University of Wales, Aberystwyth

The University of Wales, Aberystwyth (Welsh: Prifysgol Cymru, Aberystwyth) is a public university located in Aberystwyth, Wales. A Member Institution of the federal University of Wales, it was one of the first university institutions to be established in Wales. As of 2006, the university has almost 9,000 students spread across eighteen academic departments. It is often known simply as "Aber" to its students. The university's business school is accredited by AMBA.

History

The university was founded in 1872 as University College Wales. The first principal was Thomas Charles Edwards and initially there were just 26 students. In 1894 the college joined the University of Wales as a founder member (prior to this students had been submitted for examinations of the University of London).

The Department of History and Welsh History, and the Institute of Mathematics and Physics can trace their beginnings back to the formation of the University in 1872. The Department of Law was established in 1901, and as such is one of the oldest law schools in the UK. The School of Art has a history stretching back to 1917 when it was part of the only British university concerned with the Art and Crafts Movement. In 1936 it became a sub-department within the Education Department where, in 1965 the Joint Honours Art scheme was established. Single Honours Art and Masters degree schemes were introduced in 1974, one year after the subject had once again been given autonomy as a university department. The Institute of Biological Sciences was formed in 1993 from the Department of Biological Sciences, the Department of Biochemistry and the Genetics Group of the Department of Agricultural Botany. These former departments in turn can trace their beginnings to the foundation of the University.

In 1919 the world's first Department of International Politics was founded at Aberystwyth. Today it is the largest department of its kind in Europe, and one of the largest in the world. Its past professors include R. Geraint Gruffydd, Bobi Jones, E. H. Carr and Leopold Kohr. The Department of Computer Science at Aberystwyth was founded in 1970. AberMUD, the first popular internet-based MUD, was written in this department of the university by then-student Alan Cox. The Institute of Geography and Earth Sciences was formed in 1989 from the former Departments of Geography (established in 1917) and Geology. This department contains the E.G. Bowen map library, containing 80000 maps and 500 atlases.

The Department of Theatre, Film and television Studies is one of the largest departments in the Univeristy in terms of numbers of undergraduate students and was established in the late 1970s. In 1989 the College of Librarianship Wales in Llanbadarn became the University's Department of Information and Library Studies; in 1996, the Welsh Agricultural College merged with the University's Department of Agriculture to create the Welsh Institute of Rural Studies. These were subsequently re-named the Department of Information Studies and the Institute of Rural Sciences respectively. One of the newest departments in the University is the Department of Sports and Excercise Science, which was established in 2000.

In 2006, a new building for the Department of International Politics was completed and opened on the main Penglais Campus. Around the same time, strikes by some lecturers of the university caused a number of exams to be cancelled or rescheduled ^*.

Geography

The main campus of the university is situated on Penglais Hill, overlooking the town of Aberystwyth and Cardigan Bay. Just below is the National Library of Wales. The original university building, next to the sea, is still used and is known as "Old College". A further campus is located to the east of Aberystwyth in the small village of Llanbadarn Fawr; this campus hosts courses in Information and Library Studies, Agriculture and other land-based studies.

Student residences

The various student residences owned, leased or managed by the university offer almost 4,000 bed-spaces in total. ^*

Penglais Campus:

Cwrt Mawr (self-catered flats, capacity 485)
Pantycelyn (traditional catered hall, majority Welsh-speaking, capacity 260)
Penbryn (traditional catered hall, capacity 525)
Rosser (self-catered flats with en-suite rooms, capacity 333)
Trefloyne (self-catered flats, capacity 146)

Llanbadarn Campus:

5 residences (Aeron, Cletwr, Dyfi, Einion and Leri) with a total of 298 catered rooms

Pentre Jane Morgan (the Student Village):

178 self-contained houses accommodating typically 5 or 6 students each

Town:

Brynderw (self-catered flats, capacity 146)
Seafront Residences (self-catered flats located on the seafront and Queen's Road, overall capacity 720-800 including the redeveloped Alexandra Hall)

Departments

Alumni

Alan Cox, programmer, major contributor to the Linux kernel (1980s)
Carwyn James, legendary Welsh and British and Irish Lions rugby coach (1949?-1951)
Prince Charles, Prince of Wales (1969)
Jan Pinkava, Oscar winning animator, Pixar, (1981-1985)
Neil Hamilton, MP (1960s)
Alhaji Kabbah, president of Sierra Leone (1956?-1959)
Waldo Williams, poet
D. J. Williams, writer
Frederick Soddy, Nobel Prize Winner (1890s?)
Mark Williams, Member of Parliament for Ceredigion (1984-1987)
Gwynfor Evans, first Member of Parliament for Plaid Cymru
Berwyn Price, International 110m hurdles athlete. Commonwealth Games & World Student Games gold medallist.

External links

University of Wales, Aberystwyth web site

University of Wales | Universities_in_Wales | Ceredigion