A WINNING COMBINATION

At the heart of our ethos lies an indefinable element, which ensures that Loughborough is much more than just a seat of learning. First class teaching, pertinent research and established links with business and industry, when coupled with the ‘Loughborough factor’, ensure a comprehensive student experience, which often makes a winning combination.

Music Scholar Tom Kitching		Loughborough Campus Radio		Loughborough Students' Rugby Team

National and International Sporting Success
MSc student James Gibson ended Britain’s 28-year wait for an individual World Swimming Champion when he sprinted to victory in the men’s 50m Breaststroke at the 2003 World Championships in Barcelona. The Loughborough sports scholar also won Britain’s first medal of the meeting – Bronze in the 100m Breaststroke – setting a new British and Commonwealth record.

“It's been a huge team effort; the support I have received from Loughborough University, especially my personal coach Ben Titley, plus access to the new 50m pool on campus, has made all the difference.”
James Gibson on becoming Britain’s first World Swimming Champion for 28 years.

Loughborough University Centre of Cricketing Excellence (UCCE) became one of only four universities to be accorded 'First Class' status for the 2003 season, elevating them to professional equivalent status. The award was made in recognition of Loughborough’s outstanding progress and the team’s excellent performance in 2001-02, when it took all three of the major university cricket competitions – the UCCE Championship, the UCCE One-Day Challenge and the British Universities’ Sports Association (BUSA) Championship.

Other sporting highlights from this year: Loughborough Students’ Hockey Club rounded off a magnificent season by taking the Indoor League title and EHL National Indoor Club Championship to secure a place representing England in the 2003-04 European Cup competition; the Men’s Rugby Union team took on the best of England’s premiership in the Middlesex Sevens tournament; and the Loughborough Students’ Football Club were unbeaten in the European University League Champions Level Finals, taking the Honorary Cup at their first attempt in the competition.

Supremacy in Student Sport
Marking a quarter of a century’s dominance of student sport, Loughborough was once again crowned overall BUSA Champion, winning the Men’s championship for the 23rd consecutive year and the Women’s for the 25th and gaining more than twice as many points as the second placed team, Bath. In doing so Loughborough Students emerged as individual or team champions in 48 sports ranging from swimming and athletics to lacrosse and archery, demonstrating the sheer diversity of Loughborough’s prowess.
Loughborough students also made up an amazing 30% of the Great Britain team at this year’s World University Games – the world’s second largest multi-sport festival. Led out at the opening ceremony by Loughborough’s record-breaking swimmer James Gibson, Team GBR brought home a total of 17 medals, with the Loughborough students’ haul standing at ten.

BUSA CHAMPIONSHIP 2002-2003

1. LOUGHBOROUGH 2. BATH 3. BIRMINGHAM 4. UNIVERSITY OF WALES INSTITUTE OF CARDIFF 5. DURHAM 2760 1270 1230.5 1194 1018

A Remarkable Union
Widely regarded as one of the best in the country, Loughborough Students’ Union continued to show the diversity of its offering. This year over 2,000 students found employment through the Union’s ever-expanding Employment Exchange, with second year student Abbas Manji being named as National Student Employee of the Year by the National Association of Student Employment Services. Funding from the Loughborough University Development Trust enabled the launch of a new initiative to provide students with training and advice on transferable skills such as problem solving and team working. The Loughborough Undergraduate Recruitment Network (LURN) scheme, through which student ambassadors give prospective students a positive insight into student life, continued to expand in response to increasing requests from departments and schools, and Loughborough Campus Radio (LCR) celebrated an incredible 30 years of broadcasting to the University.

Arts for All
Cultural activities on campus have continued to flourish this year. Proving more popular than ever, the University’s music bursary scheme has been expanded and now provides ninety awards a year, allowing talented student musicians access to professional teaching for a variety of instruments as well as the voice.

Participation in the University Choir, Loughborough Students’ Concert Band and String Orchestra has continued to grow, with highly commended performances given each semester. The Students’ Union is also home
to the Stage Society, which includes regular productions and theatre trips among its activities.

Robots and Pit Stops
Tiberius III, Loughborough’s robot entry in the popular BBC TV programme Robot Wars, was crowned University Challenge Champion 2003. The brainchild of Mechanical Engineering student Sam Smith, his father and fellow students Carl and Craig Lawson, Tiberius saw off challengers from five other universities to take the inaugural Robot Wars University Challenge Award.

In a contest that tested their teamwork and coordination skills, a group of Loughborough’s Chemical Engineering students raced to pole position in the Shell ‘Pit Stop Challenge’, breaking the current record for changing a tyre on a real Formula One Ferrari.

“What separates Loughborough University in my eyes is the veil of enjoyment which enshrouds everything there… just thousands of young people truly enjoying what ought to be the best years of their lives. The University has joy and appetite in abundance. It is a fantastic place that I would urge anyone to consider.”
Rich Brown, Student