Leeds Beckett University

History

The university traces its roots to 1824 when the Leeds Mechanics Institute was founded. The institute later became the Leeds Institute of Science, Art and Literature and in 1927 was renamed Leeds College of Technology. In 1970, the college merged with Leeds College of Commerce (founded 1845), part of Leeds College of Art (f. 1846) and Yorkshire College of Education and Home Economics (f. 1874), forming Leeds Polytechnic. In 1976, James Graham College and the City Of Leeds College of Education (f. 1907 as part of City of Leeds Training College) joined Leeds Polytechnic. In 1987, the Polytechnic became one of the founding members of the Northern Consortium.

After the Further and Higher Education Act came into effect in 1992, the Polytechnic became Leeds Metropolitan University, with the right to award its own degrees. In 1998, the university merged with Harrogate College, establishing the Harrogate campus until 2008 when the college left the university and merged with Hull College. In 2008 the university petitioned the Privy Council to be renamed "Leeds Carnegie University"; however, this was eventually dropped. In 2009 a partnership with the University of North Florida was established to begin a student and faculty exchange programme. The university also has an agreement with Bradford College by which it validates degrees for the college.

Name change

In 2013, it was announced that the Board of Governors had applied to the Privy Council to change the name to Leeds Beckett University, after one of the university's founding colleges, Beckett Park, which in turn was named after Ernest Beckett, 2nd Baron Grimthorpe. The proposed change resulted in a backlash among students. The Privy Council approved Leeds Metropolitan University's application to change its name to Leeds Beckett University in November 2013. The name change took place in September 2014. The former logos of Leeds Metropolitan University were retained after the name changed, being adapted to fit the new name. Despite the name change, the university is often referred to as "the Met" or "the Poly" by local people. The Carnegie name is less commonly used by the university now but is still retained for the sporting faculty.

City Campus

This comprises a number of locations on the northern side of Leeds city centre, largely between the Inner Ring Road and the University of Leeds campus. In addition to the former Polytechnic site, several other buildings have recently been acquired. These include: Cloth Hall Court, in the legal district of the city; Old Broadcasting House, the former home of the BBC in Leeds; Electric Press, a building on Millennium Square; and Old School Board, the birthplace of school education in Leeds. The latest additions for the 2008/09 year were the Rose Bowl, the new home of the Leeds Business School, opposite the Civic Hall and designed to reflect the facade of the Civic Hall and the Broadcasting Place complex, including Broadcasting Tower, a new set of buildings which fits in with the red stone brick buildings famous in Leeds and which provides teaching space for the Faculty of Arts, Environment and Technology and the Faculty of Art, Architecture and Design, as well as student accommodation. Two buildings on the site have been disposed of since becoming a university, the Brunswick building was sold and in 2008 demolished; it is now the site of the Leeds Arena. A further tower block has been sold and is now a Premier Inn. The remaining largely 1960s buildings of the former polytechnic were reclad in the early 2010s.

New high-rise student accommodation has been built around the City Campus and includes Opal Tower and the Sky Plaza. These are now the tallest buildings in the Northern half of the city centre.

Headingley Campus

A 100-acre (40-hectare) campus sited in Beckett Park, Headingley. The oldest property on this site is the Grange, a 1752 farmhouse once occupied by John Marshall. The site is mostly made up of low-rise 19th century buildings set around a central lawn. The site is in a park location and has many open areas on campus. In the 1990s, the university closed existing Halls of Residence on campus, converting the units to lecture theatres and teaching facilities. In 2006, the campus extended beyond the confines of Beckett Park to include the Carnegie Stand at the Headingley Stadium. This dual-purpose stand accommodates more than 4,500 spectators, and also provides teaching rooms and a hall. After bulldozing R.W.Rich Hall, a student hall of residence built in the 1960s, the Carnegie Village was opened in August 2009, providing on-campus accommodation for 479 students. The Beckett Park campus is connected to the city centre by Headingley railway station which is a short walk from the campus. Bus routes on Otley Road and Kirkstall Lane are also close by.

The Yorkshire and Humberside Japanese School (ヨークシャーハンバーサイド日本語補習校 Yōkushā Hanbāsaido Nihongo Hoshūkō), a weekend Japanese educational programme, is held at Macaulay Hall.

