University of Buckingham
Encyclopedia
The University of Buckingham (UB) is an independent, non-sectarian, research and teaching university located in Buckingham
, Buckinghamshire, England, on the banks of the River Great Ouse. It was originally founded as Buckingham University College in the 1970s and received its Royal Charter from the Queen in 1983. The University's funding regime is not like that of other UK universities, but rather is on the model of many US universities, as it does not receive state funding via HEFCE. It has formal charity status, as a non-profit making institution dedicated to the ends of research and education. Buckingham offers bachelor's degrees, master's degrees, and doctoral degrees through five 'Schools' (or faculties) of study. It is ranked 21st out of the 116 universities in the UK in The Times Good University Guide 2012 (see the section on League Tables below).
The Schools of Law and Science are situated in the upper campus; the river-side campus covers Humanities, Business, Social Sciences, Biomedical science, and Education. As the University is expanding, it has acquired a new site on the west side of the river, hence increasing the capacity of the river-side campus as a whole. Teaching on some master's degrees takes place in London, in Grosvenor Place, at the home of one its partner institutions: the European School of Economics
. Prominent academics include: philosopher Roger Scruton
, philosopher and educationalist Anthony O'Hear
, educationalist Alan Smithers
, the former Chief Inspector of Schools Chris Woodhead
, the cancer specialist Karol Sikora
, the historian and political scientist Geoffrey Alderman
, and the expert in UK Intelligence Anthony Glees.
published a letter from Dr J. W. Paulley, which said: "Is it now time to examine the possibility of creating at least one university in this country on the pattern of [the] great private foundations in the USA". Three London conferences followed which explored this idea.
Subsequently the university was incorporated as the University College of Buckingham in 1976, and received its Royal Charter
from the Queen in 1983.
Its development was influenced by the libertarian
Institute of Economic Affairs
, in particular, Harry Ferns and Ralph Harris
, heads of the Institute. In keeping with its adherence to a libertarian philosophy, the university's foundation-stone was laid by Margaret Thatcher
, who was also to be the university's Chancellor
(nominal and ceremonial head) between 1993 and 1998. The University's first three Vice-Chancellors were Lord Beloff
(1913–1999), former Gladstone Professor of Politics at the University of Oxford; Sir Alan Peacock
, the economist, founder of the Economics department at the University of York
, and Fellow of the British Academy
; and Sir Richard Luce
, now Lord Luce, the former Minister for the Arts.
One feature of the University that has attracted notice is its continuation of the tradition of "tutorial" teaching (i.e. very small group teaching) which its founders brought over from the University of Oxford. While there are seminars and lectures, much of the teaching is done in small groups of 4 to 8 students, with one member of staff. The staff-student ratio is 1:7.8, which is high among UK universities. The Times Good University Guide (2009) notes that "one-to-one tutorials, which have almost died out elsewhere, with the exception of Oxbridge...are quite common at Buckingham".
The quality of the University's provision is maintained, as at other UK universities, by an external examiner system (i.e., professors from other universities oversee and report on exams and marking), by an academic advisory council (comprising a range of subject-specialist academics from other universities), and by membership of the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education
(QAA).
The Department of Education has two aspects, research and vocational: it conducts research into education and school provision (see above), and also maintains various PGCE courses, for teacher training. The Department of Education is home to some of the most prominent educationalists in Britain, including Professor Chris Woodhead
(former head of Ofsted), Professor Anthony O'Hear
(director of the Royal Institute of Philosophy
), and Professor Alan Smithers
. Its postgraduate certificate in education
– which deals with both the state and the independent sector
– is accredited with Qualified Teacher Status
which means that it also qualifies graduates to teach in the state sector.
The University was created as a liberal arts college
, and the major humanities subjects such as history
and politics
are offered with economics
as a degree in international studies. Economics, however, is available as a stand-alone degree. So too is English literature
, as a single honours subject, and in combinations with English Language, or Journalism, and related areas. The Professor of Economics, and Dean of Humanities, Professor Martin Ricketts, is the chair of the Institute of Economic Affairs
Academic Advisory Council.
Some degree programmes at Buckingham, Law for example, place greater emphasis on exams as an assessment method rather than coursework, but in general its degree programmes balance assessment between exams and coursework.
is Dean of the School of Medicine. The School offers postgraduate MD
programmes for qualified doctors in a range of specialisations, but is not approved by the General Medical Council
as it does not yet offer an undergraduate medical qualification (Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery).
The School had an association with the alternative medicine
community via a Diploma course in integrated medicine. This was later withdrawn under pressure from David Colquhoun
, a campaigner against pseudomedicine. Sikora is a Foundation Fellow of Prince Charles' now-defunct alternative medicine lobby group the Foundation for Integrated Health and Chair of the Faculty of Integrated Medicine, which is unaffiliated with any university but also includes Drs Rosy Daniel and Mark Atkinson, who co-ordinated Buckingham's "integrated medicine" course. Daniel has been criticised by David Colquhoun for breaches of the Cancer Act 1939, regarding claims she made for Carctol, a herbal remedy with no utility in treating cancer. Prof. Andrew Miles is on the scientific council of the College of Medicine an alternative medicine lobby group linked to the Prince of Wales. Sikora is also a "professional member" of this organisation.
Sikora is very critical of cancer care available on the National Health Service
. During President Obama's campaign for healthcare reform, he appeared in a Republican Party
attack ad
in the United States criticising the NHS. The ad led Imperial College to seek legal advice to stop Sikora from claiming to be a professor of cancer medicine at Imperial; a claim that he had made repeatedly over the previous five years.
