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The University of Sussex is an English Campus University located near the East Sussex village of Falmer , near Brighton and Hove and on the edge of the South Downs . It is the only University in England which is entirely located in an Area Of Outstanding Natural Beauty and runs entirely on electricity from Renewable Energy sources. It was founded in August 1961, one of several Plate Glass Universities to be built in the 1960s. The original buildings are of unusual and varied designs in red brick and concrete by Sir Basil Spence . The campus was intended to blend in with the surrounding parkland, to maintain an established avenue of elm trees, and to provide something of a "village" atmosphere to its inhabitants and users. Most notable are the Grade I Listed Falmer House and the circular Meeting House which is designed to be easily transformed for use by different religious denominations. Falmer House was briefly the only building on campus and was used for teaching and dining. Administration at that time was mostly housed at nearby Stanmer House . Falmer House now accommodates the Students' Union and a nightclub, the Hothouse. The campus also boasts a large number of other eating and drinking venues for students, staff and research companies. The World University Rankings, compiled by researchers for the Times Higher Education Supplement (THES) and published in October 2005, put Sussex 13th in the UK, 36th in Europe and 100th in the world. The latest Sunday Times ranking puts Sussex 20th in the UK, a move up of 7 places from the year before. The university is currently facing a tough financial position. At present, the university finds itself in £3.8 million deficit, which the vice-chancellor has blamed on departmental overspending, despite major cuts. Regular complaints of a lack of funding by academic staff, support staff and students are common. A new car-park in an area of outstanding natural beauty caused further unrest in 2005. On 10th March 2006, the University committee approved proposals to scrap the Department of Chemistry at the University, to form a department of Chemical Biology. It argues that continued student numbers cannot be guaranteed, despite a rapid rise in applications (350 applications for 25 places) last year. The changes will reduce the dedicated faculty in the department from 14 to 7, and it is estimated the university will save £750,000 per year. It is viewed by many as a shame that the department, home of 2 Nobel prize winners and Grade 5 research rated, which saw the research which led to the nobel prize for nanotechnology awarded to Sir Harry Kroto should be closed. A statement for the Royal Chemistry Society stated that it will leave a void for the university at large. On 17 March 2006 the University's Senate met to discuss the proposals. Senate did not accept the planned changes to Chemistry: the plan for the School of Life Sciences (which includes Chemistry) will be reviewed over the next 6-7 weeks. ORGANISATION The university is organized into seven schools following traditional departmental lines:
This organization was introduced as part of a major restructuring on August 1 , 2003 . The restructuring was highly controversial at the time of its proposal. Sussex was unusual, when it was founded, in adopting special "Schools of Study" (ubiquitously abbreviated to "schools") rather than traditional university departments within arts and science faculties. The Schools were intended to promote high-quality teaching and research. In the early 1990s, the University promoted the system by claiming, "Clusters of faculty {Link without Title} together within schools to pursue new areas of intellectual enquiry. The schools also foster broader intellectual links. ''Physics with Management Studies, Science and Engineering with European Studies, Economics with Mathematics'' all reach beyond conventional Arts/Science divisions."The University of Sussex (1990, 1991). ''The University of Sussex Undergraduate Prospectus 1991'' ISSN 0309-1210. By this time, the original schools had been developed somewhat and were:
CENTRES OF EXCELLENCE In addition to the seven current schools, the university houses several ''centres of excellence'' including the ''Centre for the Study of Evolution'' co-founded by John Maynard Smith , the ''Centre for Computational Neuroscience and Robotics'', and the ''Genome Damage and Stability Centre''. The university is also noted for its work in molecular sciences, with a faculty that once included Sir Harry Kroto , and for its work in computing and cognitive science, particularly Artificial Intelligence and Human-computer Interaction . The university library is home to the Mass-Observation project and archives. CHANCELLORS AND VICE-CHANCELLORS The present Chancellor of the university is The Lord Attenborough , who was elected as the university's fourth Chancellor on March 20 1998 . # The Viscount Monckton Of Brenchley (1961 - 1965) # Lord Shawcross (1965 - 1985) # The Duke Of Richmond And Gordon (1985 - 1989) # Lord Attenborough (1998 - present) The university has had six Vice-Chancellors: # John Fulton (1961 - 1967) # Professor Asa Briggs (1967 - 1976) # Sir Denys Wilkinson (1976 - 1987) # Sir Leslie Fielding (1987 - 1992) # Professor Gordon Conway (1992 - 1998) # Professor Alasdair Smith (1998 - present) EDUCATIONAL PARTNERS
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BIBLIOGRAPHIC REFERENCES http://www.sussex.ac.uk/Units/finance/publications/fin-stmt-04-05/contents.pdf |