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Join The Student Room TodayBe part of the UK's largest and fastest growing student community. It's free to join and a lot of fun - Get inspired, express your ideas, interact and share University of Newcastle Upon TyneFrom The Student RoomTSR Wiki > University > Choosing a University > University Guides > University of Newcastle Upon Tyne  The University of Newcastle upon Tyne was originally part of Durham University. Originally it was started as a college of medicine in 1834, giving degrees through the University of London, becoming part of Durham University in 1851 (University of Durham College of Medicine). The college of Physical Sciences (renamed Armstrong College in 1901) was formed in 1871 to meet the needs of the mining industry in the local area, and they merged together to form Kings College, Durham in 1937. Many of the old buildings built during that period in red brick still remain around the Quadrangle. After World War II, the campus began to expand with new engineering facilities and several attempts were made to turn Kings College in Newcastle into a separate University. This was finally accomplished in 1963 with the passing of the Durham and Newcastle upon Tyne Universities Act in parliament. Since then, Newcastle has continued to expand with many new buildings built during the 50s and 60s. Several departments expanded including the Engineering Department. The last major expansion occurred in the 1990s with the construction of the Robinson Library and major refurbishments of many of the buildings. Newcastle upon Tyne University now has 17,000 students and employs 4,000 people. It has a very good reputation in all of its subjects especially engineering and medicine. The University is part of the Russell Group of Universities. Applicants considering Newcastle UniversityIf you are considering Newcastle University for 2008 entry, you need to apply through UCAS. The 2008 Prospectus can be requested from the requests section of the Newcastle website The next university wide open day will occur in late June 2008 (Visit Day Website). Register for an information pack to be delivered to your house a couple of weeks before to help plan your visit day. A PDF for the activities that will be run during the Open Day is available from here. You can also visit the university and join a campus tour led by current students. If you want a tour of a department, don't be afraid to ask through an email. The University is always happy to try and help.
If you have any questions, help is always available from contacting the enquiries office at enquiries@ncl.ac.uk , the TSR sub forum, the union society message board and the facebook group for students that are applying for Newcastle University (Newcastle University 2008 Entry). Newcastle's institution Code for UCAS is N21. Partners SchemeLocal students and those in areas that do not send many students to university should look at the partners scheme. This allows students to get lower entry requirements following a two week summer scheme. AccommodationNewcastle University offers a number of different types of accommodation, including catered and self catered, located around the city. Read about them on the Accommodation Page. The UnionThe Union Building is the centre of many activities at the university. Read more about what your union can offer you on the Union Page. City and TransportThe compact City Centre which is next door to the campus offers so much for students with varied interests. Check out our city guide for Newcastle and our students guide to transport in and around Newcastle. EnvironmentArchitectureNewcastle's campus is based around the original redbrick (and rather grand) pre-Victorian quadrangle. This dates back to its days as a medical school for the University of Durham. It's certainly a thing of aesthetic beauty, with flower beds, trees and mature vegetation dotted around the quad. The well kept lawns provide the perfect location to just sit and relax with friends. Away from the quadrangle the architecture of the university varies. Understandably, as the university gained independence in the 1960s and has developed rapidly since then, most of the architecture is post-war. This includes some 1960s and 70s Brutalist creations and more plain 1990s buildings. It certainly provides an interesting contrast with the quad. The most recent buildings, including the new business school (located away from the main campus and next to St James' Park with undergraduate teaching still taking place on the quad) are modern and certainly more pleasing on the eye. The city of Newcastle is arguably one of the architectural gems of the country. It has one of the highest concentration of listed buildings in the country and the city centre is largely Neo-Classical and Victorian. Some of the 1960s office buildings, many of them a scar on the otherwise splendid streets, are being demolished. Local areaJesmond and Heaton are probably the two large student areas. Jesmond is very affluent and leafy with plenty of restaurants and bars. Heaton, not as wealthy as it perhaps once was, is still a comparatively affluent and vibrant part of