Professor of Theoretical Medicine at the school is Bruce Charlton, controversial editor of the journal Medical hypotheses
, who has recently been dismissed as editor by publisher Elsevier
over the publication of a paper by AIDS denialists claiming that HIV
is not responsible for AIDS
and concerns over the lack of peer-review at the journal.
over a shorter time-frame. Students at Buckingham study for eight terms over two years, rather than nine terms over three, which (with extra teaching) fits a three-year degree into two years. From September 2009, tuition fees for full-time UK and EU undergraduate
students will be £8,040 per year for these two-year Bachelor's degree
programmes. For non-EU students, fees will be equivalent to £13,500 p.a. Because Buckingham's degrees take only two years to complete, the university views its courses as cost-effective compared to ordinary UK university courses, once living expenses and the income from an extra year's employment are taken into account.
Dr Terence Kealey
, published an article on 4 June in the Daily Telegraph newspaper arguing that getting better-funded and more effective universities means charging higher fees.
In 2011 it was ranked 28th in Times Higher Education's "Table of Tables" 2011. In 2011, The Independent, in association with its Complete University Guide 2011-12, ranked Buckingham as the 42nd best university out of 116 institutions in the UK. The Sunday Times University guide for 2012 included Buckingham in its league tables in 56th position out of 122 UK higher education institutes.
Times Higher Education reported that the University's 2008 graduates had the highest employment rate after six months.
In recent years the University has consistently ranked highly in student satisfaction surveys. For example, Times Higher Education reported that Buckingham was ranked first in 2006, 2007 and 2008 in the NSS or National Student Survey
of student satisfaction. This is a census, albeit controversial, of final-year undergraduates conducted by IposMori, the polling organisation, to determine satisfaction levels at UK universities. The survey relates to the whole student experience, from the experience of classes, and lecturer feedback, to the quality of pastoral care. In 2009, the University of Buckingham dropped to second place and in 2010 returned to first place.
newspaper, ranked the Business department as 15th (out of 116) in the country, English as 7th (out of 106), Economics as 8th (out of 69) and Law as 27th (out of 95). It is not represented in any other field and insufficient data was submitted to rank Buckingham's Psychology department.
, nor does it rank in the top 500 universities rated by the Academic Ranking of World Universities
. However, it is ranked at 6,974 out of 12,000 universities in the Webometrics Ranking of World Universities
.
When the national Quality Assurance Agency (QAA) was created, the University felt it should join, even though - as Britain’s only independent University – it is markedly different from the state-funded universities that the QAA otherwise audits.
The University has emerged as a critic of the QAA. Professor Geoffrey Alderman, in his inaugural lecture at the University of Buckingham Teaching Quality Assessment, League Tables and the Decline of Academic Standards in British Higher Education demonstrated that degree inflation had taken off in the 10 years of the QAA’s existence. This lecture provoked a wide national debate which encouraged the House of Commons Select Committee to review quality and related issues.
The University got "broad confidence" (the highest band) in its first QAA audit in 2003.
the Rt Hon Frank Field, the Labour MP;
Sir Steven Redgrave, the Olympic oarsman;
Baroness Noakes, the Conservative politician (opponent of Identity cards);
Sir Stuart Hampson, former head of the John Lewis Partnership;
Sir Christopher Ondaatje, the publisher, writer, and philanthropist; and
the journalist Charles Moore
; Baronness Helena Kennedy, the distinguished barrister; and Nigel Lawson, Lord Lawson of Blaby, former Chancellor of the Exchequer.
Prominent alumni include: Bader Ben Hirsi
, Susanne Klatten
, Michael Misick
, Brandon Lewis
, Olagunsoye Oyinlola, Mark Lancaster
, the MP for Milton Keynes North and Graham Roos
who, since 2011, has been appointed the University's first Creative Artist in Residence.
Prominent international alumni include Pravind Jugnauth
MP in the Mauritius parliament, former Deputy Prime Minister, and the Leader of one of Mauritius's main parties, the Militant Socialist Movement
.
In the BBC Radio 4
panel game
The Museum of Curiosity
, host John Lloyd
claims to be, "The Professor of Ignorance at the University of Buckingham".
Author V. M. Xavier presented special cultural performances at student functions in the 1980s.
and at the Sarajevo School of Science and Technology
.
, Chairman of Canary Wharf Group
PLC, and Share PLC (in Aylesbury), and the director of other companies including Oxford Playhouse Trust. He was Chairman of Prudential
PLC from 1995 to 2000 and last year retired from the boards of Rio Tinto Group
and Marks & Spencer
. Former Chancellors of the university have been Margaret Thatcher
who retired in 1999, and Lord Hailsham of St Marylebone
.
Lord Tanlaw was appointed to succeed Sir Martin as Chancellor in May 2010.
The current Vice-Chancellor is Dr Terence Kealey, formerly of the Department of Clinical Biochemistry at Cambridge University, who has held the post since April 2001. Kealey is known for his research challenging the idea that education and science are public goods needing public subsidies. He wrote an academic book on the subject in 1996 The Economic Laws of Scientific Research which he repackaged and updated for a general audience in 2008 as Sex, Science and Profits.
