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Study Abroad at the University of East LondonIncoming Students2013/14

uel.ac.uk/studyabroad

This is an exciting time for UEL, especially for our students. 2012 put a spotlight on east London and there is an unprecedented buzz about the area. Alongside a major regeneration programme for the region, UEL has also been transformed.

Our £170 million campus development programme has brought a range of new facilities, from 24/7 multimedia libraries and state-of-the-art clinics, to purpose-built student accommodation and a major new sports complex.

That is why we are passionate about our potential to deliver outstanding opportunities to all of our students. Opportunities for learning, for achieving and for building the basis for your future career success.

With our unique location, our record of excellence in teaching and research, the dynamism and diversity provided by our multinational student community and our outstanding graduate employment record, UEL is a university with energy and vision.

Welcome

As a student in London you’ll never be short of things to see and do. East London is an exciting place in which to live, work and study.

Lively and affordable

Whatever you want from life, you’ll find it in London. The UK is full of fantastic cities, but it’s London that sets the pace, breaks the news and starts the trends.

London’s liveliest and most affordable area, east London truly offers something for everyone. Nights in Shoreditch, curries in Brick Lane, art in Whitechapel, football at West Ham – studying at UEL, right at the heart of the region, promises so much more than a good education. It is an exciting place in which to live, work and study.

Eating out

London doesn’t just sound good – it tastes good too! With over 6,500 licensed restaurants – almost a quarter of the British total – London’s food is as gloriously varied as its population. The famous Brick Lane curry experience is within easy reach of both our campuses, while local shops and markets sell every kind of fresh food you could possibly imagine from all corners of the world.

Culture and entertainment

Where to start? Concerts in the Albert Hall, history in the British Museum, opera at Covent Garden; it’s not just for tourists, it’s a regular A–Z of British culture that navigates the National Gallery, takes in the Tate, winds through the West End and zig-zags its way to the Zoo. As for entertainment – you just don’t get better!

The biggest bands, the hottest DJs, the funniest comedians, the most spectacular shows; there’s only one place they all want to come and play – London, the UK’s undisputed capital of culture and entertainment. And the world’s most popular music venue, the O2, is right on UEL’s doorstep!

Shopping

London has over 40,000 shops and some of the most famous stores and streets in the world: Harrods, Selfridges, Knightsbridge, Oxford Street, Regent Street, Carnaby Street, Covent Garden– the list goes on and on. Not to mention colourful street markets like Camden Lock and giant retail parks such as Gallion’s Reach, only a few minutes walk from our Docklands Campus.

Sport

Come and watch London’s numerous football teams, including UEL’s near neighbours at West Ham’s Upton Park; or see top-level rugby at Twickenham, tennis at Wimbledon and cricket at Lord’s or The Oval. Sign up to one of our football, rugby, basketball, netball or hockey teams, which all play regular inter-university matches, or join one of the countless other sporting clubs – from scuba diving to mountain biking, caving to capoeira – both at UEL and within the wider local community.

Situated in a stunning waterfront setting, our Docklands Campus provides a modern, well-equipped learning environment, with purpose-built lecture theatres and seminar rooms, a 24/7 library and learning centre, and a multimedia production centre with audio and visual labs and studios.

Our Student Village is located on campus providing purpose-built accommodation and facilities for over 1,200 students.

Schools

• School of Architecture, Computing and Engineering

• Royal Docks Business School

• School of Combined Honours

• School of Arts and Digital Industries. Key facts

• great transport links including the Docklands Light Railway and London City Airport

• 25 minutes from London’s West End

• 24/7 Library and Learning Centre

• Children’s Garden early years centre

• student village

• cafés, restaurant and campus bookshop

• £21 million sports complex, SportsDock.

DocklandsCampus

East London’s Docklands area has been a major communications hub for centuries, from the global trading that used to take place in our area to the recent development of the region into the largest financial and media centre in Europe, focused on Canary Wharf, the ExCeL Centre, the O2 Arena, City Airport and the University of East London.

Our ultra-modern Docklands Campus (which was used as a base by the USA team during the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games) is located at the historic Royal Docks. The Royal Victoria Dock was the first of these to be opened, in 1855, in honour of Queen Victoria. Built to facilitate Britain’s immense trading network, they were the first docks to be designed especially for steam ships. Their large size (Royal Albert Dock was the largest dock in the world) meant that the docks instantly flourished, as they could take much larger ships than any other docks in Europe at the time.

Charles Dickens makes frequent use of the east London riverside and Docklands in novels such as Our Mutual Friend and Great Expectations, and there is a memorable description of the docks, their buildings and people in Joseph Conrad’s The Mirror of the Sea.

