Our new facilities

Recent Investments

• The University is undergoing major expansion and development and by September 2007 will have completed a £60 million investment in the two campuses
• Facilities include a £5.5 million Media Arts Centre
• £1.2m pioneering 'Business Pods'
• An £8.2 million Learning Resources Centre as well as a £150,000 annual investment in state-of-the-art equipment by the computing department
• £1m has been invested into the Luton accommodation, which now provides 24 hour security and a pedestrian entrance overseen by a security guard on duty from dusk until dawn, seven days a week. Students with cars will receive a gate-swipe card
  
• The Bedford campus has undergone a £34 million redevelopment programme and now boasts a new Campus Centre, a 280 seat theatre and a £20 million accommodation block, Liberty Park
• Nearly £500,000 has been invested in new equipment for our Psychology, Sport and Exercise Science laboratories in the last year
• In June 2005 we launched the Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire Postgraduate Medical School, in partnership with Hertfordshire and Cranfield Universities, as part of the Government’s £1 billion investment in healthcare across the two counties
• In less than five years we have been awarded £4m in Government funding for developing business partnerships and won £20m worth of contracts
• We won the largest solo bid in the country to launch a Knowledge Exchange, to enhance our links with businesses and the community. The £1.8 million grant from the Government comes from HEIF 2 initiative (Higher Education Innovation Fund).

Campus Centre

We have a new Campus Centre at the Bedford campus, which is home to a 280-seat theatre, dance studios, a fair trade cafe and social space for students.

Catering Facilities

The Campus Centre has a great new restaurant, The Unity, offering a wide range of tempting, tasty treats within a modern, stylish setting.

The self-service catering is arranged into four individual themed ‘pods’: Contemporary Classics, Eastern Fusion, Food on the Move - an area dedicated to snack food, - and Coffee with Principles, which offers organic, Fairtrade products that are approved by the Rain Forest Alliance.

This new catering facility places a greater emphasis on healthy eating and multi-ethnic catering – just right for meeting the diverse demands of our cosmopolitan student population.

Theatre

The 280-seat Theatre enhances the flexibility of arts provision at the University, offering an 80-seat Theatre Studio, as an alternative performance space to the large auditorium and a gallery space within the foyer area.

The £4.5million theatre is one of the biggest in the county and presents an exciting opportunity for students to gain a variety of new skills and refine their dance techniques within a theatre setting. The theatre development also includes new changing rooms, seating and lighting.

Physical Education and Sport Science Centre

With an international reputation for teaching, research and facilities, becoming part of our sports community is a great experience.

The £8m Physical Education and Sport Science Centre at Bedford, which will be used to train athletes for the 2012 Olympics, offers first-class state-of-the-art facilities including a human performance laboratory, two fully-equipped hi-tech gymnasiums that have movement sensor lighting, a spectator gallery and two high-quality dance studios.

The gymnasiums are multipurpose sports halls that provides facilities for games, athletics, gymnastics and dance. The gyms also host frequent events and teaching sessions to children from the local schools, which benefits both the children and the trainee physical education teachers.

Centre For Learning In Teaching and Learning

The Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Learning (CETL) - a £3.3m centre for teaching and learning in Luton, opened its doors in early 2006, offering a unique approach to encouraging creative thinking.

The Centre has opened up opportunities and possibilities not just to our students and tutors but to businesses and the local community.

The University of Bedfordshire CETL is one of 74 around the UK that has been funded by the Higher Education Funding Council for England (hefce) in recognition of the University’s track record in teaching excellence.

It will promote further work across all subjects with a particular emphasis on Personal Development Planning (PDP) and employability, to reflect the vocational nature of the University’s curriculum.

Some of the highlights include:

• A social space for networking and group discussions
• A creative space with writeable whitewalls
• Specially designed FacilitatePro software to help with brainstorming and problem solving
• A spacious conference room

Within the Creative Space, the computers with FacilitatePro software for brainstorming and problem-solving allow teachers to challenge students’ thinking and learning. The CETL focuses on supporting activities that are student-centred.

The facilities allow teachers to pose questions for students to consider; their answers are then posted on a shared electronic flip chart for further commenting. This combination of individual input and shared output allows students to express themselves, and engages them in reflection and debate on others' opinions and ideas.

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