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University of Leicester
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The University of Leicester is a research led university based in Leicester, England, with approximately 20,000 registered students - about 13,000 of them full-time students and 7,000 part-time and/or distance learning. The main campus is a mile south of the city centre, adjacent to Victoria Park and Wyggeston and Queen Elizabeth I College.
On 23 October 2008 the University was named University of the Year by the Times Higher Education at their annual awards celebration.
History
The University was founded as Leicestershire and Rutland College in 1918.
Discussion
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Encyclopedia
The University of Leicester is a research led university based in Leicester, England, with approximately 20,000 registered students - about 13,000 of them full-time students and 7,000 part-time and/or distance learning. The main campus is a mile south of the city centre, adjacent to Victoria Park and Wyggeston and Queen Elizabeth I College.
On 23 October 2008 the University was named University of the Year by the Times Higher Education at their annual awards celebration.
History
The University was founded as Leicestershire and Rutland College in 1918. The site for the University was donated by a local textile manufacturer, Thomas Fielding Johnson, in order to create a living memorial for those who lost their lives in World War I. This is reflected in the University's motto Ut Vitam Habeant — 'so that they may have life'. The central building, now known as the Fielding Johnson Building and housing the University's administration offices and Faculty of Law, dates from 1837 and was formerly the Leicestershire and Rutland Lunatic Asylum.
Students were first admitted to the college in 1921. In 1927, after it became University College, Leicester, students sat the examinations for external degrees of the University of London. In 1957 the college was granted its Royal Charter, and has since then had the status of a University with the right to award its own degrees. The University won the first ever series of University Challenge, in 1963.
Organisation
The University is organised into six faculties.
Academic achievements
Science
The University of Leicester is one of the 1994-Group research universities. The University has scientific research groups in the areas of astrophysics, biochemistry and genetics. The techniques used in Genetic fingerprinting were invented and developed at Leicester in 1985 by Sir Alec Jeffreys. It also houses Europe's biggest academic centre for space research, in which space probes have been built, most notably the Mars Lander Beagle 2, which was built in collaboration with the Open University. A Leicester built instrument has been operating in space every year since 1967. Leicester Physicists (led by Professor Ken Pounds) were critical in proving a fundamental law of Einstein's General Theory of Relativity - that black holes exist and are common in the universe. It is a founding partner of the £52 million National Space Centre. In total Leicester has the highest research income of any non Russell Group institution in the UK. The University of Leicester is one of a small number of Universities to have won the prestigious Queen's Anniversary Prize for Higher Education on more than one occasion: in 1994 for physics & astronomy and again in 2002 for genetics. The Guardian's 2008 University Guide, published in 2007, ranked Leicester 2nd in the UK for Physics and 8th for Mathematics.
Arts, humanities and social sciences
Literary connections include Kingsley Amis, who is believed to have partially based his Campus novel Lucky Jim on Leicester University. Amis is alleged to have been inspired to write the book when visiting his friend Phillip Larkin who was working at the university as a librarian at the time. Malcolm Bradbury also used Leicester as a basis for his satire on university life Eating People Is Wrong. More recently, novelist Adele Parks graduated from the university in the 1990s, and the university library now holds the writings of both Joe Orton and Sue Townsend.
The School of Historical Studies at Leicester is, with 35 full time members of staff, including 11 Professors at current, one of the largest of any university in the country. It is has made considerable scholarly achievements in many areas of history, notably Urban History, English Local History, American Studies and Holocaust Studies. The School houses both the East Midlands Oral History Archive (EMOHA) and the Media Archive for Central England (MACE) .
The School of English is one of the UK’s leading providers of English at degree level. The Guardian's 2009 University Guide ranked Leicester 6th in the UK for English and 2nd for American Studies. The School comprises 25 members of staff, including 8 Professors, and is committed to offering the whole spectrum of English Studies from Contemporary Writing to Old English and language studies. It contains the distinguished Victorian Studies Centre, the first of its kind in the UK. Malcolm Bradbury is one of the Department's most famous alumni: he graduated with a First in English in 1953.
