Coventry University can trace its origins back to 1843 when manufacturers and businessmen in the city founded Colleges of Industrial Design and subsequently Engineering to improve the international competitiveness of companies in the area. That entrepreneurial tradition is as important to the University now as it was in the Nineteenth Century. Widely regarded as one of the niche “business-facing” universities in the UK, Coventry prioritises strong partnerships with external organisations, applied research, and a curriculum that is academically rigorous but vocationally relevant. It welcomes, recognises and rewards entrepreneurial and enterprising characteristics in both its students and its staff.
Situated right at the heart of the city, next to the landmark cathedrals, Coventry University enjoys a compact and well-connected site supported by an excellent communication infrastructure. Its Technology Park is adjacent to it and regarded as very much part of the campus. The city is economically buoyant: thousands of new jobs are expected to be created in the next decade; radical plans for the retail offering have just been announced; and major development programmes including sports, cultural and arts facilities are underway, many of them in partnership with the University. Meanwhile, just a short journey away by car, lie the historical attractions of Warwickshire including Stratford-on-Avon (birthplace of William Shakespeare), Warwick and Kenilworth Castles. London is just over an hour away by train; Birmingham 30 minutes.
With some 2,200 staff and 16,000 students, Coventry is a medium-sized university. Its turnover in the academic year 2006/7 was just under £124m. In 2007/8 the University will embark on a £160m investment programme for its estate designed to expand its Technology Park, enhance the sense of community and identity for the Faculties, provide innovative, flexible learning spaces that encourage interactive pedagogies, and improve the architectural quality of its buildings.
The University is organised into five Faculties or Schools (Health and Life Sciences; Art and Design; Engineering and Computing; Business, Environment and Society; and Lifelong Learning). Three new Institutes (Health Design Technology Institute, Serious Games Institute and the Institute for Creative Enterprise) are also based on the Technology Park alongside the Futures Institute which was established in 2005.
Teaching and Research in the University
Most of the courses have a vocational focus. The University adopts a work-related pedagogy where appropriate and ensures that its graduates have the advanced knowledge, the skills base, and the personal capabilities needed to make a successful transition to good, graduate-level, jobs. There are three, nationally-funded Centres for Excellence in Learning and Teaching at Coventry: Mathematics Support, Transport and Product Design, and Health. In 2007 the University was also awarded the Queen’s Anniversary Prize for its work in automotive design.
The University has pedagogic expertise in the use of digital technologies and repositories to enhance the learning experience, in the use of problem-based learning, and increasingly in the use of simulation through, for example, its partnership with Advanced Construction Technologies (UK) Limited (ACT-UK) which is building a state-of-the-art training facility on the Technology Park.
The University’s research is applied and user-defined. Over the last three years the University has achieved 50% year-on-year growth in income from this source. The University entered the 2007/8 Research Assessment Exercise in 16 Units of Assessment. It has invested in 10 Applied Research Centres that are multidisciplinary and also encourages the formation of recognised Applied Research Groups within each Faculty.
In addition, as mentioned above, the University has recently established three, externally-funded, ambitious Institutes situated on the Technology Park which combine research, teaching and consultancy services to companies in new and exciting ways. These Institutes are: Health Design and Technology which focuses on new products and services for the ageing population and those with long term conditions; Creative Enterprise which focuses on SMEs in the emerging creative industries sector of the economy; and Serious Games which translates and develops techniques from digital leisure games into training and other corporate applications.
For further information about the University see www.coventry.ac.uk