Cardiff University (Welsh: Prifysgol Caerdydd ) is a leading university located in the Cathays Park area of Cardiff, Wales, United Kingdom. It received its Royal charter in 1883 and is a member of the Russell Group of Universities. Ranked within the World's top 100 Universities, it is one of the original 'red brick' universities. Before August 2004, the university was officially known as University of Wales, Cardiff (Welsh: Prifysgol Cymru, Caerdydd ), although it used the name Cardiff University publicly.

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History

The Aberdare Report of 1881 recommended the foundation of university colleges in North Wales and South Wales to complement the already established University College, Wales (now the University of Wales, Aberystwyth) in Aberystwyth. Following a public appeal that raised £37,000, the University College of South Wales and Monmouthshire opened on October 24 1883, offering studies in Biology, Chemistry, English, French, German, Greek, History, Latin, Mathematics, Music, Welsh, Philosophy and Physics. The University College was incorporated by Royal Charter the following year. John Viriamu Jones was appointed as the University’s first Principal, at age 27. The only college in Wales with its own degree awarding powers at this time was St David's University College. As such, Cardiff entered students for the examinations of the University of London until, in 1893, it became one of the founding institutions of the University of Wales and began awarding their degrees.

In 1885, Aberdare Hall opened as the first hall of residence, allowing women access to the university. This moved to its current site in 1895, but remains a single-sex hall. 1904 saw the appointment of the first female professor in the UK, Millicent McKenzie.

Main Building

Architect John Caroe sought to combine the charm and elegance of his former college (Trinity College, Cambridge) with the picturesque balance of many of the Oxford University colleges. Building work commenced in 1905 and was completed in many stages, the first in 1909. Money ran short for this project, however, and although the side-wings were completed in the 1960s the planned Great Hall has never been built. Prior to then, from its founding in 1883, the University was based in the Old Infirmary on Newport Road, Cardiff which is now part of the University’s Queen’s Buildings.

In 1931, the School of Medicine, which had been founded as part of the College in 1893 when the Departments of Anatomy, Physiology, Pathology, Pharmacology were founded, was split off to form the University of Wales College of Medicine. In 1972, the College was renamed University College, Cardiff .

In 1988, financial problems caused University College, Cardiff and the University of Wales Institute of Science and Technology to merge, forming the University of Wales College, Cardiff . Following changes to the constitution of the University of Wales in 1996, this became the University of Wales, Cardiff .

In the early 1990s, the university's computer systems served as the home for The Internet Movie Database. In 1997, the College was granted full independent degree awarding-powers by the Privy Council (though, as a member of the University of Wales it could not begin using them) and in 1999 the public name of the university was changed to Cardiff University. Some considered this part of an effort at Cardiff to set itself apart from the other colleges of the University of Wales, none of which are members of the Russell Group.

On 1 August, 2004 the University of Wales, Cardiff merged with the University of Wales College of Medicine. The merged institution separated from the collegiate University of Wales and officially took the name Cardiff University.

Cardiff today

In 2002, ideas were floated to re-merge Cardiff with the University of Wales College of Medicine following the publication of the Welsh Assembly Government's review of higher education in Wales. This merger became effective on August 1, 2004, on which date Cardiff University ceased to be a constituent institution of the University of Wales and became an independent "link institution" affiliated to the federal University. The process of the merger was completed on December 1, 2004 when the Act of Parliament transferring UWCM's assets to Cardiff University received Royal Assent. On December 17 it was announced that the Privy Council had given approval to the new Supplemental Charter and had granted university status to Cardiff, legally changing the name of the institution to Cardiff University. Cardiff awarded University of Wales degrees to students admitted before 2005, but these have been replaced by Cardiff degrees. Medicine, dentistry and other health-related areas began to admit students for Cardiff degrees in 2006.

In 2004, Cardiff University and the University of Wales, Swansea entered a partnership to provide a four-year graduate-entry medical degree. An annual intake of around 70 post-graduate students undertake an accelerated version of the Cardiff course at the University of Wales, Swansea for the first two years before joining undergraduate students at Cardiff for the final two years. All medicine/surgery graduates are awarded the degrees MB BCh.

In 2005, The Wales College of Medicine, which is part of the University, launched the North Wales Clinical School in Wrexham in collaboration with the North East Wales Institute of Higher Education in Wrexham and the University of Wales, Bangor and with the National Health Service in Wales. This has been funded with £12.5 Million from the Welsh Assembly ^[1] and will lead to the tripling of the number of trainee doctors in clinical training in Wales over a four year period.

The university has a rivalry with nearby Swansea University, against whom every year they have a varsity match termed the Welsh Varsity.

Reputation

Cardiff University has a long standing tradition of providing the best education in Wales, as shown in its five year standing as the best centre of excellence in Wales in the Sunday Times League Tables. Cardiff is also the only university in Wales to be a member of the Russell Group of Research Intensive Universities. Cardiff (along with Swansea University) is the only university in Wales to have a department (town and county planning) rated as a 'Gold Standard' (One that achieved 5* rating in both the Research Assessment Exercise (RAE) in 2001 and 1996).

