Unseen University

Unseen University (UU) is a school of wizardry in the fictional Discworld city of Ankh-Morpork. Staffed by a faculty composed of mostly insane and inane old wizards, and a Librarian who has been transformed into an orangutan, one can always find some sort of mischief going on.

The motto of UU is "Nunc Id Vides, Nunc Ne Vides", loosely translated as "Now you see it, now you don't".

The coat of arms is: A livre des sortilèges, attaché en cuivre, sur un chapeau pointu, on a field, azure. (That is: a book of magic spells, with copper clasps, over a pointed hat, on a blue background.) As usually rendered, it bears more than a slight resemblance to the coat of arms of the University of Oxford.

Due to the high levels of background magic in the vicinity, a typical map of UU vagely resembles an exploding chrysanthemum and is usually only valid for a day or so.

One of the most notable rooms in UU is Room 3b. This room is not believed to exist, but a surprising number of classes are scheduled there. In fact, at times of great celebration in the city of Ankh-Morpork it is not uncommon for the entire faculty to be teaching there.

After learning the basics of spellcasting, UU students are challenged to continue their research in the Library. The high concentration of magical lore has warped the Library interior into a locus of L-Space where the concepts of distance and direction are only vaguely defined. There the students will encounter the Librarian (transformed into an orangutan by a magical mishap) and seek out the grimoires binding the more formidable spells. Since the contents of all magic libraries are in L-Space, it is possible to enter a Library in one city and exit in another. Access to libraries of other times or other realities, however, is at UU restricted to the Librarian himself.

See also: Hex (the UU computer)

Staff

• Archchancellor Mustrum Ridcully
• The Bursar (Dr. Dinwiddie starting in Faust Eric and thereafter; Spelter beforehand)
• The Dean of Pentacles
• The Lecturer in Recent Runes
• The Senior Wrangler
• The Chair of Indefinite Studies, who seems to do very little at the university (mainly because no-one knows what his duties are), but does go on an adventure to Fourecks
• The Professor of Anthropics, whose function appears to be confined to proving that the Discworld's crowning achievement and entire purpose was the eventual evolution of the Professor of Anthropics
• The Reader in Esoteric Studies, or the Reader in the Lavatory as the Bursar and others call him
• Lecturer in Creative Uncertainty
• Professor of Recondite Architecture and Origami Map-Folding
• The Librarian (also the Archivist)
• Ponder Stibbons, Head of Inadvisably Applied Magic, Praelector and Reader in Invisible Writings, as well as the keeper of Hex, the University's computer (possibly meaning he is the head of the Technomancy department specifically as well as other inadvisably applied magic, as Hex is the only example of the discipline).
• Rincewind, Egregious Professor of Cruel and Unusual Geography (Also the Chair of Experimental Serendipity, the Reader in Slood Dynamics, the Fretwork Teacher, the Chair for the Public Misunderstanding of Magic, the Professor of Virtual Anthropology and the Lecturer in Approximate Accuracy, stated in The Science of Discworld II: The Globe)
• Modo is the dwarfish gardener at the Unseen University who doesn't bother the wizards as much as they bother him.
• Ladislav Pelc, Prehumous Professor of Morbid Bibliomancy, appearing in Going Postal
• Professor Goitre, Posthumous Professor of Morbid Bibliomancy, appearing in Going Postal

Notable past students

• Rincewind (in The Colour of Magic and others)
• Eskarina Smith (in Equal Rites)
• Victor Tugelbend (in Moving Pictures)
• Windle Poons (in Moving Pictures and Reaper Man)
• Igneous Cutwell (in Mort)

Previous Archchancellors

• Alberto Malich: The first Archchancellor and university founder; sent himself to the land of Death when he performed the Rite of AshkEnte backwards. Returned (briefly) in Mort and Soul Music, and for rather longer during the events described in Hogfather when he appeared as Pixie Albert to Death's Hogfather.
• Archchancellor Galder Weatherwax: A distant cousin of Granny Weatherwax, he is Archchancellor for the first half of The Light Fantastic. He is the 304th Archchancellor of the University.
• Archchancellor Cutangle: Archchancellor in Equal Rites.
• Coin the Sourceror: Archchancellor during Sourcery.
• Archchancellor Ezrolith Churn: Archchancellor during Faust Eric.

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