The OfS awarded £432 million in capital funding to universities and colleges across England to assist investment in new buildings, facilities, and equipment. Investment in refurbishing existing facilities will result in the creation of a suite of modern, multidisciplinary facilities in the University’s School of Allied Health and Midwifery (SAH) and the School of Sport (SoS) providing state of the art skills-based teaching facilities for the preparation for, and return to active lifestyles, sport and physical activity across strength and conditioning, injury assessment, injury prevention, diagnosis, prehabilitation and rehabilitation.
Students studying for a variety of Undergraduate and Master’s degrees at Walsall Campus, including Physiotherapy, Occupational Therapy, Podiatry as well as Exercise Science, Football Coaching and Performance and Strength and Conditioning, will benefit from the investment.
Professor Damien Page, Dean of the Faculty of Education, Health and Wellbeing at the University, said: “These refurbishments will enable us to increase student numbers on existing courses and expand our provision to Dietetics and Clinical Exercise Physiology, with the intention of enrolling many more students across these courses in the coming years.
“The advanced equipment, learning spaces and facilities will provide an unmatched experience for our students, inspiring, challenging, connecting and engendering a passion for learning to boost their employability, grow student numbers to better meet demand and address the skills needs of our local communities.
“In response to regional demand, this project will allow us to create a space that will enable us to not only increase the number of specialists trained to support the employer demand in the local areas, but to ensure our courses are industry relevant and enhance the employability and skills of our students.”
Susan Lapworth, chief executive of the OfS, said: “Competition for funding was strong, with high quality applications from across the sector. The OfS-funded capital projects will ensure current and future students have a positive experience while studying expensive-to-deliver subjects that are strategically important to society.”
The project, which is set to begin early this year, will renovate existing facilities in the University’s Jerome K Jerome, William Penny Brookes, and Sister Dora buildings on Walsall Campus, creating a revitalised performance gym as well as a suite of learning spaces and facilities.
