University of Brighton

HISTORY

The University of Brighton is a public university based on five campuses in Brighton, Eastbourne and Hastings on the south coast of England. Its roots can be traced back to 1858 when the Brighton School of Art was opened in the Royal Pavilion and it achieved university status in 1992.

The university focuses on professional education, with the majority of degrees awarded also recognised by professional organisations or leading to professional qualifications. Subjects include pharmacy, engineering, computing, mathematics, architecture, geology, nursing, teaching, sport science, journalism, criminology and business.

The Municipal School of Science and Technology opened in Brighton in 1897 with 600 enrolled students. In the 1960s new buildings were constructed in Moulsecoomb for what had become the Brighton College of Technology. In 1970 the School of Art and Brighton College of Technology merged to form Brighton Polytechnic.

In 1976 the Brighton College of Education (the teacher training college) merges with Brighton Polytechnic, giving the polytechnic a campus at Falmer. It had opened in 1909 as the Municipal Day Training College in Richmond Terrace, Brighton. There was a further merger in 1979, when the East Sussex College of Higher Education merged with the polytechnic, creating a campus in Eastbourne. That institution had opened in London in 1898 as an institution training women and girls in physical education and moved to Eastbourne in 1949.

The polytechnics were granted university status in 1992 and the polytechnic became the University of Brighton under the provisions of the Further and Higher Education Act, 1992.

In 1994 the Sussex and Kent Institute of Nursing and Midwifery became part of the university, increasing the number of students based in Eastbourne. In 2003 the Brighton and Sussex Medical School opened as a partnership between the University of Brighton, the University of Sussex and the Universities Hospitals Trust, the first medical school in South East England outside London. University Centre Hastings is opened in 2004, managed by the University of Brighton.

In 2011 the Brighton International College, part of Kaplan International Colleges, opened on the Brighton campus, to provide international students with English language courses and preparatory academic tuition for undergraduate and postgraduate courses.

COURSES

From 2014 the university has grouped schools into three academic areas.

• College of Arts and Humanities
• College of Life, Health and Physical Sciences
• College of Social Sciences (Brighton Business School, School of Applied Social Science, School of Education, School of Sport and Service Management, Centre for Learning and Teaching)

ENTRY REQUIREMENTS

Entry requirements vary. Specific entry requirements for each course can be found on the University of Brighton website.

The minimum qualifications the students need to apply to the University of Brighton are two A levels and at least three GCSEs (must include mathematics and English) at a minimum grade C.

The university also accepts students with BTEC qualifications and those who have passed QAA-approved access courses.

The university operates a flexible admissions policy where applications are considered on merit. This means that when assessing students’ potential, their exam grades are considered alongside a range of other factors, such as family background, work experience and personal circumstances

ACADEMIC STRENGTHS

Brighton has been recognised for producing research of ‘world-leading quality’ which has ‘outstanding impact’ by the Research Excellence Framework 2014 (REF).

92% of research is rated as being world-leading or internationally excellent in terms of the impact it makes (REF 2014).

Over the past five years, the university has invested £8.8 million in research initiatives.

TEACHING STANDARDS

Over 50 professional bodies accredit the university’s courses including ACCA, the Health Professions Council, the Chartered Institute of Personnel Development, the British Computer Society, the Institutions of Civil, Electrical, Mechanical and Structural Engineers, RIBA, the Chartered Institute of Marketing, the Chartered Management Institute and the Nursing and Midwifery Council.

In the 2015 National Student Survey (NSS) 83% of final-year students said they were satisfied with their courses.

Brighton is one of the UK’s largest teacher training universities, and its Initial Teacher Education provision was rated ‘outstanding’ by Ofsted.

In 2015 the Brighton Students Union Excellence Awards received over 400 nominations from students wanting to acknowledge the contribution of academic and support staff.

CAREERS GUIDANCE

Careers counsellors are available to give practical help with CVs, job applications and preparing for interviews.

Practical careers guidance is complemented by the university’s career-focused approach to learning. Students benefit from opportunities throughout their course to build real-world experience and transferable skills through project work and placements.