De Montfort University

DeMontfort University is also the name of a fictional university in The Class Menagerie and i.s.o.

De Montfort University ("DMU") is one of two universities situated in the city of Leicester, England; It also has a campus in Bedford, which is split into three smaller sections (Alexander Sports Centre, also known as "ASH", Polhill Campus, and Lansdowne campus) and used to have campuses in Luton, Lincoln, Caythorpe and Milton Keynes. The Bedford Campus is shortly to be transferred to the new University of Bedfordshire. The Milton Keynes campus was built in 1991 and was officially opened by Queen Elizabeth II in 1992, prior to DMU becoming a new university. The university merged with Bedford College of Higher Education and the Lincoln colleges in 1994 and with the Charles Frears College of Nursing and Midwifery, based in Leicester, in 1995. It transferred the responsibility for the former Lincolnshire College of Art and Design and the Lincolnshire College of Agriculture, based in Lincoln and Caythorpe, to the new University of Lincoln in 2002. The Kents Hill campus in Milton Keynes was closed in 2003, due to costs of maintaining such a small site. It is now used by the Open University.

Origins

De Montfort University grew out of the former City of Leicester Polytechnic, formed in 1969, which developed from Leicester College of Technology and Leicester College of Art. It was named after Simon de Montfort, who was Earl of Leicester in the 13th century. Around 1995, each new university had to establish a wholesome corporate identity. De Montfort sought this by a memorable TV and cinema advert that reputedly cost £0.5m featuring a killer whale chasing some seals on a beach. The tag line 'Reserve your Seat of Learning Here' was read by Angus Deayton, implying that students should avoid letting life 'chew them up' and improve their job prospects with a degree. It was stirring stuff and apparently had great success; De Montfort is one of the more successful of the former polytechnics, and one of the few to have competed on University Challenge.

Bedford

The Bedford campuses, which operate as a separate university in many respects, are much older than the Leicester campus; historically a centre for sports and teacher training, but now with many other subjects including performing arts, business and humanities, the Bedford campuses have a history of over 100 years as an educational establishment. The relative isolation of the Bedford and Leicester campuses (the two sets of students do not mix), the longer history, the perceived superiority (DMU Bedford is one of the UK's top campuses for both sports studies and teacher training) and a history of mistakes made by Leicester-based administrators (who often know little or nothing of the Bedford campuses' facilities, many of which are highly specialised) led to considerable tensions for over a decade, but which were eventually largely resolved by creating a separate Bedford Faculty. However, the University's continued policy of retrenchment and Leicester centric focus led it to enter secret negotiations for the sale of the Bedford campus to University of Luton. The decision was announced on the 15th of December 2005, much to the surprise of both Bedford and Luton staff, with implementation planned from August 2006, the university will probably be renamed the University of Bedfordshire.

Trivia

The University's logo features a stylised heraldic lion. It is similar in design to that of the former London Guildhall University (another former polytechnic).

The Student Union, DSU, has a radio station called Demon FM. It broadcasts on the internet and has won several awards. In 2004, a TV station was launched called Demon TV. The student newspaper is called The Demon, known formerly as The Voice before rebranding it to fit in with the Radio and TV stations. The Student Union's bar, Level 1, is also one of the few places in the country taking part in a trial run of interactive quiz Buzztime.

The university was subject to controversy in April 2006 when the Times Higher Education Supplement found that students on the pharmacy course were allowed to pass with grades as low as 21%. Some students marks had been raised by as much as 14% with reportedly little effort directed at their studies.^*

Alumni

Charles Dance, actor
MJ Hibbett, singer-songwriter
Angela Smith, MP Sheffield Hillsborough.
Eric Johnson, Journalist, TV presenter and radio reporter.

External links

News links