Students sign up for new college.Byline: By Graeme WhitfieldDurham University opened its newest college to students this week. Josephine Butler College
Butler College is one of the six residential colleges of Princeton University. It was formerly composed of numerous structures that were demolished in 2007 in order to clear ground for ( which is named after a Northumberland-born Victorian social reformer and educational pioneer ( differs from other Durham colleges in that it provides self-catering accommodation. It is the first completely new college to open at a British university for 25 years, and will provide accommodation to 800 students and members of staff. Second and third-year undergraduates from other colleges have transferred in to give Josephine Butler a thriving student body, while freshers are arriving this week to take up places. College principal Adrian Simpson, who is a reader in mathematics education, said: "One of the most obvious differences about Butler College is that it's self-catering and all the rooms have en suite bathrooms. It's a new venture for Durham, but we think it will be popular because that's what students have been telling us they want. "It's going to take the best out of the existing collegiate col·le·giate adj. 1. Of, relating to, or held to resemble a college. 2. Of, for, or typical of college students. 3. Of or relating to a collegiate church. system, which sees people in a small, friendly organisation rather than one big, amorphous Unorganized or vague. A lack of structure. For example, the amorphous state of a spot on a rewritable optical disc means that the laser beam will not be reflected from it, which is in contrast to a crystalline state which will reflect light. See crystalline. university. "We've got nearly 100 students who've transferred across from other colleges and they have already organised 200-odd clubs and societies. That's been a fantastic effort." Durham University has 16 colleges, with three ( John Snow, George Stephenson and Ustinov ( created out of other institutions in recent years. Butler College is part of a pounds 35m programme to improve student accommodation Student accommodation in the United Kingdom is a term used in debating the impact of student housing, particularly with the recent expansion of numbers in higher education. , and is the first college created from scratch since Collingwood in 1972. The college was designed to have Durham's only self-catering rooms, as it was thought modern students prefer that option. Sam Wright, 21, and from North Wales North Wales (known in some archaic texts as Northgalis) is the northernmost unofficial region of Wales, bordered to the south by Mid Wales and to the east by England. , is Butler's first Junior Common Room president. She said: "The new student body at Butler College is being made up of over 80 students transferring from other colleges, postgraduates and new undergraduates coming to Durham for the first time. "We are all really looking forward to creating something new from scratch." Among those transferring to the college is Sarah Hetherington, 21, from Sunderland. She said: "I transferred to Butler College because I wanted to be part of a completely new college community from the very beginning. We're looking forward to shaping the identity of the college and making it a place where there really is something for everyone." Durham's colleges provide both accommodation for students and social and sporting organisations, but are independent of the university's academic side. |
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