OfS awards City £4.7M in capital funding

City, University of London has been awarded £4.7 million in capital funding by the Office for Students (OfS) following a successful competitive bid.

The OfS is an independent public body that acts as the regulator and competition authority for the higher education sector in England. In addition to its regulatory commitments, the OfS distributes capital expenditure from the government’s Department for Education to develop the higher education sector.

As the University of business, practice and the professions, City is committed to supporting the next generation of students into work, which was recognised by the OfS investment which will provide funding between 2022 and 2025.

To fulfil this strategy, the University has proposed to spend the OfS capital on the design of a new laboratory, a new Clinical Skills Centre to implement new learning technologies, and to provide the infrastructure to create a suite of online programmes for its engineering, computing and healthcare students.

The proposal includes plans to design and build a new Technologies for Future Practice Laboratory, featuring technologies for design, visualisation and life cycle simulators for students in engineering and computing; enhancements to the School of Health and Psychological Sciences’ Clinical Skills Centre, which will benefit students in nursing, midwifery, radiography and radiotherapy; as well as facilities to support the creation of a new suite of online STEM programmes.

The proposal to offer City’s students state of the art practical training will ensure they graduate with skills which reflect the specialist needs of local industry and employers, providing a significant benefit to local and regional businesses and for healthcare provision in London.

This will support our role in filling the national gap in digital and engineering technologies.

In particular, London is lacking in its healthcare provision. The growth in our capacity to deliver healthcare training that this investment enables will increase City’s role in delivering highly skilled graduates to the healthcare workplace.

The OfS allocated capital funding to 100 higher education organisations based on bids that demonstrated value for money, effective project management and environmental sustainability.

Susan Lapworth, Chief Executive of the OfS said:

Investing in modern building and innovative equipment will help universities and colleges in England prepare students for their future careers.

Competition for funding was strong, with high quality applications from across the sector.

Helen Watson, Chief Operating Officer at City said:

The Office for Students’ call for bids for capital funding to support teaching has been an excellent opportunity for the School of Science & Technology and the School of Health & Psychological Sciences to collaborate on a joint project.

The two Schools have put together an excellent proposal, and we have received all the funding we requested, despite some stiff competition from other universities.

This funding will make a major contribution to our strategic aim of enhancing the on-campus experience for students and delivering a curriculum which develops the skills of our graduates entering the workplace.

Professor Rajkumar Roy, Executive Dean of the School of Science & Technology (SST), said:

We are delighted to receive OfS funding for a Technologies for Future Practice Laboratory.

The funding will support educating ethical engineering and computing professionals for whom evidence-based thinking is integral to their practice, using cutting edge technologies and in close partnership with industry and socially responsible organisations.

This will be a major step forward for the university to discharge its role as a socially responsible organisation. The laboratory will also modernise our teaching at the undergraduate and postgraduate levels.

Professor Debra Salmon, Dean of the School of Health & Psychological Sciences (SHPS), said:

We are delighted to have been awarded this funding from the Office for Students. This investment will enable us to build on our existing facilities and continue to provide the highest-quality teaching environment for our health science students.

It is an important step towards ensuring our students continue to receive the best possible learning opportunities during their time with us at the School of Health & Psychological Sciences.