Description:

The University of the West of England, or UWE, was originally opened in 1970 as Bristol Polytechnic. It attained University status along with other polytechnics in the country in 1992. It is the largest university in Bristol with over 30,000 students and 3,000 academic staff.

The main UWE campus is located in Frenchay, close to the M32 and Bristol Parkway station. UWE has other campus sites in and around the city, the most notable being Bower Ashton which houses the Faculty of Arts, and is located at the foot of the Ashton Court estate. The university boasts extensive sports facilities at Frenchay campus at a modern sports centre that was opened in 2006. The sports hall has court markings for a variety of sports including, badminton, basketball, netball, 5-a-side football, volleyball and indoor hockey.

The university has six main faculties which include the Bristol Business School, the Faculty of Creative Arts, the Faculty of Environment and Technology, Faculty of Health and Life Sciences, Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities and Hartpury College (Associate Faculty).

Students at UWE tend to live throughout the city and the Frenchay campus is served by bus links to Bristol city centre, but in September 2006 Frenchay Student Village opened providing on-campus accommodation for 1,932 students. UWE partners with UNITE Student Housing to provide accommodation for 1500 students across the city centre.

UWE purchased 70 acres of land from their neighbours HP in 2008, and is currently expanding the Frenchay campus which now covers 150 acres. Some external faculties are expected to relocate to the expanded campus.