University of Hull

The University of Hull, also known as Hull University, is an English university located in Hull (or Kingston upon Hull), a city in the East Riding of Yorkshire. It was founded in 1927. The main campus is located on Cottingham Road. Part of the campus is the home of the Hull York Medical School. The university also has a smaller campus in Scarborough.

The university was once the workplace of the poet Philip Larkin who worked as Librarian of the Brynmor Jones Library. It was also once the workplace of current poet laureate Andrew Motion and the film director Anthony Minghella.

Former Vice-Chancellors include Professor David Dilks FRHistS FRSL.

Lord Wilberforce, the noted House of Lords judge was Chancellor of the University from 1978 until 1994, and was known for his keen participation in the life of the University and the Law School, despite the position being entirely honorary. Until recently, Lord Armstrong has been the Chancellor, but Virginia Bottomley was installed in April 2006.

History

The foundation stone for University College Hull, as it was known in 1927, was laid by George VI, then the Duke of York, as an outpost of the University of London.A year later the first 14 departments, in pure sciences and the arts, opened with an attendance of 39 students. The college consisted of one building, the Venn building, and was built on land donated by Hull City Council and local benefactors Thomas Ferens and G F Grant.

In 1954, the college gained its hard fought for Royal Charter, giving it degree-awarding powers and constituting the third university in Yorkshire, and the 14th in England. The Brynmor Jones Library was constructed in 1960, with a tower block extension added in 1970. During the 1960s more academic buildings were added, with their height diminishing from the centre of the campus towards the perimeter, a barrier which the university was quickly outgrowing.

In 2000, the University was in severe financial trouble and was only saved through a merger with its smaller, but financially-sound, neighbour University College Scarborough. Out of this emerged the University of Hull Scarborough Campus. In 2003, the University purchased the adjacent buildings of the University of Lincoln; the site now houses the Hull York Medical School, and recently-completed construction has led to the Business School relocating to these three buildings - Wharfe, Derwent, and Esk - which now form the West Campus of the university as of the academic year beginning in 2005.

In February 2005, the University caused controversy by scrapping its mathematics degree course, because of "falling interest", despite having received 130 applications for the coming year. Other reasons for its scrapping include such things as lack of research possibilities, which would mean little money is brought in to improve the department.

Student life and activities

Hull University Union (HUU)has a £3.6 million nightclub called Asylum and a monthly student newspaper Hullfire as well as its student radio station Jam 1575. It also hosts many societies and sports clubs including Hull's branch of the national charity, Revelation Rock-Gospel Choirs.

Student accommodation is based in Cottingham, with Thwaite Hall and Needler Hall, which are traditional halls, as well as "The Lawns". This is a complex featuring the traditional Ferens Hall as well as seven smaller halls comprised of five blocks (Lambert, Nicholson, Morgan, Downs, Reckitt and Grant) with a main focal "Lawns Centre" for meals and socialising. The complex houses just over 1,000 students. Taylor Court flats, which are located on the campus, are single en suite self-catering flats and can accommodate more than 200 students. Student housing is based primarily around the university campus itself, as well as around the Newland Avenue and Beverley Road areas of the city. Cleminson Hall was also part of the accommodation setup, but was recently sold.

Notable Academics

Lord Norton of Louth, Professor of Politics
Noel O'Sullivan, Professor of Politics, specialist in political theory
Lord Parekh, Professor of Politics, specialist on the theory of multiculturalism (1964-2000)

Alumni

Colin Challen, Labour politician (BA, Philosophy 1983)
Louise Ellman, Labour politician (BA, 1967)
Stephen Gallagher, novelist, screenwriter
Anthony Giddens, social scientist, prominent sociologist
Sarah Greene, television presenter
Roy Hattersley, Labour politician
John Prescott, Deputy Prime Minister
Jonathan Raban, fiction and travel writer, including "Hunting Mister Heartbreak" and "Bad Land: An American Romance".
Roger McGough, poet
Anthony Minghella, film director
John McCarthy, journalist
The Silkie, 1960's folk band, all members of the band attended the university.

Selected Honourary Degrees

Sir Liam Donaldson (government medical advisor)
John Robinson (ex-Chairman of University Council)
Baroness Fritchie
Sir Digby Jones (ex-CBI boss)
Pierluigi Collina (football referee)
Dame Tanni Grey Thompson (paralympic athlete)
John Hurt (actor)
Ian Rankin (author)
Bill Bryson (travel writer)

In Popular Culture

The University of Hull was referred to in the popular BBC comedy Blackadder Goes Forth in the episode General Hospital.

Blackadder hunts down a German spy operating in a British military hospital in the Great War and informs his superior with the following dialogue:

Captain Blackadder: And then the final, irrefutable proof. Remember, you mentioned a clever boyfriend...

Nurse Mary: Yes.

Captain Blackadder: I then leapt on the opportunity to test you. I asked if he'd been to one of the great universities, Oxford, Cambridge, or Hull.

Nurse Mary: Well?

Captain Blackadder: You failed to spot that only two of those are great Universities.

Nurse Mary: Swine!

General Melchett: That's right! Oxford's a complete dump!

The joke is historically inaccurate as University College Hull was founded in 1927 (nine years after the First World War) and only became the University of Hull when granted a Royal Charter in 1954. However, the humour of Blackadder is well-known for its anachronistic references. The joke here is that Stephen Fry, playing Melchett, attended Cambridge (as did Hugh Laurie, another cast member), whereas Rowan Atkinson, playing Blackadder, had attended Oxford University.

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