It's not in Buckinghamshire because it's on the wrong side of the river Colne. Admittedly the boundary's less than 200 metres away but this side of the river has always been Middlesex, then the London borough of Hillingdon, so very much not Bucks.
And it's not new because on the front of the building underneath Buckinghamshire New University it says Est 1891. That would make Buckinghamshire New University over 130 years old, and yet no Victorian university would have called itself that.
What we have here is actually an institution that's climbed the higher education ladder over the years - one of many - repeatedly reimagining itself to gain status. It is in fact a jumped-up High Wycombe low key start-up, originally created to provide evening classes and now dishing out proper degrees. Here's the hyper-trajectory this university's been on.
1891: Established in High Wycombe as The School of Science and Art (using public funds raised from a tax on beer and spirits) 1920: Renamed Wycombe Technical Institute (offering furniture making and cabinetry skills to injured war veterans) 1963: Moved to a new site as High Wycombe College of Technology and Art (now providing a broader technical education) 1975: Merged with Newland Park College of Education to create Buckinghamshire College of Further Education 1989: Became a Higher Education Corporation (taking advantage of new legislation) 1999: Awarded University College status becoming Buckinghamshire Chilterns University College 2007: Gained full University status and renamed itself Buckinghamshire New University
n.b. not to be confused with the University of Buckingham, Britain's oldest private university, who weren't terribly pleased with the name change.
n.b. Famous alumni include Howard Jones, Noel Fielding and Jay Blades (who's currently the Chancellor)
So Buckinghamshire New University has only been a university for 17 years, not 133, and this building in Uxbridge is even younger. It's BNU's Uxbridge campus, one of four, and opened in 2009 to specialise in the training of nurses. Marvellous stuff, but multiply misleading all the same.
All of which got me wondering how many other UK universities outside London have campuses in the capital. Wikipedia suggests there are at least 14 (and you've since added two more, thanks).
Most of these incomer universities are quite recent, indeed BRU's 2009 campus in Uxbridge is one of the oldest. They also cluster in central and east London, most notably in Clerkenwell, Spitalfields, Docklands and the Olympic Park. Half of these universities have a presence in Tower Hamlets, which might help explain why the borough has the youngest population in the country.
What's on offer at these campuses can be quite specialist, for example financial education, MBAs, fashion, programming, even e-sports. They can also be relatively small, a transplanted satellite facility with limited teaching staff, library resources and social opportunities. Some are really franchises, not part of the university proper. But when they work they benefit everyone, not least the developers of stacky student accommodation.
And why are these provincial universities in London? Mainly to attract international students and their unregulated tuition fees, because it's a lot easier to persuade them to spend a year or three in a throbbing world city than to entice them to the wilds of Leicestershire or Wales. Your average British student, unless parentally flushed, is more likely to run a mile from the expense of London living.
Also these branches don't always last. The University of Liverpool opened a London campus in 2013 focusing on architecture, accountancy, psychology and public health, then changed its strategic priorities and closed it down in 2020. Online tuition may further muddy the waters in the future, as may gently declining numbers in higher education as a whole.
But there are still a lot more non-London London universities than I ever thought there were. I suspect the nursing facility in Uxbridge is quite atypical, and all the better for it.
