University of Leeds

Arms of the University of Leeds
Motto	et augebitur scientia
Motto in English	"and knowledge will be increased"
Established	1904 - University of Leeds 1887 - gained University Status as part of Victoria University 1831 - Leeds School of Medicine
Type	Public
Endowment	£42.3 million
Chancellor	Melvyn Bragg, Baron Bragg
Vice-Chancellor	Professor Michael Arthur
Visitor	The Rt Hon Nick Clegg MP As Lord President of the Council
Staff	8,000
Students	33,315
Undergraduates	24,510
Postgraduates	8,805
Location	Leeds, West Yorkshire, United Kingdom 53°48′29″N 1°33′11″W / 53.808°N 1.553°W / 53.808; -1.553Coordinates: 53°48′29″N 1°33′11″W / 53.808°N 1.553°W / 53.808; -1.553
Campus	Urban, Suburban
Turnover	£422 million (GBP)[2]:3
Colours
Affiliations	ACU, Association of MBAs, EQUIS, EUA, N8 Group, The Russell Group, Universities UK, White Rose Consortium, WUN
Website	www.leeds.ac.uk

The University of Leeds (informally Leeds University) is a British 'Redbrick' university located in the city of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. Founded in Leeds as a successor of Leeds School of Medicine, the university was previously part of the Victoria University alongside the University of Liverpool and University of Manchester. The university gained official royal charter in 1904 as granted by Edward VII.

It is a member of the prestigious Russell Group of research universities (of which the university's Vice-Chancellor Prof Michael Arthur is the current Chairman) and the N8 Group for research collaboration. The university is also a founding member of the Worldwide Universities Network, the Association of Commonwealth Universities, the European University Association and the White Rose University Consortium whilst also being affiliated with the Association of MBAs, EQUIS and Universities UK. The student population includes 24,510 undergraduate and 8,805 postgraduate students making the university the second largest single site university in the United Kingdom. In 2006, the university was ranked second in the United Kingdom for the number of applications received. The annual income for the institution for 2008-09 was £497.2m, with an expenditure of £485.3m. The university has financial endowments of £42.3m (2008–09), ranking outside the top ten British universities by financial endowment however, Leeds was ranked 9th by The Guardian for research generated income in 2009-10, with a research income of £49.5m, a 2.1% increase from 2008-09.

Described as "a top redbrick university and one of the giants of the higher education system" by The Guardian newspaper,^[15] the university is ranked nationally between 24th (The Sunday Times) and 27th (The Independent), and globally between 99th (The Times HES) and 101st.(ARWU) Leeds was ranked 8th in the UK in the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise, the best result in the Yorkshire and the Humber region and in 2010, Leeds was ranked as the 9th most targeted British university by graduate employers.Notable alumni include former Secretary of State Jack Straw, J.R.R. Tolkien (writer of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings), Piers Sellers (NASA astronaut) and multiple Nobel laureates.^[21][22]

History

An early view of the Great Hall, next to the Clothworkers' Court

The university's history is linked to the development of Leeds as an international centre for the textile industry and clothing manufacture boom in the United Kingdom during the Victorian era. Its roots stretch back to the early nineteenth century and it was one of six civic 'Redbrick' universities in industrial cities given royal charters at the beginning of the twentieth century (beginning with the University of Birmingham in 1900).

Prior to this wave of expansion in higher education, only five universities--University of Oxford (founded somewhere between 1096-1201), University of Cambridge (founded c. 1201), University of London (founded in 1836), Durham University (founded in 1832), and the federal Victoria University (founded in 1880)--were established in England and one in Wales (University of Wales, founded in 1893). (The Victoria University was established at Manchester in 1880 as a federal university for the North of England since the government were unwilling to raise Owens College to university status and grand it a royal charter. However Owens College was the only member from 1880 to 1884; from 1887 when Yorkshire College joined there were three member colleges.)

Origins of the Leeds School of Medicine

The Great Hall

In 1831, the Leeds School of Medicine was set up, serving the needs of the five medical institutions that had sprung up in the city. Then in 1874, the School was joined by the Yorkshire College of Science, intended to provide education for the children of middle-class industrialists and merchants. Financial support from local industry was crucial (there is a Clothworkers' Court at the University to this day).

