Education in Bristol

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Bristol is the largest city in South West England, and as such is a centre for culture, research and higher education in the region. The city is home to a prestigious "red brick university" and a high ranking "new university." The city is also noted for its investment in the sciences and engineering, particularly its ties to the aerospace industry.

[edit] Schools

See also: List of schools in Bristol.

Bristol has some of the most under-performing schools in England, but also some of the highest performing schools in the country.^{[citation needed]}

Britain's first girls' reform school was set up in 1854 by Mary Carpenter, with the financial help of the poet Lord Byron's widow, at Bristol's Red Lodge.

Red Lodge.

[edit] Further education

[edit] Sixth Forms

Bristol has 2 main sixth forms, they are St. Brendan's Sixth Form College and Redcliffe Sixth Form Centre. St. Brendan's Campus is located in brislington just off the main route through; Redcliffe Sixth Form is, however, located closer to the centre of Bristol, and is to the west of Bristol Temple Meads train station and in close proximity to St Mary Redcliffe Church to the north.

[edit] Colleges

The main Filton College building

Bristol has 2 main colleges, they are City of Bristol College and Filton College. The City of Bristol College's main campus is located on St George's Road, near College Green with many smaller sites across the city; Whilst Filton College is based at Filton and the surrounding areas.

[edit] Higher education

Bristol has 2 main universities they are University of Bristol and University of the West of England (UWE).

Bristol University has 15,000 students. Its particular strengths lie in Medicine, Engineering, Psychology, Economics, Management, Politics and Law. The University usually ranks in the top ten of British universities in newspaper league tables and was ranked 49th in the world in 2006, rising to 37th in the world in 2008.

The post-1992 UWE has around 35,000 students and 3,000 academic staff, UWE is the larger of the two universities in the city. 86% of students at UWE are from state schools.

[edit] Science

In 2005 the Chancellor of the Exchequer recognised Bristol's ties to science and technology by naming it one of three "science cities", and promising funding for further development of science in the city, with a £300 million "Science Park" planned at Emerson's Green. As well as research at the two universities and Southmead Hospital, science education is important in the city, with At-Bristol, Bristol Zoo and Bristol Festival of Nature being prominent educational organisations.

The city has a history of scientific achievement, including Sir Humphry Davy, the 19th century scientist who worked in Hotwells and discovered laughing gas. Bishopston has given the world two Nobel Prize winning physicists: Paul Dirac for crucial contributions to quantum mechanics in 1933, and Cecil Frank Powell, for a photographic method of studying nuclear processes and associated discoveries in 1950. The city was birth place of Colin Pillinger, planetary scientist behind the Beagle 2 Mars lander project, and is home to Adam Hart-Davis, presenter of various science related television programmes, and the psychologists Susan Blackmore, Richard Gregory, and Derren Brown.