University of Derby

The University of Derby, formerly known as Derby College, is a public university in the city of Derby, England. It traces its history back to the establishment of the Derby Diocesan Institution for the training of schoolmistresses in 1851. It gained university status in 1992.

The university provides over 300 study programmes at undergraduate level. Undergraduate programmes as well as short courses, foundation degrees and postgraduate degrees cover most academic disciplines and sub-disciplines. Currently, the university is home to around 34,000 students in all areas of study.

History

Nineteenth century

Over the years, two dozen bodies have contributed to the university's formation. The first of these was founded in 1856 as the Derby Diocesan Institution for the Training of Schoolmistresses. Albeit under different names 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, in 1892, three more mergers took place and the institution became the Derby Municipal Technical College.

Early twentieth century

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 Prince Philip, 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 5 July 1957 by Lord (Ernest) Hives, a former managing director of Rolls-Royce. Opened by the Duke the day before, the 35-acre (14 ha) 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.

1970–1992: Mergers of higher education colleges in Derbyshire

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 afterwards, 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 1,200 at Kedleston Road.

Campuses and facilities

The university has a range of resources and facilities available to all students and staff, including lecture theatres; Union of Students' facilities; a bus service operating at and between the campuses; Chaplaincy and facilities for faith, meditation and prayer; indoor and outdoor sports facilities; cafes and food outlets; wellbeing centres and support; Careers and Employability services and centres; and a University Library service

Derby

The university's main campus is in the city of Derby. The Kedleston Road site in Allestree, in the north-west of Derby, is the largest and main campus and serves as the university's headquarters. It is situated close to the A38 and opposite Markeaton Park. A contemporary-styled building for Arts, Design, and Media, as well as a STEM building, 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.

In addition, the university also owns Derby Theatre in Derby city centre where courses in Theatre Arts are delivered. Derby Law School and the Department of Law, Criminology and Social Sciences operate at the One Friar Gate Square building in the centre of Derby

The Derby Campus also has a variety of specialist facilities, including computing laboratories, two computer games development suites, a doctor's surgery, conference facilities, multi-functional lecture theatres, art and culture venues, concert venues, recording studios, sports centre and fitness suites, outdoor pitches, student union facilities, and a multi-faith centre.

Buxton

This campus was located in the Grade II* listed 18th-century former stable block, the Devonshire Dome. In 1854, the 6th Duke of Devonshire donated the land, part of his stables, and some of the funds for conversion to a hospital and gardens for charity patients seeking treatment at the baths in Buxton. His architect, Henry Currey, directed the work. The ironwork dome (1881, once the world's largest, with a diameter of 44.2 metres (145 ft)), a clocktower (1882), and a surgical ward (1897) were built as expansions to the hospital, which was run by the NHS after 1948. The University of Derby purchased the then-derelict hospital from the NHS in 2001, and moved operations here from the Harpur Hill campus in 2005. The Devonshire Dome building 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 as a University Campus by Prince Charles in February 2006.

Organisation and governance

Chancellors

The current Chancellor of the University of Derby is William Cavendish, Earl of Burlington, who was installed in a ceremony at the Buxton Campus on 15 March 2018. The Earl works professionally as a photographer under the name Bill Cavendish. He is the son and heir of the previous Chancellor, Peregrine Cavendish, 12th Duke of Devonshire.

Previous Chancellors of the university:

• Peregrine Cavendish, 12th Duke of Devonshire 2008 – 2018
• Professor Leslie Wagner 2003 – 2008
• Sir Christopher Ball 1995 – 2003

Structure

• College of Arts, Humanities and Education
• School of Arts
• School of Humanities and Journalism
• Institute of Education
• College of Science and Engineering
• School of Computing and Engineering
• School of Built and Natural Environment
• School of Human Sciences
• College of Business, Law and Social Sciences
• Derby Business School
• School of Law and Social Sciences
• College of Health, Psychology and Social Care
• School of Allied Health and Social Care
• School of Nursing and Midwifery
• School of Psychology

Derby Law School

Notable research holdings include the private papers of Sir Gerald Fitzmaurice. The school provides considerable support for pro bono legal work in the community.

Student life

The Atrium, built in 1994, is a large concourse at the Kedleston Road site. The Atrium is used regularly for university, student union, and private events.

The Union of Students also provides social space and catering facilities for students. These include a new Basecamp social space, which opened in 2022.

Students' Union

The Union of Students is the students union at the University of Derby and is based within the Students' Union Quarter at the Kedleston Road site. The Union of Students completed a rebrand for the start of 2017 – 2018 academic year and was previously known as UDSU – University of Derby Students' Union.

Residences

The residences for Derby students are based in the University Quarter between the Kedleston Road, Markeaton Street, and Britannia Mill sites and the centre of Derby. They are:

• Agard Court on Agard Street
• Nunnery Court on Nuns Street
• Princess Alice Court on Bridge Street
• St Christopher's Court on Ashbourne Road
• Peak Court, with entrances on Lodge Lane and Bridge Street
• Flamsteed Court on Kedleston Old Road
• Darley Bank on Brook Street

Sir Peter Hilton Court was closed to residents in 2021.

Buxton students formerly had one hall of residence, High Peak Halls which closed in 2021.

It formerly owned halls of residence on Lonsdale Place and Peet Street. The latter was controversially sold to G4S, becoming an asylum seeker reception centre.

Notable alumni

• Stephen Amoah, Ghanaian politician
• Paul Cummins, English artist (Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red)
• Graham Joyce, British fiction author
• Khumbo Kachali, Malawian politician and former vice-president of Malawi
• Idris Khan, British artist and photographer
• David Imms, English painter
• Devon Malcolm, English cricketer

May Marsden, Australian artist and lecturer trained at the Derby Central School of Art before she emigrated in 1913.

Lucy Spraggan, English singer-songwriter

Carl Tighe, British academic in creative writing

Эх сурвалж: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)