University of Nottingham
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| The University of Nottingham | |
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| Motto: | Sapientia urbs conditur ("A city is built on wisdom") |
| Established: | 1798 (became a London university college 1881, separated from University of London 1948) |
| Type: | Public |
| Endowment: | £28.4 million[1] |
| Chancellor: | Professor Fujia Yang |
| Vice-Chancellor: | Sir Colin Campbell |
| Visitor: | The Lord President of the Council ex officio |
| Students: | 33,550[2] |
| Undergraduates: | 24,355[2] |
| Postgraduates: | 9,195[2] |
| Location: | Nottingham, England |
| Campus: | 330 acres |
| Colours: | Green and Gold |
| Affiliations: | Russell Group[3] Universitas 21[4] ACU EUA |
| Website: | http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/ |
The University of Nottingham is a public, co-educational institution of higher learning in the City of Nottingham, England, United Kingdom (UK). Nottingham is a member of the Russell Group, Universitas 21, the Association of Commonwealth Universities, and the European University Association.
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[edit] History
Nottingham can trace its origins to the founding of an adult education school in 1798. The foundation stone of the original University College Nottingham on Shakespeare Street was laid in 1877, with a speech by former UK prime minister, William Ewart Gladstone.[5] This building was formally opened in 1881 by Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany.[6] A large gift of land allowed University College Nottingham to move to a new campus in 1928. This development was supported by an Endowment Fund and public contributions. The transfer was made possible by the generosity of Sir Jesse Boot, who presented 35 acres to the City of Nottingham in 1921.[7] Boot, later named Lord Trent, hoped the move would solve the problems facing University College Nottingham in its restricted Shakespeare Street building. Boot stipulated that while part of the Highfields site, lying southwest of the city, be devoted to the University College Nottingham, the rest should provide a place of recreation for the residents of the city. In the 1920s, the University Boulevard was created, as well as and the landscaping of the lake and public park. Initially, University College Nottingham was accommodated within one major new building named Trent Building. Designed by Morley Horder, Trent Building’s construction was one of the largest building projects in the city of Nottingham in the 1920s.[8] In 1948, University College Nottingham received its Royal Charter, which gave it the title of “university” and the power to confer degrees.[9] The name changed from University College Nottingham to The University of Nottingham. Previously, the institution’s students received their degrees from the University of London.
Overtime, Nottingham has undergone steady expansion. In the 1940s, the Midlands Agricultural and Dairy College at Sutton Bonington merged with Nottingham; in 1970, the university established the UK’s first medical school in the 20th century.[10] In 1999, a new Jubilee Campus was opened on the former site of the Raleigh Bicycle Company, one mile away from the University Park Campus. Nottingham then began to expand overseas, opening a campus in Malaysia and China in 1999 and 2004, respectively. In 2005, the King’s Meadow Campus opened near the University Park Campus.
Nottingham has used several logos throughout its history. Initially, Nottingham’s coat of arms with the cross, book, and towers was used and is still used in books owned by the university’s various libraries. Later, Nottingham adopted a simpler logo, in which a stylised version of Nottingham Castle was surrounded by the text ‘The University of Nottingham’. In 2001, Nottingham undertook a major rebranding exercise, including discontinuing this logo and replacing it with the current one (with the text to the right of the stylised castle).
[edit] Organisation
The chief officer of Nottingham is the chancellor, elected by the University Court on the recommendation of the University Council.[11] The chief academic and administrative officer of Nottingham is the vice-chancellor who is assisted by six pro-vice chancellors.[12] Nottingham’s governing body is the University Council, which has 35 members, mostly non-academic.[13] Nottingham’s academic authority is the Senate, consisting of senior academics of Nottingham and elected staff and student representatives.[14] Nottingham’s largest forum is the University Court, presided over by the chancellor [15] Nottingham’s current chancellor and president is Professor Fujia Yang; its vice-chancellor is Sir Colin Campbell. Sir Colin has announced his retirement beginning September 2008; his position will be filled by Professor David Greenway.[16]
[edit] Campuses
[edit] Nottingham's UK Campuses
University Park Campus, to the west of the Nottingham city centre, is the principal campus of Nottingham and has been regarded as one of the most attractive in the UK [17][18]. Nottingham has several additional campuses, all of which share similar design features to the original, being "garden campuses" situated around a lake with extensive greenery (with the exception of Sutton Bonington campus, which predates the creation of University Park Campus). Campus 14 is a bar crawl of the 12 hall bars on the University Park campus and the Student Union bar. Campus 14 is a well-known campus tradition, despite having been officially banned by Nottingham in 2001 [19].
