Cardiff University (Welsh: Prifysgol Caerdydd) is a public research university in Cardiff, Wales, United Kingdom. Founded in 1883 as the University College of South Wales and Monmouthshire, it became one of the founding colleges of the University of Wales in 1893, and in 1997 received (but held in abeyance) its own degree-awarding powers. It merged with the University of Wales Institute of Science and Technology (UWIST) in 1988. The college adopted the public name of Cardiff University in 1999, and in 2005 this became its legal name when it became an independent university awarding its own degrees. It is the third oldest university institution in Wales. The university is composed of three colleges: Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences; Biomedical and Life Sciences; and Physical Sciences and Engineering.
Cardiff is the only Welsh member of the Russell Group of research-intensive British universities. The university is consistently recognised as providing high quality research-based university education and is ranked between 100 and 200 in the world by the four major international rankings, and in the top 50 in all three UK tables. It was ranked 5th in the UK amongst multi-faculty institutions for the quality (GPA) of its research and 17th for its Research Power in the 2014 Research Excellence Framework. For 2016-17, Cardiff had a turnover of £503.8 million, including £101.2 million from research grants and contracts.
The university has an undergraduate enrolment of 21,905 and a total enrolment of 30,675 (according to HESA data for 2015/16) making it one of the ten largest universities in the UK. The Cardiff University Students' Union works to promote the interests of the student body within the University and further afield. The university's sports teams compete in the British Universities and Colleges Sport (BUCS) leagues.
History
Founding of the University College
Discussions regarding the founding of a university college in South Wales began as early as 1879, when a group of Welsh and English MPs urged the government to consider the poor provision of higher and intermediate education in Wales and 'to consider the best means of assisting any local effort which may be made for supplying such deficiency'.
In October 1881, William Gladstone's government appointed a departmental committee to conduct 'an enquiry into the nature and extent of intermediate and higher education in Wales'. The committee was chaired by Lord Aberdare and consisted of Viscount Emlyn, Reverend Prebendary H. G. Robinson, Henry Richard, John Rhys and Lewis Morris. The Aberdare report, as it came to be known, took evidence from a wide range of sources and over 250 witnesses and recommended a college for North and South Wales each, the southern to be located in Glamorgan and the Northern to be the already established University College of Wales in Aberystwyth (now Aberystwyth University). The committee cited the unique Welsh national identity and that many students in Wales could not afford to travel to University in England or Scotland. Furthermore, it advocated for a national degree-awarding university for Wales, composed of the regional colleges. It also recommended that the colleges should be unsectarian in nature and that they should exclude the teaching of theology.
After this recommendation was published the Cardiff Corporation attempted to secure the location of the college as Cardiff, and on 12 December 1881 formed a University College Committee to aid the matter. A competition arose between Swansea and Cardiff about where the college should be located and on 12 March 1883, after a period of arbitration, the location was set as Cardiff. The case for Cardiff was strengthened by stressing the need to take account of the interests of Monmouthshire, at that time not legally considered part of Wales, as well as the greater sum of money received by Cardiff in support of the college, through a public appeal that raised £37,000, and a number of private donations, notably from the Lord Bute and Lord Windsor. In April Lord Aberdare was appointed as the College's first president. The possible locations considered for the college included Cardiff Arms Park, Cathedral Road or Moria Terrace, Roath, before the site of the Old Royal Infirmary buildings on Newport Road was chosen.
The University College of South Wales and Monmouthshire opened on 24 October 1883, offering studies in Biology, Chemistry, English, French, German, Greek, History, Latin, Mathematics & Astronomy, Music, Welsh, Logic & Philosophy and Physics. The University College was incorporated by Royal Charter the following year, this charter was the first in Wales to allow the enrollment of women, and specifically forbid religious tests for entry. John Viriamu Jones was appointed as the University's first Principal, at age 27. As Cardiff was not an independent university and could not award its own degrees, it prepared its students for the examinations of the University of London or further study at Oxford or Cambridge.
In 1888 the university college at Cardiff and University College of North Wales (now Bangor University) proposed to University College Wales (at Aberystwyth) a joint action to obtain a university charter for Wales, modelled on that of Victoria University, a confederation of new universities in Northern England. This charter was granted to the new University of Wales in 1893, allowing the colleges to award degrees as members of this institution. The chancellor was set ex officio as the Prince of Wales, and the position of operational head would rotate among heads of the colleges.
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 associate professor in the UK, Millicent Mackenzie. In 1910 she was appointed the first female professor at a fully chartered university in the UK.
