A new £1.3m investment in IT at Sussex will increase the availability and speed of wireless internet (Wi-Fi) on campus. 

The cash injection, agreed last week by senior managers, will also pay for 400 new computers: replacing 250 old machines and installing 150 new ones. 

The work, much of which will take place this term, is in response to student feedback in the 'learning resources' section of the 2011 National Student Survey, as well as to address issues with connectivity experienced by students and staff during a "bumpy start" to this academic year. 

By the end of November, there will be a brand-new Wi-Fi service on campus and a 40% increase in the number of PCs in the Library, where students say they are most needed. 

The rest of the work, including the provision of Wi-Fi in every student bedroom in residences, will be carried out over the following weeks and months. 

Iain Stinson, Director of IT Services, said:  "We have seen the demand for Wi-Fi increase this year. 

"The biggest demand on the system so far this year has been for 1,600 connections at the same time - compared to a maximum demand last year of 650. The new investment will mean that we will in fact be able to support 12,000 simultaneous connections to the Wi-Fi system. 

Professor Clare Mackie, Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Teaching and Learning),  said: "I know it has been a bit of a bumpy start to term so I have asked for these extra works to be carried out as a matter of urgency." 

ITS is also making other improvements, such as enabling students to use other services from their own laptops and decreasing the minimum credit card payment for printing from £10 to £5. 

Professor Mackie added that the poor scores in the NSS for learning resources were not entirely unexpected due to a lengthy refurbishment of the Library: 

"Ninety per cent of Sussex students completing the 2011 National Student Survey said that they were satisfied with the quality of their teaching, putting Sussex in the UK's top 10 for teaching satisfaction. 

"As the member of the senior management team with overall responsibility for teaching and learning, I was pleased that they rated their teaching so highly. 

"However our scores for learning resources were disappointing but understandable. 

"We had expected this score to suffer as we have been undertaking a complete £6m refit of the Library for the last 18 months, while continuing to run it as a service. 

"Many of the open comments in the NSS reflected understandable dissatisfaction with the disruption this caused. That work is now completed and I am confident that the improved library services we offer are being welcomed by our current students. 

"This refurbishment also had a knock-on effect on access to IT equipment last year, but our IT scores more generally have not been as good as they could have been. 

Iain added: "These new improvements are in addition to investments we have already made in new IT infrastructure - such as a new £2m data centre to improve the robustness of our services. 

"We have also improved the more specialist equipment - for example, we've just refurbished the Computer Aided Design (CAD) suite in Engineering, installing 48 high-spec PCs and new audio-visual equipment."