Jubilee Campus, an award-winning campus designed by Sir Michael Hopkins, was opened by Queen Elizabeth II in 1999 and is one mile away from University Park. Following the purchase and demolition of the old Raleigh bicycle factory, Nottingham intends to undertake further expansion of the campus with buildings designed by Ken Shuttleworth.
The City Hospital Campus is located near Bestwood and houses staff and postgraduate students specialising in respiratory medicine, stroke medicine, oncology, physiotherapy, and public health. The campus will be expanded in 2009 to house a new institute of public health and a specialist centre for tobacco research.
Sutton Bonington Campus houses Nottingham’s School of Biosciences and the new School of Veterinary Medicine and Science and is located about 20 kilometres (12 miles) to the south of the City of Nottingham, between the M1 motorway, Ratcliffe power station, and the Midland Main Line railway.
King’s Meadow Campus was established in 2005 on the former Carlton Studios site on Lenton Lane. This campus mainly accommodates the administrative functions of Nottingham but also the Department of Manuscripts and Special Collections. A functioning television studio remains at the site that Nottingham continues to rent to the film and television industry.
[edit] Nottingham's International Campuses
The Malaysia campus is situated in Semenyih, a short distance from Kuala Lumpur, Malasyia's capital. The Ningbo, China campus is located in the city of Ningbo, in the Zhejiang province of China.
[edit] Academics
[edit] Faculties
Nottingham is divided into five faculties, each headed by a dean, with 22 schools of study.[20]
- Faculty of Arts
- Faculty of Engineering
- Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences
University of Nottingham Medical School
- Faculty of Science
- Faculty of Social Sciences, Law, and Education
Nottingham University Business School
In 2006, Nottingham was named the UK’s 'University of the Year' by Times Higher Education.[21]
[edit] Research
Much of the pioneering work on Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) was carried out at Nottingham, work for which Nottingham professor Sir Peter Mansfield received the Nobel Prize for Medicine and Physiology in 2003. Nottingham remains a strong centre for research into MRI and its 7 tesla scanner required 213 tonnes of iron cladding to prevent the surrounding area being affected by its powerful field.[22] Nottingham has contributed to a number of other significant scientific advances. Professor Frederick Kipping, Professor of Chemistry (1897-1936), made the discovery of silicone polymers at Nottingham (but failed to realise the commercial significance of what is now a multi-billion pound industry). Major developments in the in vitro culture of plants and micropropogation techniques were made by plant scientists at Nottingham, along with the first production of transgenic tomatoes by Professor Don Grierson in the 1980s. Other innovations at the university include cochlear implants for deaf children and the brace-for-impact position used in aircraft. Other facilities at Nottingham include the UK's 109th most powerful supercomputer.[23]
Nottingham is also commendable in the humanities and social sciences. In the same year (2003) Sir Peter Mansfield won his Nobel Prize, Professor Clive Granger, who was at Nottingham for 22 years as a student and academic, also won the Bank of Sweden Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel.
Nottingham had 26 departments rated 5 or 5* (internationally excellent) in the UK Funding Council’s 2001 Research Assessment Exercise.[24] Nottingham was among the top four UK universities in receiving research funding from private industry and commerce.[25] In the 2005-2006 academic year, Nottingham’s research funds announced a record £122 million.[26] Nottingham is a key partner in the UK government’s designation of the city of Nottingham as a ‘Science City.'
