self-guided tour of the campus - Swansea University

Swansea University
A self-guided tour
www.swansea.ac.uk/undergraduate

Welcome
Swansea University Self Guided Tour
Swansea University is a research-led university that
has been making a difference since 1920. The University
community thrives on exploration and discovery,
and offers the right balance of excellent teaching and
research, matched by an enviable quality of life.
Swansea University is set in rolling parkland overlooking
the majestic sweep of Swansea Bay, and within
easy reach of the City of Swansea. From stunning
coastal scenery to tranquil parks, a thriving cultural
scene to the best of modern city living, Swansea offers
the best of all worlds. With 15,921 students and
2,510 staff, Swansea's multicultural campus community
provides a global perspective and opportunities
to gain skills that last a lifetime.
The University's campus lifestyle fosters a welcoming,
cosmopolitan community, whilst new landmark
developments, including Wales' tallest building, give
the City a real sense of purpose and vision.
This self-guided tour pack will enable you to
explore the University campus and facilities at your
leisure. It includes the following information:
Directions to the University
A self-guided tour of the campus
A campus map
If you would like to stay overnight in Swansea
before or after your visit, the city has a good selection
of hotel accommodation. A full list can be
found here: www.visitswanseabay.com
You are welcome to visit the University whenever you like as access to the campus is not
restricted. However, if you wish to view departments and facilities, you may find a weekday
visit more beneficial as the majority of buildings and facilities are closed at weekends. The
University remains open during vacations and you are welcome to visit then, although you
should be aware that during this time the campus is likely to be quiet and some of the usual
facilities may not be open. Term dates are as follows:
Michaelmas Term: 26 th September – 19 th December 2011
Lent Term: 9 th January – 2 nd April 2012
Summer Term 23 rd April – 15 th June 2012
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During your visit you are welcome to go into
Fulton House, the Taliesin Arts Centre, the
Library and Information Centre, and the Sports
Centre, all of which are open year round. If you
would like to visit a particular academic department
during your visit we suggest that you
contact that department directly and make
any necessary arrangements with relevant
staff. In addition, it may be possible for you to
view some of the on-campus accommodation.
Should you wish to do so, please speak to the
staff on duty in Preseli Hall (building 20 on the
campus map). If you wish to visit the Hendrefoelan
Student Village, you are welcome to
drive up to the site and have a look around
(see the campus map for directions), although
it is unlikely that you will be able to view any
of the rooms. If you have any queries about
accommodation you may visit the Accommodation
Office during your visit (number 22 on
the campus map) or telephone them on 01792
295101.
If you require further information about Swansea
University please do not hesitate to contact
the Student Recruitment Office on 01792
295784 or e-mail us at sro@swansea.ac.uk
We hope you have an enjoyable visit.
The Student Recruitment Office
Swansea University Self Guided Tour
Visitors with disabilities
If you have specific queries relating to disability support,
please make an appointment with Student Support Services
in advance of your visit.
There is parking reserved on campus for visitors with disabilities.
On arrival please ask the security staff at the main
gate for directions.
Contact:
Telephone: +44 (0) 1792 513000
Minicom/text: +44 (0) 1792 513100
Fax: +44 (0) 1792 513200
Email: disability@swansea.ac.uk
www.swansea.ac.uk 3

By Car
Swansea University Self Guided Tour
For Sat-Nav users the University’s postcode is SA2 8PP. Please note that this will direct you to the centre of
campus where there is no car parking. Please follow the parking directions below.
From the East
Exit the M4 at Junction 42 (signposted Swansea A483) where the slip road will bring you onto Fabian Way.
Follow the dual carriageway, keeping the Amazon warehouse on your right.
Continue straight across the next four sets of traffic lights (1 st : Swansea Business Park on right; 2 nd :
McDonalds to the left and Park and Ride car park to the right – 3.8 miles; 3 rd : Just after the Village hotel on
the left; 4 th : Just after the Cape Horner pub on the right, onto the bridge over the River Tawe (A4067)- 4.6
miles).
Pass Sainsbury (4.8 miles, on the left) and Swansea Museum (5 miles, again on the left). Continuing straight
ahead, pass the large Tesco store on your right (5.4 miles), and the City and County of Swansea offices on
your left (5.5 miles).
Continue along the coast road towards Mumbles, passing a stretch of bed & breakfast hotels and the Bay
View public house on your right.
After the next set of traffic lights make sure you are in the outside lane of the dual carriageway as you pass St
Helen’s Rugby Ground (6.3 miles). Pass the Rugby visitors car park sign on your left - this shows where University
visitors need to park.
At the next set of traffic lights turn right into Brynmill Lane. Continue a short distance to the mini roundabout
and turn a full 360 degrees at the mini roundabout to return to Oystermouth Road where you now turn left.
Immediately on your left is the entrance to the Recreation Ground car park (by the bus stop).
From the West
If approaching from the West, go straight ahead at the traffic lights outside the University, keep to left-hand
lane, straight through next set of traffic lights at Brynmill Lane and the Recreation Ground car park is situated
on the left.