the city. Both of these areas are relatively safe with low crime rates. Newcastle, as a city, has amongst the lowest crime rates of all major cities and much of the crime (particularly the anti-social crime) is located in the deprived areas of Scotswood, Byker and Elswick. These are parts of the city which no student will ever need to visit. But even these areas are no worse than similarly deprived areas in other major cities. Just a Metro or bus journey away from the city there are some coastal areas such as Cullercoats (with its many caves), Whitley Bay, Tynemouth and South Shields. These are great for a lazy post exam afternoon. The wider region is one of the most beautiful areas of the country. Northumberland is a county of contrasts. Stereotypically rural, it actually has a rather urban south east corner which includes the commuter village of Cramlington, business parks and old mining areas like Ashington. But most of the county is rural. Northumberland National Park is one of the most tranquil parts of the country and the county as a whole includes upland areas (the Cheviots), moorland and, just outside Newcastle and not far from the university, the gentle, green, largely agricultural Tyne valley. It is here, in the Tyne valley, where the university's two farms are located. Being border country Northumberland has a large number of castles that are worth visiting not to mention a UNESCO World Heritage Site in ancient Hadrian's Wall (the "Roman wall") and other National Trust and English Heritage sites. Although these areas and historical monuments aren't to everyone's taste any historical buffs, or anyone interested in hill-walking and sailing, are well catered for. FacultiesThere are three faculties at Newcastle University. These are then split into schools for each subject. Faculties form a mainly administrative differentiation, and they do not really cause much affect to student lives. Humanities and Social Sciences (HSS)This faculty covers all the humanity subjects including Architecture, Geography, Law, etc. Medical FacultyThis faculty covers all the medical subjects including Medicine and Dentistry The medical school also helps run the joint Newcastle Durham Medical School at Queen's Campus, Stockton. To go to this you have to apply for Durham University Science, Agriculture and EngineeringThis faculty covers the engineering, biology, chemistry and agricultural departments. Library FacilitiesNewcastle has one main library, called the Robinson Library, located at the other side of motorway (accessible via a covered footbridge). Also several of the schools have smaller libraries as well including the law school and the medical school. The Robinson Library contains over a million books and several thousand journals. It is spread over 4 floors and was opened in the mid nineties. It contains one large IT room and several smaller IT rooms. Access to the library and borrowing of books takes place through using your university smart card and a mainly automated system. The system thoroughly explains what you have to do through a large screen at each system. The library also has a large number of staff and they have won the chartermark for library customer service for several years running. During Freshers Week you will be expected to visit the library and explore it, filling in a questionnaire. Whilst not the most entertaining task, it allows you to familiarise yourself with the layout of the library for when the work really starts. The Library also has a large website containing databases, E-Books, etc The Robinson Libraries opening times for this term are: Monday - Thursday 08:30 - 22:00 Those who study late can get the union safety bus. 50p to any part of Newcastle. IT and computingNewcastle uses the Joint Academic Network. The computers are kept up to date, usually replaced around every 2-3 years. IT suites are located around the campus (the largest ones are located in the Old Library and the Robinson Library). All the university bedrooms (apart from a few family flats) have an internet connection. You will be supplied with a lead to connect any equipment you have to your networking point in your room All students are supplied with an email address accessed through Outlook. You can also access the network through a wireless connection. The system is called Magpie and ISS (the computer People) supply booklets and help for students to access the networks. The wireless network is active throughout most of the university centre campus including the union. You can access many programs using RAS (Remote Access Service) which are otherwise unavailable to you. These programs include the whole Microsoft office package. Printing is paid for by going to the ISS website and entering your details or visiting the ISS office in the reception in Claremont Tower. The vast majority of lecturers operate through Blackboard, which is our online system. They tend to place lecture notes and tests on these systems. Several schools have their own systems, which will be fully explained to in the first few weeks of university. Newcastle Discussions
