University of East Anglia

The University of East Anglia (UEA) is a public research university in Norwich, England. Established in 1963 on a 360-acre (150-hectare) campus west of the city centre, the university has four faculties and twenty-six schools of study. It is one of five BBSRC funded research campuses, with forty businesses, four independent research institutes (the John Innes Centre, Quadram Institute, Earlham Institute and the Sainsbury Laboratory) and a teaching hospital (Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital) on site.

The university is a member of Norwich Research Park, which hosts one of Europe's largest communities of researchers in the fields of agriculture, genomics, health and the environment. UEA is also one of the nation's most-cited research institutions worldwide. The postgraduate Master of Arts in creative writing, founded by Malcolm Bradbury and Angus Wilson in 1971, has produced several successful authors. In 2024/25, UEA had a total income of £314.9 million, of which £38.4 million was from research grants and contracts, with an expenditure of £331.3 million. The university also generates £559 million annually for the regional economy, and has one of the highest percentages of 1st and 2:1 undergraduate degrees.

UEA's alumni, faculty and researchers, include three Nobel Prize laureates, a co-discoverer of the Hepatitis C and D genomes, as well as the small interfering RNA, a co-inventor of the Oxford–AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine, one President of the Royal Society, and numerous Fellows of the British Academy, the Academy of Medical Sciences, and the Royal Society. Alumni also include one current monarch and former prime minister, two de facto heads of state, one vice president, one deputy prime minister, and two former Leaders of the House of Lords, along with winners of the Lasker Award, Caine Prize, and Booker Prize.

History

1960s

Attempts to establish a university in Norwich were made in 1919 and 1947, but due to a lack of government funding on both occasions the plans had to be postponed. The University of East Anglia was eventually set up in April 1960 for biological sciences and English studies students. Initially, teaching took place in the temporary "University Village", which was officially opened by the chairman of the University Grants Committee, Keith Murray, on 29 September 1963. Sited on the opposite side of Earlham Road to the present campus, this was a collection of prefabricated structures designed for 1,200 students, laid out by the local architectural firm Feilden and Mawson. There were no residences with the vice-chancellor and administration being based in nearby Earlham Hall. UEA was one of the "plate glass universities" that were constructed during the decade to meet the demand for the expansion of higher education.

In 1961, the first vice-chancellor, Frank Thistlethwaite, had approached architect Denys Lasdun, an adherent of the "New Brutalist" trend in architecture, who was at that time building Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge, to produce designs for the permanent campus. The site chosen was on the western edge of the city, on the south side of Earlham Road. The land, formerly part of the Earlham Hall estate was at that time occupied by a golf course. Lasdun presented a model and an outline plan at a press conference in April 1963, but it took another year to produce more detailed plans, which diverged considerably from the model. As a result, the first buildings did not open until late-1966.

Lasdun moved the teaching and research functions into a single 460-metre (1,510-foot) long concrete block following the contour of the site. A walkway was built alongside the teaching wall, providing access to its various entrances, with frontage roads running below. Attached to the southern side of the walkway, six linked blocks of terraced accommodation residences were constructed to appear as one structure. The residences became known as the "Ziggurats" and were designed by Lasdun to recall "vineyards in France or a rocky outcrop on a slope". In 1968, Lasdun was replaced as consultant architect by Bernard Feilden, known for his conservation work on the Great Wall of China and the Taj Mahal. Feilden completed the university wall, the library, and created an arena-shaped square social space. They would later receive Grade II* listed status.

In 1963, the University of East Anglia Boat Club (UEABC) was founded; it currently has 60 members and rows year-round on the Yare River from September to July. The club has a boathouse and also has use of the UEA Sportspark on campus. In 1964, Arthur Miller's The Crucible became the first drama production to be staged at UEA with John Rhys Davies, the drama society's first president and one of the first 105 students admitted to the university. In 1965, composer Benjamin Britten was appointed music adviser for UEA and in 1967, he conducted the UEA Choir in a performance of his composition War Requiem.

Campus

Features of the UEA campus include Earlham Hall, which now currently accommodates the UEA Law School; the Sainsbury Centre at the western end of the main wall, designed by Norman Foster to house the art collection of Sir Robert Sainsbury, whose daughter attended UEA; the Sportspark, a multi-sports community facility; and the Enterprise Centre, a supportive hub for start-up companies. Additionally, the campus also includes Norwich Research Park, the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital and the UEA Broad.

Until 1994, former RAF accommodation blocks at the RAF Horsham St Faith to the south of Norwich International Airport housed approximately half of the university's first-year students. Accommodation blocks on the campus include Constable Terrace, Nelson Court, with Britten, Paston, Colman, Victory, Kett and Browne Houses, in addition to the University Village. The residences are named after Horatio Nelson, John Constable, Benjamin Britten, Jeremiah Colman, Nelson's ship HMS Victory, Robert Kett, Sir Thomas Browne and the Paston family (authors of the Paston Letters). UEA's newest residences (Crome, Hickling and Barton Houses) offer en suite accommodation with shared kitchens and lounge areas.

Facilities located on campus include the Union Pub and Bar (bar(su)), a 24-hour library, a concert venue (The Nick Rayns LCR), 13 food outlets (including street food venues, coffee shops and a pizza kitchen), a LGBTQ+ Bar (Dorothy's), the Street with a 24-hour launderette, and the UEA Shop. Other establishments include the Square (a central outdoor meeting place), Café 57, the Bio Cafe, and the UEA Medical Centre and Dental Practice. There are also three statues by sculptor Sir Antony Gormley which were placed on campus in 2017. The work drew controversy due to the fact that the figures resembled people balancing on high ledges.

