Queen's University Belfast

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Queen's University Belfast Ollscoil na Banríona, Béal Feirste


Established	1849, by Queen Victoria
Chancellor	(Fmr) Senator George J. Mitchell
Vice-Chancellor	Professor Peter Gregson
Staff	1,600
Students	24,560 ^[1]
Undergraduates	19,165 ^[1]
Postgraduates	5,395 ^[1]
Location	Belfast, Northern Ireland
Address	University Road Belfast BT7 1NN
Telephone	+44 (0) 2890 245133
Affiliations	Russell Group, UI, UUK
Website	http://www.qub.ac.uk

Queen's University Belfast is a university in Belfast, Northern Ireland and a member of the Russell Group (the UK's top 20 research universities). The university's official title, by which it often called, is The Queen's University of Belfast. The university offers academic degrees at various levels and across a broad subject range. It is particularly strong in the professions: pharmacy, medicine, dentistry, law, accountancy, architecture, engineering as well as pure and applied sciences, the arts and humanities and social sciences. The university's current President and Vice-Chancellor is Professor Peter Gregson, and its Chancellor is the former United States Senator, George Mitchell. On June 20, 2006 the university announced a £259 million investment programme focusing on facilities, recruitment and research. ^[2]

1 History
- 1.1 Parliamentary representation
2 Academic
3 Cultural life
4 Notable alumni
5 References
6 See also
7 External links

[edit] History

Queen's University (abbreviated to "QUB" and known informally as "Queen's") has its roots in the Belfast Academical Institution, which was founded in 1810 and remains as the Royal Belfast Academical Institution. The present university was first chartered as "Queen's College, Belfast" in 1845, when it was associated with the simultaneously founded Queen's College, Cork and Queen's College, Galway as part of the Queen's University of Ireland -- founded in 1845 to encourage higher education for Catholics and Presbyterians as a counterpart to the Trinity College, Dublin, then an Anglican institution -- and later the Royal University of Ireland (1880). The Irish Universities Act, 1908 dissolved the Royal University of Ireland and created two separate universities - the current National University of Ireland and the Queen's University of Belfast. At its opening in 1849 as a Queen's College, it had 23 professors and 343 students.

Queen's has been led by a distinguished line of Vice-Chancellors (presidents), including Sir David Keir, Lord Ashby of Brandon, Dr Michael Grant, Sir Arthur Vick, Sir Peter Froggatt served a 10-year term, Sir Gordon Beveridge, and Sir George Bain.

A detailed history is available on the university website.

[edit] Parliamentary representation

The Lanyon Building designed by the Belfast architect Sir Charles Lanyon

Main article: Queen's University of Belfast (UK Parliament constituency)

The university was one of only eight United Kingdom universities to hold a parliamentary seat in the Parliament of the United Kingdom at Westminster until such representation was abolished in 1950. The university was also represented in the now defunct Parliament of Northern Ireland from 1920–1968 where it held four seats. The last Member of Parliament for the university's Westminster seat was Professor Douglas Lloyd Savory and the last Member of Parliament for the university's Northern Irish parliamentary seat was Dr. H.I. McClure. Both representatives belonged to the Ulster Unionist Party.

[edit] Academic

In addition to the main campus in the centre of Belfast, the university has two associated university colleges, these being St Mary's and Stranmillis both also located in Belfast. Although offering a range of degree courses, these colleges primarily provide training for those wishing to enter the teaching profession.

The university has formal agreements with other colleges in Northern Ireland and operates several outreach schemes to rural areas.

[edit] Institutes

Several institutes are also associated with Queen's. Located close to the main campus is the Institute of Professional Legal Studies at Queen's which offers training to law graduates to enable them to practice as solicitors or barristers in Northern Ireland, England & Wales and the Republic of Ireland. Admission to the Institute is highly competitive and depends on the graduate's overall academic standing and their performance in an unseen written exam.

The Institute of Theology consists of several colleges with a Christian emphasis, including St Mary's (Catholic), Union Theological College (Presbyterian) as well as Baptist and Methodist colleges in Belfast. In all five colleges teach any programmes with a theological emphasis on behalf of the university; the university may confer theology degrees but cannot teach the subject itself. The Institute of Theology was known as the Faculty of Theology until 1998, being created as a faculty in 1926.

[edit] Reputation

Queen's University Belfast was admitted to the prestigious Russell Group of UK research-intensive universities in November 2006 [1],[2]. Independent league tables published by The Guardian newspaper in 2005 placed the university at number 33 out of 132 institutes of higher education within the United Kingdom, commenting "Queen's has a well-deserved reputation for the quality of its teaching and research, particularly in medicine and engineering".^[3] The Times placed the university at 32 out of 109 ranked universities in its 2007 Good University Guide.^[4] Its sister paper, The Sunday Times placed Queen's at number 37 of 119 in its University Guide 2006 League Table, up two places from the previous year.^[5]

[edit] Admissions and students

Entrants to Queen's have, on average, 359 A/AS-level points and there are currently 5.3 applications per place.^[6] The Sunday Times has described the Queen's admissions policy as "among the most socially inclusive in Britain and Northern Ireland".^[6]

The total student population is 24,560, of whom 29,165 are undergraduates and 5,395 postgraduates. Of the undergraduate population, 18,145 are from the UK, 640 from elsewhere in the European Union and 380 are from outside the EU. The figures for postgraduates are 4,115 from the UK, 650 from elsewhere in the EU, and 630 from the rest of the world.^[1]

[edit] Cultural life

The university also hosts the annual Belfast Festival at Queen's and the Belfast Film Festival and this year is holding the ISDA (Irish Student Drama Association) Festival. It runs Northern Ireland's only arthouse cinema - Queen's Film Theatre - and an art gallery, the Naughton Gallery at Queen's, which is a registered museum. The university's student's union is located opposite the main campus and has recently had a complete refurbishment. The main hall is named for Nelson Mandela^{[citation needed]} and hosts concerts and Shine, a once weekly but now monthly nightclub. The QUB boathouse, home of QUBBC and QUBLBC is located on the River Lagan near Stranmillis. Queen's has a choral group, Schola Gregoriana.