It will be Waltham Forest’s first ever university campus when it opens for postgraduate students in February 2024 and then undergraduates in September 2024

Photo supplied by Waltham Forest Council

The University of Portsmouth held a launch event on Friday (15th September) at Waltham Forest Town Hall for its upcoming Walthamstow campus.

The university campus, the borough’s first, will initially occupy two floors in Juniper House near Walthamstow Central Station.

University of Portsmouth London will welcome its first postgraduate students in February 2024, with both undergraduate and further postgraduate students joining in September 2024. The new campus will initially occupy two floors in Juniper House near Walthamstow Central Station.

A report prepared for council leaders in February last year states that the university’s main building will be housed in Central House on Hoe Street.

In March this year, the University of Portsmouth opened an ‘Admissions and Recruitment Centre’ in Walthamstow Library as part of the preparations for its launch.

Once open, students will be able to study masters in digital marketing, construction project management, engineering management, information systems, and international business management, respectively. Undergraduate students will have the option of studying business and management, marketing, computer science, and economics, finance and banking.

The University is working with Waltham Forest Council to launch the campus, along with its educational property and services partner Northchild Group. In addition to undergraduate and postgraduate courses, University of Portsmouth London has said it will provide work-based learning opportunities such as apprenticeships “designed with the skills and needs of local people and businesses in mind”.

At the launch event in Waltham Forest Town Hall, Graham Galbraith, University of Portsmouth vice-chancellor, said: “We’re excited to bring our modern brand of University to Waltham Forest where we’ve found partners equally committed to providing opportunities for learning to everyone regardless of their background.

“University of Portsmouth London will support our ambitious commitment to become the top modern university in the UK, and one of the top 100 young universities in the world, by 2030.”

Grace Williams, Waltham Forest Council leader said: “This is such an exciting time for us as a borough and community. The University of Portsmouth is one of the top modern universities in the country and will offer our residents a world-class education right on our doorstep, whatever their age or background. As someone who was lucky enough to attend university, I know how important education is. It has the power to change lives, hugely improve people’s life chances and broaden our horizons.

“One of the groups that I hope will particularly benefit from this partnership is our care leavers. Care experienced young people face significantly worse educational outcomes due to systemic discrimination and lack of support. The University has committed to a bursary, which will support care experienced individuals from Waltham Forest. With a campus now on our doorstep, I hope more of our care experienced young people feel empowered by the opportunities afforded to them by higher education and can see higher education as an option for them.”

A spokesperson from the University of Portsmouth told the Echo that the launch event kicked off the “first phase of the University of Portsmouth London campus”.

The spokesperson added: “Students will study in the newly-built Juniper House near Walthamstow Central Station, which will comprise two floors of custom-built learning spaces including learning technologies, a computer lab and a social learning space. Our first undergraduate students will start in September 2024.

“Construction is underway and we expect these new, iconic facilities to be completed in January 2024 and become an integral part of the community and the Borough. Work will also continue on the design of the main campus building that, it is hoped, will occupy the site that is currently home to Central House.”

Update: This article has been updated with comment from the University of Portsmouth. An earlier version of this article stated that the university will use Central House and the East London Business Centre on Hoe Street. It has been corrected to say the university will only use Central House.

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