UFO Info Week-End

But there are plenty of bars/pubs on and off campus and the Sugarhouse a club owned and

But there are plenty of bars/pubs on and off campus, and the Sugarhouse, a club owned and run by the students’ union but situated in town. Claims to be keeping within its overdraft limit but won’t say what that is.Night-life: not the buzziest place in the United Kingdom. Good hitching from the bus shelter on campus.Who’s the boss? Wily Scot Professor William Ritchie, expert on oil spills.Teaching rating: 21 out of maximum of 24 for sociology, 19 out of 24 for German, 20 for French, 20 for Italian with Iberian studies, 23 for linguistics.Research: Lancaster came ninth out of 101 in the research assessment exercise. Good bus and coach networks with a minibus shuttle service to the campus The M6 is on the doorstep. Investment in the arts means the university has its own theatre – the Nuffield studio – for student productions and visiting companies, as well as concerts, which are also open to the public. In addition there is the Peter Scott art gallery and a big sports centre.Easy to get into? A-level grades required for law, ABB; for English, BBB; for mathematics and biological sciences, BCC.Glittering alumni: Peter Whalley and Marvin Close (Coronation Street writers); Robert Fisk (Middle East correspondent of The Independent; Andrew Battell (from the theatre group Glory what Glory); Roger Ashton-Griffiths (actor famous for role in Young Frankenstein); Alan Milburn (health minister); writers Judith Smith and Terry Riley; Nicola Goulder (general manager of the New London Orchestra).Transport links: there are direct trains to London, Manchester, Birmingham and Glasgow from Lancaster station.

The flexible degree is a selling point: students can take up to three separate courses in their first year. Gets top marks for its research ratings but poor marks for financial acumen. At the centre is Alexandra Square, a paved area swathed in light-coloured brick, among 250 acres of landscaped woods and fields There are nine colleges, giving it a family feel. Each college has its own identity (Fylde is the rugger buggers’ drinking college, Pendle is good for parties, etc) as well as its own JCR and bar.

Ran into the red in the Nineties for expanding too fast – huge library extension, shopping area, graduate residences – at a bad moment, and is now pulling itself out.Added value: extended library and computers give succour to swots. Americans like the historic links and proximity to the Lake District In fact, everyone likes its location. I hope Sir Ron won’t be fooled.Professor David Weitzman,Independent consultant and director of the Association of Professional Consultants in Further and Higher Education. Age: 33

Address: greenfield site two miles from Lancaster, complete with bunny rabbits, peacocks and ducks.
Ambience: modelled on a Spanish hilltop village (believe it or not), the campus is set in lovely countryside, but many buildings are unlovely Sixties modern. As for cost, the percentage of total expenditure devoted to quality assessment across the higher education sector is probably less than is spent by any self-respecting industrial or commercial organisation.One hidden benefit of quality assessment has been the training of nearly 2,000 subject assessors, most of whom admit this has benefited their own teaching, and the two-way interaction between assessors and assessed results in dissemination of good practice.