Accommodation

The university provides 4,500 bedrooms in a variety of locations and all first year undergraduates are guaranteed a place in university accommodation, so long as Leeds Beckett University is the student's first choice university.

Carnegie Village was newly built in September 2010 and provides Passivhaus standard townhouses and apartments at Headingley Campus. The largest hall is Kirkstall Brewery on Broad Lane which has places for over 1,000 students and is about 2 miles (3 kilometres) from the Headingley campus. As its name suggests, it is a former brewery property, but is mostly modern blocks. The second largest is Sugarwell Court, in Meanwood, which is about 1.5 mi (2.4 km) from the City campus, and accommodates 388 students. This is also a converted industrial site.

Two of the most popular accommodation buildings are next to each other in Burley near The Leeds Studios and 0.8 mi (1.3 km) from City Campus. Formerly owned by Opal Property Group and now owned by Greystar, they are Marsden House (previously Opal 1) and Leeds Student Village (previously Opal 2).

Accommodation types not owned by the university vary. Across North Leeds there are many sites which are primarily low-rise buildings, often converted from a former industrial use. The growing number of sites around the city centre has led to the building of new highrise complexes, these include CLV Leeds (previously Opal 3), The Skyplaza and Broadcasting Tower.

Organisation and governance

Peter Slee joined the university as Vice Chancellor in September 2015, succeeding Susan Price, who had been in post since January 2010.

The current Deputy Vice Chancellors are Paul Smith (Strategic Development), Andrew Slade (Research & Enterprise) and Phil Cardew (Academic).

Reputation and rankings

In November 2006, the university won the award for "outstanding contribution to the local community" at the annual higher education awards ceremony hosted by The Times Higher Education Supplement. It also came second in the main category, "the university of the Year", which was won by the University of Nottingham. In this category, the university was highly commended for its "low-charging, high impact" strategy.

In June 2007, the university was recognised for its environmentally friendly attitude by being ranked number one in the UK in the Green League 2007: a ranking of sustainability in the higher education sector, compiled by People & Planet.

In June 2013, Leeds Beckett University became only the third university in the UK to achieve the Customer Service Excellence standard, a Government benchmark awarded to public sector bodies who demonstrate a commitment to driving customer-focused change within their organisation.

In 2013, the University obtained the Gold Investors in People standard, one of only a handful of higher education institutions to do so.

In January 2015, Leeds Beckett University entered Stonewall’s nationally-recognised league table of gay-friendly employers at number 51 in the rankings.

Leeds Beckett University Repository

In common with many institutions in the UK, and globally, the university maintains an open access repository that comprises an Open Access research archive and an OER repository: A store of Open Educational Resources produced at Leeds Beckett that are freely available for reuse under a Creative Commons (Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 UK: England & Wales) licence.

Partnerships

The university has established a number of sporting and cultural partnerships, both in the UK and overseas.

Simon Lee embarked on a controversial programme of partnerships with external bodies during his time as vice-chancellor, which were dubbed as "rubbing shoulders" after the university took a majority stake in the Leeds Tykes rugby club, renaming it Leeds Carnegie. It was subsequently revealed that the club signed Waisale Serevi after he had been paid for other work at the university. The university sold its stake in April 2009.

The university spent large sums on other partnerships, including £423,000 to the Northern Ballet Theatre and £283,000 on the Irish Football Association.

In April 2014, the Quality Assurance Agency confirmed the quality and standards of provision at Leeds Beckett University. In October 2009, the Quality Assurance Agency gave the university a "limited confidence" rating, due to concerns over maintenance of academic standards. In 2009 Simon Lee resigned following a series of controversies over the university's fees strategy, allegations of bullying and foreign travel for his wife paid for by the university. The chancellor, Brendan Foster, also resigned less than a month later. The controversies that led to these resignations formed part of the 29 July 2010 edition of the BBC Radio 4 documentary "Face the Facts".

Sporting

Cultural

Students' Union

Leeds Beckett University Students' Union operates out of offices at both the Beckett's Park and Civic Quarter Campuses. Its live music venue has played host to bands such as Kaiser Chiefs, The Fratellis and We Are Scientists. The Union runs two bars, with one at each study site. A Student Advice service as well as being a source of volunteers working in the local community. A third Student Union bar at the Kirkstall Brewery halls of residence was closed and discontinued in 2012.

List of Chancellors

List of Vice-Chancellors

Notable alumni