The campus is linked to Norwich city centre and railway station by frequent buses, operated by First Eastern Counties, via Unthank Road or Earlham Road. Other transport links include First Buses to the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital and to Bowthorpe, as well as Konectbus services to Watton, Dereham and also Costessey via park and ride. National Express provides coach services to London. The university is situated nearby an area within the southwestern suburbs known as the Golden Triangle which has been dubbed the Norwich version of London's Notting Hill.

Academic profile

Overview

Experimental novelist Alan Burns was the university's first writer-in-residence. The university library is home to the British Archive for Contemporary Writing, which is an archive of material from a range of classical and contemporary writers, including Doris Lessing, Lee Child and Naomi Alderman. Between September 2022 and November 2023, the library also worked on a project entitled "Towards a Centre for Contemporary Poetry in the Archive", which has included hosting four Poets in Residence: Joelle Taylor, Jay Bernard, Anthony Vahni Capildeo and Gail McConnell. The German émigré novelist W. G. Sebald taught at the School of Literature and Creative Writing and founded the British Centre for Literary Translation.

The Climatic Research Unit, founded in 1972 by Hubert Lamb in the School of Environmental Sciences, has been an early centre of work for climate change research. The school was also stated to be "the strongest in the world" by the chief scientific adviser to the British government, Sir David King, during a lecture at the John Innes Centre in 2005. The university was one of the first in the United Kingdom to establish Film Studies as a serious academic discipline, with developmental funding to support a new lectureship in the field awarded from the British Film Institute. It is also the home of the East Anglian Film Archive which collects and preserves film and videotape primarily from the Eastern counties.

National and international partnerships

In 2005, UEA in partnership with the University of Essex, Suffolk County Council, the East of England Development Agency, Ipswich Borough Council and the Learning and Skills Council, secured £15m funding from the Higher Education Funding Council for England for the creation of a new campus in the Waterfront area of Ipswich, called University Campus Suffolk (UCS). It opened in September 2007; in May 2016, it became independent of UEA and was renamed the University of Suffolk. In 2008, INTO University Partnerships opened a £35m six-storey building named INTO University of East Anglia (INTO UEA) with 415 en-suite study-bedrooms and classroom space for 600 students. The institution focuses on the provision of foundation courses for international students, including English language for academic purposes. Nationally, UEA is also involved in a number of partnerships including the Nexus Network (with the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership and the University of Sussex) which fosters research and practical collaborations across the domains of energy and the environment.

Organisation

Faculties and schools

The university offers over 300 courses in its four faculties, which contain twenty-six schools of study:

Student life

All students at the university and INTO UEA automatically become members of the union but do have the right to opt out of membership. Membership confers the ability to take part in the union's activities such as clubs and societies and being involved in the democratic processes of the union. The union is a democratic organisation run by its members via an elected student officer committee and student council. It is affiliated to the National Union of Students, and also campaigns on a wide range of issues, as directed by the democratic processes.

The UEA Student Union has over 200 clubs and societies; university sports teams include the Men's and Women's Football Clubs and Lacrosse Teams (UEA Eagles), a Korfball Team (UEA Tigers), a British Universities American Football League (BUAFC) Premier South Division American football Team (UEA Pirates), and the cheer dance and stunt society (UEA Angels). The UEA Media Collective encompasses the free student newspaper Concrete, UEA:TV (previously named Nexus UTV), and the student radio station Livewire 1350AM. Norwich Medical School also has various active medical societies.

The UEA Student Union hosted events like Pimp My Barrow, which was an annual fundraising event for the Big C Cancer Charity and ran from 2006 to 2019. Students acquired a wheelbarrow and decorated it in accordance with their team's theme. They were then paraded around the local area, via a selection of local pubs and with a wheelbarrow race through Eaton Park. The annual Derby Day sports event involves UEA taking on the University of Essex in approximately 40 sports. UEA won the Derby Day trophy from 2013 to 2018. The UEA Student Union organises gigs and club nights at the Lower Common Room in Union House. The union also runs the Waterfront venue, off campus in Norwich's King Street, which was awarded a Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) award in 2018 for engagement with alumni. Acts that have performed at these venues include Captain Beefheart, The Cure, Coldplay, Pere Ubu, U2, Haim, The Smiths, Sparks, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Radiohead and Iron Maiden. The union operates a number of other services within Union House which underwent a refurbishment in 2015 after a £6m investment.

Notable people

Chancellors

• Harold Mackintosh, 1st Viscount Mackintosh of Halifax (1962–1964)
• Oliver Franks, Baron Franks (1965–1984)
• Owen Chadwick (1984–1994)
• Sir Geoffrey Allen (1994–2003)
• Sir Brandon Gough (2003–2012)
• Dame Rose Tremain (2013–2016)
• Dame Karen Jones (2016–2024)
• Dame Jenny Abramsky (2024–present)

Vice-Chancellors

• Frank Thistlethwaite (1961–1980)
• Sir Michael Thompson (1980–1986)
• Derek Burke (1987–1995)
• Dame Elizabeth Esteve-Coll (1995–1997)
• Vincent Watts (1997–2002)
• Sir David Eastwood (2002–2006)
• Bill MacMillan (2006–2009)

Эх сурвалж: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)