About us

Location	London, United Kingdom	Funding Type	Public
No of Students	13395	Establishment	University
Founded In	1892	Estimated Cost of Living	12006 GBP
Address	London, E16 2RD United Kingdom

University of East London (UEL) is a public university located in the London Borough of Newham, London, England, based at three campuses in Stratford and Docklands, following the opening of University Square Stratford in September 2013. The university's roots can be traced back to 1892 when the West Ham Technical Institute was established. It gained university status in 1992.

In February 2019, it had more than 17,000 students from 135 countries.

UEL can trace its roots back to 1892 when the newly formed County Borough of West Ham decided to establish a West Ham Technical Institute to serve the local community. The Institute was to be, in the words of John Passmore Edwards speaking at the building's opening ceremony, a "people’s university". The college provided courses in science, engineering, and art, and also established its own internal degree courses in science and engineering, which were ratified by the University of London. In addition, it had a women's department.

As demand for technical education grew throughout the 1930s and 1940s, Essex County Council created two further colleges at Walthamstow and Dagenham. In 1970 these three colleges[5] (West Ham, Walthamstow, Dagenham) were combined as a merger of higher education colleges, to create the North East London Polytechnic. Campuses were modernized and revitalized by buildings such as the Arthur Edwards building on the Stratford campus, completed in 1982.

In 1988 the North East London Polytechnic became a higher education institution and was renamed the Polytechnic of East London in 1989.

In 1992 the Polytechnic of East London became the University of East London, one of a number of "new universities". UEL's succession of founding institutions exemplifies the developments that took place in the British further and higher education policy throughout the late 19th and 20th centuries. The University of East London consisted of the Barking Campus (closed 2006) and the Stratford Campus. In 1999 the Docklands Campus was opened, the first new university campus built in London for over 50 years.

In 2012, following previous opposition, UEL adopted the full increased tuition rates of £9,000 permitted by legislation enacted in 2010, an increase from the previous rate of £3,290. The university is a lead academic sponsor of Hackney University Technical College which opened in 2012, one of the first university technical colleges in England.

In April 2013 the university was granted armorial bearings by the College of Arms.

UEL has three campuses, at Stratford and Docklands, the newest of which, University Square Stratford, opened in September 2013. The Barking campus was closed in 2006.

UEL delivers programmes and short courses at the Barking Learning Centre in a nearby borough. Off-campus, there are students registered on programmes with the UK and non-UK academic partners, such as the Women's Institute of Management in Malaysia.

Stratford Campus
The Stratford Campus is close to the 2012 Olympic Park. It is centred around University House, a 19th-century listed building.[16] The campus is home to the Cass School of Education and Communities, the School of Health Sport and Bioscience and the School of Psychology. The Centre for Clinical Education was opened in January 2008. Operating in partnership with the National Health Service, the centre is London's only provider of podiatric education.

In 2011 UEL appointed Make Architects to lead the design of a replacement library at the Stratford Campus. The project had a budget of £13 million and the library opened in June 2013.

Docklands Campus
The Docklands Campus, opened in 1999, is the largest of the three campuses, It is in the redeveloped Docklands area of east London, at the Royal Albert Dock, closed to commercial shipping since the 1980s and now largely used as a water sports centre and rowing course, for example for the London Regatta Centre.

London City Airport is across the dock from the campus. The Cyprus station of the Docklands Light Railway is adjacent to the campus, and offers links to Canary Wharf and central London.

The campus was shortlisted for the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors' Building of the Year in 2001.[19]

New student accommodation opened in 2008 and the campus now has 1,200 student rooms, together with shops, cafés and a restaurant, launderettes and an open-air fitness suite. SportsDock, £21 million sports and academic centre opened in March 2012. SportsDock served as the High-Performance Training Centre for Team USA during the London 2012 Olympic Games. The campus library is housed in the Royal Docks Business School building.

University Square Stratford
A third campus, University Square Stratford (USS – not to be confused with University Square at the Docklands Campus), opened for the 2013–14 academic year. Co-owned with Birkbeck, University of London it is situated in Stratford and delivers part-time and full-time study for adults. The project was the first time two higher education institutions created a new shared building. The building provides shared teaching spaces for both higher education institutions and their partners. It is home to the School of Law and Social Sciences, as well as UEL's Institute of Performing Arts. Facilities include performance studios, editing suites, a mooting room and lecture theatres.

The building was nominated for the 2014 Carbuncle Cup.