University of Reading
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| University of Reading | |
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| Established: | 1892 (as University College, Reading) |
| Type: | Public |
| Chancellor: | John Madejski |
| Vice-Chancellor: | Prof. Gordon Marshall |
| Visitor: | The Lord President of the Council ex officio |
| Staff: | 4,024 |
| Students: | 14,680[1] |
| Undergraduates: | 10,640[1] |
| Postgraduates: | 4,040[1] |
| Location: | Reading, Berkshire, England, UK |
| Campus: | Whiteknights: 1.3 square kilometres (321 acres)[2] |
| Colours: | Royal Purple White |
| Affiliations: | 1994 Group |
| Website: | www.reading.ac.uk |
The University of Reading is a university in the English town of Reading, Berkshire.
Established in 1892, receiving its Royal Charter in 1926, the University has a long tradition of research, education and training at a local, national and international level. It was awarded the Queen's Anniversary Prize for Higher and Further Education in 1998, and again in 2005. It is one of the ten most research-intensive universities in the UK, as well as being considered one of the top 200 universities in the world. It is also one of the highest financially endowed Universities in the UK, at 9th position in the most recent table.[3]
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[edit] History
The University owes its origins to the Schools of Art and Science established in Reading in 1860 and 1870. These became part of an extension college of Christ Church College of the University of Oxford in 1892, which became known as University College, Reading.
The new college received its first treasury grant in 1901. Three years later it was given a site, in London Road, by the Palmer family of Huntley & Palmers fame. The same family's continued support enabled the opening of Wantage Hall in 1908 and the Research Institute in Dairying in 1912.
The college first applied for a Royal Charter in 1920 but was unsuccessful at that time. However a second petition, in 1925, was successful, and the charter was officially granted on March 17, 1926. With the charter, the University College became the University of Reading, the only new university to be created in England between the two world wars.
In 1947 the University purchased Whiteknights Park, which was to become its principal, Red Brick, campus.[4] In 1982 the University merged with Bulmershe College of Higher Education, in the process acquiring its third campus.[5]
In 1984 the University started a merger with Bulmershe College of Higher Education, which was completed in 1989.[6]
In October 2006, the Senior Management Board proposed[7] the closure of its Physics Department to future undergraduate application. This was ascribed to financial reasons and lack of alternative ideas and caused considerable controversy, not least a debate in Parliament[8] over the closure which prompted heated discussion of higher education issues in general.[9]. On October 10th the Senate voted to close the Department of Physics, a move confirmed by the Council on November 20th.[10] Other departments closed in recent years include Music, Sociology, Geology, and Mechanical Engineering.
In January 2008, the University announced its merger with Henley Management College to create the new Henley Business School at the University of Reading, bringing together Henley's expertise in MBAs with the University's existing Business School and ICMA Centre.[11]
[edit] Campuses
The University maintains over 1.6 square kilometres (395 acres) of grounds, in three distinct campuses:
- Whiteknights Campus, at 1.23 square kilometres (304 acres), is the largest and includes Whiteknights Lake, conservation meadows and woodlands as well as most of the University's departments. The campus takes its name from the nickname of the 13th century knight, John De Erleigh IV or the 'White Knight', and was landscaped in the 18th century by Marquis of Blandford. The main University library, in the middle of the campus, holds nearly a million books and subscribes to around 4,000 periodicals.
- The smaller London Road Campus is the original University site and is closer to the town centre of Reading. The London Road site forms the base for the majority of the university's extra-mural and distance learning activities, and is host to the Centre for Continuing Education and the Professional Management Programmes. Moreover, it plays host to the University graduation ceremonies twice a year, in the Great Hall.
- The Bulmershe Court Campus in Woodley is the second biggest campus belonging to the University. Formerly Bulmershe Teaching College, in 1989 the College of Higher Education merged with The University of Reading and the campus is now the home of The Institute of Education and the Department of Film, Theatre and Television, alongside the Bulmershe site of Students’ Union, Breeze Bar, and Bulmershe Hall of Residences. It also has the largest hall of residence of the University. Furthermore, the campus hosts a range of the University's home sporting fixtures, including football, basketball and the Reading Knights American Football team.
