University of Hull
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| University of Hull | |
| Missing image Uni_logo.gif Official logo of the University of Hull | |
| Established | 1927 |
| Chancellor | Lord Armstrong of Ilminster |
| Vice-Chancellor | Professor David Drewry |
| Location | Hull and Scarborough, United Kingdom |
| Students | 16,000 |
| Courses | 900 per year, as well as 370 adult education modules |
| National University League Position | 38th |
| Homepage | http://www.hull.ac.uk/ |
The University of Hull, also known as Hull University, is an English university in the East Riding of Yorkshire which was founded in 1927. The main campus is located on Cottingham Road, in Hull (or Kingston upon Hull). 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 former poet Philip Larkin who worked as Librarian of the Brynmor Jones Library. Former Vice-Chancellors include Professor David Dilks FRHistS FRSL.
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.
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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 univeristy was quickly outgrowing.
In 2000, the university merged with University College Scarborough, founding the university's Scarborough Campus. In 2003, the university purchased the adjacent buildings of the University of Lincoln, and the site now houses the Hull York Medical School and construction is ongoing to relocate the Business Scool there later in 2005.
Uni_entrance.jpg
Student life and activities
Hull University Union (HUU) boasts a brand new nightclub called Asylum and a monthly student newspaper Hullfire as well as its student radio station Jam 1575 broadcasting on 1575AM and over the internet. Student accommodation is based in Cottingham, with Thwaite Hall and Needler hall, which are traditional halls, and "The Lawns", which is a complex featuring seven smaller halls with a main focal "Lawns Centre" for meals and socialising, and housing just over 1,000 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.
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.
Notable Academics
- Lord Norton of Louth, Professor of Politics
- Noël O'Sullivan, Professor of Politics, specialist in political theory
- Lord Parekh, Professor of Politics, specialist on the theory of multiculturalism (1964-2000)
Alumni
- John Prescott, Deputy Prime Minister
- Roy Hattersley, Labour politician
- Anthony Giddens, Baron Giddens, social scientist
External links
- University of Hull website (http://www.hull.ac.uk)
- Hull University Union website (http://www.hullstudent.com)
- BBC news report on cancellation of maths course (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/4256981.stm)
- HullFire - student newspaper. (http://www.hullstudent.com/DisplayPage.asp?pageid=4679)
- Jam 1575 - student radio station. (http://www.Jam1575.com)