The School of Archaeology and Ancient History is likewise one of the UK's largest, and highest-ranked, departments in its two subjects. It was formed in 1990 from the former Departments of Archaeology and Classics, under the headship of Professor Graeme Barker (now Disney Professor at Cambridge). The current Head of School is Professor Colin Haselgrove. The current academic staff comprises 5 professors, 3 readers, 4 senior lecturers, and 12 lecturers. Of these staff members, 19 are archaeologists and 5 ancient historians, though several staff teach and research in both disciplines. In addition the School has an emeritus professor, 4 research fellows, and 9 honorary and associated members. The School was awarded a grade 5 in the 2001 Research Assessment Exercise and a maximum score of 24 points in the Quality Assurance Agency's review of teaching in that year. The School has particular strengths in Mediterranean archaeology, ancient Greek and Roman history, and the archaeology of recent periods including Industrial Archaeology. In April 2008 the Centre for Historical Archaeology was opened. The School is also home to University of Leicester Archaeological Services (ULAS).
The Centre for Mass Communication Research, now part of the Department of Media and Communications, is one of the longest established academic centres at Leicester, engaging in pioneering research in the 1970s and 1980s and now specializing in Masters courses, as does the Department of Museum Studies, in terms of both campus-based and distance-learning Masters.
Law
Within the university structure, the Faculty of Law is the smallest Faculty, however, it has one of the biggest departments as the Department of Law. The Law School has strong formal relationships with top law schools in many other countries such as France, South Africa, Singapore and Australia. It also has a number of leading academics who provide consultation to a number of legal and governmental bodies such as Professor Erika Szyszczak, Professor Chris Clarkson and Professor Malcolm Shaw QC.
In July 2007, two undergraduate law students, namely Steven Meltzer and Michael Weinstein won the International Negotiation Competition in Singapore, which is only the second occasion that a team from England and Wales has won the competition. As a result of this win, the law school will be the hosts for the 2008 National Negotiation Competition, which is sponsored by the College of Law and CEDR.
The Faculty maintains links with many top law firms, including the Magic Circle firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, who offer a one year scholarship to a Leicester student studying for the dual Law and French degree. The Law School is very proud of its flourishing Student Law Society which plays a central role in the life of the student body. Many law graduates at the university go on to follow careers in the City as commercial solicitors or barristers and so law at the university remains a popular choice and is always over-subscribed.
According to the Times Online Good University Guide 2009, the Faculty of Law is ranked 8th, out of 87 institutions, making it one of the top law schools in the country.
Teaching
The University is also held in high regard for the quality of its teaching. 19 subject areas have been graded as "Excellent" by the Quality Assurance Agency — including 14 successive scores of 22 points or above stretching back to 1998, six of which were maximum scores. Leicester was ranked joint first amongst full-time mainstream English universities in the 2005, 2006 and 2007 National Student Survey for overall student satisfaction. Leicester is home to two prestigious national Centres for Excellence in Teaching and Learning (in Genetics and Geographical Information Science) and plays an important role in a third (Physics). Over two thirds of subjects feature in the national top 10.
Engineering
The Department of Engineering has 33 academic staff (including 8 Professors) supported by 5 academic-related staff, about 20 research staff and 30 technical and clerical staff. Engineering is one of the largest departments at Leicester and has approximately 240 undergraduate students, 50 taught postgraduate students, and 50 postgraduate and postdoctoral researchers. The student/staff ratio is 10:1, which the Times Good Universities Guide describes as its "benchmark for excellence".
The Department is renowned for its research in the areas of Control and Instrumentation, Electrical and Electronic Power, Radio Systems, Mechanics of Materials, and Thermofluids and Environmental Engineering. The department achieved a rating of 5A in the latest HEFCE Research Assessment Exercise, putting it in the top tier of UK Engineering departments. Among those General Engineering departments that submitted the research records of more than 95% of their staff, only Cambridge and Oxford did better. Several research led appointments have been made in recent years, including a number of chairs, and this has resulted in research groups of international standing with strong leadership and a research base of highly talented staff.
In terms of teaching, the Department offers MEng and BEng degrees in Embedded Systems Engineering, Communications and Electronic Engineering, Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Mechanical Engineering and General Engineering. Each course is accredited by the relevant professional institutions. The Department also offers MSc courses in Embedded Systems and Control, Information and Communication Engineering, Advanced Mechanical Engineering, and Advanced Electrical and Electronic Engineering. The Department is fully committed to teaching excellence and the quality of its provision was affirmed by the results of the 2005 and 2006 National Student Satisfaction Surveys. The Department came joint first (out of 44 universities) for their teaching in Electrical Engineering and joint second (out of 43 universities) in Mechanical Engineering. The overall satisfaction score for the Department of Engineering at the University of Leicester was 4.3.
