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The University of Leeds is a major teaching and research university, one of the largest in the United Kingdom. It is a member of the Russell Group and is ranked in the top ten of UK universities for market share of research funding and numbers of applicants. It is one of the six original civic universities.

Location

Leeds is the fourth largest city in England, with a population of 715,000 *. It is situated in the metropolitan county of West Yorkshire in northern England.

As an important cultural centre, Leeds is home to the West Yorkshire Playhouse, Opera North, the Royal Armouries Museum and the future Leeds City Museum.

The city has a key place in English sport, its teams including Leeds United FC, Yorkshire County Cricket Club, Leeds Rhinos RLFC and Leeds Tykes RUFC. Headingley Stadium is used as a venue for international test matches by the England cricket team.

The surrounding countryside around Leeds includes the picturesque Yorkshire Dales and Ilkley Moor, and the historic spa towns of Harrogate, Ilkley and Knaresborough. All are within easy reach by car, train or bus.

The University campus is located one mile (1.6 km) north of the city centre of Leeds. It is within walking distance for both the city centre and Headingley, a popular residential area for students. The main entrance to the campus for visitors by car is on Woodhouse Lane (A660), near the Parkinson Building (also known as University tower).

In addition to the main campus, there are also satellite locations at Wakefield and Bretton Hall in West Bretton.

Origins

The University's history is linked to the development of Leeds as an international centre for the textile industry and clothing manufacture in the Victorian era. Its roots stretch back to the early nineteenth century and it was one of six civic universities in industrial cities given royal charters at the beginning of the twentieth century. Prior to this wave of expansion in higher education, only four universities - Oxford, Cambridge, London and Durham - were established in England.

In 1831, the Leeds School of Medicine was set up, serving the needs of the five medical institutions that had sprung up in the city. Then in 1874, the School was joined by the Yorkshire College of Science, intended to provide education for the children of middle-class industrialists and merchants. Financial support from local industry was crucial (there is a Clothworkers' Court at the University to this day).

The College of Science was modelled on Owens College, Manchester, established in 1851 as a non-sectarian alternative to Oxford and Cambridge, where religious tests were applied and those outside the Church of England were not allowed to receive degrees or were barred from entry outright. Owens College, like the earlier University College London, applied no such tests and was open to Protestant Dissenters, Catholics and Jews.

While religious tests for students at Oxford and Cambridge ceased in the 1850s, northern colleges continued to promote themselves as offering a distinct type of teaching. They took pride in the progressive and practical nature of their scientific education; a field in which the ancient universities, with their focus on theological study, were felt to lag behind.

The Yorkshire College of Science began by teaching experimental physics, mathematics, geology, mining, chemistry and biology, and soon became well known as an international centre for the study of engineering and textile technology. When classics, modern literature and history went on offer a few years later, the Yorkshire College of Science became the Yorkshire College. In 1887, the College merged with the School of Medicine.

Leeds was given its first university the following year when the Yorkshire College joined the federal Victoria University, which had begun life when Owens College was awarded a royal charter in 1880. Leeds now found itself in an educational union with close social cousins from Manchester and Liverpool.

Unlike Owens College, the Leeds section of the Victoria University had never barred women from its courses. However, it was not until special facilities were provided at the Day Training College in 1896 that women enrolled in significant numbers. The first female student to begin a course here was Lilias Annie Clark, who studied Modern Literature and Education.

The Victoria University was short-lived. Manchester and Liverpool were keen to establish independent universities, unhappy with the practical difficulties posed by maintaining a federal arrangement across broad distances. The University of Leeds was granted a royal charter as an independent body by King Edward VII in 1904.

Present day

Leeds is a leading research institution, and a member of the Russell Group of Universities. In the most recent Research Assessment Exercise - that of 2001 - the University was placed seventh nationally for the number of top scoring researchers and eighth for 'research power' out of 173 institutions taking part in the RAE.

