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| Latin: Universitas Bristolliensis (Bris.) | |
| Motto: | Vim promovet insitam |
| Motto in English: | "[Learning] promotes one's innate power" – from Horace, Ode 4.4[1] |
| Established: | 1909 (predecessor in 1876)[2] |
| Type: | Public |
| Endowment: | £46.4m[3] |
| Chancellor: | Baroness Hale of Richmond[4] |
| Vice-Chancellor: | Prof Eric Thomas[5] |
| Visitor: | The Lord President of the Council ex officio[6] |
| Staff: | 5,119 (2006)[7] |
| Students: | 22,780[8] |
| Undergraduates: | 15,330[8] |
| Postgraduates: | 7,450[8] |
| Location: | Bristol, England 51°27′23″N 02°36′16″W / 51.45639°N 2.60444°WCoordinates: 51°27′23″N 02°36′16″W / 51.45639°N 2.60444°W |
| Campus: | Urban |
| Colours: | Pantone 187[9] |
| Affiliations: | Russell Group Coimbra Group Worldwide Universities Network Universities UK |
| Website: | http://www.bristol.ac.uk |
The University of Bristol is a university in Bristol, England. It received its Royal Charter in 1909, although its predecessor institution, University College, Bristol, had been in existence since 1876. It is one of the original "red brick" universities. Bristol ranks as one of the top 10 universities in the United Kingdom according to most published league tables and receives more applications per place than any other British University. The University has an annual turnover of £260m and is the largest independent employer in Bristol.
The University is a member of the Russell Group, European-wide Coimbra Group and the Worldwide Universities Network, of which the University's Vice-Chancellor Prof Eric Thomas is the current Chair. Bristol has around 23,000 students and is one of two universities in Bristol, the other being the more recently established University of the West of England. The University has gained press attention for its high private school intake and the 2003 dispute over its admissions system.
History
Foundation
The earliest antecedent of the university was the engineering department of the Merchant Venturers’ Technical College (founded as a school as early as 1595) which became the Engineering faculty of Bristol university. The University was also preceded by University College, Bristol, founded in 1876, where its first lecture was attended by only 99 students.The University was able to apply for a Royal Charter due to the financial support of the Wills and Fry families, who made their fortunes in tobacco plantations and chocolate, respectively. Although the Wills Family made huge sums of money from the slave-produced plantations, they later became abolitionists who gave their money to the city of Bristol. The Royal Charter was gained in May 1909, with 288 undergraduates and 400 other students entering the University in October 1909. Henry Overton Wills III became its first chancellor.The University College was the first such institution in the country to admit women on the same basis as men. However, women were forbidden to take examinations in medicine until 1906.
| There shall be from henceforth for ever in Our said City of Bristol a University... |
| King Edward VII, Charter of Incorporation of the University of Bristol, 4 December 1909 |
Historical development
Since the founding of the University itself in 1909, it has grown considerably and is now one of the largest employers in the local area, although it is smaller by student numbers than the nearby University of the West of England.[8] Bristol does not have a campus but is spread over a considerable geographic area. Most of its activities, however, are concentrated in the area of the city centre, referred to as the "University Precinct". It is a member of the Russell Group of research-led UK universities, the Coimbra Group of leading European universities and the Worldwide Universities Network (WUN).
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Early years
After the founding of the University College in 1876, Government support began in 1889. After mergers with the Bristol Medical School in 1893 and the Merchant Venturers' Technical College in 1909, this funding allowed the opening of a new Medical School and an Engineering School—two subjects that remain among the University's greatest strengths. In 1908, gifts from the Fry and Wills families, particularly £100,000 from Henry Overton Wills III (£6m in today's money), were provided to endow a University for Bristol and the West of England, provided that a Royal Charter could be obtained within two years. In December, 1909, the King granted such a Charter and erected the University of Bristol.Henry Wills became its first Chancellor and Conwy Lloyd Morgan the first Vice-Chancellor.[29] Wills died in 1911 and in tribute his sons George and Harry built the Wills Memorial Building, starting in 1913 and finally finishing in 1925. Today, it houses parts of the academic provision for earth sciences and law, and graduation ceremonies are held in its Great Hall. The Wills Memorial Building is a Grade II* listed building.
