The University of Bolton became the North West’s newest university in January 2005 and is one of the UK’s fastest growing universities, with an increase in student applications of 50.2% in 2005/2006.
Bolton University is set to expand as part of plans for the new Innovation Zone in the heart of the town centre. It will be joined by Bolton Community College and Bolton Sixth Form College, creating the largest single planned investment into new further education facilities in the North West.
It currently has over 9,000 students from all over the world, although 80% of Bolton University students are from the Manchester city region and the North West. Of the 9,000 students studying at the university, over 6,000 are undergraduates and 1,500 postgraduates.
The University of Bolton is within the regions’ top five universities for the number of students who find graduate level jobs or carry on with their education six months after graduation (Times Good University Guide 2008), and offers a wide range of courses. The university is supplying the workforce with high quality graduates with skills rated as ‘Excellent’ in key subject areas including biology, education, health studies, nursing, philosophy, psychology and textiles.
Bolton University’s Metallurgy and Materials team research group, which includes the Advanced Textiles and Materials, was recognised as having national and international importance and highly commended in the 2001 Research Assessment Exercise.