University of South Wales

ABOUT THE UNIVERSITY

The University of South Wales (USW) is one of the UK’s biggest universities by student numbers. With campuses in Cardiff, Pontypridd and Newport, we are an important player in the economy of South Wales generating £1.2 billion in GVA each year and sustaining over 14,000 jobs in the region.

The University is renowned for partnerships with major employers, such as TATA Steel, Thales, GCHQ, Cap Gemini, Football Association of Wales, BBC and Aardman Our industry connections and emphasis on equipping students with real world experiences make our graduates among the most employable in the UK, with 95% of students in employment or further study within six months of graduating.

Our research tends to be applied which spans a variety of industrial, commercial, and cultural fields, with over 100 research partners. There are over 450 postgraduate research students receiving training and over 50% of research projects include collaboration with major organisations.

The University’s four priority areas are: Sustainable Environment, Crime Security and Justice, Health and Wellbeing and Creative.


USW EVENT FACILITIES
USW’s reputation for working closely with industry has extended into our Conference & Events department, where we have established ourselves as a professional, flexible and trusted event venue in the South Wales region. With campuses in Cardiff, Pontypridd and Newport, we are approx. 2 hours from London and our venue offer is varied, extensive and flexible. We welcome over 30,000 conference delegates each year and we have managed 400+ event bookings.

We can host events for up to 800 delegates and we have over 1000 bedrooms during July and August (making us the largest accommodation provider in Rhondda Cynon Taff each Summer). Our team also offer a full event management service in addition to venue and facilities hire.

Major events that we’ve hosted include:
- UK Challenge Event – over 600 delegates from over 40 organisations
- 1,600 police personnel during NATO summit
- Wales Legal Conference 2019 – over 170 of Wales’ top legal professionals

The University has the following facilities across all three campuses (Cardiff, Newport and Pontypridd)

- Lecture theatres
- Auditoriums
- Exhibition Halls
- Executive Boardrooms
- Dance studios
- Meeting rooms
- Sports facilities
- Networking space
- Low-cost accommodation

Our facilities are so varied and flexible, and have been designed to be a blank canvas ready to be transformed into a unique event space. The types of events we hold include:

- Training courses
- Conferences
- Private meetings
- Award ceremonies
- Exhibitions
- Interactive workshops
- Residential trips
- Tournaments
- Presentations
- Summer schools
- Group tours
- Teambuilding activities

Each of our campuses benefit from great public transport links with just a five minute walk from the nearest train station.


USW CONFERENCE CENTRE
USW has a dedicated Conference Centre for external organisations at its Pontypridd campus. It is only 20 minutes from Cardiff, which makes it a perfect location for being close to the city but with added value of the sweeping views of the Welsh Valleys.

This Conference Centre facility has flexible event space to provide up to 11 meeting rooms or it can transform into a larger space to hold conferences for up to 220 theatre style.

The Conference Centre facilities:

- Variety of room size options including a large meeting space for up to 220 delegates and the smallest room can hold 10 people boardroom style.
- Flexible Furniture layouts which can be set up theatre style, cabaret style, classroom style or bespoke.
- Audio-visual equipment is included in all rooms, and complimentary basic AV support
- Complimentary Wi-Fi
- Car parking facilities
- Natural daylight
- Air conditioning
- Complimentary glass bottles of still and sparking water
- Additional communal breakout space for networking and refreshments
- Flexible catering packages



Quirky Facts

• The popular Netflix series ‘Sex Education’ was filmed at one of USW’s campuses

• Our state-of-the-art Clinical simulation Centre accurately replicates a hospital (an acute care NHS environment), creating an immersive environment that is equal parts authentic and clinically challenging and has been hired to film numerous hospital scenes in TV shows.

• During the NATO summit our Pontypridd campus hosted over 1,600 Police Personnel during the event. We provided accommodation, catering and meeting room facilities.

• We recently held the UK & Ireland National Annual Junior Bridge Tournament at our Newport campus this February for over 200 Bridge players under the age of 30.

• USW also has a campus in Dubai, offering degrees in aircraft maintenance engineering and Masters courses in cyber security, among other subjects.

• USW works in partnership with the Celtic Manor Resort and ICC Wales on its Hotel and Hospitality Management degree. The relationship will be further strengthened when USW’s first cohort of International Events Management students enrol in 2020. The courses see students combine real-life work experience at various venues in the Celtic Collection stable, which include the Celtic Manor and the new International Convention Centre Wales, with theoretical learning at USW’s Newport Campus.

• Training Tomorrow’s police officers - Dorset Police is just one of several forces in England and Wales that have worked with USW to develop and deliver its Police Constable Degree Apprenticeship (PCDA) course. This provides a new entry route for students who aspire to become police constables but do not yet have a degree-level qualification. The PCDA is the perfect opportunity to ‘earn and learn’, and gives recruits the tools to deal with increasingly sophisticated criminal activity.

• USW works with the Welsh Refugee Council to improve access to free, quality English classes for forced migrants in the area. The University worked with the Welsh Refugee Council to establish a programme of classes that were delivered by students on the University’s TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) courses, alongside voluntary qualified language teachers. These classes have helped to transform the lives of hundreds of people, providing linguistic, emotional and psychological support.

• Powering The Future of Transport - USW partners with leading engineering solutions company Ricardo to support the development of battery packs for electric vehicles. After just two years of partnership, USW’s Centre for Automotive Power Systems Engineering (CAPSE) has increased turnover by eight-fold, making it the largest battery pack testing and validation centre in Europe, has recruited an additional 16 highly-skilled workers and has invested millions in the local supply chain.