The Department has an extensive range of industrial partners including: BAe Systems, Rolls Royce, Jaguar, Siemens, Corus, Mercedes-Benz. Many undergraduate and postgraduate projects are carried out in collaboration with industry. The employment record for new graduates is strong.
Student support
The University of Leicester has a well developed network of student support and development agencies. Most but not all of this activity is organised through the Student Support and Development Service.
Student Support and Development Service
The Student Support and Development Service provides a fully integrated development and support service for students at the University of Leicester and a range of specific provision for University of Leicester staff. The SSDS also provides services at an institutional level, and for the national and international Higher Education sector.
Many SSDS services are provided though its specialist units: Careers Service; Student Counselling Service; Welfare Service; Student Support (mental well being); Student Learning Centre and the AccessAbility Centre. The SSDS is also responsible for the Hugh Binnie Student Sick Bay although a decision has recently been taken to close this service.
Student Learning Centre
The Student Learning Centre provides support and development opportunities for academic and transferable skills for students at the University of Leicester. This includes individual support, workshops and training opportunities, work with academic departments and the provision of Personal Development Planning and Work-Related Learning.
The Student Learning Centre works with students at all levels from undergraduate to postgraduate and includes a dedicated Research Student Team.
Leicester Medical School
The university is home to a large medical school, Leicester Medical School, which opened in 1971. Leicester Medical School was formerly in partnership with the University of Warwick, and the Leicester-Warwick medical school proved to be a success in helping Leicester expand, and Warwick establish. The partnership ran the end of its course towards the end of 2006 and the medical schools became autonomous institutions within their respective universities.
League tables
Leicester is ranked 12th in the UK (out of 113 universities) by the Complete University Guide published in the Independent newspaper on 24 April 2008 making it the highest ranked university in the East Midlands. It is also ranked in the top 200 in Shanghai Jiao Tong University's world rankings.
UK University Rankings | 2009 | 2008 | 2007 | 2006 | 2005 | 2004 | 2003 | 2002 | 2001 | 2000 | 1999 | 1998 | 1997 | 1996 | 1995 | 1994 | 1993 |
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| Times Good University Guide | 14th | 21st | 18th | 24th | 29th | 24th | 26th | 33rd | 34th= | 34th= | 31st= | 23rd | 32nd | 35th= | 22nd= | 32nd= | 37th= |
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| Guardian University Guide | 14th | 21st | 25th | 25th | 34th | 27th | 25th | | | | | | | | | | |
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| Sunday Times University Guide | | 18th | 19th | 22nd | 22nd | 31st | 23rd | 19th | 19th | 24th | 27th | 36th | | | | | |
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| Daily Telegraph | | | 20th= | | | | 21st | 22nd | | | | | | | | | |
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| FT | | | | | | | 18th | 17th | 19th | 26th | 33rd | | | | | | |
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| Independent - Complete University Guide | 12th | 20th= | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
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Notable architecture
The skyline of Leicester University is punctuated by three distinctive, towering, buildings from the 1960s: the Department of Engineering, the Attenborough tower and the Charles Wilson building.
The University's Engineering Building was the first major building by important British architect James Stirling. It comprises workshops and laboratories at ground level, and a tower containing offices and lecture theatres. It was completed in 1963 and is notable for the way in which its external form reflects its internal functions. The very compact campus contains a wide range of twentieth century architecture, though the oldest building, the Fielding Johnson building, dates from 1837. The Attenborough Tower houses the tallest working paternoster in the UK and is undergoing extensive renovation.
Leicester's halls of residence are also worthy of mention in their own right: many of the halls (nearly all in prosperous, leafy, Oadby) date from the early 1900’s and were the homes of Leicester’s wealthy industrialists.
The Future of the University
The university is currently undergoing a £300+ million redevelopment including a complete revamp of the Percy Gee Student Union building. A new biomedical research building (the Henry Wellcome Building) has already been constructed.
