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University of Reading
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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.
University owes its origins to the Schools of Art and Science established in Reading in 1860 and 1870.
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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.
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 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. In 1982 the University merged with Bulmershe College of Higher Education, in the process acquiring its third campus.
In 1984 the University started a merger with Bulmershe College of Higher Education, which was completed in 1989.
In October 2006, the Senior Management Board proposed 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 over the closure which prompted heated discussion of higher education issues in general. On October 10 the Senate voted to close the Department of Physics, a move confirmed by the Council on November 20. Other departments closed in recent years include Music, Sociology, Geology, and Mechanical Engineering. The university's senior management board proposed in 2009 to close the School of Health and Social Care, a school whose courses have consistently been oversubscribed.
In January 2008, the University announced its merger with the Henley Management College to create the university's new Henley Business School, bringing together Henley College's expertise in MBAs with the University's existing Business School and ICMA Centre. The merger took formal effect on the 1st August 2008, with the new business school split across the university's existing Whiteknights Campus and its new Greenlands Campus that formerly housed Henley Management College.
Campuses
The University maintains over of grounds, in four distinct campuses:
- Whiteknights Campus, at , 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 home to the Centre for Continuing Education and the Professional Management Programmes as well as the Museum of English Rural Life. Moreover, it plays host to the University graduation ceremonies twice a year, in the Great Hall. London Road is currently undergoing extensive renovation to allow a number of departments to move from Bulmershe and London Road Campuses from 2011.
- 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. Bulmershe is currently due for closure in 2011 with departments moving to either London Road or Whiteknights Campuses.
- The Greenlands Campus, on the banks of the River Thames in Buckinghamshire. Once the home of William Henry Smith, founder of WH Smith, and latterly the site of the Henley Management College, this campus became part of the university on the 1st August 2008, with the merger of that college with the university's Business School to form the Henley Business School. The school's MBA and corporate learning offerings will be based at Greenlands, with undergraduate and other postgraduate courses being based at Whiteknights.
The University also owns 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. The University also intends to site some functions on the London Road site, with a complete withdrawal from Bulmershe Court proposed by 2012.
Research and Business Development
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. In the wake of the 2008 RAE, the university saw a cut of £4m (19%) in its recurrent research funding, the largest cut among the 1994 Group of British universities.
The Department of Meteorology was awarded a Queens Anniversary Prize for Higher and Further Education in 2005. Reading was the first university to win a Queen's Award for Export Achievement, in 1989.
Community
In the 200405 academic year, the university had 4,024 staff and 15,326 students.
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 Bill Rammell MP, Minister for Higher Education.
University Halls and accommodation
Student accommodation is provided in a number of halls of residence offering a mix of partially catered (19 meals per week) and self-catering accommodation, along with other self-catering accommodation. Following a major review the University is now preceding with the integrated Halls and Catering Strategy, that will see several halls replaced as well as new ones created with social, catering & welfare facilities provided in hub areas. 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, Greenow, MacCombie, Mackinder (Opening October 2010), Stenton (Opening October 2011), Wessex, Whiteknights, and Windsor Halls are on the Whiteknights Campus. Hillside Court, Martindale Court, Mansfield (closed to students but parts in use), Reading Student Village, St. David's (closed to students but home to a number of staff), St. Georges, St. Patricks, Sherfield, Sibly, Wantage and Wells (currently mothballed) Halls are in the residential areas surrounding Whiteknights. In addition to the halls 35 Upper Redlands Road provides accommodation for visiting Academics to Reading.
Halls are managed in groups which are Lakeside (Bridges, Bulmershe & Wessex), Northcourt (Sibly, Sherfield, Student Village (managed by UPP) and St. Patrick's, Park (Childs, Greenow, McCombie, MacKinder, Stenton, Windsor and Whiteknights), Redlands (Hillside, Martindale, St. George's, Wells and Wantage) and Estates Management (35 Upper Redlands Road, Mansfield and St. David's).
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 200304 and £1.3 million in 200203.
Sport
The University is successful at a number of sports, including rowing, tennis, hockey, and squash.
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. The Kickboxing club has also won national and southern tournments in recent years.
The Reading University Boat Club (RUBC) has won many Rowing 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 the year1986, 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), Garry 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.
Societies
The University of Reading has 60 societies open to its students.
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. There is also a library in the University's Meteorology department.
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. This was purchased by the University of Reading, ceased student recruitment and finally closed 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.
Governance
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.
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.
Officers of the University
Chancellors
Vice-Chancellors
Notable Academics
- Stanislav Andreski - was a professor of Sociology at the University of Reading
- Malcolm Barber - Emeritus Professor of History, University of Reading
- Howard Colquhoun - Professor of Materials Chemistry, University of Reading
- Neil Crosby - Professor of Real Estate, University of Reading
- Jonathan Dancy - Professor of Philosophy, University of Reading
- 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
- Harold Hopkins - was a professor of Applied Physical Optics at the University of Reading
- Sir Brian Hoskins - Professor of Climatology, University of Reading and Director of the Grantham Institute for Climate Change, Imperial College London
- Crispin St. J. A. Nash-Williams - was a professor of Mathematics at the University of Reading
- Richard Rado - was a professor of Mathematics at the University of Reading
- Keith Shine - Professor of Climatology, University of Reading
- 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 Classics, University of Reading
- Kevin Warwick - Professor of Cybernetics, University of Reading
Notable Alumni
Academics
- Ash Amin - Professor of Geography, Durham University
- Ken Brown - Professor of History and Pro-Vice Chancellor of the Queen's University Belfast
- Stephen E. Calvert - Emeritus Professor of Geology, University of British Columbia
- Michael Cox - Professor of International Relations, London School of Economics
- Andrew Dobson - Professor of Political Science, Keele University
- Sean Holly - Professor of Economics, University of Cambridge
- Jolyon Howorth - Professor of European Politics, University of Bath and Visiting Professor of Political Science at Yale University
- Michael Leifer - was a professor of International Relations at the London School of Economics
- David Marks - Professor of Psychology, City University London
- Avi Shlaim - Professor of International Relations, University of Oxford
- Bernard Smith - Professor of Geology, Queen's University Belfast
- Kenneth Surin - Professor of Literature and Critical Theory, Duke University
- John Turner - Professor of Engineering and Pro-Vice Chancellor of the University of Portsmouth
Politics
Mathematics & Science
Music
Sport
Broadcasting
Writing & Artistry
Others
Business
- Nick Candy - Co-Founder and partner of high end property development company, Candy & Candy, London
- Kevin Goldstein-Jackson - founder of Television South West
See also
External links
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