The University of Sheffield
is a research university, located in Sheffield in South Yorkshire, England. Ranked within the World's top 100 Universities, it is one of the original 'red brick' universities and a member of the Russell Group.
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History
Origins
The University of Sheffield was originally formed by the merger of three colleges. The Sheffield School of Medicine was founded in 1828, followed in 1879 by the opening of Firth College by
Mark Firth, a
steel manufacturer, to teach
arts and
science subjects. Firth College then helped to fund the opening of the Sheffield Technical School in 1884 to teach
applied science, the only major faculty the existing colleges did not cover. The three institutions merged in 1897 to form the
University College of Sheffield
.
[1] Sheffield is one of the six original
red brick universities.
Victoria University
It was originally envisaged that the University College would join
Manchester,
Liverpool and
Leeds as the fourth member of the federal
Victoria University.
Royal Charter
However, the Victoria University began to split-up before this could happen and so the University College of Sheffield received its own
Royal Charter in 1905 and became the
University of Sheffield
.
From 200 full-time students in 1905, the University grew slowly until the 1950s and 1960s when it began to expand rapidly. Many new buildings (including the famous
Arts Tower) were built and student numbers increased to their present levels of over 20,000. In 1987 the University began to collaborate with its once would-be partners of the
Victoria University by co-founding the
Northern Consortium; a coalition for the education and recruiment of international students.
In 1995, the University took over the Sheffield and North Trent College of Nursing and Midwifery, which greatly increased the size of the medical faculty. In 2005, the South Yorkshire Strategic Health Authority announced that it would split the training between Sheffield and
Sheffield Hallam University - however, the University decided to pull out of providing preregistration nursing and midwifery training due to "costs and operational difficulties".
[2]
Over the years, the University has been home to a number of notable writers and scholars, including the literary critic
William Empson, who was head of the Department of English; author
Angela Carter; five
Nobel Prize winners; and
Bernard Crick.
Histories
There are two official histories of the university:
- Arthur W. Chapman (1955) The Story of a Modern University: A History of the University of Sheffield
, Oxford University Press.
- Helen Mathers (2005) Steel City Scholars: The Centenary History of the University of Sheffield
, London: James & James.
Organisation
Like most British universities, the University of Sheffield is headed by a
Vice-Chancellor. Professor
Keith Burnett,
CBE, is the current Vice-Chancellor, and he took over from
Prof. Bob Boucher, CBE on
1 October 2007. There is also a
titular Chancellor,
Sir Peter Middleton. Professor Burnett was Head of the Division of Mathematical, Physical and Life Sciences at the
University of Oxford and, before that, the Chairman of Physics.
The University is in the process of changing its structure, from the existing seven faculties
[3] into five new faculties:
[4]
- Faculty of Arts and Humanities
- Faculty of Engineering
- Faculty of Medicine and Health
- Faculty of Pure Science
- Faculty of Social Sciences
Reputation
Sheffield was the
Sunday Times
University of the Year in 2001 and has consistently appeared as one of their top-30 institutions. Just three universities nationally have more than Sheffield's 30 top-rated subjects for teaching excellence and only five have a greater number than the 35 subject areas at Sheffield deemed to have conducted world-class research in the most recent ratings.
[5]
The University of Sheffield is rated 8th in the UK, 18th in Europe and 69th in the world in an annual academic ranking of the top 500 universities worldwide published in August 2005. Shanghai Jiao Tong University evaluated the universities using several research performance indicators, including the number of highly cited researchers, academic performance, articles in the periodicals Science and Nature, and the number of Nobel prize-winners. A separate ranking, published in the US by Newsweek magazine, and released in August 2006, ranked Sheffield 9th in the UK, 18th in Europe and 70th in the world in a list of the Global Top 100 Universities. The University is rated 12th in the UK, 22nd in Europe and 68th in the world in the Times Higher Education Supplement's November 2007 ranking of the top 100 universities in the world.
Branding
The brand (encompassing the visual identity) is centred on the theme of "discovery", led by the Latin motto from the coat of arms "Rerum Cognoscere Causas" – "to discover the causes of things" (the same motto is used by the
London School of Economics).
The identity has been applied across print, screen and other areas such as signage, vehicle livery and merchandising. The project was key to the University's Marketing Department receiving "HEIST Marketing Team of the Year, 2005".
