University of Nottingham
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Template:Infobox British University
The University of Nottingham is a leading research and teaching university in the city of Nottingham, in the East Midlands of England. It is a member of the Russell Group of leading British universities, and of Universitas 21, an international network of research-led universities.
In 2004, it had more than 27,000 registered students, with more than 10 applicants per place. This included over 4,000 international students from more than 100 countries. Its current Chancellor and President is the distinguished Chinese physicist Professor Fujia Yang, and its Vice-Chancellor Sir Colin Campbell.
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Campuses
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Nottingham Campuses
University Park Campus to the west of the city centre, is the original and principal campus of the University and is widely regarded as one of the most attractive in the country. The University now has several further campuses, but all share similar design features to the original, being 'garden campuses' situated around a lake with extensive greenery. Jubilee Campus is an award winning campus designed by Sir Michael Hopkins, opened by HM the Queen in 1999, a mile away from University Park. Sutton Bonington Campus houses the University's School of Biosciences and the forthcoming Veterinary School and is located about 12 miles (20 km) to the south of Nottingham. The old Carlton Studios site on Lenton Lane was bought in March 2005, to become the King's Meadow Campus.
Student accommodation for the majority of first year undergraduates and a number of other students is provided on the University's campuses in halls of residence. For further details see: University of Nottingham Halls of Residence.
International Campuses
The Malaysia Campus is situated in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, but will move in 2005 to a custom built campus in Semenyih. The University of Nottingham, Ningbo, China is the most recent campus, and is located in the city of Ningbo, in the Zhejiang province of China.
Medical School
The University also has one of the largest medical schools in the United Kingdom, and runs courses at a number of teaching hospitals. The main teaching hospital, the Queen's Medical Centre (QMC) is located just across the road from the University Park Campus. In September 2003 the doors opened for the first intake at a new medical school in the nearby city of Derby, offering a 4 year fast-track postgraduate medicine course. On top of these, a few years ago the University of Nottingham took on a number of nursing teaching sites (formerly the Mid Trent Nursing College), these are located across the East Midlands and include sites at Boston, Derby, Lincoln, Mansfield as well as Nottingham.
General Information
Research
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Much of the pioneering work on Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) was done at Nottingham, work for which Nottingham professor Sir Peter Mansfield received the Nobel Prize for Medicine and Physiology in 2003. The University remains a strong centre for research into MRI and its 7 tesla scanner contains the most powerful magnet in the UK - it required 213 tonnes of iron cladding to prevent the surrounding area being affected by its powerful field.
The University has contributed to a number of other significant scientific advances. Professor Frederick Kipping, Professor of Chemistry (1897-1936), made the discovery of silicone polymers at the University (but completely failed to realise the commercial significance of what is now a multi-billion pound industry). Major developments in the in vitro culture of plants and micropropogation techniques were made by plant scientists at Nottingham, along with the first production of transgenic tomatoes by Professor Don Grierson in the 1980s. Other innovations at the university include cochlear implants for deaf children and the brace-for-impact position used in aircraft. Other facilities at the university include the UK's seventh most powerful supercomputer.
The university is also strong in the humanities and social sciences, and in the same year that Sir Peter Mansfield won his Nobel Prize, Professor Clive Granger, who was at the university for 22 years as a student and academic, also won the Bank of Sweden Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel.
The University had 26 departments rated 5 or 5* (internationally excellent) in the UK Funding Council's 2001 Research Assessment Exercise. The University is one of the top four UK universities for receiving research funding from private industry and commerce, and in 2003-2004 it received £84m in such awards.
Student Life
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The University of Nottingham Students' Union is heavily involved with the provision of student activities at the university and has more than 150 student societies affiliated with it. A further 72 clubs are affiliated to the Students' Union's Athletic Union. The University consistently places within the top ten in the country in British Universities Sports Association (BUSA) rankings.
The student magazine Impact is published regularly in term time. A range of student theatre takes place at the University’s New Theatre. The Students Union runs a Sound and Lighting company, TEC, who provide their services for many student events. The University Radio Station, University Radio Nottingham (URN) has won approximately a third of all the BBC Radio 1 awards for student radio. The radio station also held the world record for the longest continuous radio broadcast at 42 hours. A number of other world records have been set at the university, including the most people in a Ford Sierra car (27) and the longest line of dancing drag queens (49).
Campus 14 is a bar crawl of fourteen bars on the University Park campus and is a well-known campus tradition. It was officially banned by the university in 2001 after complaints from the local health authority about the number of stomachs they had to pump.
