University of Derby

University of Derby
Established	1992 - gained University Status 1851 - Teacher Training College)
Endowment	£15.5m [1]
Vice-Chancellor	John Coyne
Students	24,875[2]
Undergraduates	12,275[2]
Postgraduates	2,440[2]
Other students	7,165 FE[2]
Location	Derby, England, UK 52°56′20″N 1°29′47″W / 52.938824°N 1.49648°W / 52.938824; -1.49648Coordinates: 52°56′20″N 1°29′47″W / 52.938824°N 1.49648°W / 52.938824; -1.49648
Campus	Urban
Website	http://www.derby.ac.uk

The University of Derby is a university in the city of Derby, England. The main site is on Kedleston Road, Allestree in the north-west of Derby close to the A38 opposite Markeaton Park. The University also has a campus in Buxton, Derbyshire, known as the Devonshire Campus, a grade II* listed building which dominates the local landscape and has a dome which is over 145 ft (44 m) in diameter, bigger than that of St Paul's Cathedral in London. It was formally opened by Prince Charles in February 2006. A contemporary-styled building for Arts, Design and Technology students on Markeaton Street in Derby was formally opened in early November 2007 by Richard Branson. Courses are also run at the Britannia Mill site in Derby and the Chesterfield Centre for health education.

The University provides nearly 300 study programmes at undergraduate level. Undergraduate programmes as well as short courses, foundation degrees, and postgraduate degrees are generally superintended by individual faculties/research groups and cover most popularly-recognized academic disciplines and subdisciplines. The University's Joint Honours Scheme allows students to combine over 40 subjects from across all four University faculties. Currently the University is home to 21,000 students in all areas of study.

The University offers a variety of resources and facilities to its students, including computing laboratories, a spa (Buxton), two computer games development suites, a life-like hospital teaching environment with robot patients, a well-stocked Learning Resource Centre (opened in 1997) at the Kedleston Road site, a restaurant run by culinary students, a university bus system, conference and/or colloquium settings, multi-functional lecture theatres, art and culture venues, concert venues, recording studios, sport centres, sport halls, fitness suites, outdoor pitches, student union bars and cafes, meditation/prayer rooms, natural/park environments, and frequent exhibitions by local, national and international organisations, businesses and product vendors.

History

University of Derby, main campus.

Early years

Over the years, two dozen bodies have contributed to the university's formation. The first of these was founded in 1851 as the Derby Diocesan Institution for the Training of Schoolmistresses. Albeit under different names so to reflect maturing objectives, the institution flourished as an individual entity for some 120 years before merging with another developing educational artery to help form what was then known as the Derby Lonsdale College of Higher Education, 1977.

The other line of this confluence began in 1853 with the establishment of the Derby School of Art, which in 1870 became the Derby Central School of Art and the Derby Central School of Science. In 1885, the two schools were reformulated into the Derby School of Art and Technical Institution. Less than a decade later however, 1892, three more mergers took place and the institution became the Derby Municipal Technical College.

Kedleston Road

In 1928, the Technical College split into the Derby School of Art and the Derby Technical College. By 1955, the two had become the Derby and District College of Art (opened on 22 September 1966 by Paul Reilly, Director of the Council of Industrial Design), and the Derby and District College of Technology (opened by the Duke of Edinburgh on 15 May 1964), both situated on Kedleston Road, Allestree. The site was formerly Markeaton Golf Course and cost £2.5m, with a foundation stone placed on July 5, 1957 by Lord (Ernest) Hives, a former managing director of Rolls Royce. Opened by the Duke the day before, the 35-acre (140,000 m²) Bishop Lonsdale College in Mickleover was developed for teacher training courses. At the opening ceremony, the Duke said qualities needed by teachers are the dedication of a saint, the patience of a watchmaker, the sympathy of parents, and the leadership of a general. The Duke spent two days in Derby, staying the night nearby at Okeover Hall near Ashbourne as a guest of the Lord Lieutenant of Derbyshire. Half of the places at Mickleover were reserved for C of E trainees and the other half for those with no link to Derby Diocese. The operational split between the two colleges at Kedleston Road was dissolved in 1972 with a mutual initiative for the creation of the Derby College of Art and Technology. Five years afterward, and as previously noted, the described educational lineage married itself with Derby’s diocesan tradition, which had become known institutionally as the Bishop Lonsdale College of Education at Mickleover. There were about 800 students at Mickleover and 1200 at Kedleston Road.

