University of Winchester

University of Winchester

Coat of arms of the University of Winchester
Motto	wisdom ond lar (old English)
Motto in English	Wisdom and Knowledge
Type	Public
Established	1840 - Winchester Diocesan Training School 1847 - Winchester Training College 1928 - King Alfred's College 1970 - King Alfred's College of Higher Education 2004 - University College Winchester 2005 - University of Winchester
Chancellor	Dame Mary Fagan DCVO JP (The Lord-Lieutenant of Hampshire)
Vice-Chancellor	Professor Joy Carter
Students	circa 7,000
Undergraduates	5,615
Postgraduates	1,385
Location	Winchester , Hampshire , England
Campus	Semi-urban
Colours
Website	www.winchester.ac.uk
File:University of Winchester logo.svg

The University of Winchester is a British public university primarily based in Winchester, Hampshire, England. Winchester is a historic cathedral city and the ancient capital of Wessex and the Kingdom of England.

History

The main building of the University of Winchester

The origins of the University of Winchester began in 1840 when the Winchester Diocesan Training School was founded as a Church of England foundation for the training of elementary schoolmasters. The school was initially quite small, located in a house at 27 St Swithun Street, Winchester. In 1847 the school moved to Wolvesey, the Bishop’s Palace, where it became Winchester Training College. Following an outbreak of cholera at Wolvesey a new building (now the main building on the university's King Alfred Campus) was established for the college in 1862, on land granted by the cathedral at West Hill, Winchester. The college was renamed King Alfred's College in 1928.

King Alfred's College trained thousands of teachers, at first men only, but women as well from 1960. With the sudden change in government policy in the early 1970s, the college first looked for partners to merge with and also sought to diversify its provision. Its educational partner, the University of Southampton, was lukewarm about offering other forms of degrees, so the college sought approval for its own BEd and then BA degrees from the Council for National Academic Awards (CNAA). Interdisciplinary degrees in History and English with Drama, Archaeology and American Studies were first offered. Further programmes followed in the 1980s, but it was only when the college expanded in the early 1990s that CNAA approved a modular course that allowed a large number of new fields of study to grow at undergraduate level within a common regulatory framework. At the same time masters programmes were approved alongside the MEd programme. With the CNAA's demise in 1992, the college became accredited by the University of Southampton resuming a partnership broken off 18 years earlier.

When in 1995 the UK government published criteria by which colleges could become universities, King Alfred's under its principal, Professor John Dickinson, set itself the target of becoming a university, by first acquiring Taught and later Research Degree Awarding Powers. Professor Paul Light, principal from 2000, led the institution through the successful application for Taught Degree Awarding Powers in 2003 and a change of name to University College Winchester in 2004. His leadership culminated in the award of university title in 2005, achieving the target set 10 years earlier and entitling him to be the first Vice-Chancellor of the University of Winchester. In August 2008 the university was granted Research Degree Awarding Powers.

Rankings

Rankings

National rankings
Complete (2025)	69
Guardian (2025)	66
Times / Sunday Times (2025)	=57

Winchester up an impressive 24 places in the Sunday Times League Table 2014 to 57th - Teaching Excellence ranked tenth in England. The Complete University Guide 2014 showed a 7 place rise from 76th to 69th, out of 124 institutions. In their 2014 rankings The Guardian found the University of Winchester to be the fifth fastest rising university in the country.

Faculty of Arts

• Media and Film School (not a proper degree)
• Performing Arts (not a proper degree)
• English, Creative Writing and American Studies (not a proper degree)
• Drama (not a proper degree)
• Street Arts (not a proper degree)
• Stage and Arts Management (not a proper degree)
• Choreography and Dance (not a proper degree)

Faculty of Business, Law and Sport

• Accounting, Economics and Finance (a degree)
• Winchester Business School (a degree)
• Law Studies (a degree of sorts)
• Sports Studies (not a proper degree)
• English Language Teaching and Support Unit (not a proper degree)

Faculty of Education, Health and Social Care

• Education Studies (not a proper degree)
• Postgraduate Studies in Education (a degree but not the best)
• Undergraduate Initial Teacher Training (THE BEST DEGREE EVER)
• Inter-Professional Studies (not a proper degree)

Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences

• Archaeology (not a degree)
• Criminology (not a degree)
• History (a degree)
• Psychology (scrapes the title of a degree... just)
• Sociology (not a degree)
• Theology and Religious Studies (not a degree)

University's motto

Wisdom-ond-lar (from old English) Modern English translation: Wisdom and Knowledge

The motto was inspired by the preface of King Alfred's translation of Pope Gregory the Great's Regula Pastoralis, which frequently refers to both wisdom and knowledge. Alfred's translation of Regula Pastoralis was instrumental in the pursuit to improve education in Anglo-Saxon England.