The University also owns 8.5 square kilometres (2,100 acres) of farmland in the nearby villages of Arborfield, Sonning and Shinfield. These support a mixed farming system including dairy cows, ewes and beef animals, and host research centres of which the flagship is the Centre for Dairy Research.
As part of the proposed Whiteknights Development Plan in Autumn 2007, the University proposed spending up to £250 million on its estates over 30 years, principally to focus academic activities onto the Whiteknights site.[12] The University also intends to site some functions on the London Road site, with a complete withdrawal from Bulmershe Court proposed by 2012.
[edit] Research and Business Development
The university had a research income of almost £24.5 million in 2003-4, of which around 10 percent of annual research income derived from industrial or commercial sponsors. Over £2 million of funding has been secured in 2004 for business development and the commercial activities at the University.
In the Research Assessment Exercise in 2001, five departments were awarded the top rate of 5* – Archaeology, English, Italian, Meteorology and Psychology and fifteen departments were awarded the rating of 5. The Department of Meteorology was awarded a distinguished Queen’s Anniversary Prize for Higher and Further Education in 2005 and is internationally renowned for its training and research in weather, climate and physical oceanography. Research centres include the Centre for Horticulture and Landscape, the BioCentre and the Centre for Advanced Microscopy.
Reading was the first university to win a Queen's Award for Export Achievement in 1989. Since then several initiatives to link the academic and commercial communities have followed. Reading Enterprise Hub, one of a network of SEEDA sponsored business incubators, opened on campus in 2003.
[edit] ACET Centre
The major aim of the Centre for Advanced Computing and Emerging Technologies (ACET) is to demonstrate and promote new ways of doing multidisciplinary research based on the approach of "scientific discovery through advanced computing".
[edit] Community
In the 2004–05 academic year, the university had 4,024 staff and 15,326 students. The best known member of the university community is probably the cyberneticist Professor Kevin Warwick.
Reading University Students' Union is the affiliated student organisation which represents the students' interests. The Students' Union publishes Spark, a bi-weekly newspaper aimed at the student population of the University, which was weekly until October 2006 (it is now published fortnightly during term-time) and runs the student radio station Junction11. The university also has a number of Junior Common Rooms that are nominally independent from the Students' Union and the University.
The Students' Union building on Whiteknights Campus contains an 1800 capacity venue called 3sixty, two bars, a number of retail outlets, and The Hub. The Hub is the Union's new volunteer, advice, student activity centre, cost around £1.8m and was officially opened in March 2007 by the Hon. Bill Rammell MP, Minister for Higher Education.
[edit] University Halls and accommodation
Student accommodation is provided in a number of halls of residence offering a good mix of partially catered (under review) and self-catering accommodation, along with other self-catering accommodation. Most of the halls of residence lie close to the northern campus periphery and in residential areas close by.
Bulmershe Hall is on the Bulmershe Campus. Bridges, Childs, Wessex, Whiteknights, and Windsor Halls are on the Whiteknights Campus. St. George’s, St. Patrick’s, Sherfield, Sibly, Wantage, and Wells Halls are in the residential areas surrounding Whiteknights, as is the self-catering accommodation of the Reading Student Village, Hillside Court and Martindale Court.[13]
St. David's and Mansfield Halls latterly formed part of Witan Hall (see below) on the London Road Campus, and are not currently in use. The former St. Andrews Hall closed in 2001, and is now the home of the Museum of English Rural Life.
St. George's Hall and The Reading Student Village are leased back to the University from UJC. The cost of leasing back the Student Village to the University, according to the University accounts, was £1.5 million for 2003–04 and £1.3 million in 2002–03.