Kealey sparked a sexism row in September 2009. The Times Higher Education had commissioned, for its issue of 17 September 2009, seven articles of 500 words each on the seven deadly sins of academia. The seven sins were sartorial inelegance, procrastination, snobbery, lust, arrogance, complacency and pedantry, and the commissioning editor, Matthew Reisz, wrote that the contributors "entered into the spirit and offered amusing examples of their sins in action …". The illustrations in the magazine reflected the humour of the feature. Kealey wrote on lust, and he adopted a satirical tone, claiming that young female students were a "perk" for male academics and they should "look but not touch". Over the next week the Times Higher Education website filled with comments about the article, many expressing shock but some expressing support. On 23 September the London Daily Telegraph ran a story about the article and the backlash was swift from academics. Kealey was criticised by the University and College Union
and the National Union of Students
who said his comments displayed an “astounding lack of respect for women”. At the same time Kealey was defended by scholars such as Professor Mary Beard of Cambridge University who in her online blog for the Times
newspaper wrote that it was instantly clear that the piece was satire. Kealey wrote a defence of his piece in the Daily Telegraph and he was also defended by the editor of the THE but nonetheless he wrote a piece in the Times Education Supplement three weeks later in which he said that it is a mistake for a scholar to write ambiguously, which must generally preclude the use of satire, irony, humour or parody in academic writing.
In February 2010, Kealey proposed the establishment of a new independent university, modelled on American liberal arts colleges, that would concentrate on undergraduate teaching rather than research. The plan is currently being considered by the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference (HMC), whose 243 members include independent schools such as Eton, Winchester and St Paul's. Kealey believes that complaints about impersonal teaching and oversized classes at many traditional universities mean there will be strong demand for higher education with staff-student ratios similar to that provided by independent secondary schools.
, an independent university college in Bosnia and Herzegovina
. Teaching takes place in Sarajevo
. After completing a bachelor's degree
, master's degree
or PhD
students receive a diploma
from both universities.
Buckingham
Buckingham is a town situated in north Buckinghamshire, England, close to the borders of Northamptonshire and Oxfordshire. The town has a population of 11,572 ,...
, Buckinghamshire, England, on the banks of the River Great Ouse. It was originally founded as Buckingham University College in the 1970s and received its Royal Charter from the Queen in 1983. The University's funding regime is not like that of other UK universities, but rather is on the model of many US universities, as it does not receive state funding via HEFCE. It has formal charity status, as a non-profit making institution dedicated to the ends of research and education. Buckingham offers bachelor's degrees, master's degrees, and doctoral degrees through five 'Schools' (or faculties) of study. It is ranked 21st out of the 116 universities in the UK in The Times Good University Guide 2012 (see the section on League Tables below).
The Schools of Law and Science are situated in the upper campus; the river-side campus covers Humanities, Business, Social Sciences, Biomedical science, and Education. As the University is expanding, it has acquired a new site on the west side of the river, hence increasing the capacity of the river-side campus as a whole. Teaching on some master's degrees takes place in London, in Grosvenor Place, at the home of one its partner institutions: the European School of Economics
European School of Economics
The European School of Economics is an international business school that offers bachelor, master, MBA and certificate programmes at its campuses in London, New York, Milan, Rome, Florence and Madrid....
. Prominent academics include: philosopher Roger Scruton
Roger Scruton
Roger Vernon Scruton is a conservative English philosopher and writer. He is the author of over 30 books, including Art and Imagination , Sexual Desire , The Aesthetics of Music , and A Political Philosophy: Arguments For Conservatism...
, philosopher and educationalist Anthony O'Hear
Anthony O'Hear
Anthony O'Hear is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Buckingham and Head of the Department of Education.He is the editor of the journal Philosophy and Honorary Director of the Royal Institute of Philosophy...
, educationalist Alan Smithers
Alan Smithers
-Method of research and information dissemination:He is best known for his distinctive style of research, which leads to him often being called upon to comment on the issues of the day. His early experience in science led him to the view that educational researchers are wrong in aping the...
, the former Chief Inspector of Schools Chris Woodhead
Chris Woodhead
Sir Christopher Anthony Woodhead was Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Schools In England from 1994 until 2000 and is one of the most controversial figures in debates on the direction of English education policy...
, the cancer specialist Karol Sikora
Karol Sikora
Dr Karol Sikora is a controversial and outspoken British physician specialising in oncology. He is currently Medical Director of CancerPartnersUK and dean of the University of Buckingham's medical school.-Early life:...
, the historian and political scientist Geoffrey Alderman
Geoffrey Alderman
Geoffrey Alderman is a British historian, especially of the Jewish community in England in the 19th and 20th centuries, and also an academic, political adviser and award-winning journalist.-Life:...
, and the expert in UK Intelligence Anthony Glees.
History
Some of the founding academics migrated from the University of Oxford, disillusioned or wary of aspects of the late-1960s ethos. On 27 May 1967, The TimesThe Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
published a letter from Dr J. W. Paulley, which said: "Is it now time to examine the possibility of creating at least one university in this country on the pattern of [the] great private foundations in the USA". Three London conferences followed which explored this idea.
Subsequently the university was incorporated as the University College of Buckingham in 1976, and received its Royal Charter
Royal Charter
A royal charter is a formal document issued by a monarch as letters patent, granting a right or power to an individual or a body corporate. They were, and are still, used to establish significant organizations such as cities or universities. Charters should be distinguished from warrants and...
from the Queen in 1983.
Its development was influenced by the libertarian
Libertarianism
Libertarianism, in the strictest sense, is the political philosophy that holds individual liberty as the basic moral principle of society. In the broadest sense, it is any political philosophy which approximates this view...
