One of the highest ranking modern universities in London launched its new name, ‘University of West London’, at the British Council in New Delhi recently, as it also announced 30 new scholarships for international students.

New Delhi :

The internationally renowned Higher Education institution will no longer be called Thames Valley University, following approval from the UK government’s Privy Council.

Vice-Chancellor Professor Peter John addressed distinguished guests and explained the change of emphasis to the University’s mission, with a strong focus on employer engagement at the heart of its new name and strategy. The University has developed a close relationship with India, which makes up over 50% of overseas undergraduate and postgraduate registrations, and will continue to maintain its commitment to the country.

The new name highlights a strategic shift for the University with a re-positioning of its operations to its West London campus which comprises of a newly refurbished main building in Ealing and an 11 storey award winning building, ‘Paragon’, in Brentford. The University of West London is looking forward to building on relationships with local, national and international organisations, so the value of the new name is shared and the student experience is enhanced.

The launch of the new name coincides with the announcement that a scholarship fund will be available for those applying for September 2011 entry. There are 30 scholarships upto £3,000 available. The International Ambassador Scholarship programme is intended to recognise and provide financial support for international students who wish to act as ambassadors for the University of West London.

The University recently installed its new Chancellor, Laurence Geller who is President and CEO of Strategic Hotels and Resorts and an alumnus of the University. At universities in the UK, the ceremonial role of chancellor is bestowed upon a distinguished individual whose role is to advance its interests in his or her fields of relevance, whilst the vice-chancellor is the chief executive, leading the institution on a day-to-day basis.

The University is very much in demand; the latest figures show that it received the highest increase in applications of any UK university, with numbers up 108 per cent on last year. The latest employability data shows that 87% of full-time first degree qualifiers from the University entered a job or further study within six months of graduation.

A £1.1 million grant was secured from the Savoy Educational Trust to build a brand new state-of-the-art postgraduate teaching and learning centre and the University has created West London’s first ‘Industry Advisory Group’ to develop a business appropriate curriculum for courses.

According to The Guardian newspaper’s University League Tables for 2012, the University is the number one modern university in London for nursing, law and psychology and amongst the top 5 modern universities in London for IT, social work and music. In 2009 it was the only modern university to receive the Queen’s Anniversary Prize for Further and Higher Education.

Vice-Chancellor Professor Peter John said: ‘The change of name aligns our new direction with our clear brand and geographical identity, which now lies at the heart of West London.’

For more information about the University of West London, including the international ambassador scholarships, please visit: www.uwl.ac.uk/international .