In 1920, George Wills bought the Victoria Rooms and endowed them to the University as a Students' Union. The building now houses the Department of Music and is a Grade II* listed building.
At the point of foundation, the University was required to provide for the local community. This mission was behind the creation of the Department of Extra-Mural Adult Education in 1924 to provide courses to the local community. This mission continues today; a new admissions policy specifically caters to the 'BS' postcode area of Bristol.
Among the famous names associated with Bristol in this early period is Paul Dirac, who graduated in 1921 with a degree in engineering, before obtaining a second degree in mathematics in 1923 from Cambridge. For his subsequent pioneering work on quantum mechanics, he was awarded the 1933 Nobel Prize for Physics. Later in the 1920s, the H.H. Wills Physics Laboratory was opened by Ernest Rutherford. It has since housed several Nobel Prize winners: Cecil Frank Powell (1950); Hans Albrecht Bethe (1967); and Sir Nevill Francis Mott (1977). The Laboratory stands on the same site today, close to the Bristol Grammar School and the city museum.
Sir Winston Churchill became the University's third Chancellor in 1929, serving the University in that capacity until 1965. He succeeded Richard Haldane who had held the office from 1912 following the death of Henry Wills.
During World War II, the Wills Memorial was bombed, destroying the Great Hall and the organ it housed. It has since been restored to its former glory, complete with oak panelled walls and a new organ.
Post-war development
In 1946, the University established the first drama department in the country. In the same year, Bristol began offering special entrance exams and grants to aid the resettlement of servicemen returning home. Student numbers continued to increase, and the Faculty of Engineering eventually needed the new premises that were to become Queen's Building in 1955. This substantial building housed all of the University's engineers until 1996, when Electrical Engineering and Computer Science moved over the road into the new Merchant Venturers' Building to make space for these rapidly expanding fields. Today, Queen's Building caters for most of the teaching needs of the Faculty and provides academic space for the "heavy" engineering subjects (civil, mechanical, and aeronautical).
With unprecedented growth in the 1960s, particularly in undergraduate numbers, the Student's Union eventually acquired larger premises in a new building in the Clifton area of the city, in 1965. This building was more spacious than the Victoria Rooms, which were now given over to the Department of Music. The new Union provides many practice and performance rooms, some specialist rooms, as well as three bars: the Epi; the Mandela (also known as AR2) and the Avon Gorge. Whilst spacious, the Union building is thought by many to be uglyand out of character compared to the architecture of the rest of the Clifton area, having been mentioned in a BBC poll to find the worst architectural eyesores in Britain.The University has proposed relocating the Union to a more central location as part of its development 'masterplan'.
The 1960s were a time of considerable student activism in the United Kingdom, and Bristol was no exception. In 1968, many students marched in support of the Anderson Report, which called for higher student grants. This discontent culminated in an 11-day sit-in at the Senate House (the administrative headquarters of the University). A series of Chancellors and Vice-Chancellors led the University through these decades, with Henry Somerset, 10th Duke of Beaufort taking over from Churchill as Chancellor in 1965 before being succeeded by Dorothy Hodgkin in 1970 who spent the next 18 years in the office.
As the age of mass higher education dawned, Bristol continued to build its student numbers. The various undergraduate residences were repeatedly expanded and, more recently, some postgraduate residences have been constructed. These more recent ventures have been funded (and are run) by external companies in agreement with the University.
Since 1988, there have been only two further Chancellors: Sir Jeremy Morse, then chairman of Lloyds Bank who handed over in 2003 to Brenda Hale, the first female Law Lord.[26][29]
One of the few Centres for Deaf Studies in the United Kingdom was established in Bristol in 1981, followed in 1988 by the Norah Fry Centre for research into learning difficulties. Also in 1988, and again in 2004, the Students' Union AGM voted to disaffiliate from the National Union of Students (NUS). On both occasions, however, the subsequent referendum of all students reversed that decision and Bristol remains affiliated to the NUS.