Institute of Economic Affairs
Institute of Economic Affairs
The Institute of Economic Affairs , founded in 1955, styles itself the UK's pre-eminent free-market think-tank. Its mission is to improve understanding of the fundamental institutions of a free society by analysing and expounding the role of markets in solving economic and social...
, in particular, Harry Ferns and Ralph Harris
Ralph Harris, Baron Harris of High Cross
Ralph Harris, Baron Harris of High Cross was a British economist. He was head of the Institute of Economic Affairs from 1957 to 1988...
, heads of the Institute. In keeping with its adherence to a libertarian philosophy, the university's foundation-stone was laid by Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990...
, who was also to be the university's Chancellor
Chancellor (education)
A chancellor or vice-chancellor is the chief executive of a university. Other titles are sometimes used, such as president or rector....
(nominal and ceremonial head) between 1993 and 1998. The University's first three Vice-Chancellors were Lord Beloff
Max Beloff, Baron Beloff
Max Beloff, Baron Beloff was a British historian and Conservative peer. From 1974 to 1979 he was principal of the University College of Buckingham, now the University of Buckingham.-Early life:...
(1913–1999), former Gladstone Professor of Politics at the University of Oxford; Sir Alan Peacock
Alan T. Peacock
Sir Alan Turner Peacock DSC, FBA, FRSE is a British economist born in 1922. He has taught at the University of St Andrews, the London School of Economics , the University of Edinburgh, the University of York , and finally at the University of Buckingham, of which he was the Vice-Chancellor from...
, the economist, founder of the Economics department at the University of York
University of York
The University of York , is an academic institution located in the city of York, England. Established in 1963, the campus university has expanded to more than thirty departments and centres, covering a wide range of subjects...
, and Fellow of the British Academy
British Academy
The British Academy is the United Kingdom's national body for the humanities and the social sciences. Its purpose is to inspire, recognise and support excellence in the humanities and social sciences, throughout the UK and internationally, and to champion their role and value.It receives an annual...
; and Sir Richard Luce
Richard Luce, Baron Luce
Richard Napier Luce, Baron Luce, was Lord Chamberlain to HM The Queen from 2000 to 2006, and was previously Governor of Gibraltar and a Conservative Member of Parliament and Government Minister.-Early career:...
, now Lord Luce, the former Minister for the Arts.
Teaching
The University's four schools are Law, Humanities, Business, and Science and Medicine. Each of these is presided over by a Dean.One feature of the University that has attracted notice is its continuation of the tradition of "tutorial" teaching (i.e. very small group teaching) which its founders brought over from the University of Oxford. While there are seminars and lectures, much of the teaching is done in small groups of 4 to 8 students, with one member of staff. The staff-student ratio is 1:7.8, which is high among UK universities. The Times Good University Guide (2009) notes that "one-to-one tutorials, which have almost died out elsewhere, with the exception of Oxbridge...are quite common at Buckingham".
The quality of the University's provision is maintained, as at other UK universities, by an external examiner system (i.e., professors from other universities oversee and report on exams and marking), by an academic advisory council (comprising a range of subject-specialist academics from other universities), and by membership of the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education
Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education
Established in 1997, the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education works to ensure that higher education qualifications in the United Kingdom are of a sound standard. It protects the public interest by checking how universities and colleges maintain their academic standards and quality...
(QAA).
The Department of Education has two aspects, research and vocational: it conducts research into education and school provision (see above), and also maintains various PGCE courses, for teacher training. The Department of Education is home to some of the most prominent educationalists in Britain, including Professor Chris Woodhead
Chris Woodhead
Sir Christopher Anthony Woodhead was Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Schools In England from 1994 until 2000 and is one of the most controversial figures in debates on the direction of English education policy...
(former head of Ofsted), Professor Anthony O'Hear
Anthony O'Hear
Anthony O'Hear is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Buckingham and Head of the Department of Education.He is the editor of the journal Philosophy and Honorary Director of the Royal Institute of Philosophy...
(director of the Royal Institute of Philosophy
Royal Institute of Philosophy
The Royal Institute of Philosophy, founded in 1925, is a charity organisation based in London that offers lectures and conferences on philosophical topics. The Institute is not committed to any particular philosophical school, method or ideology...
), and Professor Alan Smithers
Alan Smithers
-Method of research and information dissemination:He is best known for his distinctive style of research, which leads to him often being called upon to comment on the issues of the day. His early experience in science led him to the view that educational researchers are wrong in aping the...
. Its postgraduate certificate in education
Postgraduate Certificate in Education
The Postgraduate Certificate in Education is a one-year course in England, Wales and Northern Ireland for undergraduate degree holders that allows them to train to be a teacher....
– which deals with both the state and the independent sector
Independent school (UK)
An independent school is a school that is not financed through the taxation system by local or national government and is instead funded by private sources, predominantly in the form of tuition charges, gifts and long-term charitable endowments, and so is not subject to the conditions imposed by...
– is accredited with Qualified Teacher Status
Qualified Teacher Status
Qualified Teacher Status is required in England and Wales to become, and continue being, a teacher of children in the state and special education sectors...
which means that it also qualifies graduates to teach in the state sector.
The University was created as a liberal arts college
Liberal arts college
A liberal arts college is one with a primary emphasis on undergraduate study in the liberal arts and sciences.Students in the liberal arts generally major in a particular discipline while receiving exposure to a wide range of academic subjects, including sciences as well as the traditional...
