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University of Bedfordshire
Park Square
Luton
Bedfordshire
UK, LU1 3JU
English has been taught as a subject on the Polhill Campus ever since the Bedford Training College for Teachers was founded in 1882.
The strength of the course is its design, which comes directly from the research interests of the staff who deliver it. English Studies gives students a good grounding in English literature, language and writing, while also offering them the option of studying world literatures in English, cultural studies, children’s fiction and film. It allows students the option of designing a course that best fits their different experiences, strengths and learning styles, with the benefit of studying with staff who are terribly enthusiastic about the subjects they teach.
Here are some recent comments about the course from our external examiners:
In the latest National Student Survey, English Studies had excellent results,
with 96% of our students expressing overall satisfaction with the course. We
received the best scores possible for making the subject interesting and the
course intellectually stimulating, for teaching with enthusiasm and for being
available when students wanted to see us.
We often bring writers to campus to offer workshops to our students and organise educational visits to attend performances at theatres around the country.
Last year, the Irish poet Matthew Sweeney and the Malawian poet Jack Mapanje offered workshops to students studying Irish and African literatures and readings to the general public at our Poetry Café as part of the University Theatre’s professional season. Poets who have visited us in the past include Fleur Adcock, Simon Armitage, Sujata Bhatt, Valerie Bloom, Wendy Cope, David Dabydeen, Michael Donaghy, Carol Ann Duffy, Ian Duhig, Jackie Kay, Glyn Maxwell, Christopher Reid and Jo Shapcott. To see who’s performing now at the Poetry Café, go to www.beds.ac.uk/theatre/whatson/poetry
Recent educational visits have included backstage tours of the Globe Theatre in London, as well trips to Stratford-upon-Avon to attend the Royal Shakespeare Company’s production of Romeo and Juliet, to the Royal Court Theatre in Northampton for Frantic Assembly’s adaptation of Frankenstein and to the Trafalgar Studios in London to see Harold Pinter’s The Dumb Waiter. These are all set texts on the course.
The Learning Resources Centre (LRC) at Bedford holds an impressive collection of literature and criticism, with more than 14,000 books on the subject of English Literature, almost 3000 books on American Literature, more than 2000 books on English Language and Linguistics, just under 1000 books on Literary Theory and almost 500 books on Film. We also have a number of e-books, electronic full text reference sources (many of these Oxford Companions or Cambridge Guides) and subscriptions to almost 50 academic and creative journals.
The LRC also hosts the Hockliffe Collection, one of the most important collections of 18th and 19th century children’s books in Britain. The Hockliffe archive consists of almost 1000 works of fiction and non-fiction. These include a wide range of literary genres, from fables and fairy tales, journals and instruction books, to poetry and fiction, as well as books on games and pastimes, natural science, history, mathematics, geography and travel. The books are held in specially designed cabinets in the LRC.
A popular one-day conference on the history of books for children and young adults was held on the Bedford campus in June 2009, with Dr Matthew Grenby as keynote speaker.