Controversies
From September 20 to December 7 2004, the University was subject to an international academic boycott - 'greylisting' - after a breakdown in negotiations with the Association of University Teachers (AUT) on pay and conditions for academic staff. The AUT claimed that Nottingham failed to honour a commitment to follow a national agreement reached in March 2004. The University, however, claimed that its actions were in line with its undertakings in respect of the national agreement and that the University had sought to negotiate with the AUT from the start. The boycott has led to disruption at Nottingham, with lectures scheduled to be given by lecturers from other universities being cancelled, participants withdrawing from conferences and, in the case of a Royal Geographical Society conference, the whole conference being moved to London. The boycott was suspended after agreement was reached on re-opening talks.
The University also attracted controversy in 2001 when it accepted £3.8m from British American Tobacco for the creation of a centre of corporate responsibility. The donation caused Professor Richard Smith, Editor of the British Medical Journal to resign from his post as professor at the university, a 20 strong Cancer Research Team to move to London, and the Cancer Research Campaign to stop its £1.5m fundraising campaign for the renovation of the University's cancer research facilities.
History
The University can trace its origins back to the founding of an adult education school in 1798. The foundation stone of the original University College in Shakesepeare Street was laid in 1877, accompanied by a speech by William Ewart Gladstone. The building was formally opened in 1881 by Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany. Outgrowing its city centre site, in 1928 the University moved to a new campus to the south west of the city, a move made possible by the generosity of Jesse Boot, later Lord Trent. His gift of land has been added to gradually to create the current University Park Campus. In 1948 the University received its Royal Charter, which gave it the power to confer degrees. Previously, its students received their degrees from the University of London.
Over time the University has seen steady expansion. In 1947 the Midlands Agricultural and Dairy College at Sutton Bonington merged with the university, in the 1970s the university established a medical school. In 1999 a new Jubilee Campus was opened on the former site of the Raleigh factory, one mile away from the University Park campus. More recently, the university has expanded overseas, opening campuses in Malaysia and China.
Organisation of the University
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The Chief Officer of the University is the Chancellor, elected by the University Court on the recommendation of the University Council. The chief academic and administrative officer of the University is the Vice-Chancellor, who is assisted by five Pro-Vice Chancellors. The university is divided into five faculties, each headed by a Dean, and 32 schools of study.
The University's governing body is the University Council, which has 33 members, mostly non-academic. Its academic authority is the Senate, consisting of senior academics of the University and elected staff and student representatives. The University's largest forum is the University Court, presided over by the Chancellor.
Chancellors
- 1949-1954 The Lord Trent
- 1954-1971 The Duke of Portland
- 1971-1978 Sir Francis Hill
- 1978-1993 Sir Gordon Hobday
- 1993-2000 The Lord Dearing
- 2000- Professor Fujia Yang
Vice-Chancellors
- 1948-1965 Bertrand Hallward
- 1965-1970 The Lord Dainton
- 1971-1975 The Lord Butterfield
- 1976-1988 Professor Basil Weedon
- 1988- Sir Colin Campbell
Notable Alumni
The most celebrated alumnus of the University of Nottingham is probably the novelist D. H. Lawrence (although his opinion of his alma mater was ambivalent at best). The university has particularly strong links with Malaysia, and two Malaysian Kings as well as several Malaysian government ministers are graduates. Other prominent alumni include 2003 Nobel Laureate Sir Clive Granger and 11 current members of the UK parliament.
For a more detailed list see: List of University of Nottingham people
See also:
- University of Nottingham Students' Union
- China Policy Institute
- Institute of Contemporary Chinese Studies
- Nottingham University Business School
- Nottingham University Mountaineering Club
- Nottingham University Press
- Nottingham Trent University is the other University in Nottingham.
External links:
- University of Nottingham website (http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/)
- University of Nottingham Students' Union (http://www.su.nottingham.ac.uk/)
- Lakeside Arts Centre (http://www.lakesidearts.co.uk/)
- TEC PA & Lighting (part of the Students' Union) (http://www.nottinghamtec.co.uk/)
- University Radio Nottingham (http://www.urn1350.net/)
- BBC 360 images of University Park campus (http://cgi.bbc.co.uk/nottingham/360/students/university/)
- Association of University Teacher's Nottingham Boycott (http://www.aut.org.uk/boycottnottingham)
References:
- Fawcett, Peter and Neil Jackson (1998). Campus critique: the architecture of the University of Nottingham. Nottingham: University of Nottingham.
- Tolley, B.H. (2001). The history of the University of Nottingham. Nottingham: Nottingham University Press.
- www.nottingham.ac.uk
Template:Universitas 21 de:Universität Nottingham eo:Universitato de Nottingham es:Universidad de Nottingham ms:University of Nottingham pl:Uniwersytet_w_Nottingham