The refurbished David Wilson Library, twice the size of the previous University Library, opened on 1 April 2008.
Student accommodation includes 16 new pavilions varying in size in the new John Foster Hall. On 1 October 2006, the university opened its new halls of residence located on Manor Road in Oadby. The new hall, now named "John Foster Hall" (in honour of the retiring Chair of University Council) was built on the former site of Villiers Hall. It houses over 700 students in flats housing 4-5 students, each en suite with fully fitted kitchens. The new pavilions are named after villages and towns around Leicestershire.
John Foster Hall also houses a laundrette, facilities building with bar/JCR, dining hall, kitchen, reception, two sets of toilets, four conference rooms and disabled access.
The 30-year plan is the largest in the university's history, expanding building space by 30% and student numbers from 19,000 to 25,000.
In recent years the University has disposed of some of its poorer quality property in order to invest in new facilities such as the John Foster Hall of Residence and the new University Library.
Library special collections
Christine and Paul Hatton were able to view examples from the rare books from the Hatton Topographical Library that their grandfather had donated to the Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland College in 1920. This generous gift formed the nucleus of the University Library’s exceptional English local history collections.
- Local history collections (for the Centre for English Local History), including:
- Thomas Hatton (1876 – 1943)'s collection. Born in Manchester, he began work as a junior clerk in a corset factory in Market Harborough and later moved to Leicester to set up his own boot manufacturing business. He also had interests in crossword promotion, greyhound racing and boxing (and on one trip to America was photographed with Laurel and Hardy, with all three of them wearing the trademark bowler hat), but his forté however was book collecting. A discriminating collector who applied his professional knowledge as a boot manufacturer to his book collecting by pioneering the use of glazed goat skin as a binding material, over a period of ten years he gathered one of the finest private collections of topographical and local history books. When his interests moved from topographical to Dickensian material, he agreed to donate his nearly 2,000 local history books to what was then Leicester College.
The library also holds a number of collections containing items written by several famous writers, these include:
- Joe Orton Collection. Joe Orton (1933-1967) was a Leicester-born playwright, the collection contains his manuscripts and correspondence.
- Laura Riding Letters. The collected correspondence of the American poet and critic Laura Riding (1901-1991).
- Sue Townsend Collection. The personal papers of Sue Townsend (born 1946). The collection contains Townsend's literary correspondence and notebooks detailing her works.
- Archives of the Institute for the Study of Terrorism (see Jillian Becker).
Facts and figures
From the 2004-2005 annual report:
Students
- 18,005 Registered students
- 9,491 Undergraduate students
- 8,514 Postgraduate students (7,096 taught, 1,321 research)
- 5,962 Distance learning students
- 9,911 Full-time students (8,350 UK and EU, 1,561 other)
- 28.3% Faculty of Social Science (includes former Faculty of Education)
- 25.8% Faculty of Medicine and Biological Sciences
- 18.6% Faculty of Arts
- 17.1% Faculty of Science
- 10.3% Faculty of Law
Staff
- 709 Full-time academic staff
- 43 Part-time academic staff
- 415 Full-time research staff
- 68 Part-time research staff
- 336 Full-time academic-related staff
- 87 Part-time academic-related staff
- 860 Full-time support staff
- 920 Part-time support staff
The Ripple
The Ripple is the student newspaper of the University of Leicester. The newspaper was founded as the Wave in the early '50s by Malcolm Bradbury. It became The Ripple in 1957 and has recently celebrated its 50th anniversary.
Lush Radio
Lush Radio is the radio station of the University of Leicester Students' Union. It is run and presented exclusively by students and broadcasts a mixture of music, chat and news, providing Leicester students and residents a local alternative to other regional and national radio stations. The station normally broadcasts twice yearly on a Restricted Service Licence on FM 107.5 MHz and throughout most of the academic year via a dedicated webcast. The studio is located on the top floor of the Percy Gee Building. Presenter numbers vary but are often in the region of 80–100, presenting music styles from Indie rock, R&B and House through to Bhangra and other internationally flavoured music.
Annual events
From 2005, the station holds a 24 hour charity broadcast. Local and national companies support by providing prizes. In 2006 the charity was Macmillan Cancer Support; in 2007 Comic Relief.
People
Chancellors
To date, each of the former chancellors has had a University building named after him.