Merger with Mickleover Education College

After the 1977 union and subsequent formation of the Derby Lonsdale College of Higher Education, four other educational institutions would add their respective sector-related talents. In March 1981, the college held its first graduation ceremony with formal academic caps and gowns with only six degrees (out of 156 courses) being ratified by the CNAA. Previous to this, the college's degrees were awarded in a ceremony at the University of Nottingham. The Matlock College of Education, a traditional Church of England teacher training college formed in 1946 at Rockside Hall (now a country hotel), combined with Lonsdale in 1983 to create the Derbyshire College of Higher Education, when the Matlock College was having financial difficulties when funding for teacher training was scaled down when school numbers had dropped. In 1985, this college at Matlock was scaled down significantly and closed in 1986. In 1991 the Southern Derbyshire School of Occupational Therapy united with the college. The Southern Derbyshire School of Radiography did the same in 1992.

Transformation to university

It was also in 1992, via the Further and Higher Education Acts, that the Derbyshire College of Higher Education became the only school of higher education in the country to be upgraded directly to a university.^[3] On 31 October 1992, the T block (science subjects, which lies to the north of the North Tower) was opened by Princess Alice, then the Chancellor of the University. In January 1994, Britannia Mill^[4] (a renovated mill) opened, at a cost of £10m. On 4 March 1994, the B block (business and management subjects, which lies north of the East Tower) was opened by the Conservative MP, Tim Boswell. Later in autumn 1994, the Atrium was built. In November 1997, the Learning Centre was officially opened, having been built on a former car park. The University of Derby was fully invested, and in 1998 welcomed a synthesis of efforts with the High Peak College of Further Education, Buxton on Harpur Hill – a synthesis to eventually be amalgamated as the Devonshire Campus^[5] of the University of Derby Buxton, Derby's second campus. In October 2008, Peregrine Cavendish, 12th Duke of Devonshire was appointed as the third Chancellor of the University.

Faculties

Faculty of Business, Computing and Law

School of Computing

The school supervises undergraduate through doctoral studies in areas that include B.Sc. degrees in computer forensics, security, computer games, networks, the Internet, information technology, software development and computer programming, and Masters degrees and pre-masters courses in advanced computer systems, enterprise computing, computer forensics and security. Short courses in a variety of practical computing subjects are also available. Derby is CISCO accredited and CISCO (CCNA) is an integral part of the BSc (Hons) Computer Networks course.^[6] The school has industry standard game labs and recently had three teams in the final eight of the UK stage of the Imagine Cup.^[7] The school has research specialties in the fields of Artificial Intelligence, Network Security, Software Engineering and strategic information systems.^[8]

School of Law and Criminology

The School of Law and Criminology provides study options in criminology, general law, business law, international law, social and public law, commercial law, arts and media law, and legal studies. There is also the opportunity to pursue the MPhil or PhD degree. The National Student Survey recently rated Derby's law course number one in four categories including overall.^[9] In the latest Guardian Law league table, Derby was joint first in teaching and value added.^[10] However, it is profitable to note that the university as well as many others frequently argue the validity of university rankings. See Criticism of college and university rankings (2007 United States). Notable research holdings include the private papers of Sir Gerald Fitzmaurice and the travaux preparatoires of the Constitution of the Republic of Malawi.^[11][12] The school provides considerable support for pro bono legal work in the community.^[13] Its work in criminology has a similar feel in that it encourages justice and diversity in the Criminal Justice System.

