, established = 2004 – gained
University Status
A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, t ...
1982 – Bolton Institute of Higher Education
, type =
Public
In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the ''Öffentlichkei ...
, endowment = £160,000 (2009)
, administrative_staff = 700+
, chancellor =
George Windsor, Earl of St Andrews
George Philip Nicholas Windsor, Earl of St Andrews (born 26 June 1962) is an English philanthropist, former diplomat and relative of the British royal family. He was a member of HM Diplomatic Service in New York and Budapest. St Andrews became ...
, vice_chancellor =
George Holmes
, students = ()
, undergrad = ()
, postgrad = ()
, city =
Bolton
Bolton (, locally ) is a large town in Greater Manchester in North West England, formerly a part of Lancashire. A former mill town, Bolton has been a production centre for textiles since Flemish people, Flemish weavers settled in the area i ...
, state = Greater Manchester
, country =
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
,
UK
, coor =
, campus = Urban
, colours = Gold, navy blue
, affiliations =
Million+
MillionPlus, formerly known as million+, the Campaign for Mainstream Universities, and the Coalition of Modern Universities (CMU), is a membership organisation, which aims to promote the role of " modern universities" in the UK higher education sys ...
North West Universities Association
The North West Universities Association (NWUA) is a representative body in the North West of England, intended to advance the development of the thirteen higher education establishments.
Role
The primary aim of the NWUA is to act as an organisa ...
Universities UK
Universities UK (UUK) is an advocacy organisation for universities in the United Kingdom. It began life in the early 20th century through informal meetings of vice-chancellors of a number of universities and principals of university colleges and ...
, footnotes =
, website
www.bolton.ac.uk , address =
, logo = University of Bolton Logo.png
, logo_size = 200px
The University of Bolton (formerly Bolton Institute of Higher Education, Bolton Institute of Technology or simply Bolton Institute) is a
public university
A public university or public college is a university or college that is in owned by the state or receives significant public funds through a national or subnational government, as opposed to a private university. Whether a national universit ...
in
Bolton
Bolton (, locally ) is a large town in Greater Manchester in North West England, formerly a part of Lancashire. A former mill town, Bolton has been a production centre for textiles since Flemish people, Flemish weavers settled in the area i ...
,
Greater Manchester
Greater Manchester is a metropolitan county and combined authority, combined authority area in North West England, with a population of 2.8 million; comprising ten metropolitan boroughs: City of Manchester, Manchester, City of Salford, Salford ...
, England. It has approximately 6,000 students and 700 academic and professional staff. Around 70% of its students come from Bolton and the
North West region.
The university is a member of the
North West Universities Association
The North West Universities Association (NWUA) is a representative body in the North West of England, intended to advance the development of the thirteen higher education establishments.
Role
The primary aim of the NWUA is to act as an organisa ...
,
Universities UK
Universities UK (UUK) is an advocacy organisation for universities in the United Kingdom. It began life in the early 20th century through informal meetings of vice-chancellors of a number of universities and principals of university colleges and ...
and
Million+
MillionPlus, formerly known as million+, the Campaign for Mainstream Universities, and the Coalition of Modern Universities (CMU), is a membership organisation, which aims to promote the role of " modern universities" in the UK higher education sys ...
.
History
![Eagle Entrance University of Bolton](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/65/Eagle_Entrance_University_of_Bolton.jpg)
The University of Bolton traces its origins back to 1824
with the founding of Bolton Mechanics' Institute. In 1887, the Committee of the Mechanics' Institute decided that the town's apprentices required technical instruction for the rapidly expanding engineering advances being made at the turn of the nineteenth century. This resulted in the creation of the new Technical School with student numbers rising to more than 1,500.
In 1926, Bolton Technical School became a college. Fifteen years later a new building was opened offering a wide range of technical education choices, with engineering the most popular. In 1964, Bolton Technical College and Bolton Institute of Technology were divided into two separate organisations. A J Jenkinson was Principal of the Technical College, Bolton College of Education (Technical) and then the first Principal of Bolton Institute of Technology.
Bolton Institute of Higher Education was formed in 1982 by the merger of the Bolton Institute of Technology and Bolton College of Education. The first principal of BIHE was John McKenzie, who was succeeded by Bob Oxtoby. Oxtoby began the campaign for university status.
An £8.3 million extension project began in 1991 with the purchase of the former Eagle Factory. Bolton Institute was awarded the right to award taught degrees in 1992, with the powers to award research degrees in 1996.