[edit] Sport
The University is successful at a number of sports, including rowing, tennis, hockey, and squash. In particular, they are highly successful at Rowing and the Reading University Boat Club has won many awards and competitions, its most recent BUSA placing being second on points at the 2007 BUSA Regatta. The club won the Visitors Challenge Cup for coxless fours at Henley Royal Regatta in 1986, and reached the final of the same event in 2007, where they were defeated by local rivals Leander Club. RUBC attracts many international oarsmen through its links with the GB Squad training facility at Caversham Lake and the GB Rowing World Class Scheme. Current and past students to achieve international representation and success include James Cracknell (Olympic Gold 2000, 2004), Gary Herbert (Olympic Gold 1992), Debbie Flood (Olympic Silver 2004, World Championship Gold 2006, 2007), Tash Page (Under 23 Gold 2005), Anna Bebington (World Championship Bronze 2007), Sam Townsend (GB Men's Quad 2007), Alex Gregory (GB Men's Quad 2007), Bill Lucas (Under 23 Bronze 2007) and Charles Cousins (Under 23 Bronze 2007). The Boat Club has been the highest ranked university club at the Fuller's Head of The River Fours for the last two years, with its Elite Men's boat finishing 4th Overall in 2006 and 3rd in 2007. In 2007, the Men's Association Football team became the highest placed in University history by winning the BUSA South East Division 1A Title and entering the BUSA Cup as one of the top 16 teams in the country. In 2007 the Men's Hockey 1st XI won the renowned British universities sports tournament, Dublin Fest.
[edit] Societies
The University of Reading has 60 societies open to its students.
[edit] Museums, libraries and botanical gardens
Reading University maintains four museums, two campus libraries and a range of inter-departmental libraries, and a botanical garden. The largest and best known of these museum is the Museum of English Rural Life, which has recently relocated from a location on Whiteknights Campus to a site nearer the town centre on the London Road Campus. The Ure Museum of Greek Archaeology, the Cole Museum of Zoology, the University of Reading Herbarium and the Harris Garden are all on the Whiteknights Campus.
The Whiteknights Main Library holds catalogue of over 1.2 million books, as well as a range of electronic resources, videos and archives. All in 14,000 square metres of public space on five floors of resources, a maintenance floor, entrance plaza and the Knowledge Exchange.
The secondary library on the University's Bulmershe Campus supports teaching courses and provides resources in education, health & social care, music and film & drama.
[edit] Associated institutions
Formerly associated with Reading University was Gyosei International College, a Japanese/British bi-cultural institution established on part of the University's original London Road Campus. Subsequently the college's links with the Japan-based Gyosei organisation were broken, and it became a charitably funded institution called Witan Hall. Recently this has in turn been purchased by the University of Reading, and has ceased student recruitment and will finally close in March 2008.
The University of Reading Law faculty is also associated with Taylors College in Malaysia. Taylors College conducts a 'twinning' program whereby students complete half of their degree in Malaysia and the other half at the University of Reading. Malaysian Law students in Reading generally achieve a second class upper average, and have set a high standard for Malaysian Law students.
Located on Reading University's Whiteknights campus is The College of Estate Management (CEM). The College was founded in 1919 and granted its Royal Charter in 1922. It was originally based in London but moved to Reading in 1969, leading to the foundation of the Faculty of Urban and Regional Studies (URS) at the University. The College provides education and training for students and members of the property and construction professions worldwide through distance learning. Courses are delivered by the provision of printed material sent to students by post and through web-based learning.
The Walker Institute, a pioneering centre for climate research, is based at the University of Reading. The Institute aims to exploit and integrate the climate expertise within the University and to address fundamental questions in understanding and forecasting climate variability and its impacts.
The University announced on 9 January 2008[14] that it intends to merge with Henley Management College to increase its offering in Business and Management. On 1 August 2008 the College will become part of the University with all assets being transferred to the University.