The Derbyshire Business School

The Derbyshire Business School covers accounting, mathematics, management and purchasing. Specific areas therein are available for study at the foundational up to the doctoral level. The school has affiliations with The Association of Business Schools, the European Foundation for Management Development, The Chartered Institute of Marketing, Association of Chartered Certified Accountants, Chartered Institute of Management Accountants, Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply, Institute of Leadership and Management, and The Institute of Mathematics and its Applications.^[14]

Centre for Entrepreneurial Management

The centre offers concentrations within management and entrepreneurship at the certificate, diploma, master and doctoral levels. The centre’s efforts are separated into two distinct wings; Management Development, and Enterprise, with Lifelong Learning awards also offered.The goals of the centre are to stimulate 'the entrepreneurial spirit' thusly transforming individuals and organizations, to engender and disseminate new understanding and practice-based approaches in entrepreneurial management, to generate synergies between management development, leadership, entrepreneurship and innovation, and to lead the Faculty of Business, Computing and Law's relationships with businesses as partners and clients.^[15]

Faculty of Arts, Design and Technology

Markeaton Street, Inner Lawn

School of Humanities

The School of Humanities provides courses in English, American Studies, general humanities, Film and Television Studies, History, Theatre, Creative Writing, Media Studies and Media Production. A full choice of subjects up to research opportunities including (MA incorporating PG Cert/PG Dip) and specialist MPhil and PhD are available. The school has working relationships with US colleges and universities, the publishing industry and practicing writers, cultural institutions such as Derby Museum and Art Gallery, media institutions such as BBC Radio Derby and the Derby Evening Telegraph, heritage sites such as Kedleston Hall, Haddon Hall, Chatsworth and the Derwent Valley Heritage Corridor, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. In 2009, the University bought the lease to Derby Playhouse and renamed it as Derby Theatre. The Theatre Arts degree programme is accommodated in the theatre^[16]

School of Art and Design

Film and Video, Fine Art, Photography, graphic design, Fashion Studies, and Textile design were based at the Britannia Mill site but are now at the Markeaton site. The new site opened for business in September 2007 and comprises new Studio and teaching facilities including two performance auditoria, a TV studio, extensive computing suites and a dedicated Apple Mac Training Centre. Subjects available within the school include MPhil and PhD specialities. Entrepreneurial students have the opportunity to establish themselves through the university’s Banks’ Mill Studios, a building of 38 workspace studios that houses a community of artists, designers and makers that receive subsidised rent, business support, one-to-one mentoring, signposting and a workshop programme.^[17]

School of Technology

Markeaton Street, Inner Lawn Detail

Courses in architectural conservation, construction management, civil engineering, mechanical engineering, manufacturing engineering, electrical engineering, electronics, motorsport technology, music technology, Popular Music, Live Event Technology and product design are taught at the School of Technology. Previously housed at Kedleston Road, the school has now re-located, along with the School of Humanities and the School of Art and Design, to the new £21 million Markeaton site, an eco-friendly and environmentally sustainable site with workshops, auditoria, studios, a student shop, a café, an Apple centre, and a print bureau.^[18][19]

Faculty of Education, Health and Sciences

School of Education

The School of Education provides for the study of FdA, FdSc, BEd, PGCE, MA, Ed.D, and PhD courses. The University's B.Ed (Hons) course is a 3/4 year course, consisting of school placements in mainstream schools and special schools and lectures and workshops on the main University campus. In the first year 9 weeks of school placement are completed of which 4 weeks are a teaching block. In the second year again 9 weeks of placement are completed but this time with a 5 week teaching block, which consists of 80% teaching by the 5th weeks and 3 days solo teaching. In the second year students are able to opt to complete the course in 3 years, this is subject to grades and a formal interview. The 3 year route however, means no specialism. In the 2nd year 1 week is also spent in a special school. In addition to the aforesaid, the school offers several other foundation, undergraduate, professional, and postgraduate options up to the doctoral level including: (MA incorporating PG Cert/PG Dip in Guidance Studies), Graduate Teacher Programme, Online (MA), MA Education (incorporating PG Cert and PG Dip), Education (EdD), MPhil and PhD specialities.