Just under 800 researchers at the University were given ratings of 5* or 5, meaning that 70 per cent of the University's researchers were working at the highest level on projects of international importance.

The University received the highest 5* grade denoting work at the forefront of international research in six subjects: Electronic and Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, English, Town and Country Planning, Food Science and Italian.

The University is committed to working with the private sector and invests heavily in realising the commercial potential of its academic developments. Leeds attracts the highest level of industrial funding of any university in the UK.

Leeds was ranked 9th in the top ten UK universities by research income (2003/04) with £107.7m.

The University has an excellent reputation for teaching and provides a wide range of courses for students. The Times Good University Guide 2005 ranked the University's School of English as the sixth best in the UK.

During this academic year (2004-5) over 31,500 students are attached to 700 different first-degree programmes and 312 postgraduate degree programmes. A further 52,000 men and women are enrolled on short courses with the university. It has also developed expertise in more distinctive and rare specialist areas such as colour chemistry, fire science and aviation technology with pilot studies.

In December 2004, financial pressures forced the University's governing body (Council) to decide to close the Bretton campus (along with the University's other satellite site in Wakefield). Activities currently at Bretton will be moved to the main University campus in the summer of 2007 (allowing all current Bretton-based students to complete their studies there). There has been substantial opposition to the closure by the Bretton students.

Between May 2006 and June 2007, the University is undergoing a major rebrand, which will replace the combined use of the modified University Crest and the old green and red Parkinson Building logo, and also remove individual department and service logos from use. The University Crest will still be used in its original form for ceremonial purposes only. The new university colours are Green (Pantone 3435), Red (Pantone 187), Black (Pantone Black) and Beige (Pantone 468).

Facilities

Leeds University Library is spread over six locations and holds, in total, 2.7 million books, 20,000 print and electronic journals, 600 databases and 130,000 electronic books . The main arts and social sciences library is known as the Brotherton Library, while the main science and student library is the Edward Boyle Library (both on the main campus). There is also the health Sciences library which holds resources for Medicine and Dentistry students.

There are 9,000 personal computers available across the campus along with 150 Sun computers and servers, 8 high performance Sun servers and 256 supercomputers.

The university has 496 hectares (1,230 acres) of land, with the main campus taking up 40 hectares (98 acres).

The university's student union, Leeds University Union, includes numerous shops and bars and an award-winning nightclub, and is one of the largest student union operations in the UK.

Accommodation

There is accommodation provided in either catered or self-catered rooms, mostly reserved for first year undergraduate students but also for international students, postgraduates, staff and undergraduates who have been unable to find alternative accommodation.

Self Catered
Catered

Chancellors

Vice chancellors

  • Sir Nathan Bodington, MA, LITTD, LLD, 1904–10
  • Sir Michael Ernest Sadler KCSI, CB, LLD, LITTD, 1911–23
  • Sir James Black Baillie, OBE, MA, DPHIL, LLD, 1924–38
  • Bernard Mouat Jones, DSO, MA, DCL, LLD, 1938–1948
  • Sir Charles Richard Morris (Baron Morris of Grasmere), KCMG, MA, LLD, DLITT, 1948–63
  • Sir Roger Bentham Stevens, GCMG, MA, LLD, 1963–70
  • The Rt Hon Lord Boyle of Handsworth, CH, MA, LLD, DLITT, HONFRCS, 1970–81
  • Professor William Walsh, MA, (Acting Vice-Chancellor), 1981–83
  • Sir Edward W. Parkes, DL, SCD, FENG, 1983–91
  • Professor Sir Alan G. Wilson, 1991-2004
  • Professor Michael Arthur, 2004-

Noted alumni

Famous graduates include:

Noted faculty

Famous lecturers include:

External links

Notes

Universities in England | Education in Leeds | Universities in Yorkshire | University of Leeds | Nursing schools in the United Kingdom

University of Leeds | リーズ大学 | University of Leeds | University of Leeds | University of Leeds | 利兹大学

 

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "University of Leeds".

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