, and the major humanities subjects such as history
History
History is the discovery, collection, organization, and presentation of information about past events. History can also mean the period of time after writing was invented. Scholars who write about history are called historians...
and politics
Politics
Politics is a process by which groups of people make collective decisions. The term is generally applied to the art or science of running governmental or state affairs, including behavior within civil governments, but also applies to institutions, fields, and special interest groups such as the...
are offered with economics
Economics
Economics is the social science that analyzes the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. The term economics comes from the Ancient Greek from + , hence "rules of the house"...
as a degree in international studies. Economics, however, is available as a stand-alone degree. So too is English literature
English literature
English literature is the literature written in the English language, including literature composed in English by writers not necessarily from England; for example, Robert Burns was Scottish, James Joyce was Irish, Joseph Conrad was Polish, Dylan Thomas was Welsh, Edgar Allan Poe was American, J....
, as a single honours subject, and in combinations with English Language, or Journalism, and related areas. The Professor of Economics, and Dean of Humanities, Professor Martin Ricketts, is the chair of the Institute of Economic Affairs
Institute of Economic Affairs
The Institute of Economic Affairs , founded in 1955, styles itself the UK's pre-eminent free-market think-tank. Its mission is to improve understanding of the fundamental institutions of a free society by analysing and expounding the role of markets in solving economic and social...
Academic Advisory Council.
Some degree programmes at Buckingham, Law for example, place greater emphasis on exams as an assessment method rather than coursework, but in general its degree programmes balance assessment between exams and coursework.
School of Medicine
The cancer specialist Karol SikoraKarol Sikora
Dr Karol Sikora is a controversial and outspoken British physician specialising in oncology. He is currently Medical Director of CancerPartnersUK and dean of the University of Buckingham's medical school.-Early life:...
is Dean of the School of Medicine. The School offers postgraduate MD
Doctor of Medicine
Doctor of Medicine is a doctoral degree for physicians. The degree is granted by medical schools...
programmes for qualified doctors in a range of specialisations, but is not approved by the General Medical Council
General Medical Council
The General Medical Council registers and regulates doctors practising in the United Kingdom. It has the power to revoke or restrict a doctor's registration if it deems them unfit to practise...
as it does not yet offer an undergraduate medical qualification (Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery).
The School had an association with the alternative medicine
Alternative medicine
Alternative medicine is any healing practice, "that does not fall within the realm of conventional medicine." It is based on historical or cultural traditions, rather than on scientific evidence....
community via a Diploma course in integrated medicine. This was later withdrawn under pressure from David Colquhoun
David Colquhoun
David Colquhoun, FRS is a British pharmacologist at University College London . He has contributed to the general theory of receptor and synaptic mechanisms of single ion channel function. He previously held the A.J. Clark chair of Pharmacology at UCL, and was the Hon. Director of the Wellcome...
, a campaigner against pseudomedicine. Sikora is a Foundation Fellow of Prince Charles' now-defunct alternative medicine lobby group the Foundation for Integrated Health and Chair of the Faculty of Integrated Medicine, which is unaffiliated with any university but also includes Drs Rosy Daniel and Mark Atkinson, who co-ordinated Buckingham's "integrated medicine" course. Daniel has been criticised by David Colquhoun for breaches of the Cancer Act 1939, regarding claims she made for Carctol, a herbal remedy with no utility in treating cancer. Prof. Andrew Miles is on the scientific council of the College of Medicine an alternative medicine lobby group linked to the Prince of Wales. Sikora is also a "professional member" of this organisation.
Sikora is very critical of cancer care available on the National Health Service
National Health Service
The National Health Service is the shared name of three of the four publicly funded healthcare systems in the United Kingdom. They provide a comprehensive range of health services, the vast majority of which are free at the point of use to residents of the United Kingdom...
. During President Obama's campaign for healthcare reform, he appeared in a Republican Party
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
attack ad
Attack ad
In political campaigns, an attack ad is an advertisement whose message is meant as a personal attack against another candidate or political party...
in the United States criticising the NHS. The ad led Imperial College to seek legal advice to stop Sikora from claiming to be a professor of cancer medicine at Imperial; a claim that he had made repeatedly over the previous five years.
Professor of Theoretical Medicine at the school is Bruce Charlton, controversial editor of the journal Medical hypotheses
Medical Hypotheses
Medical Hypotheses is a medical journal published by Elsevier. It was originally intended as a forum for unconventional ideas without the traditional filter of scientific peer review, "so long as are coherent and clearly expressed" in order to "foster the diversity and debate upon which the...
, who has recently been dismissed as editor by publisher Elsevier
Elsevier
Elsevier is a publishing company which publishes medical and scientific literature. It is a part of the Reed Elsevier group. Based in Amsterdam, the company has operations in the United Kingdom, USA and elsewhere....
over the publication of a paper by AIDS denialists claiming that HIV
HIV
Human immunodeficiency virus is a lentivirus that causes acquired immunodeficiency syndrome , a condition in humans in which progressive failure of the immune system allows life-threatening opportunistic infections and cancers to thrive...
is not responsible for AIDS
AIDS
Acquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is a disease of the human immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus...
and concerns over the lack of peer-review at the journal.