The College of Science was modelled on Owens College, Manchester, established in 1851 as a non-sectarian alternative to Oxford and Cambridge, where religious tests were applied and those outside the Church of England were not allowed to receive degrees or were barred from entry outright. Owens College, like the earlier University College London, applied no such tests and was open to Protestant Dissenters, Catholics and Jews.

While religious tests for students at Oxford and Cambridge ceased in the 1850s, northern colleges continued to promote themselves as offering a distinct type of teaching. They took pride in the progressive and pragmatic nature of their scientific education; a field in which the ancient universities, with their focus on general and classical study, were felt to lag behind.

The Yorkshire College of Science began by teaching experimental physics, mathematics, geology, mining, chemistry and biology, and soon became well known as an international centre for the study of engineering and textile technology. When classics, modern literature and history went on offer a few years later, the Yorkshire College of Science became the Yorkshire College. In 1887, the College merged with the Leeds School of Medicine.

Victoria University and Royal Charter

Parkinson Building, whose tower forms the University logo

Leeds was given its first university in 1887 when the Yorkshire College joined the federal Victoria University on 3 November: the Victoria University had been established by royal charter in 1880; Owens College being at first the only member college. Leeds now found itself in an educational union with close social cousins from Manchester and Liverpool.

Unlike Owens College, the Leeds section of the Victoria University had never barred women from its courses. However, it was not until special facilities were provided at the Day Training College in 1896 that women enrolled in significant numbers. The first female student to begin a course here was Lilias Annie Clark, who studied Modern Literature and Education.

The Victoria University was short-lived as the university locations in Manchester and Liverpool were keen to establish themselves as independent universities, unhappy with the practical difficulties posed by maintaining a federal arrangement across broad distances, and spurred by the granting of a charter to the University of Birmingham in 1900.

Following a Royal Charter and Act of Parliament in 1903, the newly formed University of Liverpool started the fragmentation of the Victoria University. The University of Leeds soon followed suit and was granted a royal charter as an independent body by King Edward VII in 1904.

The Victoria University was somewhat continued after the breakup, as the single site in Manchester was then renamed the Victoria University of Manchester until October 2004, which saw the merger with the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology to form the University of Manchester.

Reputation and rankings

Foyer of the Parkinson Building, with banners celebrating the University's centenary

Leeds is a leading research institution, and a member of the Russell Group, a group of research-orientated universities. In the 2001 Research Assessment Exercise the University was placed seventh nationally for the number of top-scoring researchers and eighth for 'research power' out of 173 institutions taking part in the exercise. Just under 800 researchers at the university were given ratings of 5* or 5, meaning that 70 per cent of the university's researchers were working at the highest level on projects of international importance. The university received the highest 5* grade, denoting work at the forefront of international research, in six subjects: Electronic and Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, English, Town and Country Planning (i.e. Transport), Food Science, and Italian.^[25]The University of Leeds was ranked 8th in the UK in the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise, the best result in the Yorkshire and the Humber region^[19] and in 2010, Leeds was ranked as the 9th most targeted British university by graduate employers.

In The Times Higher Education Supplement rankings 2007, Leeds was placed 16th in the UK, 27th in Europe and 80th in the world. More recent rankings show despite a drop to 104th in the 2008 world rankings, the university re-entered the top 100 at 99th place in 2009. In 2007, The Sunday Times released averages of all its tables over 10 years, ranking Leeds as 26th in the country from 1998 - 2007.

The University has an excellent reputation for teaching and provides a wide range of courses for students. The Guardian University Guide 2008 rated it top in the country for Dentistry and Chemical Engineering, while a majority of its courses were ranked in the top ten or twenty.

The University of Leeds Business School is regarded as one of the best in the UK. In its most recent ranking the school's MBA programme was placed 15th in Europe by The Economist. In the Financial Times' Global MBA ranking for 2008, the Leeds MBA was ranked 48th in the world.