Bath Spa University

Bath Spa University is where creative minds meet. We teach and research across art, sciences, education, social science, and business. The University employs outstanding creative professionals who support its aim to be a leading educational institution in creativity, culture and enterprise. We are an innovative and resourceful University with roots in the synergies between employers and creativity that are the drivers of sustainable economic development.  We pride ourselves on our sense of community and our nurturing ethos. Our excellent research is novel and crosses disciplines; we value both making and the links between thinking and doing. We welcome the diversity of our students, and their multiple narratives, and we are a place where students change their lives and change the world. In the next decade we will apply our skills to global challenges and local opportunities, we will focus as one community able to harness all of our strengths and capabilities, and while looking outwards we will be rooted in Bath, essential to the city and the region. The purpose of the Education Strategy is to challenge our students and staff to realise their talent and thrive, for their own benefit and for the wider good. As an explorative applied learning community we will nurture lifelong learning capabilities, instilling the curiosity and confidence all our students need to navigate a challenging ever changing world of opportunity.Working across the University in collaboration with academic and professional services departments, students, alumni and the Students’ Union, and led by our three international-facing teams, GALA, Go Global and European Projects, our International Strategy aims to deepen and further develop international connections and activities that enhance our teaching and research. The University’s aim is to embed internationalisation in everything we do across our core activities at home and abroad.The institution can trace its roots back to the foundation of the Bath School of Art in 1852, following the impact of The Great Exhibition of 1851. In 1946 Bath Teacher Training College was opened on the Newton Park campus, as part of the post-war initiatives to fill wartime teaching shortages. It was a women's college offering two year courses, under the Principal Mary Dawson. The present institution was formed in 1975 as Bath College of Higher Education by the merger of Bath Teacher Training College and Bath College of Domestic Science. In 1983 Bath Academy of Art also merged into the college. In 1992, the college was granted degree-awarding powers and in 1997 adopted the name Bath Spa University College. In March 2005 the institution was granted university status, becoming Bath Spa University in August 2005. In 2013, the university was the UK's sixth-largest provider of teacher education.The Newton Park campus, to the west of Bath near the village of Newton St Loe, is the largest of the university's three main campuses. It is here that courses from all schools are taught, with the exception of art and design and most post-graduate courses. The campus is in Newton Park, in grounds designed by English landscape architect Lancelot "Capability" Brown and leased from the Duchy of Cornwall. The campus has buildings from a mixture of ages. These include the Grade I listed Main House built between 1762 and 1765 by Stiff Leadbetter for Joseph Langton MP; the remnants of the 14th-century Newton St Loe Castle, a scheduled monument also with Grade I listed status; and Grade II* listed stable buildings,[9] gardens[10] and a walled garden.Our ambitionOur ambition is to have creative enterprise at the heart of all we do, so that we are:big enough to be bold, sure of our own capabilitiessmall enough to care, valuing and nurturing all our students and staffrelevant and impactful, changing the world by seeing it differentlyone community, able to reach between disciplines to find the value of the newpassionate, compassionate, brave, inclusive, ethical, engaged and effective in all that we do.The main Students' Union facilities are at the Newton Park campus, although the Union maintains a presence in all campuses. The Main union building runs a bar, café, gym and shop, and hosts regular events throughout the academic year. There are 20 sports societies, 40 interest societies and 10 sports clubs run by the union, many of which compete in the BUCS. The sports facilities include rugby and football pitches at the top of the campus, as well as a netball court and changing facilities inside the walled garden adjacent to the union building. The walled garden itself is also a social space, featuring BBQs, games tables, seating and tables, a small pond, greenhouses and small allotment style areas. The Union is in charge of organising the Freshers events, as well as the Winter and Summer balls. It also has facilities to run health campaigns and give academic advice to students, volunteering and skill development opportunities, travel opportunities, and it liaises directly with the University and organisations nationally and in the local area to campaign about and discuss issues that affect students.The Union also has its own student card called Student Zest, founded by students in 2012 which offers discounts on goods and services offered in over 100 local businesses. There is a dedicated website that deals with matters concerning this card. The Students' Union building at Newton Park campus was refurbished during the summer of 2014, doubling the size of shop, reconfiguring the bar/cafe area, improving the gym, and updating the toilet facilities. There is also a new footpath around the front entrance of the building improving access. The Students' Union is also working with the University, the student body, and architects, to produce a long term plan to completely rebuild the Union.

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