In 1941, at the height of World War II, the docks were heavily bombed during the Blitz, the aim being to paralyse the commercial life of London by destroying the docks, warehouses and trading infrastructure. The famous East End

spirit saw the area through these traumatic times, but by the 1970s technological advances saw the closure of the Royal Docks to vessels.

The Royal Docks are now a leisure and communications hub. London City Airport is located on an island between two of the historic docks, and the London Regatta Centre is just along the waterfront from UEL.

The area has also appeared as a location in numerous films, including Full Metal Jacket, The Constant Gardener, Love Actually and the James Bond movie The World is Not Enough. Most famously, the opening sequence of another Bond film, For Your Eyes Only, was also filmed here.

Another Docklands landmark is the Canary Wharf development. This overlooks the O2 Arena – the world’s most popular concert venue. The O2 has recently some of the world’s biggest stars such as Beyonce, Kylie Minogue, Katy Perry, The Rolling Stones, Lady Gaga and the cast of Glee, as well as major sporting events such as ATP World Tour tennis finals.

Not far from the O2 is Greenwich Park, the oldest royal parkland in Britain, having first been enclosed in 1433. That means that, despite later landscaping, many archaeological features remain there, untouched by the buildings.

Docklands

Our Stratford Campus, which combines heritage and state-of-the-art facilities, is located in the heart of Stratford, just a few minutes walk from the home of the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Recent developments include new laboratories and computing facilities, and new buildings housing The Cass School of Education and Communities, and the Centre for Clinical Education.

Stratford has a busy town centre, with cafés, bars and restaurants, fine leisure and cultural facilities and excellent transport links.

The impressive new Westfield Stratford City shopping centre, just ten minutes walk from campus, is Europe’s largest urban shopping mall.

Schools

• Cass School of Education and Communities

• School of Health, Sport and Bioscience

• School of Law and Social Sciences

• School of Psychology.

Key facts

• great transport links including Jubilee and Central Lines, mainline train services and the Docklands Light Railway

• 25 minutes from London’s West End

• 24/7 Library and Learning Centre

• restaurant and campus bookshop.

University Square Stratford

University Square, to be located in the heart of Stratford, is a unique collaboration between Birkbeck, University of London and the University of East London. This joint venture will create a major new

university campus and will house UEL’s law and performing arts students.

University Square will open in autumn 2013.www.universitysquarestratford.ac.uk

StratfordCampus

Our Stratford Campus, with its red-brick buildings, is a traditional British university campus. Stratford is also a deeply historic region (though not to be confused with Stratford-upon-Avon, Shakespeare’s birthplace some 150 miles away!).

The name Stratford comes from the Old English word for street (meaning Roman Road) combined with ‘ford’ (a river crossing). Stratford was once an important stopover on the most important of Roman roads, between Camolodunum (modern-day Colchester) and Londinium (London). The development of Stratford and the East End in the 18th and 19th centuries buried any remaining parts of the old Roman Road, but the Old Ford still exists on the outskirts of Stratford on the River Lea, which flows to the Thames.

Later on, the area would be home to the Abbey of St Mary’s, founded in 1135. It was a dominating influence on the area until the dissolution of the monasteries under Henry VIII in 1538. It was one of the largest abbeys in England, possessing 1,500 acres (6.1 km2) of land in the Stratford area.

Also in the area were the ‘Temple Mills’, water mills belonging to the Knights Templar (well known to fans of Dan Brown’s Da Vinci Code) and use for grinding corn. To the east of Stratford is Forest Gate, the start of Epping Forest, well known as the haunt of the notorious 18th century highwayman Dick Turpin. Another claim to fame for Forest Gate is that actor-turned-Governor of California Arnold Schwarzenegger lived there for a while in the 1960s!

Stratford has its very own ‘Cultural Quarter’, comprising the Theatre Royal (opened in 1884), Stratford Circus (an arts venue) and the Picturehouse (an independent cinema). The promotional film for the Beatles’ single Penny Lane was filmed in and around Angel Lane in Stratford. The area is also the focal point of the UK hip-hop scene known as Grime.

Adjacent to Stratford, in the Bow area, are numerous historic references. Geoffrey Chaucer, in The Canterbury Tales, mentions ‘…Stratford atte Bowe’. Later on, the famous campaigner for women’s votes, Sylvia Pankhurst, based her Suffragette cause in the area. Even Mahatma Gandhi lived in the area, at Kingsley Hall (used as a set in in the Oscar-winning movie Gandhi), for a few months in 1931.

