University of Wales, Aberystwyth

The University of Wales, Aberystwyth (Welsh: Prifysgol Cymru, Aberystwyth) is a leading teaching and research university located in Aberystwyth, Wales. A Member Institution of the federal University of Wales, it was one of the first university institutions to be established in Wales. As of 2006, the university has almost 9,000 students spread across eighteen academic departments. It is often known simply as "Aber" to its students. The university's business school is accredited by AMBA.

1 History
2 Geography
3 Student residences
4 Departments
5 University legends and myths
6 Alumni
7 External links

[edit] History

The university was founded in 1872 as University College Wales. The first principal was Thomas Charles Edwards and initially there were just 26 students. In 1894 the college joined the University of Wales as a founder member (prior to this students had been submitted for examinations of the University of London).

The Department of History and Welsh History, and the Institute of Mathematics and Physics can trace their beginnings back to the formation of the University in 1872. The Department of Law was established in 1901, and as such is one of the oldest law schools in the UK. The School of Art has a history stretching back to 1917 when it was part of the only British university concerned with the Art and Crafts Movement. In 1936 it became a sub-department within the Education Department where, in 1965 the Joint Honours Art scheme was established. Single Honours Art and Masters degree schemes were introduced in 1974, one year after the subject had once again been given autonomy as a university department. Modern languages has been taught at Aberystwyth since c. 1874, making the current Department of European Languages one of the oldest departments in the UK to teach the subject. The Institute of Biological Sciences was formed in 1993 from the Department of Biological Sciences, the Department of Biochemistry and the Genetics Group of the Department of Agricultural Botany. These former departments in turn can trace their beginnings to the foundation of the University.

In 1998 the Department of Economics (founded 1912), the Department of Accounting and Finance (founded 1979) and the Centre for Business Studies merged to create the School of Management and Business. The school is one of only around 100 business schools in the world to have its MBA program accredited by the AMBA, it is also the only AMBA accredited MBA in Wales. Recently the school has been ranked 16th in Europe for accounting research by the journal Accounting and Business Research and 22nd in Europe for Finance by the Journal of Business Finance & Accounting. In the most recent subject specific teaching quality reviews the Accounting and Finance degrees schemes and the Economics degree schemes at Aberystwyth were both judged to be excellent, this is the highest category that can be awarded.

In 1919 the world's first Department of International Politics was founded at Aberystwyth. Today it is the largest department of its kind in Europe, and one of the largest in the world. It also has an international reputation for excellence scoring top marks for both research and teaching placing the department on a par with the London School of Economics. In 2006, a new building for the Department of International Politics was completed and opened on the main Penglais Campus.

The Department of Computer Science at Aberystwyth was founded in 1970. AberMUD, the first popular internet-based MUD, was written in this department of the university by then-student Alan Cox. The Institute of Geography and Earth Sciences was formed in 1989 from the former Departments of Geography (established in 1917) and Geology. This department contains the E.G. Bowen map library, containing 80000 maps and 500 atlases.

The Department of Theatre, Film and television Studies is one of the largest departments in the University in terms of numbers of undergraduate students and was established in the late 1970s. The Llanbadarn Campus houses two departments: The Institute of Rural Sciences and the Department for Information Studies. The former was formed by the merger of the Welsh Agricultural College, which had hitherto been independent, and the University's Department of Agriculture in 1995. The Department of Information and Library Studies was formed in 1989 from the formerly independent Welsh College of Librarianship, this was later re-named the Department for Information Studies.

One of the newest departments in the University is the Department of Sports and Exercise Science, which was established in 2000.

It was announced on November 29th, 2006 that the University of Wales, Aberystwyth had been approved degree awarding powers by the Privy Council and in the future may simply be known as Aberystwyth University. For this to become the institution's official title, however, it would need to leave the federal University of Wales, which looks unlikely to happen at present. It should be noted that several other University of Wales members, including Swansea and Lampeter already had degree awarding powers and remain within the federal university.

Some of Aber's past professors include R. Geraint Gruffydd, Bobi Jones, E. H. Carr and Leopold Kohr.

