Published on 28 April 2023
Today (28 April 2023) the University of Sunderland celebrated the official opening of Wearside View.
Located on the banks of the iconic River Wear at St Peter’s, the building provides students and academics from the University’s Faculty of Education and Society with modern classrooms and inspiring social space.
University academics, students and representatives from local charities and organisations were among those attending the opening ceremony, as well as MP for Sunderland Central Julie Elliott and MP for Houghton and Sunderland South Bridget Phillipson.
Bridget, who is also Shadow Secretary of State for Education, unveiled Wearside View’s new plaque.
The building and its site have a long history, having previously been home to students at Sunderland College, and even further back, was the site of a privately-owned helipad.
It has since been refurbished and revamped to make the University’s Education and Social Sciences students’ teaching and learning experience even better. The social space has been designed as the perfect spot for collaborative or independent learning with a mixture of learning spaces. To top it all off, the area has wonderful views of the riverside. For those warmer days, the outdoor balcony has plenty of seating where students and staff can relax and take in their surroundings. There is a mixture of classroom sizes and light and airy communal spaces inside to help aid learning and development. Students here also have access to their own coffee area.
In a speech, the University’s Vice-Chancellor and Chief Executive, Sir David Bell, said: "We have a distinguished tradition of supporting work in education and social sciences, work that has grown rapidly in recent years, and work which this building will now allow to expand even further.
"From our trainee teachers who are now able to access high-quality training facilities, allowing them to rehearse, and receive meaningful, tailored feedback on their classroom practice; to the space which now accommodates expanding programmes in criminology and policing, as well as interdisciplinary research.
"This is a building which provides an open and professional environment for the Faculty, as well as one capable of welcoming prospective employers and other industry professionals."
Up until the move into Wearside View, the Faculty had been split across three different buildings on the University's two Sunderland campuses.
Now colleagues and students have been brought together under one roof, creating a feeling of inclusion and a stronger sense of belonging for all.
Professor Lynne Mckenna, Dean of the Faculty of Education and Society at the University of Sunderland, said: "Having the opportunity to house the whole faculty in one building has enabled us to create a community of practice which we believe is supporting us to supply the public sector with the very best teachers, social workers, early years staff, youth and community workers, health and social care workers and police, become a reality.
"Our students are at the heart of everything we do at the University of Sunderland, and as we stand here in our fabulous social learning space with students engaged in learning in our state of the art classrooms, I could not be any more delighted."