Deputy Director, Brand and Communications

Our vision is ‘to be a student centred university firmly rooted in the community providing a formative education informed by the Catholic ethos’. The motto ‘ex umbris in veritatem’ (out of the shadows into truth) expresses our passion for education and our mission is centred around the Catholic values ‘respect for others’, ‘social justice’ and ‘equity’ and we aim in all we do to ensure that human beings reach their potential and have a sense of vocation.

We are a niche institution, distinctive by name and by nature. Newman University is named after Blessed John Henry Cardinal Newman (1801-90), one of the intellectual giants of the 19th century. His life was marked by a constant struggle for integrity and truth at considerable cost to himself. His explorations of the human intellectual and spiritual journey anticipate much of the contemporary work on multiple modes of intelligence and understanding that underpin the way we learn and teach at Newman University. In his famous lectures ‘The Idea of the University Defined and Illustrated’ he emphasised the main role of the university to be there for the students and to train the mind rather than to diffuse useful knowledge. To this end he developed the tutorial system and the concept of a learning community which again we use to good effect here at Newman University. A deeply spiritual man, he was always available to the people of Birmingham, rich and poor, who came to him for advice and instruction. He died a Cardinal of the Catholic Church, honoured internationally, but it is his ability to touch and enlighten the hearts of so many, from so many different walks of life, that make him such a fitting patron for our University and its mission in contemporary British society.

We are distinctive by nature in the way as to how we do things: we are values-driven, class sizes are relatively small, lecturers are able to give students individual challenge and support and we offer excellent general student support services. Our National Student Survey score for ‘Student Satisfaction’ in 2012 was two percentage points above the national average and Which? Magazine in its comparison of 181 institutions with Higher Education provision in May 2013 rated us with a ‘High’ in Student Score and a ‘High’ in Graduate Employment as No1 University in Birmingham.

Situated on the outskirts of South West Birmingham, Newman University’s campus is based in Bartley Green, some 8 miles from the city centre, and overlooks Bartley Green reservoir and the Worcestershire countryside beyond. Its location makes it convenient for access to both the M5 and M42 motorways.

Being founded as recently as 1968, the buildings are modern and purpose-built. The campus is arranged around a series of inner quadrangles of lawns and trees with the attractive octagonal chapel at its centre. Halls of residence provide single study-bedrooms for some 250 students.  Newman University invested 20M in a new, iconic entry and library building with a huge atrium as general meeting point, extended and refurbished the sports studies facilities and created some relevant artwork on campus.

Newman University welcomes staff and students of all faiths and none and from a wide variety of backgrounds.  Diversity is seen as a strength and an asset.