University of York Totally Explained

Everything about The University Of York totally explained

The University of York is a campus university in York, England, United Kingdom. Established in 1963, York has expanded to more than 30 departments and centres, covering a wide range of subjects. In the last Research Assessment Exercise York was named the 6th best research institution in the UK.
Situated on the outskirts of the city of York, the university campus is approximately in size, incorporating the York Science Park and the National Science Learning Centre. The institution also occupies historic buildings in York. The university is divided into eight colleges, which have similarities to the traditional colleges of the collegiate Universities of Oxford, Cambridge and Durham, and which also provide halls of residence for a number of students. All students and teaching staff are allocated to a college. In May 2007 the university was granted permission to build an extension to its main campus, on arable land just east of the nearby village of Heslington. The land was removed from the green belt especially for the purpose of extending the university.

History

Origins

The first petition for the establishment of a university in York was presented to King James I in 1617. In 1903 F. J. Munby and others (including the Yorkshire Philosophical Society) proposed a "Victoria University of Yorkshire", whilst the then College of Ripon and York St John also at one time considered purchasing Heslington Hall as part of a proposed new campus.

Establishment

Oliver Sheldon 1894-1951, co-founder of York Civic Trust, was a driving force behind the founding of the University, according to the Borthwick Institute for Archives. The University of York was opened in 1963, admitting 200 students. At the time, the university consisted of three buildings, principally the historic King's Manor in the city centre and Heslington Hall, which has Tudor foundations and is in the village of Heslington on the edge of York. A year later, work began on purpose-built structures on the Heslington Campus (see below), which now forms the main part of the university.

Baron James's cardinal principles

Baron James of Rusholme, the university's first Vice-Chancellor, said of the University of York that it must be collegiate in character, that it must deliberately seek to limit the number of subjects and that much of the teaching must be done via tutorials and seminars

List of Chancellors

George Henry Hubert Lascelles, 7th Earl of Harewood (1962 – 1967)
Lord Kenneth McKenzie Clark (1967 – 1978)
Lord Michael Meredith Swann (1979 – 1990)
Dame Janet Abbott Baker (1991 - 2004)

List of Vice-Chancellors

Eric John Francis James, Baron James of Rusholme (1962 - 1973)

Dr Morris Carstairs (1973 - 1978)

Professor Berrick Saul (1979 - 1993)

Professor Sir Ron Cooke (1993 - 2002)

Professor Brian Cantor (2002 - Present) A ban on pop performances, and in particular dancing, in Central Hall was imposed by the university, although it has occasionally been relaxed. Central Hall is still used for classical concerts. Public concerts are regularly held in the music department's Sir Jack Lyons Concert Hall, the Rymer Auditorium and in some of the colleges.
The campus lake has attracted a large population of wild and semi-wild waterfowl. These include greylag, Canada, barnacle and snow geese, coots, moorhens and large numbers of ducks, including mallards, tufted duck, and common pochards. There is also a growing population of black swans and a few great crested grebe. The southern end of the lake has been established as a bird sanctuary. Fishing is permitted in season, on purchase of a licence.
The Heslington campus has both indoor and outdoor sports facilities, including an all weather pitch and County standard cricket pitch. A large, tent-like structure allows for indoor sport, gymnastics and dance.

King's Manor

Located in York city centre, approximately three miles (5 km) from the main Heslington campus, the historic King's Manor is the former residence of Lord Thomas Wentworth, and one-time headquarters of the Council of the North. It is home to the Archaeology, Medieval Studies and Eighteenth Century Studies departments, and is regularly used by other related departments such as History. It has a public restaurant and is used for art displays.

