University of Sussex

Services & Facilities

Sussex has one of the most beautiful campus locations in Britain. Situated in rolling parkland on the edge of Brighton, the campus combines award-winning architecture with green open spaces. The campus is surrounded by the South Downs National Park, but just a few minutes away from the lively city of Brighton and Hove.

Designed by Sir Basil Spence, the buildings that make up the heart of the campus were given listed building status in 1993. Falmer House is one of only two educational buildings in the UK to be Grade I listed in recognition of its exceptional interest.

ChildcareChildren’s facilities at the University are available to staff and students. The Crèche is for children aged four months to three years and the Nursery is for children aged three to five years.

Both facilities cater for the needs of children from diverse social and cultural backgrounds.

Places are limited and priority is given to children already using the facilities, children with brothers or sisters in the Crèche or Nursery and the children of parents in their final year of study. At least one parent must be either working or studying at the University.

Opening hours are 8.40 am to 1.00 pm and 1.55 pm to 5.30 pm

The Crèche
The Crèche aims to provide an environment for children that is safe, happy, loving and stimulating. A wide range of activities is provided by qualified and very experienced staff to develop children's social and language skills, their motor and sensory skills, and to develop their creative and imaginative abilities through a variety of mediums. The Crèche is registered with Ofsted.

Children are divided into three groups, the Baby Unit caters for 12 babies from four months to approximately one year; the Toddlers Room for 11 children aged approximately one year to two years; and the Pre-Nursery for 19 children aged two to three years.

The Nursery
The Nursery's aim is to develop children's self confidence, self-expression, sharing and caring and to give them social experience with other children and adults in preparation for their introduction to the formal education system, as well as sufficient visual, auditory and finer co-ordination skills to begin reading and writing. The emphasis is on learning through play and this is achieved in a happy, relaxed but stimulating environment.

The Nursery is a member of the Brighton and Hove City Early Years Childcare and Play and is registered by Ofsted to provide early years education. Activities and experiences are provided which enable children to progress towards the early learning goals. The six areas of learning are personal, social and emotional development; communication, language and literacy; creative development; mathematical development; physical development and knowledge and understanding of the world.

Conference services

The University of Sussex is the perfect venue for meetings, conferences and exhibitions in East Sussex. Nestled in the South Downs, Sussex is the only university in England which is entirely situated in a designated 'Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty', with easy access to Brighton, London and Gatwick Airport.

The University campus, set in 200 acres of beautiful parkland, is like a large self-contained village with lecture theatres, seminar rooms, accommodation, cafès, bars and shops, sports facilities, libraries and laboratories all within easy walking distance.

Just a few minutes away from the campus is the lively cosmopolitan, seaside resort of Brighton with its great leisure facilities and its rich eclectic cultural life.

Open all year round, the University of Sussex Conference Centre boasts a modern suite of eight stylish conference rooms ranging in capacity from 10 to 220 delegates. Comprehensive daily delegate packages include state-of-the-art technology and delicious menus proving excellent value for money.

During the summer vacation period (late June to late September) the University's general teaching space is available including fifteen lecture theatres, over one hundred seminar rooms, computer rooms and a choice of exhibition space.

We offer a range of residential accommodation during the summer (including 500 en-suite bedrooms) to suit every budget.

All events are supported by our professional conference team whose purpose is to make your stay here as enjoyable as possible.

Health Centre
The Health Centre practice at the University of Sussex caters mainly for Sussex students, and we strive to tailor our services to match the needs of our practice population.

Students can register by completing an application form available from our reception, or online at Appointments can be made in person, or by telephone. If you find it difficult to access the practice during its opening hours telephone consultations are available both with the nurses and doctors during normal surgery hours. The Health Centre has disabled access.

Home visits are for emergencies, and are only undertaken for medical reasons. Any request for a visit will be discussed with you, and it may be decided that you should attend the surgery. Please note that distance or lack of finance is not an acceptable reason for a home visit. If you are over the age of 75, and have not seen your GP within the last three years your GP will come and visit you if necessary.

The University campus is also home to a dentist offering NHS treatment, and a pharmacist.

Meeting House

The Meeting House is the University's Chaplaincy Centre. It is one of the most versatile and extraordinary chaplaincy centres in the country in one of the most beautiful building on the campus. The Meeting House is round, on two levels, and the chapel is made up of several hundred different panes of specially constructed glass. When the sun shines through, it throws angles of light and colour across its spaces.

The Meeting House was designed to be shared across the different Christian traditions. It is used for worship and prayer for both groups and communities, but it is also a place of refuge where people from across the whole University come to give thanks or reflect.

The lower floor houses a meeting place where people come to meet and talk. The Quiet Room is an oasis of space and peace for study (or sleeping to refresh the brain cells) and for those who want to get away from it all or work in a peaceful environment. It also hosts lectures, meetings and social events.

The Jewish community has three part-time or Associate chaplains and shares the use of the Meeting House. The Muslim community has its own prayer rooms and web page. A Buddhist meditation group also uses the chapel once a week.

During each week of term there are a variety of services and groups who meet in the Meeting House. The services comprise Anglican and Catholic Eucharists, including 'Mystics' - an ecumenical service which reads from the Christian Mystics on Wednesday lunchtimes; the ecumenical community who meet on Sundays for a Eucharist at 11.30am, and the Roman Catholic Mass on Sunday evenings at 6.00pm. The Christian Union has its main meeting on Monday evenings at 7.00pm. Groups include 'Sceptics Anonymous' who meet on Wednesdays at 4.00pm to talk through some of the big issues of the day.

The Chaplaincy team is lead by The Rev'd Canon Dr Gavin Ashenden, an Anglican priest, who lectures in the English Department, and is also a Chaplain to Her Majesty the Queen.

The Meeting House is open from 8am-9pm (Mon-Fri) and 10.30am-7.30pm (Sunday).

Sport
Sussexsport provides a wide range of opportunities for University staff, students and the local community to enjoy sport and exercise and lead an active and healthy lifestyle.

We run a programme of classes and courses which aims to offer something for everyone. During term time you can choose from up to 35 different weekly sessions, including yoga, pilates, ballet, belly dancing, salsa and trapeze and a wide range of other group exercise classes including boxercise, circuit training and cardio kick. Our classes operate on a drop-in basis and our courses are pre-paid.

Our facilities are located at two sites: the Sport Centre and the Falmer Sports Complex. The Sport Centre facilities include two multipurpose sports halls, a fitness room, indoor cricket nets, four glass backed championship squash courts, a dance and martial arts studio, a therapy room and a sports injury clinic. The Falmer Sports Complex has an air conditioned fitness room on two floors, a strength and conditioning room, two traditional squash courts, six hard tennis courts, a floodlit artificial turf pitch (full-size for hockey and football), grass sport pitches (for cricket, football, rugby etc), and outdoor cricket nets.

Sussexsport also runs the Healthy Campus initiative, a University wide scheme to encourage both staff and students to improve and maintain a positive state of health and well being. We aim to promote some of the many opportunities already available to staff and students on the campus, as well as provide opportunities to experience new activities at regular intervals throughout the year.