School of Health

Ranging from foundation degrees to doctorate degrees, the School of Health houses many prospects for study; pharmacy, nursing, clinical skills and radiography. The school runs a clinical suite which has radiographic imaging equipment, bone density measuring equipment, six bed training ward, counselling rooms, a clinical treatment room with 20 bays, a video linked anatomical modelling laboratory, a computerised mannequin for simulating complex medical and emergency conditions, and a primary care centre which includes GP consulting rooms. In April 2008 the school won the Partnership With The NHS award.^[20]

School of Science

The School of Science covers biology, chemistry, ecology, forensic science, psychology, geology, and geography. These subject options entail short courses up to doctoral work. The school notes that fieldwork is integral to their courses and that there are opportunities to do fieldwork locally via the Peak District, Derby, Nottingham and the rural areas around them, or overseas via Western Europe, Africa and Asia. Recent awards students have earned include; The Human Kinetic Award, Top Biosciences Student Award, The Best Forensic Project Student Award, The Best Forensic Chemist Student Award, The Usherwood Award, and The Achievement in Biosciences Prize from Oxford University Press.^[21]

Britannia Mill, Mackworth Road

School of Social Care and Therapeutic Practice

This branch of the Faculty of Education, Health & Sciences administers the subjects of Applied Social and Community Studies, Applied Mental Health Studies, Occupational Therapy, Therapeutic Arts, and Complementary Medicines. The range of courses offer the chance to study from the foundation to the doctoral award. The school is active locally, regionally and nationally in areas such as youth justice, asylum and immigration, community development, social inclusion, child protection, crime and policing, alcohol and drug use, bullying and bereavement studies.^[22] The school also operates a complementary therapies clinic which offers, among other things, shiatsu, reflexology, aromatherapy massage, and Swedish massage.^[23]

University of Derby Buxton

Buxton and University Dome.

This campus is located in the Grade II* listed 18th century former stable block, The Devonshire Dome. Housing what was once the worlds largest dome with a diameter of 44.2 metres (145 ft), it was purchased in 2001 as a derelict former hospital, and opened in 2003.

School of Culture and Lifestyle

The School of Culture and Lifestyle supports courses in outdoor activities management, countryside management, culinary arts, tourism, service sector management, spa management, events management, hairdressing and salon management, hospitality management, hotel management, recreation, sports coaching, sports psychology, sports therapy, and martial arts. The school runs a fine dining restaurant called The Dome and has practice and competition kitchens with plasma screens throughout for the demonstration of culinary techniques.^[24] The school offers the only honours course in international Spa Management within the United Kingdom and has recently opened their newly refurbished spa facilities at the Devonshire campus to support the curriculum.^[25] Students also have opportunities to visit spas in Eastern Europe and Malta as part of the programme. Students who have completed A level, BTEC or other similar qualifications can apply to join the programme. On select courses, students can study up to the doctoral level.^[26]

Research

International Centre for Guidance Studies (iCeGS)

iCeGS^[27] is based on the University's Kedleston Road site. The centre specialises in research and professional development activity in the areas of career and career guidance. Much of this research is published through the Centre's Occasional Paper's series which can be viewed online.^[28]

iCeGS also provides a number of learning programmes including Masters in Guidance Studies (e-learning), work-based learning opportunities and doctoral programmes. The Centre also provides the Ask iCeGS information and library service and holds a wide range of books and documents relating to careers and guidance.

iCeGS is led by Dr Tristram Hooley^[29] and includes Tony Watts^[30] and James P Sampson^[31] as visiting Professors.

Biological Sciences Research Group

The Biological Sciences Research Group maintains many national and international connections and is interdisciplinary in scope and method. Current research interest are: cryopreservation for plant conservation, comparative DNA analysis for evolutionary studies, biomedical research, nuptial feeding in insects, toxic metals and biota interactions, aquatic microbial ecology, forensics, and vascular plants. The research group supervises master and doctoral courses.

Centre for Psychological Research in Human Behaviour

Owning a developed national and international network and as a focal underpinning of taught undergraduate and postgraduate studies, the centre produces research in varied areas including; facial imaging scales for medical anxiety, life event exposure, sensation seeking and personality, modelling, learning, rule discovery, vocabulary acquisition, cognition, constructivity, distress prediction, postnatal perineal morbidity, memory, recall, speech, neurology, hypnotherapy, research methods, diversity, object assembly, and behaviour. MPhil/PhD programmes are available.