Colleges

There are eight colleges at the University of York, and every student and member of staff is a member of a college. All the colleges are of equal status, but each has its own constitution. The day-to-day running of the colleges is managed by an elected committee of staff and student members chaired by the college's Provost. Each college has a Junior Common Room for students, which is managed by the elected Junior Common Room Committee, and a Senior Common Room, which is managed by elected representatives of the college's academic and administrative members. The colleges are deliberately assigned undergraduates, postgraduate students and staff - both male and female - from a wide mixture of disciplines. in 2006, the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government gave the go-ahead in May 2007.
Designs are progressing for the site and for the new buildings, and on 14 May 2008 the City of York planners approved the design for the first residential college, Goodricke. The current proposal includes landscaping the whole area, constructing a lake with marsh borders, planting light woodland and many specimen trees, and maximising biodiversity. Several departments will move to new, purpose-built facilities on the extension, with Law and the York Management School being the first, in one building. Heslington East will be connected to the existing campus by a network of pathways and light transport links. The university will begin construction in 2008, with the first buildings, including Goodricke college, coming into use in October 2009.

Reputation and academic rankings

The Times University Guide said of York that "The university is increasingly recognised as a permanent fixture in the top rank of British higher education" and that "No university had a better record for teaching quality". The Sunday Times said, "York is one of Britain's academic success stories, forging a reputation to rival Oxford and Cambridge in the space of 40 years. In some regards — teaching, for example — it has a recent track record better than that of Oxford, according to the official assessments of teaching quality."

Entry Standards

Information for entry standards gathered from the 2005-2006 academic year by the HESA shows that the average student at the University of York achieved a UCAS tariff of 436. Given that an A at A-Level is equivalent to 120 points the average entrant must be achieving three or more A-Levels at grade A.
York has the 8th highest entrant grades of British universities.

Official teaching statistics

The 2003 QAA report on the institution gave it the best of their three possible outcomes saying that "broad confidence can be placed in the soundness of the university's current and likely future management of the quality of its academic programmes and the academic standards of its awards."
The latest Teaching Quality Assessment data for the University of York is listed below. In cases before November 1995 a numerical value, out of 24, isn't used. In these cases "Excellent" is the highest possible grade followed by "Satisfactory" and then "Unsatisfactory". Under the newer system the quality of teaching is marked out of 24. 22/24 or higher is equivalent to "Excellent" on the old scale 20 out of 23 departments gained an "excellent" rating.

Department	Date of Last Assessment	Result
Archaeology	November 2001	24/24
Architecture	March 1994	Excellent
Biology	March 2000	24/24
Chemistry	November 1993	Satisfactory
Computer Science	March 1994	Excellent
Economics	January 2001	24/24
Educational Studies	October 2001	24/24
Electronics	January 1998	24/24
English	November 1994	Excellent
Health Sciences (Nursing)	January 2000	21/24
History	October 1993	Excellent
History of Art	May 1998	21/24
Language and Linguistic Science	February 1996	22/24
Management	March 2001	22/24
Mathematics	October 1998	22/24
Music	February 1995	Excellent
Philosophy	December 2000	24/24
Physics	November 1999	24/24
Politics	November 2000	24/24
Psychology	February 2000	24/24
Social Policy	February 1995	Excellent
Social Work	November 1994	Excellent
Sociology	November 1995	23/24

Research assessment

York has an impressive reputation for research with 19 subjects out of the 23 examined receiving a rating of 5 and three 5* (where 1 is the lowest and 5* is the highest possible) ratings in the 2001 Research Assessment Exercise. The Department of English and Related Literature and the Department of Computer Science were later upgraded from 5* to 6*, and the Department of Psychology has been rated 6* for funding. Using these statistics, York was ranked the sixth-best research institution in the UK. and in 2007 for the work of the Centre for Health Economics.
There are around eight applications for every undergraduate place, and a low dropout rate of 4% (only Oxbridge, Bristol, and UCL are lower).
In 2007 York became the only British University to have an academic department – Chemistry – win the Gold Athena Swan Award for its commitment to the careers of women in science. The Department of Psychology has won a Silver Athena Swan Award, the first in the country to do so, Biology also has silver, and the university as a whole holds the Athena Swan bronze award.

