Her Royal Highness The Princess Royal officially opens the Oculus

Her Royal Highness The Princess Royal visited campus on Thursday 30 March to officially open the University’s newest teaching building, the Oculus.

The Princess Royal was received by the Lord-Lieutenant of the West Midlands, Mr John Crabtree, and dignitaries including the High Sheriff of the West Midlands Dr Keith Bradshaw and the Lord Mayor of Coventry Councillor Lindsley Harvard were also present for the ceremony.

The University was represented by Vice-Chancellor Stuart Croft and Chairman of Warwick Manufacturing Group (WMG) Lord Kumar Bhattacharyya.

During her visit Her Royal Highness also met a number of students and staff including Margaret Low, Principal Teaching Fellow at WMG, and Rachel Dickinson, Principal Teaching Fellow at Warwick Business School, who were presented with National Teaching Fellowships last year.

The Princess Royal ended her tour by unveiling a commemorative plaque to mark the building’s opening.

This was The Princess Royal’s second visit to Warwick, having previously visited the University in October 2015 to celebrate its 50th anniversary and reveal the Oculus’ foundation stone to mark the beginning of its development.

The University campus has had a number of high profile visitors in the past year including Prime Minister Theresa May, Chancellor Philip Hammond and Leader of the Labour Party Jeremy Corbyn.

Vice-Chancellor Stuart Croft, commenting on the visit, stated: “The Oculus has been designed to bring together the strengths of the University’s departments to widen the worlds of students through innovative teaching resources and social learning spaces.

“We are extremely proud to have on our campus world class teaching and seminar spaces, innovative social learning and network spaces.”