University of the West of England

The University of the West of England sits on the northern edge of Bristol in Stoke Gifford, where its Frenchay Campus spreads across 110 hectares of former farmland and Hewlett-Packard land. The site began as Bristol Polytechnic in 1970 and became a university in 1992, yet its roots reach back to the Merchant Venturers’ Technical College founded in 1856. Over 38,000 students study here alongside 4,500 staff, making it the largest higher-education provider in the South West. The campus grew again in 2008 when UWE bought 28 hectares from Hewlett-Packard for a western expansion. Buildings such as the Bristol Robotics Laboratory and the Business School opened between 2012 and 2020 to house engineering, business and sport facilities. Frenchay Campus concentrates most of the university’s courses and specialist centres. The Bristol Business School and Bristol Law School share a 2017 building designed for business education. Future Space provides offices for more than seventy hi-tech companies as one of the UK’s university enterprise zones. The Students’ Union moved in 2015 to two linked buildings that bring together all its services. A 4-storey engineering building opened in 2020 with laboratories, workshops and lecture theatres for engineering disciplines. An exhibition and conference centre occupies former Hewlett-Packard buildings, while the Centre for Sport offers sports facilities. Surrounded by Stoke Park and Cheswick parish, the campus offers green spaces and easy access to Bristol city centre four miles to the south. The village of Frenchay lies a short distance to the east, with Filton to the west and Stoke Gifford to the north. The landscape still shows traces of its agricultural past, yet the modern buildings and busy courtyards give the place a lively university atmosphere.