University of Salford

History

• Salford Technical Institute founded in 1896.
• Royal Charter gained in 1967.
• Merged with University College Salford in 1996.

Location and transport

• 2.4km (1.5 miles) from Manchester city centre.
• Salford Crescent railway station on campus and frequent buses into and out of Manchester.
• Set in 24 ha (60 acres) of parkland with River Irwell running through campus.

Entry standards

• These vary depending on course. Visit the website for more details.

Student mix

• 51.5% of students are female.
• 5.8% of undergraduates are from outside the EU.
• 22.6% of UK-based undergraduate new entrants are from black or minority ethnic backgrounds.
• 64.3% of UK-based undergraduate students are mature (over 21) on entry.

Course flexibility

• This varies from course to course and students are advised to discuss their requirements with their specific course tutor.

Teaching standard

• Salford is rated in the top ten for teaching out of all UK universities by a report in the journal Quality in Higher Education.
• The university works closely with business and industry to develop the courses. Many tutors are industry consultants and this keeps the teaching in tune with industry needs
• There are a number of high profile visiting lecturers to provide teaching across all four faculties. Among the most famous are former Smiths guitarist, Johnny Marr, and David Threlfall, who plays Frank Gallagher in Shameless.
• Many of our courses have been accredited by external professional bodies such as; Chartered Institute of Architectural Technologists, British Psychological Society and Royal Aeronautical Society

Research standards

• Research Fortnight's 'research power' league table rated the university's Built Environment research top in the country in the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise (RAE). Information and Library Management was ranked second in its subject area.  Both were judged by the government to have 25% of their research in the 'world-leading' 4* category.
• 83% of the university's research was judged to be of international class by the government's latest RAE. What's more, 12% was judged to be 'world-leading' – at the very cutting edge of its discipline.
• Overall, the University was ranked 48 out of 158 universities in the Research Fortnight power ranking tables, placing us in the top third of UK Universities.
• There is a close link between research and business – in media we work closely with the BBC as part of our MediaCityUK partnership. In energy we are working with a number of businesses to develop energy efficient products in our Energy House – a fully functional terraced house built inside a climate controlled lab.

Academic strengths

• Salford was one of the first universities to develop sandwich courses - three quarters of courses offer work and study placements.
• One of the largest arts and media faculties in the country with over 4,500 students.
• The UK's pre-eminent school for the built environment, and the UK's largest research institute in this sector in the UK.
• Science and engineering is a traditional strength of the University with particular highlights including engineering, acoustics and aeronautics.
• The University of Salford is the North West’s largest provider of health and social care courses.

Student facilities, including library and computing

• Four library sites, including a state of the art facility at MediaCityUK, provide access to over 500,000 books, 30,000 e-journals and 320,000 e-books. Our cutting edge resource discovery tool allows access to all our academic resources from a single interface
• Over 200 laptops are available for loan within libraries and more than 800 PCs are provided throughout the wi-fi enabled University campus
• We operate 24/7 and extended opening hours, with silent and collaborative study zones in developed response to users’ needs. The customer focus of The Library has been acknowledged with the Customer Service Excellence award, a national award to recognize excellence in Public Services.
• Access to 750,000 print and electronic resources, wi-fi service, laptop loans and group and individual study areas.
• There are over 800 PCs in the libraries and open access suites across the University.

Disability services

• Students have the opportunity to work for Britain's largest student newspaper, Student Direct and for Salford's own Shock Radio.
• You'll find our Bar and Café Yours venues on campus. There are also three USSU shops providing everything you need to get through the day at University.
• Each Faculty has a Sabbatical Officer dedicated to gathering feedback from students and working with the University to ensure that their needs are met.
• The Union operates over 60 clubs and societies that you can get involved in, from performing arts to snow sports.
• Students who don't have the time to commit to a group, can participate in our pay as you go, no commitment Give It A Go programme.
• The Students' Union Advice Centre offers free, independent and professional advice on a number of areas, from course-related issues to accommodation and finance.

Sport

• The Tom Husband Leisure Centre on campus has a 25-m swimming pool. In addition to this it boasts four gymnasiums, a climbing wall, squash courts and a large multi-use sports hall.
• The large multi-use sports hall has six badminton courts, two basketball courts, five-a-side football pitch, netball court, handball court and in line hockey court.
• We offer Astroturf pitches for football, hockey, rugby matches etc. and also grass pitches for football and rugby.
• Each year Salford University Boat Club races Manchester University down the Ship Canal in the Two Cities Boat Race, drawing thousands of spectators.  For the last two years the rugby league team have taken on Manchester University at the home of the Salford City Reds SuperLeague team in a Varsity Match, drawing over 1000 spectators each time.

Recent/prospective new builds

• The University’s building at MediaCityUK opened in 2011. Over 100,000 sq ft of space houses 1,500 students on creative, digital and media courses. The new building is next door the six national BBC departments including Sport and Children’s and ITV will soon be taking space there too. Salford has established partnerships leading to work experience with major companies such as Adobe and BT as a result of this new development.
• A £50-million Arts Building will be operational by 2014. This will include a theatre, studio space, tuition and practice space, and social learning areas. It will mainly house students from media, music, performance, art and design courses. It will overlook a newly developed green square which will provide a focus for the campus’ communal life.
• The new £10-million Salford Law School opened in September 2007. The purpose-built building features a Law Society-approved law library and a mock court room known as a 'moot'.
• The £22-million purpose-built Mary Seacole building opened in May 2006 and houses health and social care students, with state-of-the-art human performance labs
• The Student Life department recently had a £3-million refit to provide the best possible environment for students to get advice on anything from careers to finance.
• The University is currently refitting its Chapman Building to offer modern teaching and learning spaces for students. This £7.5-million project is due to be finished in 2012.
• 2,000 new and modern student rooms will be constructed on the campus by the end of 2013. Overlooking the historic Peel Park, the new residences will create a 24 hour campus with shops, restaurants and cafes.
• Other recent refits include new gallery space in the Allerton Building for art and design students, and a refurbishment of the leisure centre.
• The University recently acquired and refurbished the historic Joule House. This research centre was home to James Joule the physicist who gave his name to the Joule unit of energy. Joule House will continue this work as a research and teaching cventre for energy efficiency and other built environment disciplines.

