30,823 discussions, 145 guides
Edge Hill (Lancaster University)
30,823 discussions, 145 guides
Edge Hill (Lancaster University)
Edge Hill College of Higher Education
St Helens Road
Ormskirk
Lancashire
L39 4QP
Tel:+44 (0)1695 575171
Fax:+44 (0)1695 579997
1885
Edgeways
This is a termly, glossy magazine for potential, current and past students and staff, filled with features about life at Edge Hill, reporting on the latest developments around the campus and focussing on specific departments, projects and other success stories. The frequency and style don't really conform to the norm for student publications and this is more of a brochure.
All sorts of new stuff going on. You can slate non-university institutions all you want but Edge Hill can stand proud. It has a long heritage and facilities some of it's better known University cousins would kill for.
The Venue is the hub of student social life on campus. Dance nights, quizzes, live bands, pool, snooker, satellite TV and a licensed bar are all on offer. Resident and visiting DJs from the local club scene are regulars and there's live music from tribute and up-and-coming new bands on the student circuit.
There are events and functions organised by the Students' Union most nights of the week. Sundays are karaoke night in The Venue bar whilst trips out to nightclubs around the North-West are arranged for Mondays. Thursdays see themed discos at The Venue, with another disco in the bar on Fridays, when there are usually special drinks offers available. The biggest and most popular night in the bar is the Sports Night, following sports events on Wednesday afternoons.
Edge Hill also boasts its own on-site theatre, The Rose, which hosts visiting professional theatre and dance companies and offers discounted ticket prices for students. Stand-up comedy nights, organised once a month, have proved very popular and visiting companies include the Royal National Theatre, Hull Truck Theatre, Horse and Bamboo Theatre and Air Dance. Recent performances include Nutcracker, Richard III, The Legend of King Arthur and Mr Benn.
There's a Christmas and a Graduation ball both held in Blackpool with The Empress providing the location for the grad ball.
Edge Hill has all the usual sports clubs you would expect, including football, hockey and basketball for men and women and netball for women only. There's also badminton, gymnastics, table tennis, Tai Kwon-Do, cricket and atemi jitsu, in addition to a wide range of weekly fitness classes, costing just £2 covering dance-style aerobics to Hatha Yoga. Absolutely no excuse then lard arse. If sport and keep-fit is not for you, the Students' Union supports many other societies on an annual basis, covering everything from Pagan worship, Alternative Music, and Christian Union to Fusion (a religious group) and Film Making.
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The majority of first year students choose to stay in accommodation at the Ormskirk campus, where there are 19 halls of residence, housing up to 670 students in single study bedrooms, some with en-suite and self-catering facilities. All halls have kitchen and bathroom facilities on every floor and each room is furnished with a bed, wardrobe, desk and chair. Students are free to create their own space using posters, photos and personal items. (say the team in charge) They are also free to walk around the yeard for 1 hour in 24 and if well behaved can apply for a weekend permit to visit a drinks party with Gillian Sheppard. The Margaret Bain and John Dalton halls are female only.
Here's where things get a little bit different. There are two types of residential contract the standard contract, which relates to the whole of the academic year excluding vacation periods, or the continuous contract that runs straight through from September to June. The continuous contract may be advantageous for students who are studying on nursing and midwifery programmes and those who live abroad or a great distance from Edge Hill. Certainly nice to have the option.
In catered accommodation, students get their meals via a pre-pay Smartcard system. The Smartcard looks like an ID card and can be used to buy meals and food in any of our restaurants and cafes. The card has an automatic weekly allowance but it can also be loaded up with cash credits if you require more than your standard weekly entitlement. (Insert your own amusing comment here)
For housing in the private sector the Accommodation Office produces a list of registered properties available in the local area, with each property on the list visited and checked annually against basic minimum standards.
There are a number of sites comprising Edge hill so be sure to research where you will be studying and which you will need to visit. On the whole Ormskirk is a friendly Northern town with some considerable history and a smattering of very fine architecture. There are all the usual chain stores for shopping and a fun open air market on Thursdays and Saturdays. There's not too much to challenge the hardened socialite but Liverpool is close by and offers a little more range.
Popular bars with students in the town centre are Styles, a swish new venue, and Disraelis, split over two floors, with several pool tables and a bar above another bar and dining area. The most popular club in Ormskirk is Arriba, complete with grand staircase and new conservatory area.
Plenty for outdoor enthusiasts within easy striking distance and some great golfing for those looking to ruin a good walk. The local church is one of only three churches in the whole of England that boasts both a steeple and a spire. So there you go.