In 1998, Mollie Temple became the third principal and successfully led the institution to achieve university status in 2004.
In November 2014, it became the first university in the North West to become a
Living Wage
A living wage is defined as the minimum income necessary for a worker to meet their basic needs. This is not the same as a subsistence wage, which refers to a biological minimum, or a solidarity wage, which refers to a minimum wage tracking labor ...
employer.
Campus
The university is primarily situated on an urban campus between Deane Road and Derby Street in Bolton. There are two halls of residence, although the university intends to relocate all services on to a single site in the centre of Bolton.
There is an academic centre in Ras Al Khaimah, United Arab Emirates.
Facilities
![Eagle Library Aisle Bolton](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cd/Eagle_Library_Aisle_Bolton.jpg)
Senate House
Formally known as Deane Tower, Senate House underwent refurbishment in 2004 to become a centre for design disciplines, research and consultancy services.
The Chancellor's Building
Following the remodelling and centralisation of the University campus in 2007, a new £2.5 million Social Learning Zone for student study and Students' Union bar was built.
The building also houses the university library, student services and coffee shop.
Eagle Tower
The five-storey building houses subject areas such as Art & Design, Photography, Graphics, Media Studies, Special & Visual Effects and Psychology as well as academic offices.
Bolton One
![Bolton One](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/06/Bolton_One.jpg)
The Bolton One facility is a £31 million, three-way partnership with Bolton Council and NHS Bolton situated on the university's campus. The university contributed around £7 million to the development. The purpose-built centre houses new health, science and sports teaching and research facilities – as well as a sports complex.
Halls of residence
The University has approved and recommends Orlando Village halls of residence, which is owned by McComb Bolton Limited.
Other accommodation is provided by private landlords. The "Cube" on Bradshawgate was one such building; it was seriously damaged by fire in November 2019.
Eyewitnesses say the cladding on the building encouraged the spread of the fire. Manchester metro-mayor,
Andy Burnham
Andrew Murray Burnham (born 7 January 1970) is a British politician who has served as Mayor of Greater Manchester since 2017. He served in Gordon Brown's Cabinet as Chief Secretary to the Treasury from 2007 to 2008, Culture Secretary from 2008 ...
said, “It does have a type of cladding which does cause concern. There will be many people living in buildings with this cladding today who will be very worried.”
University Collegiate School
UTC Bolton, a
university technical college
A university technical college (UTC) is a type of specialist secondary school in England that is led by a sponsor university and has close ties to local business and industry. These university and industry partners support the curriculum developm ...
sponsored by the University of Bolton was established at the university campus in September 2015. In November 2015, the UTC was officially opened by
Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex and named the 'Stoller Building' after the philanthropist
Sir Norman Stoller. In September 2020 the school was renamed
University Collegiate School
University Collegiate School is a mixed secondary school in central Bolton, England, now classed as a free school. It opened in 2015 on a new site on the University of Bolton campus as Bolton UTC, a university technical college for students ag ...
. It is now a full
secondary school
A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' secondary education, lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) ...
sponsored by the university.
Growth and future plans
The university has also announced plans for a new £10m facility for Science and Engineering, which will house its Centre for Advanced Performance Engineering. Construction was set to begin following the completion of the UTC building in September 2015.
There was also to be a renovation and expansion of the current campus through to 2017.
In 2015, the university and Bolton Council announced plans for a new £40 million student village, which was planned to accommodate up to 850 students in the heart of Bolton town centre, facing the iconic
Le Mans Crescent.
International presence
The University has an academic centre in
Ras al-Khaimah
Ras Al Khaimah (RAK) ( ar, رَأْس ٱلْخَيْمَة, historically Julfar) is the largest city and capital of the Emirate of Ras Al Khaimah, United Arab Emirates. It is the sixth-largest city in UAE after Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Sharjah, Al A ...
in the
United Arab Emirates
The United Arab Emirates (UAE; ar, اَلْإِمَارَات الْعَرَبِيَة الْمُتَحِدَة ), or simply the Emirates ( ar, الِْإمَارَات ), is a country in Western Asia (The Middle East). It is located at th ...
and established international links with a number of overseas academic establishments in China, Germany,
Greece
Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...
,
Malawi
Malawi (; or aláwi Tumbuka: ''Malaŵi''), officially the Republic of Malawi, is a landlocked country in Southeastern Africa that was formerly known as Nyasaland. It is bordered by Zambia to the west, Tanzania to the north and northeast ...
,
Malaysia
Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...
and Singapore.