Campus life

King Alfred Campus

The main University Campus, King Alfred, is located close to the city centre of Winchester. Some of the buildings on the main campus are named after former staff or governors. The Tom Atkinson and Herbert Jarman buildings are named after former staff and the Kenneth Kettle and Fred Wheeler Buildings are named after long-standing Governors. Others are named after Anglo-Saxon saints: St Alphege, St Edburga, St Grimbald and St Swithun and St Elizabeth's. The Martial Rose Library is named after a former Principal.

Student union

Main article: Winchester Student Union

Winchester Student Union is an organization run for and by the student population of The University of Winchester. Alistair Stevens was the first president to be given a sabbatical year. It runs many student societies, bars, and a shop and helps support and represent students. The student union venue is based in the new University Centre and has a cinema screen, three bars and a venue space (the Vault) large enough for 850 people.

Halls of residence

University accommodation is available on campus and in the West Downs Student Village nearby.

The halls of residence are:

• West Downs Student Village
• Alwyn Hall
• St Elizabeth's Hall
• Beech Glade
• Queens Road Student Village
• Burma Road Student Village

Current and future plans

The University Centre opened in 2007

The University Centre canteen

Major redevelopment will take place in the next few years to modernise the main campus. In 2007 work finished on the University Centre on site of the former refectory, at a cost of £9 million. The building includes a new Student Union as well as catering facilities, main reception, a bookshop, a mini-mart convenience store and a wi-ifi equipped Learning Café. It was designed by architects Design Engine. Feedback from students indicates a high level of satisfaction with the facilities, especially the Learning Café which facilitates collaborative study. In 2010 a new several storey student residence, Queens Road, was completed. Work finished in 2012 on a new teaching block which contains state of the art teaching spaces. In 2012, work finished on providing the university library with 6 new private study rooms. In 2013, Burma Road Student Village finished construction, providing the university with another student village.

The redevelopment of the University’s sports grounds at Bar End in Winchester was completed in 2008 after Sport England formally pledged the £908,514 funding required for the project’s completion, in partnership with Winchester City Council. The facilities at Bar End include an Olympic standard 400m eight-lane athletics track with supporting field events, an all-weather hockey and general sports pitch, floodlighting and an extended pavilion.

All student media are the responsibility of the Campaigns and Communications officer for the Student Union, except for the weekly internet bulletins released, produced, and created by "Winchester News Online" or WINOL, as part of the BA Journalism Course. The University of Winchester and Winchester Student Union broadcast a radio station called Sound Radio. From 24 November 2011 to 21 December 2011 it broadcast on 87.7 FM to Winchester and the surrounding areas.

Chancellorship

Dame Mary Fagan DCVO JP, the current Lord-Lieutenant of Hampshire, was appointed Chancellor of the university in October 2005.

Professor Paul Light, appointed in 2000 as Principal of King Alfred's College, became the first Vice-Chancellor in 2005, and was succeeded in April 2006 by Professor Joy Carter.

Professor Elizabeth Stuart, Deputy Vice-Chancellor (First Deputy) appointed in January 2013.

Professor Neil Marriott, Deputy Vice-Chancellor appointed in January 2013.

Simon Cowhig, Assistant Vice-Chancellor appointed in January 2013.

Notable people

Academic staff

See also: Category:Academics of the University of Winchester

• Michael Hicks - Professor of Medieval History
• Elizabeth Stuart - Professor of Christian Theology and Deputy Vice Chancellor
• June Boyce-Tillman, Professor of Applied Music, and MBE
• Barbara Yorke - Emeritus Professor of Early Medieval History
• Judy Waite - Writer of children's fiction
• Bernard McKenna - Screenwriter
• Harry Blamires - Anglican theologian, literary critic and novelist
• Eric Anderson - American sociologist and Professor of Sports Studies
• Chris Mounsey - Professor of English Literature, and author of many books on eighteenth-century literature, gender theory and queer theory.
• Judith Heneghan - Children's author.

Alumni

See also: Category:Alumni of the University of Winchester

• Martin Bashir - Television journalist
• Mick Brookes - General Secretary, National Association of Head Teachers
• Mike Bushell - BBC television journalist
• Lauren Cohan - British-American actress
• Mark Diacono - Otter Farm and River Cottage farmer, gardener and writer
• Anne Snelgrove - Former Labour MP for South Swindon
• Steve Furst - Comedy actor (Little Britain)
• Graham Hoadley - Actor, pantomime dame and radio broadcaster
• Alex Langlands - Archaeologist and TV Historian, appeared on Victorian Farm
• Mark Johnson - Horse racing announcer
• Shappi Khorsandi - Comedian
• Dirk Maggs - Radio producer
• Andrew Norriss - Children's book author and TV sitcom writer
• Don Nutbeam - Vice Chancellor, University of Southampton
• David Prosho - Actor and performer
• Angus Scott - Television journalist (also part-time lecturer in journalism)
• Bob Taylor - Past President of the Rugby Football Union
• Nick Helm - Comedian

See also

• Winchester Student Union

External links

• University of Winchester website
• University of Winchester on Facebook
• University of Winchester on Twitter @_UoW
• University of Winchester channel on YouTube
• University of Winchester on Linkedin