Parking:
WE REGRET THAT ONLY DISABLED VISITORS ARE ALLOWED TO PARK ON THE UNIVERSITY CAMPUS. All vehicles
must park in the Recreation Ground Car Park on Mumbles Road where the parking fee is approximately
£2.00 for the day. The University is a short walk west along Mumbles Road.
Arriving by National Express Coach/Local Bus
Getting to Swansea University
Arriving by train (Swansea High Street Station)
The number 4 Metro Bus links the station to the university. A bus stop is
located directly outside the station entrance. A return ticket to the university
costs approximately £4. There is also a taxi rank outside the station. A
taxi to the university will cost approximately £7.
Coaches arrive at the Quadrant Bus Station. The number 4 Metro Bus stop is
located across the road from the Quadrant station and this will bring you onto
campus. Buses return from the University to the City Centre at regular intervals.
The cost is approximately £4 return.
Many other local bus services stop either on or near to the campus. For full
details please visit http://www.firstgroup.com/ukbus/south_west_wales/
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Fulton House
Wallace Building
Institute of Life Science
Grove Building
Haldane Building
Swansea University Self Guided Tour
Start at Fulton House (17)
Fulton House, a Grade II listed building, is home to many of the University’s student facilities
and includes a corner shop, cash-point machines, the university run letting
agency SAS Lettings and a travel shop. On the 1 st floor you will find the Venue Refectory
and ‘Fusion Café’, and on the 2 nd floor the Students Union bar & coffee shop, JC’s. Fulton
House is also home to “Discovery” – Swansea’s Student Community Action, a student-led
charity which facilitates volunteering opportunities within the community. Currently
they have over 300 student volunteers who get involved in a range of projects
within the community.
Heading right, walk to the Wallace Building (9)
The Wallace Building is home to two of the largest departments on campus, Biological
Sciences on the ground floor and Geography on the first floor. Both of these departments
have been rated “Excellent” for teaching. Biological Sciences has its own Botanic
Gardens, zoology museum and marine aquarium, as well as its own research vessel,
12m long catamaran the ‘Noctiluca’.
Institute of Life Science (33)
A self-guided tour of the campus
(Numbers in brackets refer to the campus map)
The new building that you can see is the University’s £50 million Institute of Life Science,
a collaboration between IBM and the University. It houses one of Europe’s largest
IBM supercomputers, named “Blue C” and has established Swansea as a world-class
centre for life science research. In recent months Boots has moved its entire UK R&D
operation to this building and Starbucks have opened a coffee shop on the first floor.
Turning around walk between the Grove Building (12) and the Glyndwr Building
(11.1), passing the Vivian Tower (11.2) on the left-hand side
The buildings on the left are home to many departments, including Health Science,
Childhood Studies, Psychology, Physics and Applied Social Sciences. Both Physics and
Psychology have been rated “Excellent” for the quality of their teaching, and Health Science,
which offers a range of courses for school leavers and health professionals, was
recently rated within the top 7 Universities for Nursing and Midwifery by The Guardian.
On the right-hand side the Grove Building is home to Swansea’s School of Medicine,
which runs a four-year Graduate-entry Medicine scheme for graduates, as well as housing
facilities for medical research.
Pass the Haldane Building (16) and Richard Price Building (14) and go to the Campus
Halls of Residence (19.1 - 26).
The Haldane Building is home to the School of Business and Economics, which offers
over 40 degree schemes, many of which offer students the opportunity to spend a year
in North America, Australia, Asia or Europe. Based in the Richard Price Building, the Law
Department has its own Law Library and Moot court, and an active Student Law Society.
Approximately 1300 places are available in the Singleton residences on campus. 400 of
these are in the original halls (Preseli and Kilvey – 19.1 & 20 on the campus map) which
offer part-catered accommodation. This takes the form of a diner’s card which is
credited with diners points at the start of each term for use in 10 catering outlets on
campus. The card also entitles the bearer to a further 10% off regular prices at these
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Penmaen Halls of Residence
Wales National Pool
Swansea’s Victorious 2011
Varsity Team
Digital Technium
Faraday Tower
Swansea University Self Guided Tour
outlets. The communal kitchens in these residences are equipped with snack-making
facilities.
The two new halls which opened in September 2008 are Penmaen and Horton (22 & 23
on the campus map). The two residences consist of 44 self-contained flats that provide
a total of 351 ensuite study bedrooms. The larger of the two buildings, Penmaen, has
272 study bedrooms and Horton has 79. Each flat shares a well equipped kitchen diner
and all rooms have high-speed internet access. The accommodation office is situated on
the ground floor of Penmaen.
The remaining places are in the recently refurbished Cefn Bryn (21 on the map) and the
newly built self-catering residences (Oxwich, Langland and Caswell – 25, 26 & 27 on the
campus map) which offer en-suite facilities, as does Preseli Hall.
It is a short walk from here to the £20m University sports complex across the road. The
Sports Centre is home to the Wales National Pool which has been awarded Intensive
Training Centre Status by British Swimming and houses a 50m Olympic size pool and
25m warm up pool. There is a multi-purpose sports hall, 3 squash courts and a fully
equipped fitness room with over 80 stations. These facilities have recently been enhanced
with a new 8-lane athletics track, 2 out-door all-weather pitches and an indoor
training centre for athletics
Turning around, follow the path that runs past the halls of residence back towards Fulton
House. You will pass the Students’ Union (18) and Fulton House (17) both on your
left-hand side.