Stratford’s latest claim to fame is the 2012 London Olympic and Paralympic Games. The Olympic Park, close to UEL’s campus, contains major venues including the Olympic Stadium, Aquatics Centre and London Velopark, and lies within very easy reach of our campuses. The Games might be over, but the park and venues will remain as a fantastic sporting and leisure attraction for the public.

Stratford

Whether you choose to study full-time or part-time, student life is never dull. Our campus bars and an ever-growing range of clubs and societies will keep you entertained when you need a break from your studies.

UEL Students’ Union (UELSU)

As a member of UELSU, you’ll gain access to a wide range of facilities, opportunities, support and representation that will guide and inspire you, from those uncertain steps as a fresher through to those final, self-assured strides across the graduation stage.

Run by our students, for our students, UELSU aims to ensure each and every one of you is offered the best chance to settle in smoothly, discover wonderful new friends, interests and ambitions, and add exciting new dimensions to your university experience.

Best of all, it allows you, as a student, to have a real impact on the running of your university. By voting or standing in SU elections, forming or joining our clubs and societies, or simply planning or partying at SU events, you’ll be playing an essential role ensuring student life is fun, challenging, and rewarding.

Further informationwww.uelunion.org

Clubs and societies

Our wide range of clubs and societies offers something for everyone. If you can’t find what you’re looking for, don’t worry – all you need to set up your own society is ten willing members and a registration form.

The following is a brief list of the main clubs and societies that are available.

Clubs

• American football

• Badminton

• Basketball (men’s and women’s)

• Cricket

• Dodgeball

• Football (men’s and women’s)

• Gaelic football

• Hockey

• Netball

• Rowing

• Rugby (men’s and women’s)

• Sailing.

Societies

• Afro-Caribbean

• Amnesty International

• Anime

• Anthropology

• Architecture

• Childreach International

• Christian Union

• Coafrology

• E-soc (entrepreneurship)

• Empowerment

• Fashion

• Fine Art

• Ghanaian

• Graphic Design

• Hellenic

• IndoPak (Indian Pakistani)

• International Students

• RAMS (rock and mountain sports)

• Samba

• Somali

• Spanish

• Stop the WAR

• Taekwando

• Tamil

• St John Ambulance

• Watersports.

Bars and events

Bars at our campuses provide a relaxed, friendly environment in which to hang out with friends, play a few games of pool or just enjoy some of the cheapest drinks in London.

There are regular events to keep you entertained, from comedy to karaoke, and school disco to themed music nights.

Life at UEL

Schools

The School of Health, Sport and Bioscience has excellent national and international links, including local NHS hospitals, primary care trusts and local communities. All students benefit from modern amenities, including our Centre for Clinical Education. The School is one of the largest sports science providers in London and is closely involved in the Olympic Park legacy. In the government’s most recent Research Assessment Exercise, we were in the top 50% of all submissions for specific subject areas and in the top three universities overall in London.

The School of Law and Social Sciences has a vibrant and unique identity, rooted in its world-class research, its innovative, critical approach to higher education, and its internationalism. The School also has strong ties to east London, an important site of social, cultural and economic transformation. We offer an exciting portfolio of teaching programmes of high academic quality and a cutting-edge, collaborative and interactive research environment.

The School of Psychology is the largest psychology school in London and delivers programmes across a wide range of fields within psychology, including innovative areas such as coaching psychology and positive psychology. We have a thriving research community and a wide range of facilities such as our laboratories, and research into virtual reality, recreational drugs and psychophysiology, and health psychology.

The School of Combined Honours serves an increasing number of students at UEL who study 2-subject degrees, enabling them to study two subject areas. This offers flexibility and greater choice of potential career paths. Students can combine two related areas or select two very different subjects, and can even vary how much of each subject is studied.

The School of Arts and Digital Industries is a vibrant, creative community of students, staff, researchers and alumni. Our programmes cover a broad range of disciplines, from fashion, film, fine art and media to design, digital arts and communications, games design and animation; and from music, dance, theatre and creative writing to cultural and heritage studies, literature, history, journalism and advertising. Our staff and students produce exciting and groundbreaking work, supported by the resources of the University and the wider creative community of east London and beyond.

Academic Schools

The Study Abroad programme is flexible and it is possible to combine modules from several subject areas. If English isn’t your first language, you can also choose to combine your academic study with an element of English language training. Approximate start dates for each option are given below but as the academic calendar varies from year to year, please check our website for exact dates.

Semester AbroadSeptember to January, or February to June.

This one-semester course gives you the opportunity to take three 20-credit undergraduate modules (equivalent to 10 ECTS credits each and 5 US credits).You can select from a range of programmes offered by our academic Schools.

