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The North East Wales Institute of Higher Education (Welsh: Athrofa Addysg Uwch Gogledd Ddwyrain Cymru, commonly: NEWI, officially North East Wales Institute of Higher Education) is a higher education institution based in Wrexham, in North Wales, UK.

At present, NEWI is a full member of the federal University of Wales and offers both undergraduate and postgraduate University of Wales degrees. The Principal is Professor Michael Scott. NEWI has approximately 6,000 full time students and around 350 from outside the UK (2007).

History

NEWI's origins date back to the opening of Wrexham School of Science and Art in 1887. At this time Viriamu Jones called for a University of Wales. Higher education has been delivered in Wrexham since 1892. The WSSA began offering University of London degrees in Science in 1924. The original name of Wrexham School of Science and Art was changed several times. In 1927, it became Denbighshire Technical Institute becoming Denbighshire Technical College in 1939. NEWI itself was formed in 1975 by the merger of Denbighshire Technical College, Cartrefle Teacher Training College and Kelsterton College of Connah's Quay, Deeside. Initially, its degrees were validated by the University of Salford.

In 1993, NEWI became an associate member of the University of Wales; all further education courses in Wrexham were moved to Yale College (Welsh:Colleg Lal) Grove Park Road Campus at the same time. In 2004, NEWI became a full member of the University of Wales and in 2006 became accredited by the University of Wales and exercised devolved powers to validate and deliver its own University of Wales degrees. At present, NEWI is in the process of gaining the right to award taught degrees, a step on the process of becoming a university. NEWI was visited by HM The Queen in 2003 and by HRH the Duchess of Gloucester in 2005.

Campus

NEWI is based over two campuses. The main campus at Plas Coch covers 31 acres, and was inherited from the former Cartrefle TTC which moved there in 1953. It houses over 70 seminar suites, conference suites, lecture theatures, work shops and laboratories, complemented with a library (the Edward Llwyd Centre) and a learning resource facilities, as well as a fair sized sports centre (the Plas Coch Sports Centre), a human performance lab, the Terry Hands studio, William Aston Hall, Gallery 103, The Welsh International Hockey Team and Techniquest, a science discovery centre, open to the public.

NEWI's second campus is located at Regent Street, and is home to NEWI's School of Art and Design. It formerly housed the Denbighshire Technical college, who moved to the site in 1927 (under their previous name of Denbighshire Technical Institute).

Courses

NEWI runs 150 programmes, offering foundation, HND/Cs, honours and masters degrees and Doctorates over a broad variety of qualifications. In addition to professional courses such as Initial Teacher Training, Nursing and Social work, NEWI offers a range of postgraduate and undergraduate qualifications in Art & Design, Engineering, Science, Humanities, Health and Social Care, Sports Sciences, Computing and Communication Technology and Business. Although all courses are offered in English there are options to study or to be assessed in the Welsh language (Cymraeg).

NEWI is active in postgraduate research, particularly in science but also in engineering, health, business studies and the Arts. The institution is currently working towards RAE 2008 and seeks to build upon its previous success as 3* rated in Science.

NEWI is unique in offering a degree in Illustration for Children's Publishing. It is the only place in the UK to do so.

Other activities and overseas ties

NEWI commenced a number of international projects in the 1980s, forming Khartoum Polytechnic, Westbank University, Lerothli Polytechnic and developed more networks of Universities in Africa and Asia.

NEWI is a member of the Fair Trade Coalition. It displays the Fair trade logo and sells Fair Trade items in its cafes/shops. NEWI recently ran a fair trade fortnight to publise and show support for the cause. It ran between the 26th February to 9th of March.

Sports, clubs and traditions

NEWI boasts a large sports centre, a radio studio, sound recording studio, enginering labortories, art gallery, IT facilities, theatre studios, motor racing team, a dedicated scene of crime lab and - notably - a Chinese medicine clinic. The Plas Coch site hosts an active student union as well as the student Bar, named 'Degrees'. NEWI has it's own car racing team which is run by the engineering school. The North Wales Clinical School opened in 2007 at NEWI's Plas Coch campus.

Also located close to Plas Coch are Wrexham Football Club (a second devision team), the Racket Centre, the North Wales Regional Hockey Stadium and the Plas Coch retail park containing several well known large stores and a cinema. NEWI has a good relationship with the football club (nicknamed the Red Dragons) and its supporters. The sports centre is the home ground of the NEWI nets, North Wales's highest ranking basketball team, who gained 5th place in the National division 3 in 2003-2004 and have been regularly invited back to play since, celebrating their thousandth game as a national team on March 21st, 2007.