The Students’ Union houses a shop, radio station (Xtreme Radio – where you can DJ your
own show), the Athletic Union (which runs all of the sports clubs), the student newspaper
(Waterfront), Divas the bar/nightclub, a diner and Students’ Union staff, including
welfare advisors. The University boasts over 100 student clubs and societies which cater
for all interests and activities, from ranging Amnesty International to Cheerleading, Debating
and Role-play. More information on our clubs and societies can be found on the
Students’ Union website: www.swansea-union.co.uk
Passing in front of Fulton House, continue straight on into the Mall, passing Digital
Technium (26, on your left) and the Faraday Building (8.1, on your right).
Digital Technium provides start-up facilities for small hi-tech companies and includes a
virtual reality studio, multimedia research facilities and computer graphics research facilities.
Companies located here have academic links with the Departments of Computer
Science, Civil Engineering, and Electrical and Electronic Engineering, and two of the University’s
Centres of Excellence (the Centre for Computation and Simulation and the Centre
for Communications and Software Technologies) are also housed here.
The Faraday Building and Tower is home to the School of Engineering and the Computer
Science Department. Of the Engineering departments – Aerospace, Civil, Mechanical,
Materials, Chemical, and Electrical and Electronic - 4 have been rated “Excellent” for
teaching and Civil was recently ranked 2 nd in the UK for research. The Department of
Computer Science has been rated “Excellent” for Teaching and was ranked 11 th in the UK
in The Times Good University Guide. The Department has recently launched degrees in E
-Commerce Technology, Internet Technology and Mobile Communications and Internet
Technology.
Behind the Faraday, the Talbot Building (8.3) is home to the Department of Mathematics,
which has been highly rated for research and which offers a wide range of interests
in pure and applied mathematics.
Continuing along the mall pass Taliesin Arts Centre (32) and the Egypt Centre (32.1)
both on your left.
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Ceri Richards Gallery,
Taliesin Arts Centre
Library and Information Centre
Keir Hardie Building
James Callaghan Building
Singleton Abbey
Swansea University Self Guided Tour
Taliesin Arts Centre houses a Lloyds Bank, Waterstone’s bookshop and a theatre. The
theatre hosts professional theatre, music and dance and is the venue for film presentations,
seating 330 people in the auditorium. There is also a cafe and wine bar,
“Grapevine”, and an art gallery and shop (free entry).
The complex has been extended to create the Museum of Egyptology (32.1) which
houses Swansea’s large collection of Egyptian artefacts, the sixth largest in Britain. Feel
free to visit the museum and shop (free of charge).
Continuing along the mall, pass the Library and Information Centre (7) on your right
and the Keir Hardie Building (3) on your left.
Based in the Library and Information Centre, the main library houses 800,000 books,
1,400 study spaces and over 450 networked PCs for students. It is open 24 hours a day
from Sunday to Friday during exam periods, and from 8am to 2am during normal term
time.. On registration, students at the University are allocated a username, userspace
and an e-mail account. This allows them free and unlimited use of e-mail and the internet.
There is also free wireless internet throughout the campus and University housing.
The Library and Information Centre is also home to the Careers Advisory Service which
offers advice and assistance to students in finding work, training or placements during
University and after graduation. The University has been ranked 18 th out of more than
200 Universities in the UK for its graduate employment record. It is also home to
“Jobshop”, a service which finds students part–time/temporary work during term time
and the vacation.
The Keir Hardie Building houses Modern European languages which includes French,
Italian, German and Welsh and Spanish. In addition, German, Spanish and Italian are all
rated “Excellent” for teaching. This building is also home to Classics, Ancient History &
Egyptology (also officially rated “Excellent” for teaching), English Literature and the Department
of Media and Communication Studies.
Continuing straight on you will pass the James Callaghan Building (4) on your left and
finally reach Singleton Abbey (2).
The James Callaghan Building is home to Politics, American Studies and History. The latter
is rated “Excellent” for teaching and was recently placed in the top 20 UK history departments
by the Guardian. American Studies offers a range of single and joint honours
courses where students can spend a year at an American University. Partner institutions
include, amongst others, Universities in New York, Washington, Arizona, California and
New Mexico. Callaghan’s café is located in the basement.
Singleton Abbey is home to the University’s administration section. The building was
once the home of the Vivian Family who in the 19 th century owned the main copper
manufacturing plants in the area. The building is mainly 19 th century mock-gothic but
parts of it date from earlier centuries. If you follow the path round to the right you will
reach the front of the building which affords some lovely views over the Bay as well as
some comfortable benches from where you can enjoy the view.
END OF TOUR
We hope that you have enjoyed your visit to Swansea University.
If you have any further queries please contact the
Student Recruitment Office on: +44 (0) 1792 295784
Or email: SRO@swansea.ac.uk
www.swansea.ac.uk 7