The University of West London

In 2008, the University embarked on a new and ambitious strategic direction. The aim was to locate the University in its traditional heartland of west London, become more employer focused and improve its reputation as the University of achievement.

Last summer the University successfully divested itself of the Reading Further Education provision and closed its Slough, Berkshire site; it was also given permission by the Privy Council to change its name to 'The University of West London'. As a result it is now clearly and unambiguously viewed as an institution of higher learning situated on one main West London campus, with two sites at St. Mary's Road in Ealing and Paragon House in Brentford. There will also be a University 'Hub' in Berkshire which will be the location for our health based courses.

The success of this strategy has become apparent through a number of recent achievements:  in 2011 we gained one of the Queen's Anniversary Prizes for our work in hospitality; we remain one of the leading universities in the UK for employability (getting over 90% of our students into jobs within six months of graduating); our Nursing and Allied Health courses were rated the best in England and we continue to have the highest number of applications for undergraduate study for all UK universities.

We are now determined to build on these successes as the new fees regime begins in 2012 and ensure that we are both proud of our past but also excited about our future.




Biography

Professor Peter John is Vice-Chancellor of University of West London, London. He was appointed in 2007 arriving from the University of Plymouth where he was Dean, Pro Vice-Chancellor and Deputy Vice-Chancellor. Prior to that, he held a number of academic posts at the University of Bristol, University of Reading and Oxford Brookes University.

Professor John studied at the Universities of Wales, London, Oxford (Jesus College) and has a PhD from the University of Bristol; he also holds an honorary doctorate from the University of Plymouth. Professor John has written seven books, over 70 papers in academic journals and his work was recently rated as 'internationally excellent' by the UK's prestigious Research Assessment Exercise. He is married to Lydia, has three daughters and lives in Bath and London.