Student life
Our students make us who we are – over the past 60 years they've stood up for what they believe in, driven new ways of thinking and even won University Challenge (twice!). See our timeline of our students' many achievements below.
1961
First cohort of 52 students, 17 men and 35 women, start studying at Sussex. Fees are £55, including Students’ Union membership.
1964
First edition of the Student Union paper The Wine Press is printed.
1967 (and 1969)
University of Sussex wins University Challenge.
1969
Richard Attenborough’s Oh! What a Lovely War released, featuring Sussex students as extras, including novelist Ian McEwan.
1970
The Who play at Falmer House.
1973
The Students’ Union and University of Sussex launch the Mandela Scholarship.
1975
The ‘Former Sussex Students Association’ is launched, with its newspaper Falmer News.
1979
East Slope Bar opens.
1987
A Sussex student – 81-year-old James Thornley – graduates with a doctoral degree in Development Studies, the oldest person to do so in the UK at the time.
1993
Students’ Union has first all-female executive.
1996
Students’ Union magazine The Pulse wins The Guardian/NUS Student Magazine of the Year.
1997
Radio Falmer declared the Best Student Union Radio in the UK in the BBC Radio 1 Awards.
1998
Student Kevin Apps co-discovers a new planet.
1999
Students occupy Falmer House in protest over the introduction of tuition fees.
2000
Students ban Coca Cola from campus.
2008
The Library pilots 24-hour opening.
2013
Dissertation submissions moved to School offices, sparking discussion on how to keep the traditional Sussex ‘Dissertation Dash’ to Falmer House alive.
2018
Student Poppy Joshi breaks record at World Powerlifting Championship.
2019
Student Lucy Hughes wins James Dyson International Award with MarinaTex.