[6]
Location
Main campus
The University of Sheffield is not a
campus university, though most of its buildings are close together. The centre of the University's presence lies one mile to the west of Sheffield city centre, where there is a mile-long collection of buildings belonging almost entirely to the University. This area includes the
students' union (housed in
University House), the
Octagon Centre,
Firth Court, the Geography and Planning building, the
Alfred Denny Building (housing
natural sciences and including a small
museum), the Dainton and Richard Roberts Buildings (
chemistry) and the Hicks Building (
mathematics and
physics). The
Grade II*-listed library and
Arts Tower are also located there. The Arts Tower houses one of Europe's few surviving examples of a
Paternoster lift. A concourse under the main road (the
A57) allows students to easily move between these buildings. The
Information Commons is the newest building, added in 2007. The Information Commons is a new library, coffee shop and cafe, with a digital and computer infrastructure, lounge areas and flexible learning space.
St George's
To the east lies St George's Campus, named after
St George's Church (now a lecture theatre and postgraduate residence). The campus is centred on Mappin Street, home to a number of University buildings, including the Faculty of
Engineering (partly housed in the
Grade II-listed Mappin Building) and the University of Sheffield School of Management and Department of
Computer Science. The University also maintains the
Turner Museum of Glass in this area. The University has recently acquired the listed old
Victorian Jessop Hospital for Women buildings and HSE Building. Both buildings are currently being refurbished to house the Departments of Modern Languages, History and English, thus fully joining the West and St. George's campuses. The Law School will move from the Crookesmoor Building to Bartolomé House in early 2008.
West of the main campus
Further west lies Weston Park, the
Weston Park Museum, the
Harold Cantor Gallery,
sports facilities in the
Crookesmoor area and
medicine, in the
Royal Hallamshire Hospital (although taught in the city's extensive
teaching hospitals under the
Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, and throughout
South Yorkshire and
North East Lincolnshire).
Student accommodation
Further west still lie the University
halls of residence. These comprise Tapton Hall of Residence, and the Endcliffe Student Village (comprising of several new blocks of apartments, the established Halifax and Stephenson Hall of Residence, newly created Burbage, Stanage, Howden, Froggatt, Yarncliffe and Derwent, as well as University owned private houses). The music department, in
Broomhill, is also based in this area.
Manvers campus
The
Manvers campus, at
Wath-on-Dearne between
Rotherham and
Barnsley, is where the majority of nursing is taught.
Research and teaching quality
The University of Sheffield has been described by
The Times
as one of the powerhouses of British higher education.
The University is a member of the
Russell Group, the
European University Association, the
Worldwide Universities Network and the
White Rose University Consortium. It is a major contributor to research, being the sixth most highly rated research university in the UK (As of 2001).
In the latest round of Teaching Quality Assessments (TQA 1993-2001) Sheffield ranked third in the UK for the highest number of "Excellent" rated subject areas. Nearly 75% of all teaching subjects achieved a 24/24 (Excellent) score.
The University of Sheffield is rated 8th in the UK, 18th in Europe and 69th in the world in an annual academic ranking of the top 500 universities worldwide published in August 2005. Researchers at China's Shanghai Jiao Tong University evaluated the universities using several research performance indicators, including the number of highly cited researchers, academic performance, articles in the periodicals Science and Nature, and the number of Nobel prizewinners. A separate ranking, published in the US by Newsweek magazine, and released in August 2006, ranked Sheffield 9th in the UK, 18th in Europe and 70th in the world in a list of the Global Top 100 Universities.
The University has won
Queen's Anniversary Prizes in 1998, 2000, 2002 and 2007.
[7] It was also named the
Sunday Times University of the Year in 2001.
In the 2007
National Student Survey, five of the University of Sheffield's departments reached the top of the table for overall student satisfaction among the UK universities. "Dentistry, Electronic and Electrical Engineering, Philosophy, East Asian Studies and courses in Modern Languages and Modern Languages with Interpreting returned the highest satisfaction scores in the UK".
[8]
Major research partners and clients include
Boeing,
Rolls Royce,
Unilever,
Boots,
AstraZeneca,
GSK,
ICI, and
Slazenger, as well as UK and overseas government agencies and charitable foundations.
For many years the University has been engaged in theological publishing through Sheffield Academic Press and
JSOT Press.