[edit] Graduate school
Nottingham's Graduate School was established in 1994, and operates a Graduate School Centre, which contains a social space, meeting rooms and a seminar room. The Graduate School was originally housed in the Biology Building but moved to the Trent Building in 2006. The school offers a wide range of short courses aimed to help the development of post graduate students including courses in information technology and communication skills.[27]
[edit] Rankings
[edit] UK Rankings
- 2009: Good University Guide (16th) [28]
- 2009: Guardian University Guide (19th) [29]
- 2008: Sunday Times University Guide (15th) [30]
[edit] World Rankings
- 2007: Academic Ranking of World Universities (top 500 universities) (81st) [31]
- 2007: Times Higher Education – Quacquarelli Symonds World University Rankings (top 400 universities) (70th) [32]
[edit] Enrollment and Student Life
According to the latest statistics compiled by the Higher Education Statistics Agency, Nottingham is the UK’s fifth largest university based on total student enrollment.[33] Nottingham has more than 6,000 undergraduate and postgraduate students from more than 130 countries.
[edit] Students' Union
The University of Nottingham Students’ Union is heavily involved with providing student activities at the university and has more than 150 student societies affiliated with it. A further 72 clubs are affiliated to the Students' Union’s Athletic Union. Nottingham participates yearly in the Varsity Series, a number of sporting events between the students and staff of the university and traditional rivals Nottingham Trent University.
The student magazine Impact is published regularly in term time. A range of student theatre takes place at Nottingham’s New Theatre. The Students’ Union runs two sound and lighting companies. TEC PA & Lighting provides services for many student events such as summer parties, Fresher’s Address and many other society events at the University Park and Jubilee campuses. Sutton Bonington Technical Entertainment Committee (SB-TEC) provides services to the Sutton Bonington Campus. The Union also boasts Europe's largest and most successful student-run RAG organisation 'Karnival' (or Karni), which raised almost £688,500 in 2007 for a host of good causes.[34] The University Radio Station is the URN/Student Radio for Nottingham.
The Student's Union also organise a number of activities and events involving students and staff with the local community. Student Community Action sees more than 600 students each year volunteering in local schools and community organisations, as well as a wide range of other projects throughout the city of Nottingham. Nottingham's Active Communities initiative coordinated with the Student's Union to set up the Crocus Cafe in nearby Lenton. This cafe provides a meeting place for both students and local residents where they can sit over a Fair Trade cup of coffee and organic, vegetarian food.
[edit] Student Accommodation
Student accommodation for the majority of first year undergraduates and a number of other students at Nottingham is provided on the Nottingham's campuses in the halls of residence.
[edit] Controversies
From September 20 to December 7, 2004, Nottingham was subject to an international academic boycott - 'greylisting' - after a breakdown in negotiations with the Association of University Teachers (AUT) on pay and conditions for academic staff. The AUT claimed that Nottingham failed to honour a commitment to follow a national agreement reached in March 2004. However, Nottingham claimed that its actions were in line with its undertakings in respect of the national agreement and the university had sought to negotiate with the AUT from the start. The boycott led to disruption at Nottingham, with lectures scheduled to be given by lecturers from other universities being cancelled, participants withdrawing from conferences and, in the case of a Royal Geographical Society conference, the whole conference being moved to London. The boycott was suspended after agreement was reached on reopening talks. Nottingham was subsequently affected by a national pay dispute by the AUT in the summer of 2006, which led to the boycotting of some assessment.
Nottingham also attracted controversy in 2001 when it accepted £3.8 million from British American Tobacco for the creation of a centre of corporate social responsibility. This donation caused Professor Richard Smith, editor of the British Medical Journal to resign from his post as professor at Nottingham, a 20-member cancer research team to move to London, and the Cancer Research Campaign to stop its £1.5 million fundraising campaign for the renovation of the university's cancer research facilities. The tobacco company funds were donated to establish an International Centre for Corporate Social Responsibility at Nottingham University Business School, which in 2007, was ranked 1st in the UK, 4th in Europe, and 28th in the world in the Master of Business Administration (MBA) rankings compiled by the Aspen Institute, whose biennial table highlights full-time MBA programmes that integrate ethical, social, and environmental issues.[35] Despite predictions that medical research income and cancer studies would be affected adversely in the long-term at Nottingham, funding for cancer research has been robust in recent years, with significant public-private projects on breast and lung cancer in the laboratory of Professor John Robertson, as well as a successful bid in 2008 to establish a UK centre for Tobacco Control Studies under the leadership of Professor John Britton.[36]
As a distributed university, the parity of course structure and equivalence between the various Nottingham campuses has raised some controversy, particularly over the MBA held at the Malaysian Campus.[37]
In May and June 2008, there was a controversy surrounding the case of Hicham Yezza.[38]
[edit] Notable Alumni
The most celebrated alumnus of Nottingham is probably the novelist D. H. Lawrence. Nottingham has particularly strong links with Malaysia. Two Malaysian kings, as well as several Malaysian government ministers are graduates. Other prominent alumni include 2003 Nobel Laureate Sir Clive Granger and 12 current members of the UK parliament.
