Cardiff University

Cardiff University
Prifysgol Caerdydd
Motto Welsh: Gwirionedd Undod A Chytgord
Motto in English Truth Unity and Harmony
Established 1883 (as the University College of South Wales & Monmouthshire)
Type Public
Endowment £22.09 million (2008/09) [1]
President Sir Martin Evans
Vice-Chancellor Dr David Grant
Admin. staff 5,230
Students 30,930[2]
Undergraduates 21,800[2]
Postgraduates 7,840[2]
Other students 1,290 FE[2]
Location Cardiff, Wales, UK
Campus Urban
Colours Black and red
Affiliations Russell Group
EUA
University of Wales
Universities UK
Website http://www.cardiff.ac.uk/

Cardiff University (Welsh: Prifysgol Caerdydd) is a leading research university located in the Cathays Park area of Cardiff, Wales, United Kingdom. It received its Royal charter in 1883 and is a member of the Russell Group of Universities.[3] The university is consistently recognised as providing high quality research-based university education in Wales. In the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise, almost 60 per cent of all research at Cardiff University was assessed as world-leading or internationally excellent – 4* and 3* the top two categories of assessment.[4] Ranked number 122 of the world's top universities,[5] Cardiff University celebrated its 125th anniversary in 2008. Before August 2004, the university was officially known as University of Wales, Cardiff (Welsh: Prifysgol Cymru, Caerdydd), although it used the name Cardiff University publicly.[6]

Contents

History

‎The Aberdare Report of 1881 recommended the foundation of university colleges in North Wales and South Wales to complement the already established University College, Wales (now the University of Wales, Aberystwyth), in Aberystwyth. There was considerable debate about whether the southern college should be located in Cardiff or Swansea. The case for Cardiff was strengthened by stressing the need to take account of the interests of Monmouthshire, at that time not legally considered part of Wales. This influenced the name of the new body. Following a public appeal that raised £37,000, the University College of South Wales and Monmouthshire opened on October 24, 1883, offering studies in Biology, Chemistry, English, French, German, Greek, History, Latin, Mathematics & Astronomy, Music, Welsh, Logic & Philosophy and Physics. The University College was incorporated by Royal Charter the following year. John Viriamu Jones was appointed as the University’s first Principal, at age 27. The only college in Wales with its own degree awarding powers at this time was St David's University College. As such, Cardiff entered students for the examinations of the University of London[7] until, in 1893, it became one of the founding institutions of the University of Wales and began awarding their degrees.

In 1885, Aberdare Hall opened as the first hall of residence, allowing women access to the university. This moved to its current site in 1895, but remains a single-sex hall. 1904 saw the appointment of the first female professor in the UK, Millicent McKenzie.

Architect W.D. Caroe sought to combine the charm and elegance of his former college (Trinity College, Cambridge) with the picturesque balance of many of the University of Oxford colleges. Building work on the Main Building commenced in 1905 and was completed in many stages, the first in 1909. Money ran short for this project, however, and although the side-wings were completed in the 1960s the planned Great Hall has never been built. Prior to then, from its founding in 1883, the university was based in the Old Infirmary on Newport Road, Cardiff which is now part of the university’s Queen’s Buildings.

In 1931, the School of Medicine, which had been founded as part of the college in 1893 when the Departments of Anatomy, Physiology, Pathology, Pharmacology were founded, was split off to form the University of Wales College of Medicine. In 1972, the college was renamed University College, Cardiff.

In 1988, a massive debt had been built up by University College, Cardiff, precipitating a merger with the University of Wales Institute of Science and Technology, UWIST, forming the University of Wales College, Cardiff. The Principal of the new institution was Sir Aubrey Trotman-Dickenson, who had been principal of UWIST. Following changes to the constitution of the University of Wales in 1996, this became the University of Wales, Cardiff.

In the early 1990s, the university's computer systems served as the home for The Internet Movie Database.[8] In 1997, the college was granted full independent degree awarding-powers by the Privy Council (though, as a member of the University of Wales it could not begin using them) and in 1999 the public name of the university was changed to Cardiff University. Some considered this part of an effort at Cardiff to set itself apart from the other colleges of the University of Wales, none of which are members of the Russell Group.

On 1 August 2004 the University of Wales, Cardiff merged with the University of Wales College of Medicine. The merged institution separated from the collegiate University of Wales and officially took the name Cardiff University.

Cardiff today

In 2002, ideas were floated to re-merge Cardiff with the University of Wales College of Medicine (UWCM) following the publication of the Welsh Assembly Government's review of higher education in Wales. This merger became effective on August 1, 2004, on which date Cardiff University ceased to be a constituent institution of the University of Wales and became an independent "link institution" affiliated to the federal University. The process of the merger was completed on December 1, 2004 when the Act of Parliament transferring UWCM's assets to Cardiff University received Royal Assent. On December 17 it was announced that the Privy Council had given approval to the new Supplemental Charter and had granted university status to Cardiff, legally changing the name of the institution to Cardiff University. Cardiff awarded University of Wales degrees to students admitted before 2005, but these have been replaced by Cardiff degrees. Medicine, dentistry and other health-related areas began to admit students for Cardiff degrees in 2006.