Availability of part-time work

• Work available at all times of year through the Student Union Student Job Shop and the Careers Service.
• Guidance available from the Careers Service on subjects such as employment law, CVs and interview technique. Dedicated team has hundreds of charitable positions available which help the community and boost CVs.
• An entrepreneurship group  holds regular events to encourage students to set up their own businesses.

Notable alumni

Academia

• Michael Atchia – Mauritian academician, former Chief and Programme Director with the United Nations Environment Programme.
• M. Kamal Bedewy – Professor of Mechanical Engineering and former Vice Dean for Education and Students Affairs, then Dean of Engineering at Cairo University, and former Dean of Engineering at Misr University for Science and Technology.
• Professor Richard Barnett – Vice-Chancellor, University of Ulster.
• Sydney Chapman – British mathematician and geophysicist.
• Robert Lomas – writer, business studies and science academic, Freemasonry researcher.
• Dato Paduka Dr Hj Ismail bin Hj Duraman – former Vice-Chancellor, Universiti Brunei Darussalam.
• Professor Susan Price – Vice-Chancellor of Leeds Metropolitan University.

Business

• Andy Bond – Former Chief Executive of Asda.
• Howard Graham – accountant, entrepreneur, and businessman.
• Keith Ludeman – Chief Executive of the Go-Ahead Group.
• Chris Moyes – Former Chief Executive of the Go-Ahead Group.
• Richard Parry-Jones – former group vice president-Global Product Development, and Chief Technical Officer, Ford Motor Company.
• Mohammad Hashem Pesaran – British-Iranian economist.

Media, Entertainment & Design

• Emma Atkins – Actress.
• Chris Bisson – Actor.
• Richard Boardman & James Cook – members of Delphic.
• Wes Butters – Writer and radio broadcaster.
• Nigel Clarke – Associate Composer to the Band of HM Grenadier Guards.
• Rasshied Din – Designer, including of the Princess Diana memorial museum at Althorp.
• Rudi Dharmalingam – Actor.
• Christopher Eccleston – Actor – the ninth Doctor Who.
• Steve Edge – Comedian and actor.
• James Gourlay – conductor and internationally renowned tuba soloist.
• Shobna Gulati – Actress.
• John Hammond – BBC weather presenter.
• Matt Healy – Actor.
• Joanna Higson – Actress.
• Peter Kay – Comedian.
• Sir Ben Kingsley – Actor.
• Frances Lennon MBE – Artist.
• John Vernon Lord – Illustrator & author.
• L. S. Lowry – Awarded an honorary Doctor of Letters in 1975, also studied at the technical college.
• Karl Lucas – Comedian, writer, actor.
• Conor McNamara – Football commentator for the BBC.
• Jason Manford – Manchester comedian and Perrier nominee.
• Sarfraz Manzoor – Writer, journalist and documentary maker.
• Kristyna Myles – Singer-songwriter (studied Popular Music and Recording).
• Karl Newton – Executive Producer at ITV Studios.
• Maxine Peake – Actress.
• Nigel Pivaro – former actor, Edinburgh Fringe First winner, producer, Journalist.
• Jen Pringle – TV presenter on Channel 5 children's show Milkshake!
• Samantha Siddall – Actress.
• Richard Smith – Scottish screenwriter and film director.
• Rosie Smith – Former keyboardist in Cradle of Filth.
• Ash Soan – Drummer in Del Amitri, Faithless and Squeeze as well as session musician.
• Richard Stowe – Television producer at ITV Studios.
• Jim Sturgess – Actor.

Military

• Major General Bill Moore CBE 1976–79.

Physiotherapy

The University has held a link for Physiotherapy with the Professional Footballers' Association since 1991. As of 2007 over 70 former professional footballers have graduated from Salford. In 2009 the PFA reported that they had 33 members undertaking the programme at the University.

• Nigel Adkins – current manager of Southampton.
• Ritchie Barber – Silver Olympic medalist in Swimming at the 2000 Summer Paralympics.
• Paul Lake – currently on the medical staff with Bolton Wanderers.
• Les Parry – current manager of Tranmere Rovers.

Politics

• Anwar Choudhury – British diplomat, former British High Commissioner to Bangladesh.
• David Clark, Baron Clark of Windermere.
• Andrew Gwynne – Labour Member of Parliament for Denton and Reddish.
• George Howarth – Labour Member of Parliament for Knowsley North and Sefton East.
• Barbara Keeley – Labour Member of Parliament for Worsley and Eccles South.
• Ruth Turner – Labour political advisor; co-founder of The Big Issue in the North.
• André Walker – British political and media figure.
• Maxine Wrigley – Chief Executive of A National Voice.

Science

• Professor Darwin Caldwell – Research Director, Italian Institute of Technology, key person in iCub project.
• B. N. Suresh (Byrana Nagappa Suresh) – Indian aerospace scientist; 2002 recipient of Padma Shri.

Sports

• Ieuan Evans – Former international rugby union player for Wales.
• Paul Smith – Rugby league player who played in the Super League with Huddersfield Giants.
• Norman Whiteside – former Manchester United and Northern Ireland footballer who studied Podiatry.

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