SportsNewcastle University is part of the BUSA. Despite having no Sports Science Department, Newcastle finished 2006/07 in the top 10, just behind Durham and beating universities such as Cambridge and Southampton. There is a new sports centre opened in 2005, located behind the Richardson Road Accommodation. Sport is taken pretty seriously and we do well in inter varsity competitions. Our Intra Mural (sports matches between departments) are held in high regard by many. We also fight for the Stan Calvert Cup against Northumbria in various sports every December. Newcastle also has a boat race with Durham every year in May Costs2007/8 Recreation Only £47 Entitles you to use all the indoor and outdoor facilities owned or hired by the university. It also includes Personal Accident Insurance. You require this membership if you want to play on any of the university sports teams. Swimming £83 Recreation, plus discounted access to a city swimming pool. Recreation, Health and Fitness £140 Recreation plus use of the Health and Fitness suite in the Sports Centre Recreation, Health and Fitness and Swimming £165 Recreation, access to the health and fitness suite and discounted access to a city swimming pool. All the details of sports membership are available here BursariesThe university offers bursaries to people who are at the top of their game. If you play at county level and above, the university will help pay for your studies as long as you join the university team in your sport. WelfareFor advice on most aspects of life, visit the Student Advice Centre (SAC) located on the first floor of the union. They have people with their with expertise in subjects such as mental health and housing. There is a Student Support Officer in the union. Her office is located on the second floor, operating an open door policy during most days The University also operates a welfare service, please check the Student Support Officers blog for more information Welfare website provides links to some of the university provided welfare services  Careers serviceLocated on the second floor of the Kings Building. At the top of the Quadrangle, turn left and go through the door. Keep going straight on until you reach a massive foyer. Turn left, go up the stairs two floors, go through the doors when you reach that floor, turn left and travel along the corridors, holding left until you reach a room. They offer many events and you can sign up to a weekly email called C-Weekly that gives you information on careers presentations that may interest you and general workshops such as writing a CV and Interview Skills. Religious facilitiesThe Christian Union has a chaplaincy on campus. This caters from all Christian denominations and world faiths. There's also a Jewish and Buddhist chaplain and a Muslim prayer room. In Newcastle city centre there's a Roman Catholic cathedral, a Quaker meeting house, a Buddhist centre, a Hindu temple, an Orthodox synagogue and a Reform synagogue. In the city's suburbs there are mosques and more churches and synagogue. Gateshead, just across the Tyne, has a significant Jewish population in and around the town centre. With synagogues and educational institutions. Teaching qualityNewcastle University can pride itself on being very high up university league tables. Its research has resulted in it being part of the Russell Group and the N8. It is very highly regarded in Britain, taking in a large number of students from many highly respected schools. These include some top independent schools (Harrow) but it also has a large state intake with students coming from mixed backgrounds. It's a solid university with teaching quality across its faculties and schools. Typical strengths are Medicine, Dentistry Engineering, Architecture and Agriculture but it has more depth than this. In the last QAA assessment twenty of its departments' teaching was assessed as "excellent" receiving the maximum score of 24. These include Agriculture, Architecture and Planning, Engineering (Civil, Chemical, Mechanical), Biology, Dentistry, Economics, Geography (Human and Physical), History, Ancient History and Archaeology, Law, Mathematics, Medicine, Performing Arts and Politics. Please note that in world rankings, Newcastle University, England is called Newcastle upon Tyne University to prevent confusion with our namesake in Australia. The FutureNewcastle has quite a lot of development planned for the near future. As part of the N8 Group, it is creating a science city on the site of the old brewery near St James Park. The car park at the front of the university between Barras Bridge and the Northern Stage Theatre is expected to be developed into a new administration building (subject to planning permission), turning Barras Bridge into a proper front entrance to the university and removing the current bottleneck of the narrow stairs leading up to the union. This is all part of a £200 million redevelopment of the university's estate and this will help to create a "cultural quarter" of the city based around the university, its museums, the Playhouse, the Hatton Gallery, an International Centre for Music and the large Hancock museum (which has recently re-opened after a multi-million pound redevelopment).
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