The University of Sheffield is also a partner organisation in
Higher Futures, a collaborative association of institutions set up under the government's
Lifelong Learning Networks initiative, to co-ordinate vocational and work-based education.
[9]
Students and academics
The University of Sheffield's 25,000 students arrive mostly from the
UK, but include more than 3,700 international students from 120 different countries. The University employs nearly 6,000 people, including almost 1,400 academic staff.
Students' Union, sports and traditions
The University of Sheffield Union of Students was founded in 1956. It has two bars (
Bar One
– which has a book-able function room with its own bar,
The Raynor Lounge
– and
The Interval
); three club venues (
Fusion
,
Foundry
and
Octagon
); two off-campus public houses (
The Fox and Duck
in Broomhill and
The University Arms
on Western Bank, and previously,
The Rising Sun
[10]); and coffee shops, restaurants, shops, a supermarket, the cinema
Film Unit, a fully functioning and student run theatre company (
suTCo), a
student radio station called
Sure Radio, its own newspaper,
The Steel Press
, and about two hundred student societies, many sports teams and a turnover of around £8,000,000.
The Union is also home to a variety of advice and support services and manages the successful USports sports facilities.
In addition to the student union-supported sports teams,
Sheffield University Bankers Hockey Club play
field hockey in the national first division. The annual "Varsity Challenge" takes place between teams from the University and its rival
Sheffield Hallam University in over 30 events.
As part of
rag week, University of Sheffield students used to take part in the Pyjama Jump
pub crawl, cross-dressed only in nightwear in mid-winter: the men often dressed in nighties or in drag featuring mini-skirts and fishnet tights, and the women in pyjamas.
[11] This event was banned in 1997 following the hospitalisation of several students.
[12] The role-playing society run a 24-hour role-playing event on RAG weekend. Another rag week tradition is the Spiderwalk, a fifty mile trek through the city and the
Peak District, the first half through the night. Sheffield's students are also very active when it comes to volunteering for good causes. The Union's "SheffieldVolunteering" scheme is one of the countries most active and well-recognised student volunteering schemes that has won various national acclaim over the years.
Varsity sports
The University has 26 varsity sports (sports contested in varsity). The University sports colours are black and gold.
Male
- Badminton
- Basketball
- Canoe Polo
- American Football
- Football
- Hockey
- Indoor Cricket
- Lacrosse
- Rugby League
- Rugby Union
- Volley Ball
- Waterpolo
- Snowboarding
- Skiing
- Ice Hockey
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Female
- Badminton
- Basketball
- Canoe Polo
- Football
- Hockey
- Indoor Cricket
- Lacrosse
- Netball
- Rugby Union
- Volley Ball
- Waterpolo
- Snowboarding
- Skiing
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Mixed
- Athletics
- Climbing
- Golf
- Korfball
- Lacrosse
- Rowing
- Sailing
- Squash
- Swimming
- Tennis
- Trampoline
- Snowboarding
- Skiing
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Nobel Prizes
The University's Faculty of Pure Science may boast an association with five
Nobel Prizes, two for the Department of
Molecular Biology and
Biotechnology:
- 1945 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (joint award) Prof. Howard Florey, for his work on penicillin.
- 1953 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, Prof. Hans Adolf Krebs, "for the discovery of the citric acid cycle in cellular respiration"
And three to its Department of Chemistry:
- 1967 Nobel Prize in Chemistry (joint award), Prof. George Porter (later Lord Porter), "for their work on extremely fast chemical reactions" (see Flash photolysis)
- 1993 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (joint award), Richard J. Roberts, "for the discovery that genes in eukaryotes are not contiguous strings but contain introns, and that the splicing of messenger RNA to delete those introns can occur in different ways, yielding different proteins from the same DNA sequence"
- 1996 Nobel Prize in Chemistry (joint award), Sir Harry Kroto, "for their discovery of fullerenes").
Notable alumni
See also :Category:Alumni of the University of Sheffield.
