University Centre Folkestone Invites Public to First Open Day
Folkestone, a town where many school leavers, young people and adults may not have considered higher education as an option, will soon have higher education on its doorstep thanks to the launch of the new University Centre Folkestone. Local people are invited to attend University Centre Folkestone’s first ever Open Day on Saturday 24th February to find out more about the new courses and facilities that will be available.
The Centre's website is www.ucf.ac.uk.
Canterbury Christ Church University and the University of Greenwich today unveiled the first programmes to be offered at the University Centre Folkestone from autumn 2007.
Recruitment is now underway for a range of creative and vocational programmes which can be studied full time and part-time. Programmes include Performing Arts, Information Technology, Multimedia, Visual Art, Business and Management (see notes to editors section for more details).
University Centre Folkestone will open in September 2007 and aims to enrol around 300 students in the next two years, rising to 500 students in later years.
University Centre Folkestone will be based at the refurbished 30,000sq ft Glassworks, a redundant industrial premises that includes two five-storey warehouses located just off Tontine Street, near Folkestone harbour. The Glassworks is part of Folkestone’s new Creative Quarter.
University Centre Folkestone will act as a powerful regenerative force in the academic, social and economic development of Folkestone and South Kent and will boost the area’s participation rates in higher education which are below the regional average.
University of Greenwich’s Pro-Vice Chancellor (Learning and Quality), Dr Margaret Noble, said: “As a major regional university, Greenwich is involved in a number of projects focussing on regional regeneration, recognising the significant and central role that higher level learning plays in the economy. Our programmes in business and management and information technology are designed to meet local needs. Both the University of Greenwich and Canterbury Christ Church University are committed to increasing opportunities for people to enter higher education and to support regional and local communities.”
Canterbury Christ Church University’s Pro-Vice Chancellor (Academic), Professor Sue Piotrowski, said: “Canterbury Christ Church University is pleased to have the opportunity to deliver a wide range of good quality programmes including those relating to the performing and visual arts from the University Centre Folkestone. We are delighted to be working with the University of Greenwich on a project that will unlock latent talent within the population to develop creativity, IT and practical skills to contribute to economy, new business creation and social and cultural vitality.”
Roger De Haan, Chairman of the Creative Foundation said: “Folkestone has never had its own university provision before. This has meant that many of the town’s brightest young people have been forced to leave at 18 to pursue their education. Most never return, and this has a detrimental effect on the community and the economy of the town. Through the establishment of a vibrant University Centre here in Folkestone, we can aspire to retain a significant proportion of our young people who might otherwise leave. Also, through the kinds of programmes being offered, we can encourage both young people who might not otherwise consider university to be an option, and adults who missed out first time around, to enter higher education.”
The Open Day takes place at the University Centre Folkestone from 10am until 4pm. Visitors do not need to book and are welcome to arrive at any time during the event. Academic staff and admissions tutors will be on hand to talk about the programmes on offer and entry requirements and give tours of the newly refurbished building.
ENDS
Notes To Editors
Media Interviews
If you would like to interview Pro-Vice Chancellor (Academic), Professor Sue Piotrowski, or Pro Vice-Chancellor (Learning and Quality), Dr Margaret Noble, please contact either Canterbury Christ Church University’s Media Relations Officer, Claire Robinson, on 01227 782391, or the University of Greenwich’s Press Office on 0208 331 8092. For further information on the Creative Foundation, please contact Peter Bettley on 01303 248838.
Programmes on offer at University Centre Folkestone
The University of Greenwich will offer foundation degree and degree programmes in:
- Multimedia;
- Information Technology Management for Business;
- Enterprise Project Management;
- Retail Technology;
- Marketing Technology;
- Small Business Management;
- Applied Professional Studies
Canterbury Christ Church University will offer:
- Performing Arts;
- Visual Art and Professional Practice;
- Early Years Education;
- Entrepreneurship (combined with a creative subject);
- Professional Development by Work Based Learning
The University Centre Folkestone will:
- Increase the range and level of higher level learning opportunities in the region and support lifelong learning for young people and adults;
- Widen access to learning for young people through creating new progression opportunities;
- Work with employers to identify education and training needs;
- Provide university level programmes in a range of disciplines related to the arts and creative industries, business and information, and communication and applied professional studies;
- Create a resource of benefit to the regional and local community;
- Forge new partnerships with other education providers and employing organisations;
- Develop enterprise and research activities in partnership with employing organisations.
The Creative Foundation
The Glassworks is owned by the Creative Foundation, a charity established by Roger De Haan CBE to lead efforts to regenerate Folkestone through the arts. The Glassworks is part of Folkestone’s new Creative Quarter, a regeneration area being established around the Old High Street and Tontine Street. Art galleries, specialist shops, street sculpture and artists give the Creative Quarter plenty of cultural character and it is also home to many cafes and pubs.
The Creative Foundation has made considerable investment in the town by the purchase and refurbishment of buildings, which are then let at affordable rents to artists and creative businesses.
University of Greenwich
The University of Greenwich has offered higher education in Kent for more than a century, since the creation of Dartford College in 1895. Today it has nearly 3,000 students at the University of Greenwich at Medway, in Chatham Maritime, as well as a training and conference centre at King’s Hill, near West Malling. Students also study for University of Greenwich courses in its network of partner colleges in the county, which includes: Hadlow College, K College, North West Kent College, Canterbury College, Bexley College, Bromley College and Orpington College, as well as by distance learning.
Altogether over 20,000 students are enrolled on a wide range of courses including: science, engineering, natural resources, business, education and training, pharmacy, computing and mathematical sciences, architecture and construction, health and social care, and humanities.
The University also has extensive involvement with the local community and business sector, offering research and consultancy services, and through its student volunteering and mentoring schemes.
Canterbury Christ Church University
Canterbury Christ Church University is the largest centre of higher education in Kent for public services – notably teacher training, policing and health and social care. The University is also a significant provider of programmes in a wide range of academic areas within its Faculties of Arts and Humanities and Business and Sciences.
From a small independent College of less than five hundred students – all training to be school teachers – in the 1960s, we have grown to a fully fledged university with 14,000 students and 1,000 staff members with campuses in Canterbury, Tunbridge Wells, Broadstairs and Chatham. Our teaching and learning facility for health, education and policing students at Chatham is part of the Universities at Medway Project in partnership with the Universities of Greenwich, University of Kent with Mid-Kent College.
As an outward looking University and a Church of England foundation, our mission is to provide excellent academic and professional education underpinned by research, scholarship and creative work and by Christian principles and values.
Contacts
Nick Davison, Press Officer,
University of Greenwich,
0208 331 8092
n.a.p.davison@ gre.ac.uk
Claire Robinson, Media Relations Officer,
Canterbury Christ Church University,
01227 782391
cr54@canterbury.ac.uk