University of Winchester

Professor Joy Carter became Vice-Chancellor in April 2006.[6] In the period since, the University has seen significant development. On Tuesday, 29 January 2013, His Royal Highness the Earl of Wessex officially inaugurated the new "state-of-the-art learning and teaching building, St. Alphege" at the University of Winchester.[7]

The new University Centre opened in 2007, which includes the Student Union and forms the focus of the campus, providing facilities for the whole university community. The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) awarded the University Centre the RIBA Award for the South region in 2008 in recognition of its high architectural standards.[8]

The Winchester Sports Stadium, which opened in 2008, cost £3.5 million and includes an Olympic standard 8-lane running track and supporting field events and an all-weather astro turf suitable for hockey and football.[9]

In 2013 the new St Alphege building received a RIBA regional award.[10] The new Learning and Teaching Building provided additional state-of-the-art teaching spaces for lectures and group study and adjoins the existing 1970s St Edburga Building with a glazed atrium link. The new buildings combine to form a new landscaped piazza space fronting the Sparkford Road entrance.[10]

In 2018 work began on the expansion of the West Downs campus, to include purpose built new lecture and exhibition spaces. This was completed by September 2020, a whole year after the scheduled completion date.

The main University Campus, King Alfred, is located close to the city centre of Winchester. Some of the buildings on this campus are named after former staff or governors. The Tom Atkinson and Herbert Jarman buildings are named after former staff and the Kenneth Kettle and Fred Wheeler Buildings are named after long-standing Governors. Others are named after Anglo-Saxon saints: St Alphege, St Edburga, St Grimbald and St Swithun and St Elizabeth's. The Martial Rose Library is named after a former Principal. A subsidiary campus, home to the Winchester Business School, is located a short distance away at the West Downs site.

Major redevelopment has taken place in recent years to modernise the campus. In 2007 work finished on the University Centre on site of the former refectory, at a cost of £9 million. The building includes a new Student Union as well as catering facilities, main reception, a bookshop, a mini-mart convenience store and a social learning space in the WiFi-equipped Learning Café. It was designed by architects Design Engine.

In 2010 a new several-storey student residence, Queens Road, was completed. In 2012 St. Alphage, a new teaching block which contains state-of-the-art teaching spaces was opened. Work also finished on providing the University library with six new private study rooms for student use. In 2013, the Burma Road Student Village finished construction, providing the university with five blocks that make up a third student village. In 2013 the Kenneth Kettle building was converted into a second social learning space. Plans are underway to modernise the remaining buildings on campus.

The redevelopment of the University's sports grounds at Bar End in Winchester was completed in 2008 after Sport England formally pledged the funding required for the project's completion, in partnership with Winchester City Council. The facilities at Bar End include an Olympic-standard 400m eight-lane athletics track with supporting field events, an all-weather hockey and general sports pitch, floodlighting and an extended pavilion.

The University of Winchester's new landmark buildings. The new project will be built on undeveloped land within the West Downs site next to the Grade-II-listed West Downs Centre. It will provide teaching and learning facilities and will be home to the University's new computer and digital-related degree programmes. Completion date is set for 2019.[11][12]

Dame Mary Fagan, the former Lord-Lieutenant of Hampshire, was appointed the first Chancellor of the University in 2005. She was succeeded by Alan Titchmarsh, who was designated as the new Chancellor of the university in 2014.

Joy Carter is the current Vice-Chancellor and was appointed in 2006. She succeeded Paul Light, appointed in 2000 as Principal of King Alfred's College, and who became the first Vice-Chancellor in 2005.

Winchester is ranked the 106th best university in the UK by the Complete University Guide Rankings, 92nd in the Guardian Rankings, and 98th by the Times / Sunday Times. Winchester received a silver award in the Teaching Excellence Framework, which indicates that "the university is of high quality and regularly exceeds the baseline quality expected of higher education institutions".[20] Winchester is outside the listings of the major international rankings of universities (QS, THE, ARWU and CWTS Leiden).

In the most recent Research Excellence Framework (REF 2014), 82 per cent of research was considered to be recognised internationally.[21]

University accommodation is available on campus and in the West Downs Student Village nearby. The halls of residence are:

• West Downs Student Village
• Alwyn Hall
• St Elizabeth's Hall
• Beech Glade
• Queens Road Student Village
• Burma Road Student Village

• Eric Anderson – Sociologist and Professor of Sports Studies
• Imruh Bakari – Film maker and writer. Head of Film Studies.
• Harry Blamires – Anglican theologian, literary critic and novelist
• June Boyce-Tillman, Professor of Applied Music, and MBE
• Michael Hicks – Emeritus Professor of Medieval History
• Bernard McKenna – Screenwriter
• Elizabeth Stuart – Professor of Christian Theology and Deputy Vice Chancellor
• Judy Waite – Writer of children's fiction
• Barbara Yorke – Emerita Professor of Early Medieval History

• Martin Bashir – television journalist
• Stuart Brennan – BAFTA-winning actor, writer and film producer
• Mike Bushell – BBC television journalist
• Sara Coburn – BBC business presenter
• Lauren Cohan – American-British actress
• Mark Diacono – food writer, grower and photographer
• Claire Fuller – novelist
• Steve Furst – comic actor
• Geoff Hampton – school principal
• Nick Helm – comedian
• Mark Johnson – horse racing commentator
• Shappi Khorsandi – comedian
• Dirk Maggs – radio producer
• Jill Marshall – writer
• Andrew Norriss – children's book author and TV sitcom writer
• David Prosho – actor and performer
• Angus Scott – television journalist and lecturer in journalism
• Anne Snelgrove – former Labour MP for South Swindon
• Bob Taylor – past president of the Rugby Football Union
• Stephanie Twell - middle- and long-distance runner, bronze medal winner in 1500 metres at 2010 Commonwealth Games