University of East Anglia

From open-encyclopedia.com - the free encyclopedia.

The University of East Anglia (UEA) is a campus university located in Norwich, Norfolk, England, founded as part of the British Government's New Universities programme in the 1960s.

Academically, it has been one of the most successful universities founded in the 1960s, consistently ranking amongst Britain's top higher education institutions.

UEA admitted its first students in 1963 in temporary accommodation in Earlham Hall, on the western edge of the city of Norwich about 3 miles from the city centre, while a prefabricated "University Village" was built nearby and used until the early 1980s. The permanent campus was built on the adjacent Earlham Golf Course, principally to a design by Sir Denys Lasdun. The design of the campus consists of rather bleak 1960s concrete (Concrete being the name of the weekly student newspaper founded in the early 1970s, and resurrected in 1992 as a fortnightly tabloid) and can be uninviting in winter when cold winds can blow with little interruption from the Urals.

The UEA campus exhibits some interesting architectural features: the main teaching building takes the form of a continuous wall running approximately west-east. The early student residences built in the 1960s take the form of distinctive "ziggurats", but financial cutbacks by the early 1970s meant that the full original plan for building ziggurat residences had to be abandoned, and replaced by the less inspiring north-south wall of Waveney Terrace. UEA also took over the former RAF/US Air Force barracks at Horsham St. Faith airfield, and used them as residences. This outpost of campus life was known as "Fifers Lane" from the road it stood on, and developed its own unique style of student life. Fifers Lane eventually closed in 1993, when further residences, again in an advanced architectural style, were built on campus.

In the mid-1970s, extraction of gravel in the valley of the River Yare, which runs to the south of the campus, resulted in the university acquiring its own 'Norfolk Broad' or lake. At more or less the same time, a bequest of tribal art and C.20th painting and sculpture, by artists such as Francis Bacon and Henry Moore, from the Sainsbury supermarket family resulted in the construction of the striking Sainsbury Centre for the Visual Arts at the western end of the main teaching wall, one of the first major works of architect Norman Foster. Recently the campus has gained an extensive new sports facility called the "Sportspark", built thanks to a £14.5 million grant from the Sport England Lottery Fund, and a purpose-built theatre.

Other notable features of the UEA campus are "The Square", a central outdoor meeting place flanked by concrete steps; "The Blend", a rather dated but very popular glass-fronted coffee shop, "Zest" a newly refurbished student canteen and "The Street" which features a 24-hour launderette, the Union Food Outlet, Union Paper Shop, Union Post Office, a sandwich shop called "Mango", branches of NatWest, HSBC and Barclays Bank and a Waterstone's book shop. Connected to both "The Street" and "The Square" is one of the most popular Union venues: the "Union Pub and Bar" which underwent a massive extension and refurbishment at the cost of £1.2 million in 2002. The pub took over "Breakers", a rather low-rent eatery with a scrapyard theme which was briefly turned into an unpopular pasta place. Other bars include "The Hive" (which, due to efforts from the Student Union, was refurbished for the start of the 2004/05 year), and the "Graduate Students Club". In the same building is the large common room (LCR), which is home to the notorious weekly campus discos, as well as the many touring gigs. The students' union also run "The Waterfront" venue off campus in Norwich's King Street.

UEA has had notable successes in terms of courses taught. Malcolm Bradbury for many years taught in the School of English and American Studies and the Climate Research Unit in the School of Environmental Sciences was an early centre of work on climate warming.

Aside from the independent student newspaper Concrete, there is a thriving student media across a range of areas. In the 1970s, there was a highly successful student newspaper named Phoenix, which ran for several years. Livewire, the campus radio station, which transmits to air on 1350AM in the vicinity of the university as well as broadcasting on the internet, was established in 1989. Nexus UTV, the campus television station broadcasting news, documentaries, comedy shows and various other types of programming, shows regularly in the bar and is one of the oldest still-running student television stations in the country, having been established in 1968.

The student population in 2003 is claimed to be 9000 undergraduates and 4000 postgraduates. Approximately 1000 students originate from outside the European Union.

Notable alumni

• Jenny Abramsky: BBC executive;
• Benedict Allen: explorer;
• Tim Bentinck: actor;
• David Cummings: musician (Del Amitri) and writer (The Fast Show);
• Jack Davenport: actor;
• James Frayn: actor;
• Charlie Higson: comedian (The Fast Show);
• Kazuo Ishiguro: author of Remains of the Day, Booker Prize winner;
• Toby Litt: novelist;
• Ian McEwan: Booker Prize winner;
• Susanne Manning: Pop Idol contestant;
• Paul Nurse: Nobel Prize winner;
• Jonathan Powell: former Controller of BBC One;
• Jane Root: former Controller of BBC Two;
• Selina Scott: broadcaster;
• Arthur Smith: comedian;
• Penny Tranter: meteorologist;
• Paul Whitehouse: comedian (The Fast Show).

External links

• University of East Anglia website;
• UEA Students' Union;
• UEA Sportspark;
• Concrete newspaper;
• Livewire 1350 radio station.

eo:University of East Anglia