[edit] Geography

The main campus of the university is situated on Penglais Hill, overlooking the town of Aberystwyth and Cardigan Bay. The Penglais Campus is the site of 13 of the University's 18 departments, as well as most of the student halls of residence. Just below the Penglais Campus is the National Library of Wales. The original university building, next to the sea, known as "Old College", is the site of most of the University's administration as well as the Departments of Welsh and Education. The Llanbadarn Campus is located approximately one mile to the east of the Penglais Campus, and hosts the Institute of Rural Sciences and the Department of Information Studies. Additionally, the Llanbadarn Campus is the site of the Aberystwyth branch of Coleg Ceredigion, a further education college, and not part of the University. The School of Art is located between the Penglais Campus and the Centre of Aberystwyth, in an area of the town called Buarth Mawr.

[edit] Student residences

The various student residences owned, leased or managed by the university offer almost 4,000 bed-spaces in total. [2]

Penglais Campus:

Cwrt Mawr (self-catered flats, capacity 485)
Pantycelyn (traditional catered hall, majority Welsh-speaking, capacity 260)
Penbryn (traditional catered hall, capacity 525)
Rosser (self-catered flats with en-suite rooms, capacity 333)
Trefloyne (self-catered flats, capacity 146)

Llanbadarn Campus:

Aeron, Cletwr, Dyfi, Einion and Leri - 5 residences with a total of 298 catered rooms (due to close during 2007)

Pentre Jane Morgan (the Student Village):

178 self-contained houses accommodating typically 5 or 6 students each

Town:

Brynderw (self-catered flats, capacity 146)
Seafront Residences (self-catered flats located on the seafront and Queen's Road, overall capacity 720-800 including the redeveloped Alexandra Hall)

[edit] Departments

[edit] University legends and myths

Sliding Down Penglais Hill. It is rumoured that the University buildings on campus and the surrounding halls accommodation is sliding down Penglais Hill towards the sea. These rumours are possibly rooted in the subsidence suffered by some of the buildings of the student village Pentre Jane Morgan.
Cold War Nuclear Target. It is rumoured amongst the student population that Aberystwyth was a target for nuclear attack in the event of war with the USSR, due to the National Library of Wales and the cultural significance it held.
Aber Captive Syndrome:

Amongst older students of UWA, there is a truism that runs that the only ways to leave Aberystwyth are: 'Married, Alcoholic, In a Box, or not at all'. It is true to say that Aberystwyth was rated 90% in a recent student satisfaction survey, placing it first in the British Isles for student satisfaction. This lends some credence to the idea of the "Aber Captive".

Most books. It is rumoured that due to the large amount of libraries (e.g. the National Library) and book depositories (e.g. the Welsh Books Council) in the town that Aber has more books per head then any other town in the world.

[edit] Alumni

Professor Ian Banks, Author, Professor of Men's Health, President of The Men's Health Forum, BMA
Joseph Borg, EU Fisheries Commissioner
Prince Charles, Prince of Wales (1969)
Alan Cox, programmer, major contributor to the Linux kernel (1980s)
Gwynfor Evans, first Member of Parliament for Plaid Cymru
Andrew Gordon Naval historian
Jane Green. Best-selling fiction writer (1987)
Neil Hamilton, MP (1960s)
Deian Hopkin, Historian
Carwyn James, legendary Welsh and British and Irish Lions rugby coach (1949?-1951)
Carwyn Jones, Minister for the Environment in the Welsh Assembly Government
Elwyn Jones, Baron Elwyn-Jones (1919-1921), Attorney-General 1966-70 and Lord Chancellor 1974-79
Mary King, Political Scientist
Ahmad Tejan Kabbah, president of Sierra Leone (1956?-1959)
Chris Leek, chairman of Mensa International
Sharon Maguire, Film Director
Paul Manuel, West End Performer
Elystan Morgan. Former Labour MP for Ceredigion
Roland Moyle, Labour MP and minister
Jan Pinkava, Oscar winning animator, Pixar, (1981-1985)
Berwyn Price, International 110m hurdles athlete. Commonwealth Games & World Student Games gold medallist.
Tom Singh, Entrepreneur
Frederick Soddy, Nobel Prize Winner (1890s?)
Gareth Thomas Politician
Nigel Thrift, Geographic Scholar
David John Williams, writer
Mark Williams, Member of Parliament for Ceredigion (1984-1987)
Waldo Williams, poet