Academia
- Prof. John Brooks, Vice-Chancellor, Manchester Metropolitan University (PhD Microbiology 1978)
- Prof. Paul Curran, Vice-Chancellor, Bournemouth University (Bsc Geography 1976)
- Prof. Tolu Olukayode Odugbemi, Vice-Chancellor, University of Lagos (PhD 1978)
- Prof. Sir David Melville, Vice-Chancellor, University of Kent (Bsc Physics 1965, PhD 1970)
- Prof. Stuart Palmer FREng, Deputy Vice-Chancellor, University of Warwick
- Prof. Michael Sterling, Vice-Chancellor, University of Birmingham (BEng Electronic and Electrical Engineering 1967, PhD 1971)
- George Martin Stephen, High Master, St Pauls School (PhD)
- Prof. John Sutton, Sir John Hicks Professor of Economics, London School of Economics
Business
- Gareth Davis, CEO, Imperial Tobacco
- John Devaney, Chairman, Marconi PLC
- Penny Hughes, former president of Coca-Cola Enterprises (UK) (BSc(Hons) Chemistry
- Edward H Ntalami, Chief Executive, Capital Markets Authority, Kenya
- Sir Peter Middleton, Camelot Barclays Chairman
- Richard Simmons, CEO Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment (CABE)
- Steve Sunnucks, President of Gap
- Nigel Turner, CEO BMI
- Peter Chambers CEO, Legal & General Investment
- David Hughes CEO, Swanke Hayden Connell
Law
- Madam Justice Michelle Arana - First female Justice of the Supreme Court of Belize
- David Childs, Clifford Chance, Managing Partner (LLB Hons)
- Nicholas Liverpool, President of Dominica (PhD)
- The Rt Hon. Lord Justice Maurice Kay, Lord Justice of Appeal (LLB Hons) (PhD)
- Nigel Knowles, Co-Chief Executive, DLA Piper
- Shonaig Macpherson, IP Lawyer, Chairman of National Trust for Scotland (LLB Hons)
- Dame Julia Macur, High Court Judge (LLB Hons)
- Sir Alistair MacDuff, High Court Judge (LL.M)
- Dame Anne Rafferty, High Court Judge (LLB Hons)
- Nigel Savage CEO, College of Law (LL.M)
- The Hon. Justice Templeman, Supreme Court of Western Australia (BEng)
- Dato' Arifin Zakaria, Federal Court Judge of Malaysia (LLB Hons)
- Qasim Hashimzai, Deputy Afghan Justice Minister, (PhD)
- Julia Hodson Chief Constable, Nottinghamshire Police (LLB Hons)
- Phil Wheatley, HM Prison Service Director-General (LLB Hons)
- Henry M. Joko-Smart, former Sierra Leonean Supreme Court Justice (LL.M)
- Tommy Sihotang, Noted Indonesian Lawyer (LL.M)
Literature
- Nicci Gerrard, author
- Lee Child, author (LLB)
- Joanne Harris, author (later became faculty)
- Hilary Mantel author (LLB)
- Jack Rosenthal, playwright
- John Thompson (poet) (1938–1976), Canadian poet
Media
- Stephen Daldry, film director
- John O'Leary, Times Higher Education Supplement editor
- Martin Fry, lead singer of ABC
- Eddie Izzard, comedian
- Paul Mason, BBC Newsnight
- Linda Smith, comedienne
- Rachel Shelley, actress (BA(Hons) English and Drama)
- Chris Fawkes, BBC Weather forecaster
- Carol Barnes, ITN Newsreader
- Sid Lowe, The Guardian, Journalist
- Joseph Marcell, actor
Pioneers
- Amy Johnson, pilot (BA(Hons) Economics, 1926)
- Helen Sharman, first British astronaut (BSc(Hons) Chemistry, 1984)
- Roy Koerner, Polar Explorer
Politics
- Lord Ahmed Labour Peer
- David Blunkett Member of Parliament (MP), former Home Secretary (BA(Hons) Political Theory and Institutions, 1972)
- Baroness Taylor, Defence Minister
- Lord Clark Labour Peer
- Anne Margaret Main, Conservative MP for St Albans.