Degrees: timescale and cost
The university offers traditional degreesAcademic degree
An academic degree is a position and title within a college or university that is usually awarded in recognition of the recipient having either satisfactorily completed a prescribed course of study or having conducted a scholarly endeavour deemed worthy of his or her admission to the degree...
over a shorter time-frame. Students at Buckingham study for eight terms over two years, rather than nine terms over three, which (with extra teaching) fits a three-year degree into two years. From September 2009, tuition fees for full-time UK and EU undergraduate
Undergraduate education
Undergraduate education is an education level taken prior to gaining a first degree . Hence, in many subjects in many educational systems, undergraduate education is post-secondary education up to the level of a bachelor's degree, such as in the United States, where a university entry level is...
students will be £8,040 per year for these two-year Bachelor's degree
Bachelor's degree
A bachelor's degree is usually an academic degree awarded for an undergraduate course or major that generally lasts for three or four years, but can range anywhere from two to six years depending on the region of the world...
programmes. For non-EU students, fees will be equivalent to £13,500 p.a. Because Buckingham's degrees take only two years to complete, the university views its courses as cost-effective compared to ordinary UK university courses, once living expenses and the income from an extra year's employment are taken into account.
Dr Terence Kealey
Terence Kealey
Terence Kealey is the current Vice-Chancellor of the University of Buckingham, Britain's only private university. Prior to his tenure at Buckingham, Kealey lectured in clinical biochemistry at Cambridge University...
, published an article on 4 June in the Daily Telegraph newspaper arguing that getting better-funded and more effective universities means charging higher fees.
General overall ranking
The University is ranked 21st out of the 115 universities in the UK in The Times Good University Guide 2012.In 2011 it was ranked 28th in Times Higher Education's "Table of Tables" 2011. In 2011, The Independent, in association with its Complete University Guide 2011-12, ranked Buckingham as the 42nd best university out of 116 institutions in the UK. The Sunday Times University guide for 2012 included Buckingham in its league tables in 56th position out of 122 UK higher education institutes.
Times Higher Education reported that the University's 2008 graduates had the highest employment rate after six months.
In recent years the University has consistently ranked highly in student satisfaction surveys. For example, Times Higher Education reported that Buckingham was ranked first in 2006, 2007 and 2008 in the NSS or National Student Survey
National student survey
The National Student Survey is a survey, launched in 2005, of all final year degree students at institutions in England, Wales and Northern Ireland...
of student satisfaction. This is a census, albeit controversial, of final-year undergraduates conducted by IposMori, the polling organisation, to determine satisfaction levels at UK universities. The survey relates to the whole student experience, from the experience of classes, and lecturer feedback, to the quality of pastoral care. In 2009, the University of Buckingham dropped to second place and in 2010 returned to first place.
Department rankings
The most recent league tables of individual university departments in The Guardian University Guide 2012, produced by The GuardianThe Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
newspaper, ranked the Business department as 15th (out of 116) in the country, English as 7th (out of 106), Economics as 8th (out of 69) and Law as 27th (out of 95). It is not represented in any other field and insufficient data was submitted to rank Buckingham's Psychology department.
Global ranking
Buckingham University does not rank in the top 400 universities globally as rated by Times Higher Education, nor does it appear in the top 700 universities ranked globally by Quacquarelli SymondsQuacquarelli Symonds
Quacquarelli Symonds is a company specializing in education and study abroad. The company was founded in 1990 by Wharton School MBA graduate Nunzio Quacquarelli...
, nor does it rank in the top 500 universities rated by the Academic Ranking of World Universities
Academic Ranking of World Universities
The Academic Ranking of World Universities , commonly known as the Shanghai ranking, is a publication that was founded and compiled by the Shanghai Jiaotong University to rank universities globally. The rankings have been conducted since 2003 and updated annually...
. However, it is ranked at 6,974 out of 12,000 universities in the Webometrics Ranking of World Universities
Webometrics Ranking of World Universities
The Webometrics Ranking of World Universities, also known as Ranking Web of World Universities, is ranking system for the world's universities based on a composite indicator that takes into account both the volume of the Web contents and the visibility and impact of these web publications...
.
Quality
The University's Royal Charter, unlike those of other universities, provides for three sovereign bodies, the third one (in addition to the usual Council and Senate) being the Academic Advisory Council, which is a group of external academics that audits the academic staff.When the national Quality Assurance Agency (QAA) was created, the University felt it should join, even though - as Britain’s only independent University – it is markedly different from the state-funded universities that the QAA otherwise audits.
The University has emerged as a critic of the QAA. Professor Geoffrey Alderman, in his inaugural lecture at the University of Buckingham Teaching Quality Assessment, League Tables and the Decline of Academic Standards in British Higher Education demonstrated that degree inflation had taken off in the 10 years of the QAA’s existence. This lecture provoked a wide national debate which encouraged the House of Commons Select Committee to review quality and related issues.
The University got "broad confidence" (the highest band) in its first QAA audit in 2003.
Alumni and honorary graduates
Honorary graduates include:the Rt Hon Frank Field, the Labour MP;
Sir Steven Redgrave, the Olympic oarsman;
Baroness Noakes, the Conservative politician (opponent of Identity cards);
Sir Stuart Hampson, former head of the John Lewis Partnership;
Sir Christopher Ondaatje, the publisher, writer, and philanthropist; and
the journalist Charles Moore
Charles Moore (journalist)
Charles Hilary Moore is a British journalist and former editor of The Daily Telegraph.-Early life:He was educated at Eton and Trinity College, Cambridge where he was awarded a BA in History and was a friend of Oliver Letwin.-Career:A former editor of The Spectator , the Sunday Telegraph and The...