Year AbroadSeptember to June.

This one-year programme enables you to combine two semesters of study by taking three 20-credit undergraduate modules each semester.

Study Abroad Options

The School of Architecture, Computing and Engineering offers a range of programmes in architecture, civil engineering, computing, electrical and electronic engineering and surveying. Supported by state-of-the-art facilities and industry-level technologies, staff and students from the School have won numerous awards for their innovative and exciting work.

The Cass School of Education and Communities is a major centre engaging in research and scholarship of local, national and international significance. Specialist areas include comparative education, early childhood, diversity and language, multilingualism, professional education, race and community, social work, teacher education and technology-enhanced learning. The School houses two innovative and multidisciplinary research centres: the Centre for Social Work Research and the International Centre for the Mixed Economy of Childcare.

The Royal Docks Business School offers business and management programmes in a range of specialist areas, from music industry management to tourism management. Located in a modern, purpose-built centre that also houses the Docklands library, the School is also home to the Petchey Centre for Entrepreneurship, providing support for those wishing to start their own business, the Centre for Innovation, Management and Enterprise, and the Noon Centre for Equality and Diversity in Business.

Credit transfer

Each semester of study at UEL typically grants 60 UEL credits, which is equivalent to 30 ECTS credits or 16 US credits (depends on home schools evaluation).

After the end of your programme, UEL will issue a transcript showing the marks that you achieved in each module that you have taken.

Credits are normally transferable to your home institution, but it is important that you check this with them beforehand.

Practicalities

Students from both campuses can apply stay with us at our Docklands Student Village, located along the exciting and rapidly developing Royal Albert Dock with stunning views of the water and the skyscrapers of Canary Wharf.

All our rooms are single occupancy and include the following:

• en-suite shower room including toilet

• single bed

• shelving

• cupboard

• desk

• chair

• telephone for incoming and internal calls

• access to high-speed internet.

Each flat has a shared living and kitchen area and there are two launderettes on site. Each International student staying in halls gets a bedding pack on arrival, which includes a duvet, pillow and bed sheets. There are also a number of studio rooms available to rent which include their own kitchenette.

Renting a room in a shared or family home

Many students live in privately rented accommodation. Our Residential Services team can provide advice on this. You are normally provided with your own furnished study-bedroom, sharing the other facilities of the house with the landlord and their family. Private lodgings like these usually offer a variety of flexible arrangements, for example, with or without meals.

House or flat-share with other tenants

Many of our students decide to live with family or friends already in the UK. If you wish to live in a shared student house you can contact our Residential Services team, who can provide lists of properties offered by private landlords in the area local to UEL.

Home stay

This type of accommodation is popular with students wishing to improve their English language skills and live as part of a family. The advantage of this kind of accommodation is that you do not have to commit yourself to a very long stay (often as little as two weeks), so if it isn’t working you can end the arrangement fairly easily.

International Students House

International Student House is an accommodation, cultural and events centre for International students. Close to London’s West End and adjacent to the beautiful Regent’s Park, the centre offers a wide range of accommodation to suit all requirements.

For more information please see www.ish.org.ukdlres@uel.ac.ukuel.ac.uk/accommodation

Accommodation

UEL was voted number one in the UK for

accommodation quality in the International Student Barometer,

summer 2011

Module choicesAt UEL we have literally hundreds of modules (classes) available to Study Abroad students.

You can build your own programme of studies, taking classes across different academic years and across different Schools as long as you have attained any prerequisite education that applies to specific modules. Our range of modules is very extensive, including many classes that are not available elsewhere. Modules range from Music Industry Management to Computer Games Technology, and from Urban Dance to Decoding Stonehenge and much, much more besides.

To see our full range of modules available to Study Abroad students, and for further information, please visit uel.ac.uk/studyabroad

Entry requirements• You must be an undergraduate or postgraduate student in your home country and

have successfully completed at least one year of study.

• You must be proficient in English language and have the equivalent of IELTS 6 in all components. If you are taking the semester or year abroad with English you will be accepted with a lower IELTS score.

• A supporting reference from your university.

• Art and design students will be required to submit a portfolio.

How to applyApplications for the Study Abroad Programme should be made to UEL International using our Study Abroad Application Form. This can be downloaded from our website at uel.ac.uk/studyabroad.

Alternatively, you can email studyabroad@uel.ac.uk and we can send you further details. When applying, it is important to send us a transcript showing what you have studied in your home institution, along with the grades that you achieved. Please also enclose an academic reference from your home institution.

UEL International University of East LondonDocklands CampusUniversity WayLondonE16 2RD

uel.ac.uk/studyabroad © May 2013