Aston University

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Aston University is a university whose campus is situated at Gosta Green in the city centre of Birmingham in the United Kingdom. It has a strong business, science and technology emphasis. Aston University's Main Building is reputedly the largest freestanding brick building in Europe.

Amongst the courses at the university are engineering, psychology, languages, biosciences, pharmacy, ophthalmic optics, audiology, business and management. Aston is a much smaller university in terms of population than the University of Birmingham or the University of Central England with only 7,000 students compared to the University of Birmingham's 26,000. The University is focused chiefly on science, technology and business degrees, and as such offers less choice than its larger neighbours but frequently achieves better academic ratings thanks to its focus.

Its business school is world-renowned, with excellent teaching and research ratings. The business school holds accreditation from all three of the major international accrediting bodies (AMBA, EQUIS and AACSB), an achievement that few other schools have equalled. In 2004 Aston University began a £22 million construction project to extend the business school which was completed on time and on budget opening in January 2006 .

Aston University boasts very strong industrial links. Almost all undergraduate students, regardless of their course, are able to do a sandwich degree - working for a year in a private or public company or government (or some other established, professional body). This provides a unique opportunity for students to put their theory into practice and get a taste of working life, as well as earn a decent salary. It also means Aston has a very dedicated student placement service (being very committed to helping students get the best possible placement jobs). Aston graduates are very sought after by companies around the UK, Europe and the world, particularly due to the emphasis on industrial placements.

Aston University has, in recent years, been placed highly in both The Times' Good University Guide and The Guardian's University Guide.

Contents

1 History
2 Accommodation
3 Students' Guild
4 External links

History

Founded in 1895 as The Birmingham Municipal Technical School, it officially became the University of Aston in Birmingham on receipt of its Royal Charter on 22 April 1966, and acquired its current name in 1997. Sir Michael Bett took over the position of Chancellor on October 21, 2004 from Sir Adrian Cadbury, whose younger brother Sir Dominic Cadbury is Chancellor of the University of Birmingham. The extensive and grassy Gosta Green campus is shared with the University of Central England's Institute of Art and Design.

Accommodation

Aston University has two main types of on campus accommodation, standard and en-suite. Standard accommodation is the cheapest and consists of Low-rise blocks and the three accommodation towers; Dalton, Lawrence and Stafford Towers. They are quite old with students having to share bathrooms with between 7 and 16 students. Low-rise accommodation is similar in quality to the towers but consists of smaller buildings around the towers, mostly occupied by final year students.

The en-suite accommodation is the more expensive of the two options available and consists of Lakeside. Is the newest available on campus and boasts over 600 en-suite student rooms. All campus accommodation is less than 5 minutes' walk from the main building, and approximately 10 minutes' walk from Birmingham city centre.

Plans to demolish the three residence towers and replace them with newer accommodation have been rumoured for at least 20 years. Plans have been made to build more Lakeside style accommodation in a five stage development plan which would see the three high rise accommodation blocks being demolished

Nearby are the privately owned accommodation; The Heights and Canalside. These are both more expensive than campus but offer a place for second year students to go that is close to campus who don’t usually get allocated places on campus.

Students' Guild

The Aston Students' Guild publishes a newspaper called The Aston Times which, being run by the Guild as a separate entity to the actual academic university, provides a reasonably balanced view of Aston news and does not shy away from critique of the university's senior staffmembers when necessary. The Guild has two bars - Einsteins and The Blue Room, has a large hall for hosting functions, an additional, occasional bar called The Loft, a practice studio for the live music society, and features several events a week, as well as playing host to a number of societies and clubs of various broad-ranging interests. In 2005, Subway - the submarine sandwich franchise was added to the Blue Room, offering students another place to eat on campus. Aston places strong emphasis on its Guild being an important supportive aspect of Aston life, offering many student services, from entertainment to advice. The Guild is Aston's backbone when it describes itself as "friendly" which is frequently a major "selling-point" in its yearly prospectus. Einsteins is known as being the best place on campus to obtain a Carling Extra-Cold for a mere £1.40 or £2.00.

External links

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