Having established itself as one of the fastest-growing new universities, with over 22,000 students, Kingston is developing a learning environment to match.

The university has set about revitalising its four sites, spending more than £65 million in a decade on capital projects.

Three new buildings opened in 2007 alone. One provides six floors of teaching and study space and a new central courtyard on the main Penrhyn Road campus; another is a three-storey teaching extension at the Faculty of Engineering’s Roehampton Vale site; while the Kingston Hill campus has acquired more computer study space in the learning resources centre and a Learning Café with computer facilities.

Applications have been buoyant, bucking the trend among former polytechnics and enabling the university to reduce the numbers recruited through Clearing.

Improvement

Results in the National Student Survey have been improving, after disruptive building work depressed initial satisfaction levels and contributed to a fall in our league table.

The university hopes for further progress in the next survey, now that students are enjoying the use of new facilities which have won plaudits from staff and students alike.

The university markets itself as in “lively, leafy London”, making a virtue of its suburban location as well as its proximity to the bright lights. It has four campuses in the southwest of the capital: two, close to Kingston town centre; another, two miles away at Kingston Hill, and the fourth in Roehampton Vale, where a site once used as an aerospace factory now contains a new technology block.

Engineering

A flight simulator and the university’s own Learjet continue the tradition and a Foundation degree in aeronautical engineering is ministers’ favourite example of the two-year course.

Kingston boasts the third largest engineering faculty in London, behind Imperial College and Brunel. The four campuses are linked by an extensive network of 2,000 computers. Among the facilities in the new buildings are multiple projection systems, video conferencing, interactive displays and built-in voting systems.

Students can take advantage of 24-hour opening in some of the main learning resources centres and a high-tech self-issue system for borrowing books and other resources. Research grades in the last assessment exercise showed improvement, with European studies, history and history of art scoring well, but teaching scores have shown Kingston’s real strength.

Results

No department scored less than 20 points out of 24 in the final rounds of teaching assessment. The School of Life Sciences joined building and mechanical, aeronautical and manufacturing engineering in recording perfect scores, following on from some good performances under the original quality system. Politics and nursing also produced good results.

Nursing is part of the Faculty of Health and Social Care Sciences, a successful collaboration with St George’s Hospital Medical School, which recently added pharmacy to its portfolio of courses. The faculty came through a major review of its courses with flying colours in 2004.

Creative writing is another innovation, with Hanif Kureishi, whose screenplay for the film My Beautiful Launderette was nominated for an Oscar, delivering masterclasses and supervising MA dissertations. Rachel Cusk, whose Arlington Park was shortlisted for the Orange Prize in 2007, teaches both undergraduates and MA students.

Access

Around a quarter of Kingston’s places go to mature students and more than a third to those from working-class families – both groups with low completion rates nationally. The latest projected dropout rate is 17 per cent, an improvement on the previous year and less than the national average for the subjects on offer. Students get extra support in their first, most difficult, year.

The university’s attempts to widen access to higher education have been particularly successful among ethnic minorities, who account for more than half of the undergraduates. To make the university more responsive to its students, it provides a “one-stop shop”, which deals with student issues ranging from careers and accommodation to complaints and financial advice.

The university’s responsiveness and the accessibility of staff were singled out for praise in a quality audit. Over £20 million has been spent on halls of residence, most recently with extensions and refurbishment of the two largest halls, which now have 2,360 rooms.

Students like the location, on the fringe of London, although complaints about the high cost of living are common.

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