What percentage of the students are mature? [br] A relatively high proportion of

Professor: Welcome to the university. We consider ourselves to be one of the UK’s most progressive and innovative universities. We pride ourselves on making a difference—to our students, our staff and to the businesses we work with. Our research and business ideas, alongside our highly sought after graduates, contribute to the economic and social development of both our region and to the UK as a whole. Our teaching methods and staff are first-rate and are supported by our world-class applied research. Our students are a diverse group and benefit from a tailored approach that helps them to get the most from their studies. Currently, 13% of all of our students are mature and 9% are from outside the UK. Both of these figures are significantly higher for postgraduate students. We offer top quality teaching and learning facilities and the ability to learn flexibly in a way that best suits their needs. For example, we are one of the UK’s leading universities in e-learning and offer a range of distance learning and part time courses as well as the more traditional full time courses.
    Our partners in industry choose to cooperate with because of our flexible, business led approach and our high quality research, facilities and students. Our partners include Sony, BP, the NHS, Network Rail, Cisco, SAP and Microsoft. Our facilities are state-of-the-art and we have invested heavily in new technology over the last 15 years in order to ensure that our technological capability matches the cutting-edge approach of our teaching. We are recognised as a Centre of Excellence for Teaching and Learning, e-learning and employability. Our university plays a key role in the city and region in which it operates. We are located in both heart of Newtown and in its leafy suburbs and our 28000 students add to the vibrancy and diversity of the city.
    Let me tell you a little about our campuses. Right in the heart of Newtown’s busy city centre is the university’s City Campus, a welcoming modem environment with some of the finest learning and teaching facilities in Europe. Around this hub revolves a flourishing, diverse academic community. Our second campus, only a couple of miles away, is a complete contrast. The tranquil Academia Campus is set among lawns and trees in one of Newtown’s leafiest suburbs—just as typical of this city, England’s greenest, as the bustling city centre. In May 2005 we opened the impressive Health and Wellbeing Building at Academia Campus. The ￡15 million "beacon for health and social care education" was officially opened by our University Chancellor, Professor Hall, and provides world-class facilities for our health and social care students. Plans for further development of both campuses are already well advanced with the university planning to replace its third campus at Salt Lane with a new home for the Faculty of Computing, Engineering and Sciences at City Campus.
    It’s not only the University environment that’s popular with students— the city of Newtown is a big attraction too. Home to two universities with more than 50000 students, plus Europe’s largest further education college and the headquarters of Learn Direct, Newtown is very much a learning city. It’s one of the country’s most in-demand student destinations, and once they arrive students enjoy the Newtown experience so much that a higher proportion stay on to live and work here than in any other city outside London.
    Now, with regard to accommodation, our accommodation services offer a friendly free service to help you find the right place to live in Newtown. They have an office in the Student Union Building, but they also have a website, which provides details of all our catered and self-catered residences and a searchable private housing database. The University guarantees to offer all first year students accommodation of a reasonable standard in university owned accommodation, or in the private sector. On the website, we have also tried to answer some of the most frequently asked questions and provide some useful help, advice and information on how to apply for accommodation. If you can’t find the information you are looking for on our website, go into the office where our staff are happy to answer any questions you may have—or you can contact them by phone, fax or e-mail. The university is sensitive to the accommodation needs of individuals and provides both single sex accommodation and accommodation that is suitable for students with disabilities and special requirements. We also cater to the needs of mature and international students.