University of Buckingham Information

The University of Buckingham (UB) is a non-profit, private university in the UK and the oldest of the countrys five private universities.[a] It is located in Buckingham, England, and was founded as the University College at Buckingham (UCB) in 1973, admitting its first students in 1976. It was granted university status by royal charter in 1983. Buckingham offers bachelors degrees, masters degrees and doctoral degrees through five "schools" (or faculties) of study.

The university was closely linked to Margaret Thatcher, who as Education Secretary oversaw the creation of the university college in 1973, and as Prime Minister was instrumental in elevating it to a university in 1983 – thus creating the first private university in the UK since the establishment of the University Grants Committee in 1919. When she retired from politics in 1992, Margaret Thatcher became the universitys second chancellor, a post she held until 1998.

The universitys finances for teaching operate entirely on student fees and endowments; it does not receive direct state funding (via the Office for Students or Resesrch England) although its students can receive student loans from the Student Loans Company. It has formal charity status as a not-for-profit institution dedicated to the ends of research and education.

Some of the founding academics migrated from the University of Oxford, disillusioned or wary of aspects of the late-1960s ethos. On 27 May 1967, The Times published a letter from J. W. Paulley, a physician, who wrote: .mw-parser-output .templatequote{overflow:hidden;margin:1em 0;padding:0 40px}.mw-parser-output .templatequote .templatequotecite{line-height:1.5em;text-align:left;padding-left:1.6em;margin-top:0}

Three London conferences followed which explored this idea.

The university was incorporated as the University College of Buckingham in 1976 and received its Royal Charter from the Queen in 1983. As of May 2016, it is the only private university in the UK with a royal charter.

Its development was influenced by the libertarian Institute of Economic Affairs, in particular, Harry Ferns and Ralph Harris, heads of the Institute. In keeping with its adherence to a libertarian philosophy, the universitys foundation-stone was laid by Margaret Thatcher, who was also to be the universitys Chancellor (nominal and ceremonial head) between 1993 and 1998.

The universitys first three Vice-Chancellors were Lord Beloff (1913–1999), former Gladstone Professor of Politics at the University of Oxford; Sir Alan Peacock, the economist, founder of the Economics department at the University of York, and Fellow of the British Academy; and Sir Richard Luce, now Lord Luce, the former Minister for the Arts.

From 2004, students at Buckingham have been eligible for student loans, which led to an increase in UK students at the university.

Near the centre of the town of Buckingham is the riverside campus, which is partly contained within a south-turning bend of the River Great Ouse. Here, on or just off Hunter Street, are some of the universitys central buildings: Yeomanry House (which contains the reception and central administration); the Anthony de Rothchild building (which contains Business and Economics); the Humanities Library; and also some of the student accommodation, looking northwards across the river. Prebend House, a recently restored Georgian house, contains parts of the department of Politics and also Economics. On the other side of Hunter Street, on the so-called island, is the Tanlaw Mill, one of the universitys social centres – with the main refectory, the Fitness Centre, and the Students Union Office.

Overlooking this site, on the hill above, is the extensive Chandos Building. This complex contains the main teaching areas for English Literature, English Language, Journalism, Modern Foreign Languages, and the Foundation programmes, and also some of the teaching rooms and one of the lecture theatres for Medicine. It also houses the Ian-Fairburn Lecture Theatre, the largest lecture theatre on the river-side site. Adjacent to the Chandos Building, is the Department of Education. This has both a research arm, and also a teacher training (PGCE) faculty.

Further on, up the hill, on the London Road, is another element of the campus, in particular the School of Law, which is housed in the Franciscan Building, surrounded by other student accommodation blocks. This is opposite the swimming pool and leisure centre. The university has been expanding in recent years. It has acquired a new site on the west side of the river, which will increase the capacity of the river-side campus as a whole. Teaching on some masters degrees takes place in London, in Grosvenor Place, at the home of one its partner institutions: the European School of Economics, and some Life Science programmes are also run in Central London, in conjunction with Medipathways College (see below).

Since 2014, the Chancellor of the University is the Hon. Tessa, Lady Keswick. The immediate past- Chancellor is Sir Martin Jacomb, Chairman of Canary Wharf Group PLC, and Share PLC (in Aylesbury), and the director of other companies including Oxford Playhouse Trust. He was Chairman of Prudential PLC from 1995 to 2000 and has retired from the boards of Rio Tinto Group and Marks and Spencer. Former Chancellors of the university have been Margaret Thatcher who retired in 1999, and Lord Hailsham of St Marylebone.

Lord Tanlaw was appointed to succeed Sir Martin as Chancellor in May 2010. He stepped down in 2013.

Sir Anthony Seldon was appointed as Vice-Chancellor from 1 September 2015 from Wellington College where he was 13th Master. The outgoing Vice-Chancellor was Terence Kealey, formerly of the Department of Clinical Biochemistry at Cambridge University, who had held the post from April 2001 until he stepped down in July 2014.

The universitys schools are: Education; Law; Humanities; Arts and Languages; Business; and Science and Medicine. Each of these is presided over by a dean.

The quality of the universitys provision is maintained, as at other UK universities, by an external examiner system (i.e., professors from other universities oversee and report on exams and marking), by an academic advisory council (comprising a range of subject-specialist academics from other universities), and by membership of the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education (QAA).

The Department of Education has two aspects, research and vocational: it conducts research into education and school provision, and also maintains various PGCE courses for teacher training. The Department of Education has been home to some of the most prominent educationalists in Britain, including the late Chris Woodhead (former head of Ofsted) and Anthony OHear (director of the Royal Institute of Philosophy). Its postgraduate certificate in education – which deals with both the state and the independent sector – is accredited with Qualified Teacher Status which means that it also qualifies graduates to teach in the state sector.

The university was created as a liberal arts college, and still describes itself as such, although in an interview with The Guardian in 2003, then Vice-Chancellor Terence Kealey remarked that it had "become a vocational school for law and business for non-British students, because thats where the market has taken us". Consequently, major humanities subjects such as history and politics are no longer offered as stand-alone degrees, instead being combined with economics as a degree in international studies. Economics, however, is available as a stand-alone degree as is English literature, as a single honours subject, and in combinations with English Language, or Journalism, and related areas. The Professor of Economics, and Dean of Humanities, Martin Ricketts, is the chair of the Institute of Economic Affairs Academic Advisory Council.

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