzgerald, ushered through a networked "New Learning Environment" for undergraduate students, involving a shift to online delivery and assessment. The NLE was discontinued in this form, and Fitzgerald resigned in 1998 following a negative Quality Assurance Agency report stating there were "significant management failures" in the delivery of this model.[26] The University suffered severe financial shortfalls in the years that followed.

Notable people

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Alumni

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In politics

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Freddie Mercury, lead vocalist of the band Queen, was a student in the 1960s.

In the media, music and film industry

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Several alumni at the University of West London are world-famous artists, musicians, Oscar nominees and winners:

Business and other media

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Staff

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See also: Category:Academics of the University of West London

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b "Annual Reports and Financial Statements for the University of West London Group" (PDF). uwl.ac.uk. Retrieved 13 February 2023.
  2. ^ a b c "Where do HE students study?". Higher Education Statistics Agency. Retrieved 23 September 2024.
  3. ^ "Table 0a – All students by institution, mode of study, level of study, gender and domicile 2006/07" (Microsoft Excel spreadsheet). Higher Education Statistics Agency. Retrieved 12 April 2008.
  4. ^ "Research". University of West London. Retrieved 5 November 2022.
  5. ^ a b "University set to get new name". Press Association. UK. 3 August 2010. Retrieved 3 August 2010.[dead link]
  6. ^ "News & events". Archived from the original on 17 August 2009. Retrieved 16 July 2015.
  7. ^ "About Reading College". Reading College. Archived from the original on 17 August 2010. Retrieved 23 August 2010.
  8. ^ Hewitt, Adam (31 December 2009). "Oxford college 'preferred bidder' for TVU". Reading Chronicle. Berkshire Media Group. Archived from the original on 16 July 2011. Retrieved 23 August 2010.
  9. ^ "Our Academic Schools | University of West London".
  10. ^ "TVU: Graduate School". Archived from the original on 22 February 2007. Retrieved 27 March 2007.
  11. ^ "TVU: Research". Archived from the original on 7 March 2007. Retrieved 27 March 2007.
  12. ^ Rosser, Michael (25 June 2013). "Met Film School: starter for 10". Screen Daily. Retrieved 1 November 2014.
  13. ^ "Complete University Guide 2025". The Complete University Guide. 14 May 2024.
  14. ^ "Guardian University Guide 2025". The Guardian. 7 September 2024.
  15. ^ "Good University Guide 2025". The Times. 20 September 2024.
  16. ^ "THE World University Rankings 2025". Times Higher Education. 9 October 2024.
  17. ^ "University league table 2015 - the complete list". The Guardian. London. 2 June 2014.
  18. ^ "University league tables 2017". The Guardian. 23 May 2013. Retrieved 23 May 2016.
  19. ^ "The Guardian University Guide 2022 – the rankings". The Guardian. 11 September 2021. Retrieved 16 November 2021.
  20. ^ a b UWL News. "University of West London number one in London for student satisfaction | University of West London". www.uwl.ac.uk. Archived from the original on 26 September 2017. Retrieved 18 September 2016.
  21. ^ Thomas, Zoe (20 September 2020). "Lincoln and West London: a study in reinvention". The Times. ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved 16 November 2021.
  22. ^ a b c "University of West London". Retrieved 16 July 2015.
  23. ^ Proctor, Lucy "TVU halls leave students broke"[permanent dead link]. Ealing Gazette, 2 November 2007 (retrieved on 18–11–07)
  24. ^ "Information for Paragon residents". Notting Hill Genesis. 13 October 2021. Retrieved 16 November 2021.
  25. ^ "Accommodation". University of West London. Retrieved 16 November 2021.
  26. ^ Webster, 2000
  27. ^ "4. Freddie studied at Ealing Art College, where his contemporaries included Peter Townshend and Ronnie Wood. It was here that he started thinking about pursuing a career in music". Odd Stuff Magazine. Retrieved 16 July 2015.
  28. ^ Mokoena, Tshepo (5 March 2019). "Little Simz Turned Confusion into Her Bravest Work So Far". www.vice.com. Retrieved 6 March 2022.
  29. ^ "Graduate Rebecca honoured for film The Silent Child". Ealing Times. 6 March 2018.
  30. ^ Morris, Aaron (8 February 2022). "Meet the members of Sam Fender's backing band as they appear at Brit Awards". ChronicleLive. Retrieved 6 March 2022.
  31. ^ "HLT Company Profile & Executives - Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc. - Wall Street Journal".
  32. ^ "News & events". Retrieved 16 July 2015.
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