League tables

Though previously ranked as a top-ten university, York's ranking has dropped in recent years, and it fell out of the top ten in the Times University Guide in 2007, and 2008. This drop coincides with major newspapers, like The Times, no longer including 'Teaching Quality' as a criterion. The Sunday Times (which still uses the quality of teaching as one of its criteria) ranked the university 8th.

	2009	2008	2007	2006	2005	2004	2003	2002
Times Good University Guide		16^st	15^st		7^th		7^th	8^th
Guardian University Guide	11^th	15^th		15^th	8^th	8^th	6^th
Sunday Times University Guide			8^th	7^th	7^th	6^th	6^th		2^nd	2^nd

The Sunday Times released averages of all its tables over 10 years, ranking York as 6th in the country from 1998 - 2007. In 2000 the Sutton Trust named York as a leading university in the UK, placing it 6th overall.

List of academic departments

Department of Archaeology:-

Head of department: Prof. Julian D. Richards, MA(Cantab), PhD(CNAA), FSA, MIFA.
Location: King's Manor

Department of Biology:-

Head of department: Prof. Dale Sanders FRS
Location: Biology, Heslington Campus

Department of Chemistry:-

Head of department: Prof. Paul Walton
Location: Chemistry, Heslington Campus

Department of Computer Science:-

Head of department: Prof. John McDermid, MA(Cantab), PhD(Bham), FREng, CEng, CITP, FBCS, FIEE, FRAeS, ITLM, MIoD
Location: Computer Science, Heslington Campus

Department of Economics and Related Studies:-

Head of department: Prof. Peter J. Simmons, BA(Exeter), MSc(LSE), PhD(Soton)
Location: Alcuin College, Heslington Campus

Educational Studies:-

Head of department: Prof. Judith Bennett, BA, PCCE(York), MA, PhD(KCL)
Location: Langwith College, Heslington Campus

Department of Electronics:-

Head of department: Prof. John A. Robinson, PhD, PEng, CEng
Location: Physics and Electronics, Heslington Campus

Department of English and Related Literature:-

Head of department: Prof. David Attwell, BA(Natal), MA(Cape Town), PhD(Texas)
Location: Langwith College, Heslington Campus

Environment Department:-

Head of department: Prof. Dave Raffaelli, BSc(Leeds), PhD(Wales)
Location: Environment Department, Heslington Campus

Department of Health Sciences:-

Head of department: Prof. Christine Godfrey
Location: Seebohm Rowntree Building, Heslington Campus

Department of History:-

Head of department: Prof. Miles Taylor, BA, PhD(Cantab), FRHS
Location: Vanbrugh College, Heslington Campus

Department of History of Art:-

Head of department: Prof. Mark Hallett, BA(Cantab), MA, PhD(Courtauld Institute, London)
Location: Vanbrugh College, Heslington Campus

Department of Language and Linguistic Science:-

Head of department: Professor Susan Pintzuk PhD(Pennsylvania)
Location: Vanbrugh College, Heslington Campus

York Law School:-

Head of department: Professor Stuart Bell
Location: Sally Baldwin Buildings, Heslington Campus (temporary placement, to be moved to Heslington East on completion)

The York Management School:-

Head of department: Prof. Steven Toms MA(Oxon), MBA, PhD(Nottingham), ACA, PGCE
Location: Heslington Campus

Mathematics:-

Head of department: Prof. Stephen Donkin, MA(Oxon), MSc, PhD(Warwick)
Location: Goodricke College, Heslington Campus

Hull-York Medical School:-

Head of department: Prof. Ian Greer MD, FRCP(Glas), FRCPE, FRCP, FRCPI, FRCOG, FMedSci
Location: HYMS, Heslington Campus (University of Hull)

Department of Music:-

Head of department: Prof. William Brooks BA(Wesleyan), MA, D.M.A.(Illinois)
Location: Derwent College, Heslington Campus

Department of Philosophy:-

Head of department: Prof. Tom Stoneham, MA(Oxon), MPhil, PhD(London)
Location: Derwent College, Heslington Campus