; Baronness Helena Kennedy, the distinguished barrister; and Nigel Lawson, Lord Lawson of Blaby, former Chancellor of the Exchequer.
Prominent alumni include: Bader Ben Hirsi
Bader Ben Hirsi
Al-Bader BenYahya al-Hirsi, commonly known as Bader Ben Hirsi, is a British playwright and director of Yemeni ancestry.-Early life and education:...
, Susanne Klatten
Susanne Klatten
Susanne Klatten is the daughter of Herbert and Johanna Quandt. As of 2011, she is worth $14.6 billion, and is the richest woman in Germany and the 44th richest person in the world....
, Michael Misick
Michael Misick
Michael Eugene Misick was the chief minister of the Turks and Caicos Islands from 15 August 2003 to 9 August 2006 and was the first Premier of the Turks and Caicos Islands from 9 August 2006 to 23 March 2009....
, Brandon Lewis
Brandon Lewis
Brandon Kenneth Lewis is the Conservative Party Member of Parliament for Great Yarmouth. He was elected at the 2010 general election.-Early life:Brandon Lewis was born on 20 June 1971 in Harold Wood, and educated at Forest School...
, Olagunsoye Oyinlola, Mark Lancaster
Mark Lancaster
John Mark Lancaster TD is a British Conservative Party politician. He was elected as Member of Parliament for the North East Milton Keynes constituency at the 2005 general election and held its successor seat, Milton Keynes North, at the 2010 general election...
, the MP for Milton Keynes North and Graham Roos
Graham Roos
Graham Roos is a producer, writer and performer. His work has appeared in print, on stage, television and radio. Since 2011 he has been appointed the first Creative Artist in Residence at Buckingham University.-Career:...
who, since 2011, has been appointed the University's first Creative Artist in Residence.
Prominent international alumni include Pravind Jugnauth
Pravind Jugnauth
Pravind Kumar Jugnauth MP Esq. is the former Vice Prime Minister and Minister of Finance of Mauritius who was in office from 11 May 2010 to 26 July 2011. He is also Member of Parliament for the 8th constituency Quartier Militaire and Moka.He is an Indo-Mauritian of Bihari descent. He served in...
MP in the Mauritius parliament, former Deputy Prime Minister, and the Leader of one of Mauritius's main parties, the Militant Socialist Movement
Militant Socialist Movement
The Militant Socialist Movement is a Centre-Right political party in Mauritius that adheres to the philosophies of socialism and political democracy. It is the 3rd largest political party in the National Assembly. It has in all 13 seats directly elected from the 2010 general elections...
.
In the BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British domestic radio station, operated and owned by the BBC, that broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history. It replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. The station controller is currently Gwyneth Williams, and the...
panel game
Panel game
A panel game or panel show is a radio or television game show in which a panel of celebrities participates. Panelists may compete with each other, such as on The News Quiz; facilitate play by guest contestants, such as on Match Game/Blankety Blank; or do both, such as on Wait Wait.....
The Museum of Curiosity
The Museum of Curiosity
The Museum of Curiosity, formerly titled The Professor of Curiosity, is a comedy panel game on BBC Radio 4 that was first broadcast on 20 February 2008. It stars John Lloyd as "The Professor of Ignorance at the University of Buckingham" and owner of the fictional "Museum of Curiosity"...
, host John Lloyd
John Lloyd (writer)
John Hardress Wilfred Lloyd CBE is a British comedy writer and television producer. He is the great nephew of John Hardress Lloyd.-Early life and career:...
claims to be, "The Professor of Ignorance at the University of Buckingham".
Author V. M. Xavier presented special cultural performances at student functions in the 1980s.
External degrees
The University awards undergraduate and graduate (Masters/MBA) degrees to students who have studied at the European School of EconomicsEuropean School of Economics
The European School of Economics is an international business school that offers bachelor, master, MBA and certificate programmes at its campuses in London, New York, Milan, Rome, Florence and Madrid....
and at the Sarajevo School of Science and Technology
Sarajevo School of Science and Technology
Sarajevo School of Science and Technology is a private university, located in metropolitan Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, within the town of Ilidža, Bosnia and Herzegovina...
.
Chancellorship
The immediate past- Chancellor is Sir Martin JacombMartin Jacomb
Sir Martin Jacomb is a former Chancellor of the University of Buckingham and Chairman of Canary Wharf Group.-Education and career:...
, Chairman of Canary Wharf Group
Canary Wharf Group
Canary Wharf Group plc is the owner and developer of nearly of property at Canary Wharf in London. It is notable because over the last 10 years it has constructed more office space in London than any other developer...
PLC, and Share PLC (in Aylesbury), and the director of other companies including Oxford Playhouse Trust. He was Chairman of Prudential
Prudential plc
Prudential plc is a multinational financial services company headquartered in London, United Kingdom.Prudential's largest division is Prudential Corporation Asia, which has over 15 million customers across 13 Asian markets and is a top-three provider of life insurance in mainland China, Hong...
PLC from 1995 to 2000 and last year retired from the boards of Rio Tinto Group
Rio Tinto Group
The Rio Tinto Group is a diversified, British-Australian, multinational mining and resources group with headquarters in London and Melbourne. The company was founded in 1873, when a multinational consortium of investors purchased a mine complex on the Rio Tinto river, in Huelva, Spain from the...
and Marks & Spencer
Marks & Spencer
Marks and Spencer plc is a British retailer headquartered in the City of Westminster, London, with over 700 stores in the United Kingdom and over 300 stores spread across more than 40 countries. It specialises in the selling of clothing and luxury food products...