Community Regeneration Research Centre

The Community Regeneration Research Centre exists to contribute to the maturation and general quality of habitated areas be they rural, suburban, or urban. Utilizing healthy links with community organisations the centre heads consultancy, research, mentoring and training efforts for a variety of sub disciplines. MPhil and PhD engagement is accessible.

Culture, Landscape, and Lifestyle Research Group

The Culture, Landscape, and Lifestyle Research Group is a hybrid enterprise indulging heavily in both the social sciences and humanities. The members and methods of this group are of international notoriety and presently lend themselves to areas such as; leisure, market evaluations, entrepreneurship, creative industries, conflict and identity, consumption, cultural space, education and change, heritage, regeneration, representation, third world development, global adjustment, and visual culture. The group facilitates MPhil and PhD programmes.

Health, Nursing and Therapeutic Research Group

The Health, Nursing and Therapeutic Research Group participates in consultancy and research in several areas. Aetiology, continuous professional development, ethics and learning disabilities, child protection, dementia and care, therapeutic writing, distributory justice, nursing assessment, IT and education, domestic abuse treatment, and user involvement constitute a small sampling of present areas of activity. The group also oversees and partners with student research for various masters and doctoral awards.

Research Centre for Advanced Innovation & Management

As a research and consultancy group of the Faculty of Business, Computing, and Law, the Research Centre for Advanced Innovation & Management has placed itself in diverse arenas of typical mass appeal with particular attention being paid to applied and practice-based applications. Expertise includes but is not limited to: entrepreneurship, management and innovative practice, business opportunities, knowledge management, marketing, finance, risk management, optimisation, virtual reality, measurement science and technology, AI, commercial law, welfare law, data mining, human resources, software, medical imagery, purchasing, and accounting strategy. Students are able to study for the DBA, MPhil, or PhD.

Research Centre for Education and Professional Practice

The Research Centre for Education and Professional Practice studies and disseminates material on virtually every core aspect of historical and contemporary education. Members of the centre have published widely in their respective fields and are of the aspiration to translate their expertise into both public and academic knowledge, both theory and practice. In conjunction with present research activities the mentioned fields include; religion and education, behaviour management, cultural diversity in education, educational psychology, learning, motivation, post compulsory education, telephonics in education, social justice, curriculum and sociomoral epistemology, student feedback, improving performance, nursing and health education, substance abuse education, race and education, dyslexia, organizational change, student self-esteem, violence and education, and bilingual education. Students are able to pursue the MPhil, PhD, or Ed.D degrees.

Signal Processing Applications Research Group

The Signal Processing Applications Research Group dwells within the Electronics and Sound area of the Faculty of Arts, Design and Technology. SPARG has robust relationships with the industry and has placed many graduates with engineering research partners. The key areas of research are real-time Digital Signal Processing and the applications of signal processing in the aim to positively complement a myriad of technological issues. Individual expertise is had in: spatial audio-capture, psychoacoustics and spatial perception in artificial environments, embedded systems, manipulation and transmission of spatial sound, multimodal spatial information display, perceptual testing and signal processing, synthesis, and digital music technology and spatial music. There are routes to study and research on to a PhD.

The Open Studio

With national and international collaboration, The Open Studio functions as a physical and virtual domain for creative development that is experimental, reflective, and culturally and interpersonally encouraging. Studio spaces, conferences, seminars, exhibitions and the internet are all used in the facilitation of this function. Main areas of research activity are but are not limited to: photography, sculpture, painting, mixed media, film, design, art theory, art history, visual environment, and non-traditional media. There is potential within The Open Studio to study up to a doctorate degree.

Student facilities

The Atrium, Kedleston Road

The Atrium, built in 1994, is a large concourse at the Kedleston Road site, which includes a branch of Waterstone's bookshop, the student union shop (Keddies), hairdressers,^[32] a clothes shop^[33] and Lloyds TSB cash machine.

