Controversies
The university has weathered several storms in its short life. In the mid-1990s, its high-profile Vice-Chancellor, Mike Fitzgerald, ushered through a networked "New Learning Environment" for undergraduate students, involving a shift to online delivery and assessment. The NLE was discontinued in this form, and Fitzgerald resigned in 1998 following a negative Quality Assurance Agency report stating there were "significant management failures" in the delivery of this model.
In 2005, a QAA report commented on the raising standards at the university, in addition to a report published in 2005. The NLE became a VLE (Virtual Learning Environment) with a "blended e-learning" approach to teaching and learning. Despite this, admissions were down in 2006 and the university continued to struggle meeting its financial targets. Lower admissions were also evident across the HE sector in this year following the introduction of tuition fees.
A 2007 article in The Guardian spoke of the university being on a list of universities whose finances were being monitored by the Higher Education Funding Council for England, due to their financial stability being under threat. However, the Funding Council did not publish this.
The university previously offered BSc courses in subjects with foundations unsupported by scientific experimental backing, such as homeopathy and nutritional medicine, and subsequently was criticised by the scientific community.
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