The University has currently over 17,000 students of which 1,500 are international students from around 130 countries.

We have a strong professional orientation with a focus on academic excellence and graduate employability. By way of illustration, we are recognised as the only Centre for Excellence in Media Practice in the UK and graduates from the National Centre for Computer Animation have worked in Hollywood on such films as Lord of the Rings, Gladiator, Star Wars, Madagascar and King Kong.

Areas of research expertise include forensic archaeology and crime scene science where, for example, staff are currently investigating genocide in Iraq, Bosnia and Rwanda and the implications of unearthing 40,000 year old human footprints in central Mexico.

Bournemouth is world renowned as an international conference centre, and plays host to major academic, professional and of course, political conferences. It also offers one of the largest exhibition and entertainment venues on the south coast.

The University is a powerful player in the economic and cultural life of South West England. We are at the hub of a network of educational, business and local government partners and will be playing our part in the region’s preparations for the 2012 Olympics.

Bournemouth University has an excellent reputation among students, their parents and staff in colleges and schools. However, since my arrival in September 2005 we have been considering what Bournemouth University should be like in the future, to ensure that we strengthen still further this reputation. As a result many exciting changes are now in train. In particular, we are building on our strengths while developing new professionally-relevant areas; investing over £100M in staff and facilities and reorganising ourselves to ensure that we maintain our traditional focus on academic excellence.