Free parking, supervised by 24-hour campus security. Students wishing to park on campus need to register for a free pass from security.
All flavours of bank have branches in Ormskirk and there are cashpoints on the main campus.
Probably too much too go into. As you would expect from any institution with as modern an outlook as Edge Hill there are facilities galore for disabled students including adapted halls rooms, wheelchair access, software for the visually impaired and knowledgable disability co-ordinators.
The on-campus shop in the Students' Union offers a range of stock from books and stationery to magazines, household provisions and food. The Terrace Café is open for breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks throughout the day and offers hot meals, salads and hot and cold sandwiches. Sages is a more elegant setting for lunchtime meals, but you'll need a jacket and tie. Just kidding, if you are in a rush then there's The Diner, a fast food outlet, where you can order burgers, chips, pizza and other takeaway badness that will harden your arteries.
Part of the main uni shop there is a wide shelf stock of books and CDs combined with fast ordering facilities, meaning you do not have to go far for course texts. The shop accepts orders in person and also by email, post and over the telephone. If you cannot go into the shop to pick up your order, a mailing facility is available.
Sporting Edge is Edge Hill's £3.9million sports complex situated on a 25 acre site on the main Ormskirk campus. The complex was part funded by a lottery sports fund grant and contains excellent provision for both indoor and outdoor sports. The Sports Pavilion building contains a 4 court Sports Hall, fitness suite, squash court and changing accommodation. Other facilities within Sporting Edge include 7 floodlit tennis courts, 4 soccer pitches, 2 rugby pitches, 5 floodlit netball courts, 6-lane athletics track with an 8-lane straight, cricket square, gymnasium, swimming pool, and synthetic floodlit hockey pitch and five-a-side area. Sporting Edge is open 9am-10pm Monday to Thursday, closing at 9pm on Fridays and 6pm at the weekend. Free membership cards can be obtained from the Sporting Edge reception, with competitive prices offered for using specific facilities, with up to 50% discounts when using the amenities before 6pm. As this suggest the facility is open to the public and thus it's to your advantage to use it during non-peak times.
The Students' Union provide minibuses to ferry students in to town when The Venue closes on its late bar nights (Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Sunday) The buses usually run from midnight until everyone has gone.
A piazza area and scenic lake on campus but it's not really needed as the countryside is very obviously all around. Definitely a nice part of the world.
The Learning Resource Centre at Ormskirk provides access to 220,000 books, journals, audio-visual items, electronic services (including 3000 electronic journals) and a CD-ROM network. There are 500 study spaces for students, together with individual study carrels and bookable rooms. Other facilities in the centre include over 160 networked workstations, satellite TV and audio and video facilities. There is a shared computerised system, accessible from all sites, with a joint catalogue available through OPAC (Online Public Access Terminals) and a range of electronic services including online journals. In addition to self-reservation and self and telephone renewal, many of the electronic services can be accessed remotely from home or work.
Library facilities at our Ormskirk campus are jointly managed with the University of Liverpool, providing a multidisciplinary service to staff and students who are involved in medical, nursing, midwifery and related professional activities. Students and staff at the Woodlands Centre have access to materials, PCs and electronic services, with a particular focus on education. Help desks are available to provide support in person, via e-mail or over the telephone.
They don't mess about here, it's obvious that Edge Hill provide a high level of student service which is certainly the most honourable way to distinguish yourself from other institutions.
Edge Hills considerable investment in computing facilities saw the opening of the Communication and Media, Information Systems and Technology building (CMIST) in September 2003. This building contains 65 e-Mac computers, with 1Ghz Processor Speed, 640mb RAM and high-speed Internet connections. The majority of these computers also come with their own, individual scanners. The CMIST building also houses sound booths, recording facilities for mini-discs, 25 video editing workstations, digital media design software and video decks, with all teaching rooms equipped with data projectors. The Learning Innovation Centre (LINC) provides access to 200 networked PCs with high-speed Internet and e-mail facilities, TV and radio studios with the latest digital technology, satellite TV facilities and multimedia production.
Somewhat unsurprisingly once you have a feel for what Edge Hill offers the welfare service is excellent. Allocated by each academic school, personal tutors act as a first point of contact for any problems or concerns students may have, whether personal or academic. There's general and finance advice available from the Students' Union with special software to help students build a picture of how their finances will balance out over the academic year. There's also an information service on childcare, providing students who have pre-school aged children with information, advice and support in securing local places if they so wish. Medical matters are dealt with by doctors surgeries held on-campus and the Nursing Sister in Charge is available for drop-in enquiries and treatment on weekdays from 8.30am 4pm.
