University of East London Homepage

UEL: OPLC decision marks a great day for east London

Friday 11 February 2011

Olympic Football Stadium

The University of East London is delighted by today's announcement by the OPLC to recommend West Ham United and Newham Council as preferred bidders to operate the Olympic Stadium after the London 2012 Games.

As a key member of the stadium legacy partnership - and the sole university partner of the successful bid - UEL looks forward to developing its plans for a significant sports presence within the Olympic Stadium and Olympic Park. As the key higher education partner for the people of Newham, as well as the wider east London community, today's decision opens the door to new and exciting opportunities for UEL students and talented athletes.

UEL Vice Chancellor, Professor Patrick McGhee, said: "This is a great decision for the people of east London and we now have the opportunity to deliver a wonderful legacy in line with the pledges given in Singapore in 2005.  It is our intention to embrace this fantastic chance to develop education, and both community and elite sport, for all our local students and for east Londoners generally. In addition, the thousands of overseas students we bring to east London each year will contribute to making the stadium a truly international destination."

UEL aims to become London's premier university for sport by 2015, and has underlined its commitment towards nurturing and developing the talents of young sportsmen and women by investing £20m in a new sports centre which is set to open early next year. 'SportsDock', as the centre will be known, will be the headquarters for the US Olympic team during next Summer's games.

A host of 2012 hopefuls are currently students at UEL, including Paralympic power lifter Ali Jawad, who represented England in the last year's Commonwealth Games, and Team GB Judo star Louise Little.

Notes to Editors

The University of East London (UEL) is a global learning community with over 28,000 students from over 120 countries world-wide. Our vision is to achieve recognition, both nationally and internationally, as a successful and inclusive regional university proud of its diversity, committed to new modes of learning which focus on students and enhance their employability, and renowned for our contribution to social, cultural and economic development, especially through our research and scholarship. We have a strong track-record in widening participation and working with industry.

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