University of Northampton

The University of Northampton is a public university based in Northampton, Northamptonshire, England. It was formed in 1999 by the amalgamation of a number of training colleges and gained full university status as The University of Northampton in 2005. The university had 12,985 students spread across its two campuses in 2015/16. It is divided into six schools: Arts; Science and Technology (formerly Applied Sciences); Education; Health; Business and Social Sciences. The Sunley Conference Centre is for management training and development and also provides a large part of the university's conference facilities. The university offers a wide range of undergraduate degrees, foundation degrees, diplomas and a variety of postgraduate opportunities up to PhD level. It is one of only a handful of universities in the UK to offer two-year fast-track degrees (currently for management and marketing and law) and it also offers four-year extended degrees with a year in industry. The university is internationally renowned for waste management education and research. Other centres of excellence include Centre for Children and Youth (childhood and Children's Geographies), Transpersonal Psychology, leather technology and lift engineering. Degree programmes in Environmental Science subjects offer overseas fieldwork trips for undergraduate students to locations such as North America and the Canary Islands. In the 2012 Guardian University League Table, the university was ranked first for 'value added' in UK. The university was awarded 'The Outstanding HEI Supporting Social Entrepreneurship Award' at the UnLtd/HEFCE ‘Dare to be Different’ national conference in June 2011. and has also been named the Midlands most 'Enterprising University of the Year' for both 2011 and 2012, in recognition of its work in social enterprise. In February 2013, the university received international recognisation for its commitment to social innovation and entrepreneurship by being designated a 'Changemaker Campus' by Ashoka U. Northampton is the first Changemaker Campus in the UK and joins a global network of 21 other Changemaker Campuses.