Brain boxes and clever clogs of the capital city, listen up. Having announced the ambitious plans last year, the University of Greenwich and the University of Kent have now officially completed their merger to become the UK’s first ever ‘super university’.
Today (September 7), the London and South East University Group (LASE) officially opened its shiny new doors – marking the rather momentous occasion with the unveiling of a specially commissioned light sculpture that illuminated each of the super university’s four campuses.
The new university group will unite over 50,000 students in total, making it the third largest uni in the country. The merger comes amid the ongoing economic pressures that British universities are facing. And the entirely new university model has been created in a way that means other institutions can join the group in the future. As of today, all 50,000 students from across the Group’s four campuses can request support services at any of the four locations and use any of the libraries across the campuses.
Whilst the LASE group will have a new chancellor, governing body, and senior executive team, the two universities will still operate under their own names. The University of Kent and the University of Greenwich will maintain their distinct academic identities – and students will continue to apply to, study at, and graduate from the specific university of their choosing.
Professor Jane Harrington, CEO and Founding Vice-Chancellor of LASE, said: “LASE will enable us to build on our collective strengths and create greater benefit for our 50,000 students across the group. From day one, they will have access to all our campuses, and over time we will be able to expand the services offered to them. We’ll also be able to work with our industry partners and organisations more strategically to look at more developed employment opportunities for students.”
Professor Harrington continued: “As we get ready to begin our first academic year as LASE University Group, we wanted to mark the start. The sculpture is meant as a celebration of what we have achieved to get to this point, a coming together of our four diverse campuses, and a welcome to our 50,000 students, 7,000 staff and many more thousands of people across the region who will benefit from our super-university.”
