Lancaster University (originally created as the University of Lancaster) is a campus university in Lancaster, England. The University has a good academic reputation, doing well in national league tables. It has one of the best environmental science departments in the UK and a world-renowned business school. The physics department has a global reputation for its research in low temperature physics. Typical offers in most subjects are around BBB at A-level.

History

One of a series of new British universities, Lancaster University was opened in 1964 on a purpose built site, three miles south of the city near to the villages of Bailrigg , Ellel and Galgate.

The logo of the University is based on the spire of the University Chaplaincy Centre.

Colleges

A view of the university campus

The University originally had two colleges, Bowland and Lonsdale.

It has expanded greatly since then and now has 8 undergraduate colleges, which are all named after the surrounding area:

• Bowland , named after the Forest of Bowland
• County
• Cartmel , named after the Cartmel Fells in Cumbria
• Fylde, named after the Fylde Coast
• Furness , named after the Furness region of historic Lancashire (now part of Cumbria)
• Lonsdale, named after Kirkby Lonsdale
• Grizedale, named after Grizedale Forest in Cumbria
• Pendle , named after the Pendle area of Lancaster and the famous Pendle witch trials.

The University also has one post-graduate college:

• Graduate , built in 1992.

College loyalties are very strong, and the colleges are based upon the Oxbridge system. Each of the colleges has its own bar and Junior Common Room.

Campus

The campus is organised around a central walkway known as The Spine. This walkway down the middle of the campus from north to south and is covered all the way. For most of its length one is walking due north or south.

The campus is currently (March 2005) expanding again, which has caused controversy with the Students' Union due to the rate of expansion, the increase in rents due to the new accommodation being en-suite, and the limited amount of new social space.

Facilities on campus include:

• Shops
  • Spar, a small supermarket
  • LUSU Shop
  • LUSU Central
  • Charity shop, proceeds from which go to Cancer Care and St. Johns Hospice
  • Waterstone's
  • Robinsons newsagents

• Food Outlets
  • a fish and chip shop
  • Pizzeta Republic
  • Spicy Hut, an Indian restaurant
  • Mama Mia's cafe
  • Gregg's the baker
  • Diggles sandwich shop
  • Cartmel college restaurant
  • Coffee shops in Cartmel, Bowland, Grizedale and Fylde colleges
  • Wibbly Wobblys Too
  • The Venue, a slightly upmarket cafe

• Banks
  • Barclays
  • NatWest bank

• Other Facilities
  • Lancaster University Chaplaincy Centre
  • a hairdresser's
  • a post office
  • a travel centre
  • the Great Hall
  • the Jack Hylton room, a small concert hall
    

    

    Outside the Jack Hylton room
  • a sports centre and swimming pool
  • an art gallery
  • the Nuffield Theatre

The University is also home to the Ruskin Library.

Student Activities

There are many student run clubs and societies on campus, these include:

• Bailrigg FM , the student radio station
• Scan , the student newspaper
• Lancaster University Cinema (run by the film society)
• Lancaster University Hiking Club
• Lancaster University Mountaineering Club

Every summer the students take part in the Roses Tournament, a sports competition against The University of York. The venue of the event alternates each year between York and Lancaster. The Universities colleges compete against each other for the George Wyatt Shield and in 2004 the Founder's Trophy was played for the first time between the Universities two founding colleges.

LUSU , the Students' Union own a nightclub in Lancaster called the Sugarhouse. This is a major source of income for the Students' Union. They also have two shops on the campus

Chancellorship

The Chancellor of the university is Sir Chris Bonington, who took office in January 2005. He succeeds Princess Alexandra of Kent, who held the post since the University's inception.

Notable Professors

Norman Fairclough, a proponent of critical discourse analysis, is Professor of Language in Social Life. With Oxford University, Lancaster compiled the British National Corpus , a 100 million word collection of a range of spoken and written texts, in the 1990s. This is an important contribution to corpus linguistics.

Notable alumni

• Andy Serkis
• Alan Milburn- Labour politician
• Simon Smith - rugby player
• Gary Waller - Conservative politician
• Martin Close and Peter Whalley - Coronation Street writers
• Robert Fisk - journalist
• Jason Queally - Olympic cyclist
• Richard Allinson - BBC Radio 2 DJ

External links

• Lancaster University website
• History of Lancaster University
• Lancaster University Students' Union (LUSU)
• The Sugarhouse
• Scan - the LUSU student newspaper
• The Scam - alternative student newspaper
• The Graduate College bar
• Virtual campus tour
• College bar reviews