[edit] Governance
[edit] Governing bodies and roles
The university is nominally led by a Chancellor, who is the titular head of the university, and is normally a well-known public figure. The day to day chief executive role is the responsibility of the Vice-Chancellor, a full time academic post. The senior management board of the university is headed by the Vice-Chancellor, assisted by a Deputy-Vice-Chancellor, three Pro-Vice-Chancellors, four Deans and five Heads of Directorate. It is responsible for the day-to-day management of the University and meets fortnightly throughout most of the year.[15]
The senior management board reports to the university's Senate, the main academic administrative body. The senate has around 100 members and meets at least four times a year and advises on areas such as student entry, assessment and awards. Membership includes Deans, Heads and elected representatives of Schools, as well as professional staff and students. The Senate in turn reports to the Council, which is the supreme governing body of the university, setting strategic direction, ensuring compliance with statutory requirements and approving constitutional changes. The Council meets four times a year, and comprises a broad representation of lay members drawn from commercial, community and professional organisations.[15]
[edit] Officers of the University
Chancellors
- J. H. Benyon (1926–1935)[16]
- Sir Austen Chamberlain (1935–1937)[16]
- Sir Samuel Hoare, Viscount Templewood (1937–1959)[16]
- Lord Bridges (1959–1969)[16]
- Sir Roger Makins, Lord Sherfield (1970–1992)[16]
- Lord Carrington (1992–2007)[16][17]
- John Madejski (2007–)[16][17]
Vice-Chancellors
- Dr William M Childs (1926–1929)[18]
- Sir Franklin Sibly (1929–1946)[13]
- Sir John Wolfenden, Baron Wolfenden (1950–?)
- Sir Harry Raymond Pitt (1964-1978)[19]
- Prof. Ewan Page (?–1993)
- Prof. Roger Williams (1993–2002)
- Prof. Gordon Marshall (2003–)[20]
[edit] Notable Alumni and Academics
Academics
- Michael Cox - Professor of International Relations, London School of Economics
- Neil Crosby - Professor of Real Estate, University of Reading
- Jonathan Dancy - Professor of Philosophy, University of Reading
- Andrew Dobson - Professor of Political Science, Keele University
- Michael Drew - Professor of Chemistry, University of Reading
- Antony Flew - Emeritus Professor of Philosophy, University of Reading
- Michael Fulford - Professor of Archaeology and Pro-Vice-Chancellor of the University of Reading
- Colin S. Gray - Professor of International Relations and Strategic Studies, University of Reading
- Sean Holly - Professor of Economics, University of Cambridge
- Sir Brian Hoskins - Professor of Climatology, University of Reading and Director of the Grantham Institute for Climate Change, Imperial College London
- Michael Leifer - was a professor of International Relations at the London School of Economics
- Crispin St. J. A. Nash-Williams - was a professor of Mathematics at the University of Reading
- Keith Shine - Professor of Climatology, University of Reading
- Avi Shlaim - Professor of International Relations, University of Oxford
- Sir Frank Stenton - was a professor of History at the University of Reading
- Andrew Wallace-Hadrill - Director of the British School at Rome and professor of History, University of Reading
- Kevin Warwick - Professor of Cybernetics, University of Reading
Politics
- Anton Apriantono – food technology scientist, serving as Indonesia's Minister of Agriculture since 2004
- Edison James – Prime Minister of Dominica 1995-2000, Leader of the Opposition, 1990-1995 and 2000-2007.
- Mike Penning – Conservative Member of Parliament for the Hemel Hempstead parliamentary constituency.
- Rob Wilson – Conservative Member of Parliament for the Reading East parliamentary constituency
Mathematics & Science
- Sir Peter Crane – Director, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
- E. A. Guggenheim – thermodynamicist and chemist
- Dragan Marušič – Slovene mathematician
- A. E. Wilder-Smith – creationist and chemist
Music
- Arthur Brown – rock and roll singer
- Jamie Cullum – jazz pianist and singer
- Hilary James – singer, double bassist, guitarist, and mando-bassist
- Simon Mayor – mandolinist, fiddle player, guitarist, and composer
- Martin Noble – musician, Noble in the band British Sea Power.