NEWI recently aquired its North Wales regional Hockey stadium after a £1 million investment from Sport@NEWI and the Sports Council for Wales. It is a water based, astroturf floodlit stadium with room for 200 spectators.

Companies

NEWI has three subsidiary companies.

• NEWI innovation
• North Wales Science (Techniquest)
• Plas Coch Sports

and six collabrative partners.

• Yale College
• Deeside College
• Coleg Menai
• Coleg Llandrillo Cymru
• Shrewsbury College of Arts and Technology
• Canolfan Tryweryn

Students and Faculty

Students

Although the institution is based in Wales, its students are from all over the UK and the European Union, and the number of international students is growing. NEWI's base in Wrexham offers economical student living for UK students and those from abroad. Indeed, NEWI is particularly popular with EU students who have established a firm base in Wrexham making NEWI one of the top 10 most popular destinations for EU undergraduate higher education students in the whole of the UK . NEWI is also extremely popular with mature students - around 70% of NEWI students are over twenty one with 17% over the age of forty.

NEWI has its own nursery called Little Scholars. This provides places for students children between the ages of 0-5. In the holidays a Little Scholars holiday club is provided plus the active 8-2-14 club. NEWI gives awards in sports, especially Hockey.

Accomodation

NEWI has three main Halls of residence, namely the Student village, Plas Coch Hostel and Snowdon Hall, and two smaller halls of residence named Bath Road House and Cllwyd House. Both Plas Coch Hostel and the Student Village are on the main NEWI site with the hostel being the older and smaller of the two. The student village is separated into houses and the houses into flats. Snowdon Hall, Bath Road and CLlwyd House are in the vicinity of Wrexham town. The student village and Snowdon Hall are on suite and the rest are shared facilities. All of NEWI's accomodation is self catering. Snowdon Hall is separated into four separate blocks of lockable flats and is currently leased from and run by the Opal Group.

Faculty

NEWI's first principle was Professor John O'Williams. He retired in 1991 and replaced by Proffessor Glyn O' Phillips. Following the retirement of Prof. Phillips in 1999, NEWI then appointed Professor Scott in 2001 who is the current Principle and Chief Executive. Prof.Scott is, himself, a former student of the University of Wales, Lampeter.

NEWI has two assistant Principles. The Assistant Principle for Undergraduate studies is also the Dean of the Health, Arts and Education faculty Prof. Kate Sullivan. The assistant Principle for reasearch and postgraduate studies is also the Dean of the Bussiness, Science and Technology faculty Graeme Wilkinson.

Famous people from North East Wales

• Tim Vincent Born 1972 TV Presenter
• Rhys Ifans Born 1968 Film Actor
• Llyr Evans Film and TV Actor
• Michael England Football manager and Player (Wales, Blackburn, Tottenham)
• Jason Koumas Footballer (Wales, Westbrom)
• Brian Godfrey Footballer (Prestatyn, Aston Villa)
• Karl Gizzi Boxer
• Gordon Ellis Newspaper Columist
• Beryl Baigent(nee Jones) Poetry Author
• Isaac Roberts Born 1882 Pioneer of Space Photography
• Sir Morton Stanley Born 1841 Finder of Dr. Livingston
• Carol VodermanMBE Born 1960 TV Presenter, Member of Mensa
• Emyr Owen Humphreys Novelist, Poet, Playwright
• Owain Glyndor Military Hero

For a list of notable people from Wrexham see people from Wrexham. For a more complete list of Notable Welsh People, see List of Welsh people. See below (external links) for links to the official NEWI site and photo evidence of NEWI history.

References

1. ^ "Table 0a - All students by institution, mode of study, level of study, gender and domicile 2005/06". Higher Education Statistics Agency online statistics. Retrieved 2007-04-06.
2. http://www.newi.ac.uk/en/aboutNEWI/didyouknow/
3. http://www.newi.ac.uk/imagegallery/History%20of%20NEWI/Royal%20Visit%202003/slides/7587.htm
4. http://www.newi.ac.uk/en/studyingatNEWI/studentsupportservices/sportsfacilities/NEWINetsBasketball/
5. http://www.netsbasketball.co.uk/fullnews.php
6. http://www.newi.ac.uk/en/aboutNEWI/didyouknow/

The Queen visits NEWI see http://www.newi.ac.uk/imagegallery/History%20of%20NEWI/Royal%20Visit%202003/slides/7343.htm

External links

• North East Wales Institute of Higher Education

Has a photo album of pictures of the area, the old technical colleges, the Queen etc.

• University of Wales
• NEWI Computing Society
• (The Queen visits NEWI Photos)

• (Photo of The Racecourse Ground -W.FC)

• Home of the NEWI nets

• North East Wales Institute of Higher Education
• University of Wales
• Universities in Wales
• Wrexham