It also includes a range of catering facilities, serving hot meals, salads, light snacks, and drinks. These facilities, provided by Scolarest, have been criticised by the student magazine Dusted in October 2007 as being grossly expensive. Five minutes' walk away (via the pedestrian entrance near the Clinical Skills Suite)^[34] is the Park Farm shopping area of Allestree with more reasonable prices. They are linked to the University by a bus-service (UniBus)^[35] which runs throughout the day and evening, starting at Derby Midland railway station.

Student Residences

The residences for Derby students are based in the "student quarter" between the Kedleston Road campus and the centre of town.^[36] They are:

• Sir Peter Hilton Court on Agard Street
• Nunnery Court on Nuns Street
• Princess Alice Court on Bridge Street
• Laverstoke Court on Peet Street
• St Christopher's Court on Ashbourne Road
• Peak Court, with entrances on Lodge Lane and Bridge Street

Buxton students have one halls of residence, High Peak Halls.

Students' Union

Main article: University of Derby Students' Union

The University of Derby Students' Union (UDSU) is the representative organisation for students at the university,^[37][38] and is based at the "Students' Union Quarter" at the Kedleston Road site.

Notable alumni

See also: Category:Alumni of the University of Derby

• Sylvia Barrie, Big Brother 9 contestant
• Idris Khan,^{[citation needed]} artist and photographer
• Devon Malcolm,^{[citation needed]} cricketer

References

1. ^ http://www.derby.ac.uk/finance/Files/Accounts2009.PDF
2. ^ ^{a b c d} "Table 0a - All students by institution, mode of study, level of study, gender and domicile 2006/07" (Microsoft Excel spreadsheet). Higher Education Statistics Agency. http://www.hesa.ac.uk/dox/dataTables/studentsAndQualifiers/download/institution0607.xls. Retrieved 2008-04-07. 
3. ^ [1]
4. ^ Brittania Mill, Derby.ac.uk, 2008
5. ^ Devonshire Campus, Derby.ac.uk, 2008
6. ^ Faculty of Business, Computing and Law
7. ^ [2]
8. ^ [3]
9. ^ University of Derby, NSS 2007. Retrieved on 2007-11-05. http://www.derby.ac.uk/law/nss
10. ^ University Guide 2008, Guardian Unlimited, University Guide 2008: Law. Retrieved on 2007-11-05.
11. ^ [4]
12. ^ [5]
13. ^ [6]
14. ^ [7]
15. ^ [8]
16. ^ [9]
17. ^ [10]
18. ^ [11]
19. ^ [12]
20. ^ [13]
21. ^ [14]
22. ^ [15]
23. ^ [16]
24. ^ [17]
25. ^ [18]
26. ^ [19]
27. ^ http://www.derby.ac.uk/icegs
28. ^ http://www.derby.ac.uk/icegs/publications
29. ^ http://www.derby.ac.uk/icegs/staff-and-associates/icegs-team/dr-tristram-hooley-head-of-icegs
30. ^ http://www.derby.ac.uk/icegs/staff-and-associates/icegs-team/professor-tony-watts
31. ^ http://www.derby.ac.uk/icegs/staff-and-associates/icegs-team/professor-james-p-sampson-jr
32. ^ http://www.sallymontague.co.uk/salons/university
33. ^ http://www.2degreesclothing.com
34. ^ http://www.derby.ac.uk/about-the-university/virtual-tours/clinical-skills-suite
35. ^ http://www.unibus.co.uk
36. ^ University of Derby: Our halls
37. ^ "University of Derby Students' Union". University of Derby. Archived from the original on 2008-05-06. http://web.archive.org/web/20080506155624/http://www.derby.ac.uk/top-menu/applicants/university-of-derby-students-union. Retrieved 2008-10-20. 
38. ^ "UDSU Online: Your Union". University of Derby Students' Union. http://www.udsu.co.uk/yourunion.html. Retrieved 2008-10-20. ^{[dead link]}

• Independent article
• History of the university

External links

• University of Derby – official website
• University of Derby Students' Union
• Multi-faith Centre at the University of Derby
• The Dome Fine Dining at the University of Derby Buxton
• The Devonshire Spa at the University of Derby Buxton
• News from the University of Derby from the Derby Telegraph