In 2004, Cardiff University and the Swansea University entered a partnership to provide a four-year graduate-entry medical degree. An annual intake of around 70 post-graduate students undertake an accelerated version of the Cardiff course at the Swansea University for the first two years before joining undergraduate students at Cardiff for the final two years. All medicine/surgery graduates are awarded the degrees MB BCh. However from September 2009 Swansea University will be independently providing medical education in a revised 4-yr Graduate Entry Degree.

In 2005, The Wales College of Medicine, which is part of the University, launched the North Wales Clinical School in Wrexham in collaboration with the North East Wales Institute of Higher Education in Wrexham and the University of Wales, Bangor and with the National Health Service in Wales. This has been funded with £12.5 million from the Welsh Assembly[9] and will lead to the trebling of the number of trainee doctors in clinical training in Wales over a four year period.

The university has a rivalry with nearby Swansea University, against whom every year they have a varsity match termed the Welsh Varsity.

The university also has a popular Centre for Lifelong Learning which has been teaching a wide range of courses to the public for over 125 years.[10] In July 2009, the University announced it was ending the teaching of over 250 humanities courses at the centre making over 100 staff redundant. The University has since reintroduced a number of humanities courses for a trial period beginning in 2010.[11]

In June 2010, the University launched three new Research Institutes,[12] each of which offers a new approach to a major issue. They are the Cancer Stem Cell Research Institute, the Sustainable Places Research Institute, and the Neurosciences & Mental Health Research Institute.

Reputation

Cardiff University continues the tradition of all three of its former institutions in providing high quality research-based education in Wales, as shown in its five year standing as the best centre of excellence in Wales in the Sunday Times League Tables. Cardiff is also the only university in Wales to be a member of the Russell Group of Research Intensive Universities. Cardiff is by far the strongest research-focused university in Wales. In the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise, 33 out of the 34 research areas submitted by the University for assessment were shown to be undertaking research that includes world-leading work.

Times Higher Education ranked Cardiff University 99th in the top 100 universities in the world in 2007,[13] although by 2008 it had dropped 34 places to number 133 [14]

Cardiff has two Nobel Laureates on its staff, Professor Sir Martin Evans and Professor Robert Huber.[15] A number of Cardiff University staff have been elected as Fellows of the Royal Society, these include Graham Hutchings FRS, professor of Physical Chemistry and Director of the Cardiff Catalysis Institute, School of Chemistry[16] and Professor Ole Holger Petersen CBE FRS, MRC Professor and Director of Cardiff School of Biosciences.[17]

The University has also won four Queen's Anniversary Prizes for Higher & Further Education. The most recent award was won in 2009 by the University's Violence & Society Research Group.

QS World University Rankings

The Times Online - Good University Guide 2010

UK University Rankings
1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012
Times Good University Guide 26th 35th 30th 30th 29th 34th 25th 21st=[28] 22nd 16th[29] 28th[30] 29th[31] 26th 34th 35th
Guardian University Guide 41st[32] 36th[33] 20th[34] 24th[35] 24th 22nd[36] 33rd[36] 44th 46th 39th=
Sunday Times University Guide 22nd[37] 23rd[37] 33rd[37] 29th[37] 25th[37] 15th[37] 21st[37] 19th 19th[38] 28th[37] 24th=[39] 24th 26th
Daily Telegraph 32nd= 27th[40]
FT 35th[41] 29th[42] 34th[43] 22nd[44]
Independent 27th[45] 37th[45] 37th 41st 37th

Schools and colleges

Cardiff University has 27 academic schools.

The academic schools are:

Cardiff also has a new University Graduate College which brings together the work of four previous, discipline- based Graduate Schools and the postgraduate research activity of the University's Graduate Centre.

Facilities

There are sporting facilities and sports teams in the BUCS university league, including men's and women's hockey. The university's American football team, the Cardiff Cobras, compete in the British Universities American Football League.

The Cardiff University Students' Union building is over the main railway going north from Cardiff to the Valleys, next door to Cathays railway station. It has shops, a nightclub and the studios of Xpress Radio (which is broadcast on the internet [1] and piped throughout the union) and Gair Rhydd (Welsh for 'Free Word'), the student newspaper.

Notable alumni/current staff

Alumni and current staff of Cardiff University (and its predecessor) include: (Ordered alphabetically by surname)

Dr.Fahim Kibria- Current CMO at Kotler Impact

References

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External links

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