. Former Chancellors of the university have been Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990...
who retired in 1999, and Lord Hailsham of St Marylebone
Quintin Hogg, Baron Hailsham of St Marylebone
For the businessman and philanthropist, see Quintin Hogg Quintin McGarel Hogg, Baron Hailsham of St Marylebone, KG, CH, PC, QC, FRS , formerly 2nd Viscount Hailsham , was a British politician who was known for the longevity of his career, the vigour with which he campaigned for the Conservative...
.
Lord Tanlaw was appointed to succeed Sir Martin as Chancellor in May 2010.
The current Vice-Chancellor is Dr Terence Kealey, formerly of the Department of Clinical Biochemistry at Cambridge University, who has held the post since April 2001. Kealey is known for his research challenging the idea that education and science are public goods needing public subsidies. He wrote an academic book on the subject in 1996 The Economic Laws of Scientific Research which he repackaged and updated for a general audience in 2008 as Sex, Science and Profits.
Kealey sparked a sexism row in September 2009. The Times Higher Education had commissioned, for its issue of 17 September 2009, seven articles of 500 words each on the seven deadly sins of academia. The seven sins were sartorial inelegance, procrastination, snobbery, lust, arrogance, complacency and pedantry, and the commissioning editor, Matthew Reisz, wrote that the contributors "entered into the spirit and offered amusing examples of their sins in action …". The illustrations in the magazine reflected the humour of the feature. Kealey wrote on lust, and he adopted a satirical tone, claiming that young female students were a "perk" for male academics and they should "look but not touch". Over the next week the Times Higher Education website filled with comments about the article, many expressing shock but some expressing support. On 23 September the London Daily Telegraph ran a story about the article and the backlash was swift from academics. Kealey was criticised by the University and College Union
University and College Union
The University and College Union is a British trade union formed by the merger in 2006 of the Association of University Teachers and the National Association of Teachers in Further and Higher Education ....
and the National Union of Students
National Union of Students
-British Isles:*National Union of Students**National Union of Students-Union of Students in Ireland**National Union of Students Scotland**National Union of Students Wales-Scandinavia:*Danish National Union of Students*National Union of Students in Finland...
who said his comments displayed an “astounding lack of respect for women”. At the same time Kealey was defended by scholars such as Professor Mary Beard of Cambridge University who in her online blog for the Times
Times
The Times is a UK daily newspaper, the original English language newspaper titled "Times". Times may also refer to:In newspapers:*The Times , went defunct in 2005*The Times *The Times of Northwest Indiana...
newspaper wrote that it was instantly clear that the piece was satire. Kealey wrote a defence of his piece in the Daily Telegraph and he was also defended by the editor of the THE but nonetheless he wrote a piece in the Times Education Supplement three weeks later in which he said that it is a mistake for a scholar to write ambiguously, which must generally preclude the use of satire, irony, humour or parody in academic writing.
In February 2010, Kealey proposed the establishment of a new independent university, modelled on American liberal arts colleges, that would concentrate on undergraduate teaching rather than research. The plan is currently being considered by the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference (HMC), whose 243 members include independent schools such as Eton, Winchester and St Paul's. Kealey believes that complaints about impersonal teaching and oversized classes at many traditional universities mean there will be strong demand for higher education with staff-student ratios similar to that provided by independent secondary schools.
University of Buckingham Press
The University of Buckingham Press publishes in the areas of law, education, and business through its journal articles, books, reports and other material. In 2006 the press relaunched The Denning Law Journal and it is now available in print and its whole archive is online. It also publishes three other journals: The Buckingham Journal of Language and Linguistics, The Journal of Prediction Markets, and The Journal of Gambling Business and Economics. It has a co-publishing arrangement with The Policy Exchange for its Foundations series.International connections
The university has close links with colleges abroad including the Sarajevo School of Science and TechnologySarajevo School of Science and Technology
Sarajevo School of Science and Technology is a private university, located in metropolitan Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, within the town of Ilidža, Bosnia and Herzegovina...
, an independent university college in Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bosnia and Herzegovina , sometimes called Bosnia-Herzegovina or simply Bosnia, is a country in Southern Europe, on the Balkan Peninsula. Bordered by Croatia to the north, west and south, Serbia to the east, and Montenegro to the southeast, Bosnia and Herzegovina is almost landlocked, except for the...
. Teaching takes place in Sarajevo
Sarajevo
Sarajevo |Bosnia]], surrounded by the Dinaric Alps and situated along the Miljacka River in the heart of Southeastern Europe and the Balkans....
. After completing a bachelor's degree
Bachelor's degree
A bachelor's degree is usually an academic degree awarded for an undergraduate course or major that generally lasts for three or four years, but can range anywhere from two to six years depending on the region of the world...
, master's degree
Master's degree
A master's is an academic degree granted to individuals who have undergone study demonstrating a mastery or high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice...
or PhD
PHD
PHD may refer to:*Ph.D., a doctorate of philosophy*Ph.D. , a 1980s British group*PHD finger, a protein sequence*PHD Mountain Software, an outdoor clothing and equipment company*PhD Docbook renderer, an XML renderer...
students receive a diploma
Diploma
A diploma is a certificate or deed issued by an educational institution, such as a university, that testifies that the recipient has successfully completed a particular course of study or confers an academic degree. In countries such as the United Kingdom and Australia, the word diploma refers to...
from both universities.