[edit] See Also
- Academic dress of the University of Nottingham
- China Policy Institute
- Institute of Contemporary Chinese Studies
- Nottingham University Press
- Third oldest university in England debate
[edit] References
- ^ http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/finance/fin_stats_2006.pdf (PDF). Retrieved on 2007-04-13.
- ^ a b c Table 0a - All students by institution, mode of study, level of study, gender and domicile 2006/07 (Microsoft Excel spreadsheet). Higher Education Statistics Agency. Retrieved on 2008-04-11.
- ^ The Russell Group. Retrieved on 10 November 2007.
- ^ The University of Nottingham. Universitas 21. Retrieved on 10 November 2007.
- ^ History of The University of Nottingham, Retrieved on 2008-06-13.
- ^ History of The University of Nottingham, Retrieved on 2008-06-13.
- ^ History of The University of Nottingham, Retrieved on 2008-06-13.
- ^ History of The University of Nottingham, Retrieved on 2008-06-13.
- ^ History of The University of Nottingham, Retrieved on 2008-06-13.
- ^ History of The University of Nottingham, Retrieved on 2008-06-13.
- ^ The University of Nottingham: Organisation, Retrieved on 2008-06-13.
- ^ The University of Nottingham: Organisation, Retrieved on 2008-06-13.
- ^ The University of Nottingham: Organisation, Retrieved on 2008-06-13.
- ^ The University of Nottingham: Organisation, Retrieved on 2008-06-13.
- ^ The University of Nottingham: Organisation, Retrieved on 2008-06-13.
- ^ University of Nottingham: Press Release, Retrieved 2008-06-13.
- ^ 360° tour - The University of Nottingham - University Park campus. BBC. Retrieved on 2007-05-12.
- ^ University profiles: University of Nottingham. The Guardian (2007-05-01). Retrieved on 2007-05-12.
- ^ Campus 14 Banned (2008-01-23). Retrieved on 2008-01-23.
- ^ The University of Nottingham Faculties, Retrieved 2008-06-13.
- ^ The University of Nottingham Press Release, Retrieved 2008-06-13.
- ^ Giant magnet drops in on campus. University of Nottingham (2004-11-23). Retrieved on 2007-12-17.
- ^ TOP500 List - June 2005 (101-200). Top500. Retrieved on 12 September 2007.
- ^ BBC News, Retrieved on 2008-06-13.
- ^ The University of Nottingham: Business and Industry, Retrieved on 2008-06-13.
- ^ The University of Nottingham: Research Excellence (RAE), Retrieved on 2008-06-13.
- ^ Graduate School Roadmap
- ^ The Good University Guide, Retrieved 2008-06-13.
- ^ Guardian University Guide, Retrieved 2008-06-13.
- ^ Sunday Times University Guide, Retrieved 2008-06-13.
- ^ Academic Ranking of World Universities, Retrieved 2008-06-13.
- ^ Times Higher Education – Quacquarelli Symonds World University Rankings, Retrieved 2008-06-13.
- ^ Higher Education Statistics Agency, Retrieved 2008-06-13.
- ^ Karnival 2008, Retrieved 2008-06-13.
- ^ Beyond Grey Pinstripes, Retrieved 2008-06-13.
- ^ Medical Research Council, Retrieved 2008-06-13.
- ^ Theophilus, Claudia (2006). The heat over Nottingham’s degree. Politics 101 Malaysia. Retrieved on 14 October 2006.
- ^ The Guardian, Retrieved 2008-06-13.
[edit] Bibliography
- Fawcett, Peter and Neil Jackson (1998). Campus critique: the architecture of the University of Nottingham. Nottingham: University of Nottingham.
- Tolley, B.H. (2001). The history of the University of Nottingham. Nottingham: Nottingham University Press.
[edit] External links
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