Times Higher Education ranked Cardiff University 99th in the top 100 universities in the world in 2007. ^[2]

The Times Higher-QS World University Rankings

• 2008 - Moved into the top 100 globally at position 99 ^{[3] [4]}
• 2007 - placed 100-150 globally and 8-25 in Europe ^[5]
• 2006 - placed 151-200 globally and 57-78 in Europe
• 2005 - placed 153-202 globally and 60-79 in Europe
• 2004 - placed 153-201 globally and 60-79 in Europe
• 2003 - placed 201-250 globally and 77-99 in Europe

The Times Online - Good University Guide 2009

• Ranked 29th overall ^[6]
• * Ranked 1st for Architecture ^[7]
• * Ranked 11th for Biological Sciences ^[8]
• * Ranked 20th in Business Studies ^[9]

The Complete University Guide 2007

• Ranked 37th overall out of 113 universities in the institution-wide league table ^[10]
• *Ranked 17th out of 109 universities for Business Studies

The Guardian University Guide 2007

• Ranked 33th overall out of 149 universities in the institution-wide league table ^[11]
• *Ranked 38th out of 140 universities for business and management studies

The Sunday Times University Guide 2007

• Ranked 28th out of 123 universities overall in the institution-wide league table ^[12]

Schools and colleges

The 28 academic schools and four graduate schools are grouped into two colleges, with each college having a provost: the Wales College of Medicine, Biology, Life and Health Sciences and the College of Humanities and Sciences. The academic schools are:

College of Humanities and Sciences Wales College of Medicine, Biology, Life and Health Sciences * * * * * :Note: Subjects with asterisk (*) known collectively as the Wales College of Medicine Research and graduate schools Research centres - The MEC is an autonomous research centre within Cardiff University, having the same status as the University's academic Schools. Facilities There are sporting facilities and sports teams in the BUCS university league, including men's and women's hockey. The Cardiff University Students' Union building is over the main railway going north from Cardiff to the Valleys, next door to Cathays railway station. It has shops, a nightclub and the studios of Xpress Radio (which is piped throughout the union) and Gair Rhydd (Welsh: 'Free Word'), the student newspaper. Notable alumni/current staff thumb Alumni and current staff of Cardiff University (and its predecessor) include: Faisal al-Fayez (Prime Minister of Jordan) Paul Atherton (Television/Film Producer) Professor Robin Attfield (Philosopher) Professor Martin J. Ball (Professor of Communicative Disorders at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette) Professor Sir Leszek Borysiewicz (Deputy Rector, Imperial College London and Chief Executive of the Medical Research Council) Mervyn Burtch (Composer) Philip Cashian (Composer) Christine Chapman (Politician) Adrian Chiles (TV Presenter) Gillian Clarke (poet) Professor Peter Coles (Professor of Astrophysics) Oliver Condy (Music journalist/writer and Editor of BBC Music Magazine) Huw Edwards (Journalist) Professor Sir Martin Evans ( Nobel Prize for Medicine 2007) Brian J. Ford (Biologist, TV Presenter) Max Foster (CNN Anchor, CNN Today) Alun Hoddinott (Composer) Professor Dr Robert Huber [13] (Professor of Chemistry, Nobel Laureate - The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1988 [14]) Karl Hyde (member of Underworld (band)) Karl Jenkins (Composer) Alan Johnston (Journalist) Riz Khan (Journalist) Glenys Kinnock (Politician) Neil Kinnock (Politician) Bernard Knight (Crime Writer) Siân Lloyd (TV Presenter) Professor Vaughan Lowe QC Chichele Professor of Public International Law in the University of Oxford Hilary Marquand (Politician) Robert Minhinnick (co-founder of Friends of the Earth) Christopher Walter Monckton, 3rd Viscount Monckton of Brenchley (Advisor to Margaret Thatcher) John Warwick Montgomery (Theologian and Barrister) Professor Sir Keith Peters FRS PMedSci (Regius Professor of Physic in the University of Cambridge) Steven Outerbridge - Bermudian Cricketer. Bill Rammell (Politician) James Righton (Musician) Dr Alice Roberts (clinical anatomist and osteoarchaeologist) Barham Salih (Politician) Rick Smith (member of Underworld (band)) Jonathan Stevenson (BBC sports correspondent) Craig Thomas (Author) Professor Keith Ward (Philosopher, Gresham Professor of Divinity, Gresham College) Grace Williams (composer) Brian Wilson (Politician) See also List of universities in Wales List of places in Cardiff References Health Minister opens North Wales Clinical School QS Top Universities: Top 100 universities in the THE - QS World University Rankings 2007 World University Rankings 2007 Cardiff in World's Top 100 university rankings World University Rankings 2006 University Rankings League Table 2009 University Rankings League Table 2009 - Architecture University Rankings League Table 2009 - Biological Sciences University Rankings League Table 2009 - Business Studies League Table of UK Universities Rankings with performance scores The Times Good University Guide Nobel laureate joins University The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1988 All Wikipedia content is licensed under the GNU Free Document License or is otherwise used here in compliance with the Copyright Act