Cardiff University
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| Cardiff University | |
| Missing image Cardiff_university_logo.gif Image:cardiff_university_logo.gif | |
| Established | 1883 |
| President | Neil Kinnock |
| Vice-Chancellor | Dr David Grant |
| Location | Cardiff, United Kingdom |
| Students | 21,528 total (5,077 postgraduate) |
| Member of | Russell Group, EUA |
| Homepage | www.cardiff.ac.uk |
Cardiff University (Welsh: Prifysgol Caerdydd) is a university in Cardiff. It currently awards degrees of the federal University of Wales, of which it was a member until 2004. From 2005, students will be admitted to study for Cardiff degrees apart from in Medicine and related subjects where Wales degrees will continue to be awarded. It is the largest of the pre-1992 institutes in Wales and the country's only member of the Russell Group of Universities. It was shortlisted for the Sunday Times University of the Year award in 2003.
History
The Aberdare Report of 1881 recommended the foundation of university colleges in north and south Wales to complement the already established University College, Wales (now the University of Wales, Aberystwyth) in Aberystwyth. Following a public appeal that raised £37,000, the University College of South Wales and Monmouthsire opened on October 24 1883 and was incorporated by Royal Charter the following year. The only college in Wales with it's own degree awarding powers at this time was St David's University College. As such, Cardiff entered students for the examinations of the University of London until, in 1893, it became one of the founding institutions of the University of Wales and began awarding their degrees. 85% of students are from state schools.
In 1885 Aberdare Hall opened as the first hall of residence, allowing women access to the university. This moved to its current site in 1895, but remains a single-sex hall. 1904 saw the appointment of the first female professor in the UK, Millicent McKenzie.
Work began on the Main Building in Cardiff's Civic Centre in 1903 and this opened in 1909. Money ran short for this project, however, and although the side-wings were completed in the 1960s, the planned Great Hall has never been built. In 1931 the School of Medicine, which had been founded as part of the college, was split off to form the University of Wales College of Medicine (UWCM). In 1972 the college was renamed as University College Cardiff (UCC).
In 1967 the Welsh College of Advanced Technology, which had been offering classes in Cardiff since 1866 under a variety of names was incorporated as the University of Wales Institute of Science and Technology (UWIST) and joined the federal University of Wales as a third college in Cardiff. This continued as a separate college until 1988 when financial problems caused UCC and UWIST to merge, forming the University of Wales College Cardiff (UWCC). Following changes to the constitution of the University of Wales in 1996, this became the University of Wales, Cardiff (UWC).
In 1997, the university was granted full degree awarding powers by the Privy Council and 1999 the public name of the university was changed to Cardiff University. Some consider this part of an effort at Cardiff to set itself apart from the other colleges of the University of Wales, none of which are members of the Russell Group.
In 2002, ideas were floated to re-merge Cardiff with UWCM following the publication of the Welsh Assembly Government's Review of Higher Education in Wales. This merger became effective as of August 1, 2004, on which date Cardiff University ceased to be a constituent institution of the University of Wales and became an independent "link institution" affiliated to the federal University. The process of the merger was completed on December 1, 2004 when the Act of Parliament transferring UWCM's assets to Cardiff University received Royal Assent. On December 17 it was announced that the Privy Council had given approval to the new Supplemental Charter and had granted University status to Cardiff, legally changing the name of the institution to Cardiff University. Cardiff will continue to award University of Wales degrees but for students admitted from 2005 these are planned to be replaced by Cardiff degrees except for medicine, dentistry and other health-related areas.
The University is currently exploring closer links with the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, which is also based in Cardiff. It has been rumoured that this could lead to an eventual merger, as this is very similar to the wording used prior to the merger with UWCM.
The Wales College of Medicine, which is part of the University, has launched the North Wales Clinical School in Wrexham in collaboration with the North East Wales Institute in Wrexham and the University of Wales, Bangor and with the National Health Service in Wales. This has been funded with £12.5 Million from the Welsh Assembly and will lead to the tripling of the number of trainee doctors in clinical training in Wales over a four year period.
The Student Union is situated directly over the main railway going north from Cardiff to the Valleys, next door to the Cathays train station. It has a well-stocked shop, a limited-choice coffee shop, a Threshers off-licence, and houses the studios of Xpress Radio (which is piped throughout the union) and Gair Rhydd student newspaper. There is the Solus nightclub, which each Friday stages 'Fat Friday'.
College Yell
- Cardiffi, Cardiffi, Cardiffi!
- Cymro! Cymro!
- Cardiffi! Cardiff!
- Bantahie! Bantahie!
- Nawrte! Nawrte!
- Hippory! Hippory
External links
- Cardiff University (http://www.cardiff.ac.uk/)
- Cardiff University (Welsh) (http://www.caerdydd.ac.uk/)
- Cardiff University Students' Union (http://www.cardiffstudents.com/)
- Gair Rhydd - student newspaper (http://www.gairryhdd.com/)
- Xpress Radio (http://www.xpressradio.co.uk/)
- Graduation ceremony available as a live webcast (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/3884777.stm)
- Cardiff economists find expansion of access to UK Higher Education is not related to greater numbers of skilled jobs (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/3578827.stm)
- Cardiff Professor's book claims Robin Hood never existed (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/3001010.stm)
- 20 year old male chemistry student kills himself with caffeine in January 2002 (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/2225845.stm)
- Birmingham City footballer gets community service at Cardiff Crown Court for food fight with university rowing team (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/2144503.stm)
- 21 year old female medical student indecently assaulted in bogus taxi (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/1161362.stm)