University of Bristol Totally Explained

Everything about The University Of Bristol totally explained

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 is University which receives the most applications of any 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. The most recent Research Assessment Exercise gave 15 departments a 5* rating. 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

The University was preceded by University College, Bristol, founded in 1876, 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.

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

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's smaller by student numbers than the nearby University of the West of England. 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. 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.
   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. and 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). 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's 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

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. It should be noted that 20% of sixth-form pupils attend non-state funded institutions. 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,Internationally, The Times Higher Education Supplement placed Bristol 64th in the world in 2006 and 37th in 2007. Another international ranking, the Shanghai Jiao Tong University Academic Ranking of World Universities, placed Bristol 62nd globally in 2007. 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%.

League tables

	2009	2008	2007	2006	2005	2004	2003	2002	2001	2000
Times Good University Guide		8^th	7^th	7^th	12^th	n/a	8^th	7^th	n/a	8^th
Guardian University Guide	32^nd	14^th	12^th	13^th	19^th	18^th
Sunday Times University Guide		10^th	9^th	9^th	8^th	8^th
Daily Telegraph			7^th	n/a	n/a	n/a	9^th
The Independent	16^th

	2007	2006	2005
THES - QS World University Rankings	37^th	64^th	49^th
Academic Ranking of World Universities	62^nd	62^nd	64^th

Students' Union and student life

University of Bristol Union, which claims to have the largest Students' Union building in the country. From this location, the student radio station BURST (Bristol University Radio Station) broadcasts and the student paper Epigram publishes. In terms of student life, the Union is responsible for the organisation of the annual freshers' fair, the coordination of Bristol Student Community Action, which organizes volunteering projects in the local community, and the organization of entertainment events and student societies. The current President of the union is Tobin Webb. Previous presidents have included Sue Lawley and Liberal Democrat MP Lembit Opik. There is a separate union for postgraduate students, as well as an athletic union, which is a member of the British Universities Sports Association. In distinction to the 'blues' awarded for sporting excellence at Oxford and Cambridge, Bristol's outstanding athletes are awarded 'reds'.

Halls of residence

Accommodation for students is primarily in the central precinct of the University and two areas of Bristol: Clifton and Stoke Bishop. In Stoke Bishop, Wills Hall on the edge of the Clifton Downs was the first to be opened, in 1929, by then-Chancellor Winston Churchill. Its original quadrangle layout has been expanded twice, in 1962 and 1990. At the time of Badock Hall's establishment, some of the buildings were called Hiatt Baker Hall, but two years later, Hiatt Baker moved to its own site and is now the largest hall in the University. The first self-catering hall in Stoke Bishop was University Hall, established in 1971 with expansion in 1992. It is a popular location for filming, with The Chronicles of Narnia, The House of Eliott and Truly, Madly, Deeply, as well as episodes of Only Fools and Horses and Casualty, being filmed there. The Grotto in the grounds is a Grade I listed building. Clifton Hill House is another Grade I listed building now used as student accommodation in Clifton. It was originally built in between 1745 and 1750 by Isaac Ware, and has been used by the University since its earliest days in 1909. Manor Hall comprises five separate buildings, the principal of which was erected from 1927–1932 to the design of George Oatley following a donation from Henry Herbert Wills. One of its annexes, Manor House, has recently been refurbished and officially 'reopened' in 1999.
Several of the residences in the central precinct are more recent and have been built and are managed by third-party organisations under exclusivity arrangements with the University. These include Unite House and Chantry Court, opened in 2000 and 2003 respectively by the UNITE Group, as well as Dean's Court (2001, postgraduates only) and Woodland Court (2005), both run by the Dominion Housing Group.

Academic structure

The University is made up of a number of schools and departments organised into six faculties:
Faculty of Arts

Archaeology and Anthropology
Drama: Theatre, Film, Television
History of Art
Music
Philosophy
Classics & Ancient History
English
Historical Studies
Theology and Religious Studies
French
German
Hispanic, Portuguese and Latin American Studies
Italian
Russian

Faculty of Engineering

Aerospace Engineering

Civil Engineering

Computer Science

Electrical and Electronic Engineering

Engineering Mathematics

Mechanical Engineering

Faculty of Medical and Veterinary Sciences

Anatomy

Biochemistry

Cellular & Molecular Medicine

Clinical Veterinary Science

Physiology and Pharmacology

Faculty of Science

Biological Sciences

Chemistry

Earth Sciences

Experimental Psychology

Geographical Sciences

Mathematics

Physics

Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry

Clinical Science at North Bristol

Clinical Science at South Bristol

Community-Based Medicine

Oral & Dental Science

Social Medicine

Faculty of Social Sciences and Law

Politics

Social Work

Sociology

Education (Graduate School of)

