University of Reading

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University of Reading


Established	became university 1926
Type	Public
Chancellor	The Right Hon. Lord Carrington
Vice-Chancellor	Prof. Gordon Marshall
Faculty	4,024
Students	14355 ^[1]
Undergraduates	10170 ^[1]
Postgraduates	4185 ^[1]
Location	Reading, Berkshire, UK
Campus	320 acres
Affiliations	1994 Group
Website	www.reading.ac.uk

The University of Reading is a 'Red brick', campus university in the English town of Reading, UK.

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. With around 3,000 international students from 120 countries, the university adds considerably to Reading's dynamic multi-cultural environment.

1 History
- 1.1 Controversy over departmental closures
2 Campuses
3 Research and Business Development
4 Community
5 University Halls & accommodation
6 Sport
7 Museums and Botanical Gardens
8 Associated institutions
9 Alumni
10 References
11 External links

[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 campus. In 1982 the University merged with Bulmershe College of Higher Education, in the process acquiring its third campus.^[2]

In 1984 the University started the merger with Bulmershe College of Higher Education, which was completed in 1989 ^[3]

[edit] Controversy over departmental closures

In October 2006, the Senior Management Board proposed ^[4] 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^[5] over the closure which prompted heated discussion of higher education issues in general.^[6]. On October 10th the Senate voted to close the Department of Physics, a move confirmed by the Council on November 20th.^[7]

[edit] Campuses

Whiteknights Campus Woodlands.

Whiteknights Lake in winter.

The University maintains over 1.6 km² of grounds, in three distinct campuses. Whiteknights Campus, at 1.23 km², 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 much closer to the town centre of Reading. Moreover, it plays host to the University graduation ceremonies at the Great Hall and is still home to the School of Continuing Education.

The Bulmershe Court Campus in Woodley is home to the Institute of Education and the School of Health and Social Care. It also has the largest hall of residence of the University.

The University also owns 8.5 km² 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.

[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] Community

In the 2004-5 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. The university also has a number of Junior Common Rooms that are nominally independent from the Students' Union and the University.

[edit] University Halls & 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 located on the Bulmershe Campus. Bridges, Childs, Wessex, Whiteknights, and Windsor Halls are located on the Whiteknights Campus. St. George’s, St. Patrick’s, Sherfield, Sibly, Wantage, and Wells Halls are located in the residential areas surrounding Whiteknights, as is the self-catering accommodation of the Reading Student Village, Hillside Court and Martindale Court.

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 2003/2004 and £1.3 million in 2002/2003.

Logo	Name	Website
	Whiteknights Hall
	Wantage Hall	[1]
	St. Patrick’s Hall	[2]
	Bridges Hall	[3]
	Wells Hall (closed)
	Childs Hall
	Wessex Hall	[4]
	Windsor Hall
	Bulmershe Hall
	St. George’s Hall
	Sherfield Hall
	Sibly Hall
	Martindale Court
	Hillside Court
	Reading Student Village

[edit] Sport

The University is successful at a number of sports, including Tennis, Hockey and Squash. In particular they are highly successful at Rowing and the Reading University Rowing Club team has won many awards and competitions. This is, in part, due to their prime location in the Thames Valley and the superb facilities that the students enjoy.

[edit] Museums and Botanical Gardens

Reading University maintains four museums and a botanical garden. The largest and best known of these 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 located on the Whiteknights Campus.

[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.

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.

[edit] Alumni

Politicians

Anton Apriantono - food technology scientist, serving as Indonesia's Minister of Agriculture since 2004
Edison James - Prime Minister of Dominica 1995-2000
Mike Penning - Conservative Member of Parliament for the Hemel Hempstead parliamentary constituency.
Rob Wilson - Conservative Member of Parliament for the Reading East parliamentary constituency

Mathematicians/Sciences

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

Musicians

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.

Sports

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

Broadcasters

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.

Writers/Arts

Robert Gillmor - ornithologist, artist, illustrator, author and editor
Joan Smith - novelist and journalist
Richard Wilson - installation artist

Other

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.

Fictional Alumni