Notable academics
- Khurshid Ahmad, Islamic Scholar
- Isobel Armstrong, Scholar of Nineteenth-Century Poetry and Women's Writing
- Graeme Barker, Disney Professor of Archaeology, University of Cambridge
- Richard Bonney, Historian
- Alan Bryman, Social Scientist
- Chris Clarkson, prominent Criminal lawyer, specialising in Corporate Liability. Recently consulted the Government on reform proposals for corporate liability.
- Philip Cottrell, Economic and financial Historian
- Heather Couper, Astronomer and Television Presenter
- Nicholas J. Cull, US Historian
- Gabriel Dover, Geneticist
- Eric Dunning, Sports Sociologist
- Christopher Dyer, Medieval Historian
- Norbert Elias, German Sociologist
- Brian J. Ford, Scientist, Visiting Professor
- G. S. Fraser, Scottish Poet
- Anthony Giddens, prominent sociologist, taught social psychology at Leicester
- Reuben Goodstein, Mathematician, proponent of Goodstein's theorem
- Cosmo Graham, Public law and Competition law specialist. Member of the Competition Commission
- Jeffrey A. Hoffman, NASA astronaut and physicist
- Richard Hoggart, Sociologist
- W. G. Hoskins, (1931-1952) (1965-1968), local historian, author of The Making of the English Landscape
- Norman Housley, Crusading historian
- Leonard Huxley, Physicist
- Sir Alec Jeffreys, geneticist, inventor of genetic fingerprinting
- Hans Kornberg, Biochemist
- Philip Larkin, Librarian and Poet
- David Mattingly, Roman archaeologist
- John McManners, Former Head of History dept, Regius Professor of History at the University of Oxford until retirement
- Ken Pounds, Emeritus Professor of Physics, discovered black holes were common in the universe
- Charles Rees, Organic Chemist
- Lord Rees of Ludlow, The Astronomer Royal, is a visiting professor at Leicester
- J.B. Schneewind, Philosophy professor, Johns Hopkins University
- Malcolm Shaw QC, The Sir Robert Jennings Professor of International Law, prominent International Lawyer & Jurist. Author of best selling book on International Law
- Brian Simon, Professor of Education 1966-1980
- Sami Zubaida, Political Scientist
Notable alumni
Numerous public figures in many diverse fields have been students at the University, including:
- Peter Atkins, physical chemist
- David Blanchflower, Economist, Dartmouth College Professor
- Sir Malcolm Bradbury, author
- Justin Chadwick, actor and director
- Philip Campbell, editor-in-chief of Nature
- Liam Donaldson, Chief Medical Officer
- Lord Grocott, former MP, Captain of the Gentlemen-at-Arms
- Baroness Howarth of Breckland, peer, on the board of CAFCASS
- Norman Lamb, MP
- Pete McCarthy, writer, broadcaster, comedian
- Massimiliano Neri, fashion model
- Michael Nicholson, journalist
- Bob Parr MBE, multi Emmy Award-winning television producer and former Special Air Service soldier
- J. H. Plumb, Historian of Eighteenth century Britain
- Patrick Redmond , novelist
- C. P. Snow, author
- Sir John Stevens, former Metropolitan Police Commissioner and current Adviser on international security issues to Gordon Brown
- John Sutherland, Guardian Columnist, Emeritus Professor of English Literature, University College London
- Laurie Taylor, broadcaster, actor, sociologist
- Jon Tickle, celebrity
- Storm Thorgerson, Artist
The Attenboroughs
Two names commonly associated with the University of Leicester are Richard and David Attenborough. Their father Frederick Attenborough was Principal of the University College from 1932 until 1951. The brothers grew up on the campus (with their younger brother John), in a house which is currently home to the careers service (and is now near to the Attenborough tower, the tallest building on the campus and home to many of the arts and humanities departments). They were educated at the adjacent grammar school before attending the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and the University of Cambridge respectively. Both have maintained links with the university - David Attenborough was made an honorary Doctor of Letters in 1970 and opened the Attenborough Arboretum in Knighton in 1997. In the same year, the for Disability and the Arts was opened by Diana, Princess of Wales. Both brothers were made Distinguished Honorary Fellows of the University at the 13 July 2006 afternoon degree ceremony.
See also
External links
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