- Peter Adams, Canadian Politician
- Lord Norton Conservative Peer & academic
- Graham Eric Stringer Labour MP
- Kevin Barron Labour MP
- Hugo Antonio Laviada Molina Mexican Politician
- Sir Frederick Archibald Warner Diplomat & Member of the European Parliament
- Kadi Sesay Minister of Trade and Industry, Sierre Leone
- Serge Joyal Canadian Senator (LLM)
- Baron Varley, former Labour Cabinet Minister
Public service
- Air Marshal Stuart Peach CBE, Chief of Defence Intelligence
- Lim Neo Chian, former Chief of Singapore Army
- Sir Michael Carlisle, Senior Civil Servant
- Sir Alan Dawtry, Senior Civil Servant(LLB Hons)
- Sir Kevin Povey, HM Chief Inspector of Constabularies (LLB Hons)
- Vanessa Lawrence, Ordnance Survey Director-General
Religion
- Wesley Carr Dean of Westminster Abbey
- Henry William Scriven Bishop of Pittsburgh
Science
- Sir Donald Bailey, civil engineer and inventor of the Bailey bridge
- Sir Harold Kroto, Nobel Prize-winning chemist (BSc(Hons) Chemistry, 1961; PhD, 1961-1964)
- Sir Hans Kornberg, biochemist, Master of Christ's College Cambridge
- Sir Richard Roberts, Nobel Prize-winning geneticist (BSc(Hons) Chemistry, 1965; PhD, 1968)
Sport
- David Davies, The Football Association Chief Executive
- Jessica Ennis, heptathlete
- Tony Miles, Britain's first chess grand master
- David Wetherall, footballer
Notable academics
- Francis Berry, poet and literary critic
- Peter Blundell Jones, Professor in Architecture
- Sir Anthony Bottoms, Professor of Criminology
- Angela Carter, author (1976-1978)
- Peter Cole, ex-editor of The Correspondent and deputy editor of the Guardian, Professor of Journalism
- Henry Coward, conductor
- Sir Bernard Crick, former Professor of Politics
- Sir Graeme Davies, Vice-Chancellor University of London
- Sir Gordon Duff, Florey Professor of Molecular Medicine
- Charles Eliot, diplomat, Vice-Chancellor
- Sir William Empson, poet (The School of English names its facilities after him)
- Lord Florey, Nobel Prize winner, Joseph Hunter Professor of Pathology
- Bob Hale, philosopher
- David Bell, philosopher and phenomenologist
- Stephen Stich, Honorary Professor of Philosophy in the Philosophy Department
- Joanne Harris, author (2000; was also a student)
- Peter Hill, world famous pianist and expert on the works of Olivier Messiaen
- Sir Robert Honeycombe, metallurgist
- Prof David Hughes (Astronomer), Award winning astronomer. Asteroid 4205 is named in his honour.
- Dame Betty Kershaw, Dean of the School of Nursing
- Sir Ian Kershaw, historian
- Sir Hans Krebs, Nobel Prize-winning biochemist (1935-1954)
- Stephen Laurence, philosopher and cognitive scientist
- Sir Colin Lucas, historian, Chair of the Board of the British Library
- David Marquand, politician
- Edward Mellanby, Professor of Pharmacology, discoverer of Vitamin D
- Lord Morris, Professor of English
- Lord Porter, Nobel Prize-winning chemist (1955-1966)
- Sir David Read, Emeritus Professor of Plant Science
- Lord Renfrew, archaeologist
- Sir Gareth Roberts, Vice-Chancellor
- William Sarjeant, geologist
- Prof Noel Sharkey, broadcaster, Professor of Artificial Intelligence and Robotics, Professor of Public Engagement
- Sir J. Fraser Stoddart, chemist
- Professor W E S Turner (1881-1963), Professor of Glass Technology and founder of the Museum which bears his name
- Sir James Underwood, Joseph Hunter Professor of Pathology and Dean of the Faculty of Medicine
- Sir John Wood, Emeritus Professor of Law
- Sir Michael Woodruff, Transplant Surgeon
Vice-Chancellors
- 1905: Charles Eliot
- 1912: Herbert Fisher
- 1917: William Ripper
- 1919: William Henry Hadow
- 1930: A. W. Pickard-Cambridge
- 1938: Irvine Masson
- 1953: John Macnaghten Whittaker
- 1965: Arthur Roy Clapham (acting)
- 1966: Hugh Robson
- 1974: Geoffrey Sims
- 1991: Gareth Roberts
- 2001: Bob Boucher
- 2007: Keith Burnett
See also
- Sheffield Hallam University
References
- About the University
- Sheffield pulls out of nurse training deal
- Departments
- Senate Steering Group reports
- University of Sheffield
- University scoops top marketing award
- University website Queen's Anniversary Prizes
- Students satisfied at the University of Sheffield
- Partners
- The Rising Sun - How to contact us
- Pyjama Jump
- No reprise for Pyjama Jump say University Registrar and Rag Chairperson