Department of Physics:-

Head of department: Prof. Brian Fulton, BSc, PhD(Birmingham), CPhys, FInstP
Location: Physics and Electronics, Heslington Campus

Department of Politics:-

Head of department: Prof. Matt Matravers BSc, PhD(LSE)
Location: Derwent College, Heslington Campus

School of Politics, Economics and Philosophy:-

Head of Department: Prof. M. Qizilbash BA(Cantab) MPhil, DPhil (Oxon)
Location: Derwent College, Heslington Campus

Department of Psychology:-

Head of Department: Prof. Graham Hitch BA, MA(Cantab), MSc(Sussex), PhD(Cantab), CPsychol
Location: Psychology, Heslington Campus

Department of Social Policy and Social Work:-

Head of Department: Prof. Mary Maynard BA, MA(York), PGCE(London)
Location: Alcuin College, Heslington Campus

Department of Sociology:-

Head of Department: Prof. Andrew Webster BSc(London South Bank University), D.Phil(York)
Location: Wentworth College, Heslington Campus

Department of Theatre, Film and Television:-

Head of Department: Prof. Andrew Tudor, BA(Leeds)
Location: Heslington Campus

The campus is also home to the National Science Learning Centre. Opened in March 2006 by Prime Minister Tony Blair, it serves as the hub for a £51 million national network of centres dedicated to revitalising science teaching in schools. It is operated by the White Rose University Consortium (which comprises the Universities of Leeds, Sheffield and York) together with Sheffield Hallam University.

Student activities

University Radio York (URY), the student radio station, is the oldest independent radio station in the United Kingdom, and winner of the Student Radio Awards Best Station Award 2005. Nouse, the oldest student newspaper on Campus, was established in 1964 and was 2005 NUS/Mirror Student paper of the year; its rival newspaper, Vision, was named Guardian Student Newspaper of the Year for three consecutive years between 2002 and 2004 - the only time this has occurred in the 27-year history of the prestigious awards, and won it again in 2007. It also won Best Small Budget Publication at the 2006 NUS/Mirror National Student Media Awards. The Yorker is a rapidly growing online publication set up in 2007; it was nominated for the Guardian Student media awards The York Union Society is the University of York's debating union, which competes in intervarsity tournaments against other universities. The University of York Labour Club (YULC) campaigns on issues both on and off campus, as well as organising debates and talks by high profile speakers such as Ed Miliband and Anthony Giddens. There is also a branch of People and Planet, which campaigns on environmental and ethical issues. Unusually, provisions for lesbian, gay bisexual and trans (LGBT) students at the university is divided among three distinct organisations. YUSU LGBT is a part of the students' union and represents LGBT students within the union, as well as providing welfare support and conducting awareness raising campaigns on campus. LGBT Social organises social events aimed at LGBT students and their friends. Query is a discussion group focusing on issues of sexuality and gender identity, mainly catering to LGBT students. While remaining separate, these three groups generally have strong links to each other and to the staff LGBTI forum, which offers largely similar provision to staff members of the university. Each College has its own JCRC or students' association which provides a variety of services, including college events, student welfare services; they also organise the Freshers' Fortnight activities in their College. The students' union is known as YUSU, but is properly called the University of York Students' Union. It's membership is currently the entire student population of the university. In addition to the students' union, there's a Graduate Students' Association (the GSA) which performs many of the functions of the students' union for postgraduate students, including representing postgraduates on university committees. Every summer term the students take part in the Roses Tournament, a sports competition against Lancaster University. The venue of the event alternates each year between York and Lancaster. Despite lacking a central students' union social facility, there are college bars on the Heslington campus, and the city has numerous nightclubs and pubs.

Notable alumni

Further Information

Get more info on 'University Of York'.

External Link Exchanges

Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:

<a href="http://university_of_york.totallyexplained.com">University of York Totally Explained</a>

Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned.