Our work in Hastings
The story of the University of Brighton in Hastings has been one of achievement and success, with national recognition and local impact. We are at the heart of an extensive regeneration programme designed to ensure that Hastings and Bexhill realize their full potential as desirable places to live, study, work and visit.
Since 2003, we have:
- Gained national recognition for our innovative provision of university-level education in Hastings
- Supported secondary education in Hastings and St Leonards
- Led research into coastal regeneration
The University of Brighton led the partnership behind University Centre Hastings, which opened in 2003 with just 40 students, five staff and three courses. Read more about our story: Making history in Hastings.
Our activities with our communities across East Sussex enriches our relationships with the physical communities that we are part of and feeds into our course content.
Whilst we can make a strong economic case for community engagement, many of our projects with local communities also have immeasurable value for their contributions to citizenship, equality, diversity and sustainability, showing that economic terms are not the only measure of success.
National recognition for excellence in support
As University Centre Hastings, we received national recognition for our work from both the Guardian and Sunday Times newspapers. At the prestigious Times Higher Education awards, we were nominated for the Widening Participation Initiative of 2009, in recognition of our success in supporting students from under-represented groups.
Our support for secondary education in Hastings and St Leonards
The University of Brighton's was invited to be the lead sponsor of the Hastings and St Leonards Academies by East Sussex County Council (ESCC), partly as a result of the reputation of our school of Education which has been rated outstanding in consecutive years by Oftsted. With partners ESCC and BT, we are transforming Filsham Valley, Hillcrest and The Grove Schools into places for students, parents and staff to be proud of. We successfully lobbied central government to secure funding for the building projects, and textiles students at our faculty of Arts in Brighton worked with school pupils on the design of the uniforms for the new academies.
Coastal Regeneration Research Centre
The University of Brighton’s Coastal Regeneration Research Centre is a research hub based at our Hastings campus. Working together with the local community to assess the impact of education-led regeneration on the local area, it identifies and carries out research to guide the regeneration process with the aim of raising the local, national and international profile of Hastings.