- Scott Wilkinson – musician, Yan in the band British Sea Power.
Sport
- Cath Bishop – Rowing Olympic silver medallist.
- James Cracknell – rowing champion and double Olympic gold medallist.
- Debbie Flood – rowing champion, quadruple sculls silver medallist at the 2004 Olympics.
- Gary Herbert – rowing He won Olympic gold with Greg and Jonny Searl in the coxed pair in Barcelona 1992 Olympics.
- Molly Hide, captained English women's cricket team for seventeen years.
- Will Hoy, British Touring Car Champion.
Broadcasting
- Julian Barratt – comedian from BBC's The Mighty Boosh
- Keith Bosley – former BBC broadcaster and prizewinning poet and translator
- Richard Holmes – noted military historian and television presenter
- Kaddy Lee-Preston, TV weather presenter.
- Julian Richards – archaeologist and broadcaster
- Richard Sambrook – Director of the BBC World Service
- Tomasz Schafernaker, TV weather presenter.
- Jay Wynne, TV weather presenter.
Writing & Artistry
- Robert Gillmor – ornithologist, artist, illustrator, author and editor
- Kathleen Hale - artist and children's author, best remembered for the Orlando the Marmalade Cat series
- Joan Smith – novelist and journalist
- Richard Wilson – installation artist
Others
- Eve Balfour – farmer, educator, organic farming pioneer, and a founding figure in the organic movement
- Azahari Husin – leading member of the Jemaah Islamiyah group, believed to have been involved in the 2005 Bali bombing
- Robin Bextor – award-winning film and television director, and father of Sophie Ellis Bextor.
- Clive Ponting – civil servant who faced trial for the leaking of information on the sinking of the Belgrano, during the Falklands War.
- David Williams - space administrator, Director General of the British National Space Centre
Fictional Alumni
- Arnold Baffin – novelist character in The Black Prince by Iris Murdoch
- Blaise Gavender – psychologist and former Reading psychology lecturer in The Sacred and Profane Love Machine by Iris Murdoch
Business
- Nick Candy - Co-Founder and partner of high end property development company, Candy & Candy, London
[edit] References
- ^ 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 2008-04-12.
- ^ Campus for students. University of Reading. Retrieved on 2007-08-21.
- ^ 1994 Group - The University of Reading. Retrieved on 2008-03-26.
- ^ Campus Architecture. University of Reading. Retrieved on 2007-07-24.
- ^ University of Reading (2006). Bulletin newsletter dated March 16, 2006.
- ^ Statutory Instrument 1989 no. 408
- ^ Official statement about the Physics Department on the University website
- ^ Information page of Labour MP for Reading West, Martin Salter
- ^ Official Statement about University Senate vote from University website
- ^ BBC News article concerning the confirmed closure of the Physics department
- ^ World-class business school to be created as University of Reading merges with Henley Management College. University of Reading (2008-01-09).
- ^ Whiteknights development plan. University of Reading. Retrieved on 2008-03-09.
- ^ a b Halls Booklet 12. University of Reading. Retrieved on July 24, 2007.
- ^ World Class Business School. University of Reading. Retrieved on 2008-01-18.
- ^ a b Governance of the University of Reading. University of Reading. Retrieved on July 24, 2007.
- ^ a b c d e f g "Reading welcomes its new chancellor", Bulletin, University of Reading, 2008-01-17, pp. 6-7.
- ^ a b Football boss made uni chancellor. BBC (2007-07-11). Retrieved on 2007-07-24.
- ^ University of Reading Bulletin (16 March 2006) 4. University of Reading. Retrieved on July 24, 2007.
- ^ Sewell, Michael (2006-02-02). Tribute to Sir Harry Raymond Pitt, F.R.S.. Retrieved on 2008-03-12.
- ^ Professor Gordon Marshall. University of Reading. Retrieved on July 24, 2007.
[edit] External links
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