Keele University is a British university located by the village of Keele just outside Newcastle-under-Lyme in north Staffordshire. (Stoke-on-Trent is the nearest city). The University is the only one in the UK to be associated with a village.
The current Vice-Chancellor is the leading sociologist, Professor Janet Finch .
History
Established in 1949 as the University College of North Staffordshire on land bought from the Sneyd family , it became University of Keele in 1962. This remains the official name, though Keele University is now the name used by the university itself.
Campus
Keele is the largest Campus university in Europe, with a 617 acre (2.5 km²) estate, but is relatively small in terms of student numbers, with 7,500 full-time students currently attending, although the university is currently expanding its numbers.
Keele's campus also hosts award winning science and business parks and conference centres, as well as housing more of its students than any other UK university (70%).
There are several halls of residence. Barnes, Lindsay, Horwood and the newer Oaks and Holly Cross being located on the campus itself, while The Hawthorns is just outside the university gates in Keele village itself.
Departments
Though Keele has traditionally been regarded well for its sciences and social sciences, the University has built on its growing reputation in the field of health by opening a medical school in 2002. Among its strongest departments are Law (5* RAE) and American Studies, Engineering, Applied Mathematics and its innovative, inter-disciplinary School of Politics, Philosophy, International Relations and the Environment (SPIRE).
Dual honours system
Founded to "promote interdisciplinary and multi-disciplinary scholarship", Keele emphasises "the strength of a broad educational programme"; The Guardian confirms that Keele "is committed to breadth of study" and "pioneered the breaking down of barriers between arts and sciences" [1]. In the UK university system, where students often specialise in one subject only, Keele's dual honours system is one of the country's broadest, enabling its students to study, for example, two subjects as far apart as English and Physics. Unusually for English universities, Keele also offers a four-year course, including a Foundation Year in which a general course of lectures on all subjects is followed, together with more in-depth study of subjects of interest to the student. Students can then follow a degree based on two majors, subject only to timetabling restrictions. Ninety per cent of students at Keele do opt to study more than one subject.
The Foundation Year option also allows mature students, or those without traditional qualifications to follow an access course in that first year. Keele is proud of the high percentage of its students from non-traditional backgrounds.
Famous alumni
External links
Last updated: 08-23-2005 10:01:46