In 2002, the University was involved in argument over press intrusion after details of Euan Blair's application to university (son of then-Prime Minister Tony Blair) were published in national newspapers. Euan eventually gained a 2:1 in Ancient History from Bristol.
As the number of postgraduate students has grown (particularly the numbers pursuing taught Master's Degrees), there eventually became a need for separate representation on University bodies and the Postgraduate Union (PGU) was established in 2000. Universities are increasingly expected to exploit the intellectual property generated by their research activities and, in 2000, Bristol established the Research and Enterprise Division (RED) to further this cause (particularly for technology-based businesses). In 2001, the university signed a 25-year research funding deal with IP2IPO, an intellectual property commercialisation company. In 2007, research activities were expanded further with the opening of the Advanced Composites Centre for Innovation and Science (ACCIS) and The Bristol Institute for Public Affairs (BIPA).
In 2002, the University opened a new Centre for Sports, Exercise and Health in the heart of the University precinct. At a cost, local residents are also able to use the facilities.
Expansion of teaching and research activities continues. In 2004, the Faculty of Engineering completed work on the Bristol Laboratory for Advanced Dynamics Engineering (BLADE). This £18.5m project provides cutting-edge technology to further the study of dynamics and is the most advanced such facility in Europe. It was built as an extension to the Queen's Building and was officially opened by Queen Elizabeth II in March 2005.
In January, 2005, The School of Chemistry was awarded £4.5m by the Higher Education Funding Council for England to create Bristol ChemLabS: a Centre for Excellence in Teaching & Learning (CETL), with an additional £350k announced for the capital part of the project in February, 2006. Bristol ChemLabS stands for Bristol Chemical Laboratory Sciences; it is the only Chemistry CETL in the UK.
There is also a plan to significantly redevelop the centre of the University Precinct in the coming years.
2003 admissions row
The University has been regarded as being elitist by some commentators, taking 42% of its undergraduate students from non-state schools, according to the most recent 2006/2007 figures, despite the fact that such pupils make up just 7% of the population in the UK. The high ratio of undergraduates from non-state school has led to some tension at the university. In late February and early March 2003, Bristol became embroiled in a row about admissions policies, with some private schools threatening a boycott based on their claims that, in an effort to improve equality of access, the University was discriminating against their students. These claims were hotly denied by the University. In August, 2005, following a large-scale survey, the Independent Schools Council publicly acknowledged that there was no evidence of bias against applicants from the schools it represented. The University has a new admissions policy, which lays out in considerable detail the basis on which any greater or lesser weight may be given to particular parts of an applicant's backgrounds—in particular, what account may be taken of which school the applicant hails from. This new policy also encourages greater participation from locally resident applicants.
Academic reputation
League tables generally place Bristol within the top ten universities in the United Kingdom. Internationally, The Times Higher Education Supplement placed Bristol 64th in the world in 2006 and 37th in 2007.[58] Another international ranking, the Shanghai Jiao Tong University Academic Ranking of World Universities, placed Bristol 62nd globally in 2007.[59] According to data published in The Telegraph Bristol has the third-highest percentage of 'good honours' of any UK university, behind Oxford and Cambridge.
In addition, the following courses offered by University of Bristol, managed to reach top 5 in the Times ranking (2008): Computer Science(3-rd), Electrical and Electronic Engineering(3-rd), Civil Engineering(5-th), Biological Sciences(3-rd), Mathematics (3-rd), Psychology (4-th).
In addition, Bristol is particularly strong in the field of social sciences, particularly in Economics, Finance and Management, and was recently rated 4th in the 2008 Guardian University Guide for Business and Management Studies.
Bristol is also known for its research strength, having 15 departments gaining the top grade of 5* in the 2001 Research Assessment Exercise. Overall, 36 out of 46 departments rated gained the top two ratings of 5 or 5*, and 76% of all the academic staff working in departments scored these top two levels. In terms of teaching strength, Bristol had an average Teaching Quality Assessment score of 22.05/24 before the TQA was abolished. For admission in October 2005, Bristol reported an average of 10.8 applications per place with the average A-level score on admission being 436.4. That year, Bristol's drop-out rate was 2.2% compared to the benchmark set by HEFCE of no more than 3.1%.
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