London South Bank University

About the Organisation

With around 18 000 students London South Bank University is one of the largest in London. The main site is at the Elephant and Castle and most students come from the greater London area. The University has its origins in the Borough Polytechnic founded in the 1880s and combines a tradition of providing vocational education for local people with a focus on specialist industrial and professional links. It aims to provide courses which equip students for future employment.

The University has a long standing reputation for promoting access to educational opportunities for local people and its unique student profile closely reflects the diversity of the local population. Around 60% of students are female, a figure influenced by the University’s strong presence in nursing and allied health professions in London and Essex. Around 60% of students come from non white ethnic groups, 63% are over 25 on entry and 48% are studying part time.

There are dozens of engineering courses on offer. This includes courses in Electrical, Computer and Communications Engineering such as Telecommunications and Computer Networks Engineering. The Engineering Systems Department offers Mechatronics, Robotics and Railway Engineering as well as Mechanical Engineering and Civil Engineering. There are also Chemical Engineering and Petroleum Engineering courses, courses in Construction and a range of exciting Design Technology programmes. All of these are accessible from different starting points dependent on the level of skills a student offers on entry.

LEP involvement

London South Bank University has a long tradition of recruiting a diversity of students from non traditional backgrounds and enabling them to progress successfully to higher education and on to employment in engineering and other vocational areas. It is also noted for its excellence in supporting access to higher education and widening participation, and in recent years has organised a number of initiatives designed to raise aspirations and enable progression in science and engineering.

Outreach initiatives include the: Salters Festival, an annual chemistry event for year 7 pupils; the LEAP Community Learning Festival which incorporated aspirational workshops and activities for years 10 to 12 based on forensic science, construction engineering and architecture, network engineering, digital media and sports science; engineering taster days for post 16 students on vocational courses; Summer Schools for year 10 and year 11 pupils with themes such as New Design for City Living, The Science of Being Human, Know Your Body, Know Your Brain.

Such events have provided our staff with considerable experience of organising technology and science related events which successfully appeal to local school pupils. This combined with the tradition of ‘on course’ skills support, specialist pre-entry study programmes and a diversity of study modes to promote progression to higher education make the University an ideal partner in a project for identifying best practice and developing provision which will widen access to engineering and science.

For more information about LSBU visit their website www.lsbu.ac.uk