Geographical Sciences

Policy Studies

Deaf Studies

Hearing and Balance Studies

Exercise, Nutrition and Health Sciences

Accounting and Finance

Economics

Management

Law

Degrees

Bristol awards a range of academic degrees spanning bachelor's and master's degrees as well as junior doctorates and higher doctorates. The postnominals awarded are the degree abbreviations used commonly among British universities. The University is part of the Engineering Doctorate scheme, and awards the Eng. D. in systems engineering, engineering management, aerospace engineering and non-destructive evaluation.
Bristol notably doesn't award by title any Bachelor's degrees in music, which is available for study but awarded B.A. (although it does award M.Mus. and D.Mus.), nor any degree in divinity, since divinity isn't available for study (students of theology are awarded a B.A.). Similarly, the University doesn't award B.Litt. (Bachelor of Letters), although it does award both M.Litt. and D.Litt. In regulations, the University doesn't name M.D. or D.D.S. as higher doctorates, although they're in many universities., as these degrees are normally accredited professional doctorates.
The degrees of D.Litt., D.Sc., D.Eng., LL.D. and D.Mus., whilst having regulations specifying the grounds for award, are most often conferred as honorary degrees (in honoris causa). Those used most commonly are the D.Litt., D.Sc. and LL.D., with the M.A. (and occasionally the M.Litt.) also sometimes conferred honorarily for distinction in the local area or within the University.

Governance

In common with most UK universities, Bristol is headed formally by the Chancellor, currently Brenda Hale and led on a day-to-day basis by the Vice-Chancellor, currently Prof Eric Thomas. There are four Pro-Vice-Chancellors and three ceremonial Pro-Chancellors. The Chancellor may hold office for up to ten years and the Pro-Chancellors for up to three, unless the University Court determines otherwise, but the Vice-Chancellor and Pro-Vice-Chancellors have no term limits. From September 2008, there will also be a Deputy Vice-Chancellor, who will stand in for the Vice-Chancellor on all matters when the latter is away from the University.
Responsibility for running the University is held at an executive level by the Vice-Chancellor, but the Council is the only body that can recommend changes to the University's statutes and Charter, with the exception of academic ordinances. These can only be made with the consent of the Senate, the chief academic body in the University which also holds responsibility for teaching and learning, examinations and research and enterprise. The Chancellor and Pro Chancellors are nominated by Council and appointed formally by Court, whose additional powers are now limited to these appointments and a few others, including some lay members of Council. Finally, Convocation, the body of all staff, ceremonial officers and graduates of the University, returns 100 members to Court and one member to Council,

Logo and arms

In 2004, the University unveiled its new logo. The icons in the logo are the sun for the Wills family, the dolphin for Colston, the horse for Fry and the ship-and-castle from the mediaeval seal of the City of Bristol, as also used in the coat of arms. The shape of the whole logo represents the open book of learning.
Present academics include Sir Michael Berry, knighted in 1996, one of the discoverers of quantum mechanics' 'geometric phase', John Rarity who, in 2001, set a then world-record 1.9km range for free-space secure key exchange using quantum cryptography, and Mark Horton, one of the presenters of the BBC's Coast television series. Patricia Broadfoot, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Gloucestershire, and Nigel Thrift, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Warwick both were previously faculty at Bristol. Anthony Epstein, co-discoverer of the Epstein-Barr virus, was Professor of Pathology at the University from 1968–1982. Historical academics include Sir John Lennard-Jones, discoverer of the Lennard-Jones potential in physics and Alfred Marshall, one of the University College's Principals and influential economist in the latter part of the 19th century.

Alumni

Notable alumni of the University of Bristol include writers Dick King-Smith, Angela Carter and David Nicholls, author of the novel Starter for Ten, turned into a screenplay set in the University of Bristol. Other high-profile former students include illusionist Derren Brown and TV newsreader Alastair Stewart, as well as musician James Blunt. Radio 4 presenter Sue Lawley was a student, as were Little Britain stars Matt Lucas and David Walliams, Simon Pegg (of Hot Fuzz fame) and Chris Morris, creator of the controversial Brass Eye. Liberal Democratic MP Lembit Opik was President of Bristol University Students' Union during his time there. For a full list of famous alumni, see Bristol University's page on notable alumni

Further Information

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