Since 2009, the University of Bolton has had a partnership with Western International College Ras Al Khaimah with programmes available at Undergraduate and Postgraduate level.
In December 2011, the University of Bolton launched its academic centre in
Colombo
Colombo ( ; si, කොළඹ, translit=Koḷam̆ba, ; ta, கொழும்பு, translit=Koḻumpu, ) is the executive and judicial capital and largest city of Sri Lanka by population. According to the Brookings Institution, Colombo me ...
,
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...
, in partnership with the KES Group of Institutions...
Organisation and administration
Chancellors
* 2010–2014:
Patricia Morris, Baroness Morris of Bolton
Patricia Morris, Baroness Morris of Bolton, (born 16 January 1953), is a British peer and former Shadow Minister for Women and an Opposition Whip for the Conservative Party.
Morris was made a life peer in 2004, and has previously been Vice-Cha ...
* 2014–2017:
Sir Ernest Ryder
* 2017–present:
George Philip Nicholas Windsor, Earl of St Andrews
On 11 July 2016, the Board of Governors announced the appointment of Lord St. Andrews as Chancellor. The Earl commenced his responsibilities in January 2017.
Vice-Chancellors
* 2005–present: George E Holmes
In February 2015, ''
The Bolton News
''The Bolton News'' – formerly the ''Bolton Evening News'' – is a daily newspaper and news website covering the towns of Bolton and Bury in north-western England. Published each morning from Monday to Saturday and online every day, it is par ...
'' reported that the Vice-Chancellor George Holmes had been provided with a bridging loan of £960,000 from University funds to assist him in moving home.
Academic profile
Reputation and rankings
''The Times'' stated in 2008 that "the university is not research-driven, but engineering, architecture and the built environment, social work and social policy all contained some 'world-leading' research in the 2008 assessments".
[ ]
''The Guardian'' ranked the University of Bolton in the top 50 universities in the United Kingdom in 2021 and within top 5 based on students' satisfaction with teaching.
Student life
The University of Bolton has a diverse student population. Around 13% of home students are from ethnic minority communities, with about 7% of its students being classed as international. This portion of students come from 70 countries outside the UK. The university also has a Chaplaincy that accommodates several different faiths.
Students' Union
The main Students' Union building is on Deane Road at the centre of the University Campus. As well as being home to the SU bar (The Vista) and the hub of many social events, the union provides numerous other roles, such as student support and advice (The Advice Unit), representation and sporting societies.
Sport
Bolton has many different sports teams competing in the BUCS leagues. Teams include: Basketball, Netball, Football, Hockey, Rugby League and Rugby Union.
Bolton One also offers students an eight-lane, 25-metre competition swimming pool, 50 foot climbing wall and sports hall.
Sponsorship
On 17 February 2016, it was announced that the University of Bolton would become the principal shirt sponsors of the
Manchester Giants
The Manchester Giants are a British professional basketball team based in Manchester, England. The franchise was established in 2011, and admitted to the top-tier British Basketball League in 2012. The team's formation was led by a consortium ...
basketball team for the 2016 season. On 2 April 2016, the University of Bolton became again the sponsors of the
Bolton Wanderers, in an agreement which was initially planned to last until Summer 2016.
See also
*
Armorial of UK universities
The armorial of British universities is the collection of coats of arms of universities in the United Kingdom. Modern arms of universities began appearing in England around the middle of the 15th century, with University of Oxford, Oxford's bei ...
*
Alumni of the University of Bolton
Alumni (singular: alumnus (masculine) or alumna (feminine)) are former students of a school, college, or university who have either attended or graduated in some fashion from the institution. The feminine plural alumnae is sometimes used for grou ...
*
Academics of the University of Bolton
*
College of Education
In the United States and Canada, a school of education (or college of education; ed school) is a division within a university that is devoted to scholarship in the field of education, which is an interdisciplinary branch of the social sciences en ...
*
List of universities in the United Kingdom
This is a list of universities in the United Kingdom (alphabetical by substantive name). Below that are lists of university colleges and other recognised bodies (institutions with degree awarding powers), followed by a list of defunct institution ...
References
External links
*
Hackitt Report on Building regulations and fire safety (interim)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bolton, University Of
University of Bolton
, established = 2004 – gained University Status 1982 – Bolton Institute of Higher Education
, type = Public
, endowment = £160,000 (2009)
, administrative_staff = 700+
, chancellor ...
1982 establishments in England
Buildings and structures in Bolton
Universities UK