In 1901 principal Jones persuaded the Cardiff Corporation to give the college a five-acre site in Cathays Park (instead of selling it as they would have done otherwise); and soon after in 1905, work commenced under the architect W. D. Caröe on the new building. 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. Caroe sought to combine the charm and elegance of his former college (Trinity College, Cambridge) with the picturesque balance of many of the University of Oxford colleges. On 14 October 1909 the 'New College' building in Cathays Park (now Main Building) was opened in a grand ceremony involving a procession from the 'Old College' buildings on Newport Road.
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 Welsh National School of Medicine, which in 1984 was renamed the University of Wales College of Medicine.
In 1972, the institution was renamed University College Cardiff.
1988 merger
In 1988, University College Cardiff underwent extreme financial difficulties, and the threat of bankruptcy was seriously considered. This led to its merger with the University of Wales Institute of Science and Technology (UWIST), forming the University of Wales College of Cardiff. The Principal of the new institution was Sir Aubrey Trotman-Dickenson, who had been principal of UWIST. Following changes to the constitution of the University of Wales in 1996, its name was changed to the University of Wales, Cardiff.
In the early 1990s, the university's computer systems served as the home for The Internet Movie Database.
Independence and 2004 merger
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.
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 1 August 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 1 December 2004 when the Act of Parliament transferring UWCM's assets to Cardiff University received Royal Assent. On 17 December 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.
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 and will lead to the trebling of the number of trainee doctors in clinical training in Wales over a four-year period.
The university also has a popular Centre for Lifelong Learning which has been teaching a wide range of courses to the public for over 125 years. In July 2009, the University announced it was ending the teaching of over 250 humanities courses at the centre making over 100 staff redundant. The University has since reintroduced a number of humanities courses for a trial period beginning in 2010.
In June 2010, the University launched three new Research Institutes, each of which offers a new approach to a major modern research issue. These are the Neurosciences & Mental Health Research Institute and the Cancer Stem Cell Research Institute, housed in the purpose built Hadyn Ellis Building, as well as the Sustainable Places Research Institute. Another part of the Science and Development Campus, the Cardiff University Brain Research Imaging Centre (CUBRIC), opened in June 2016 for neuroimaging research.
Campus
Academic facilities
The University's academic facilities are centred around Cathays Park in central Cardiff, which contains the University's grade II* listed main building, housing administrative facilities and the science library; the grade II listed Bute building, which contains the Welsh School of Architecture and the Cardiff School of Journalism, Media and Cultural Studies; the grade I listed Glamorgan building, which houses the Cardiff Schools of Planning and Geography and Social Sciences, the Redwood Building (named in 1979 after the Redwood Family of Boverton near Llantwit Major by a 1978 suggestion by J D R Thomas), which houses the School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences; the law building which houses the Cardiff Law School; and the biosciences building, which provides facilities for both biosciences and medical teaching. The School of Engineering, School of Computer Science & Informatics and School of Physics and Astronomy are located in the Queen's Buildings, off Newport Road.
A number of the University's academic facilities are also located at the Heath Park campus which is based at the University Hospital of Wales, this contains the Cardiff University School of Medicine, the School of Dentistry, the School of Healthcare Sciences and the School of Optometry & Vision Sciences.
Athletic facilities
The majority of the University's sports facilities are located at the sports training village in the Talybont Halls complex. This includes facilities for football, badminton, basketball, tennis, hockey and gym facilities. Additional gym facilities and squash courts are located at the university fitness and squash centre, near the city centre campus at Cathays Park. Extensive playing fields for Rugby, football and lacrosse are located at the University playing fields near Llanrumney. The University also utilises the nearby Millennium Stadium for rugby fixtures such as the annual varsity tournament.
Organisation
Schools and colleges
The 26 academic schools of the University are divided into three colleges: Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences; Biomedical and Life Sciences; and Physical Sciences.
Cardiff also has a Doctoral Academy, that brings together the work of four previous discipline-based Graduate Schools and the postgraduate research activity of the University's Graduate Centre.
Finances
In the financial year ended 31 July 2012, Cardiff University had a total net income of £425.54 million. Key sources of income included £87.65 million from research grants and contracts, £117.36 million from Funding Council grants, £123.84 million from tuition fees and support grants and £3.17 million from endowment and investment income. During the 2011/12 financial year Cardiff had a capital expenditure of £14.29 million.
At 31 July 2012 Cardiff had endowments of £25.58 million and total net assets of £402.86 million.
Academic profile
Reputation and rankings
Cardiff University continues the tradition of all three of its former institutions in providing high quality research-based education in Wales, as shown in its five-year standing as the best centre of excellence in Wales in the Sunday Times League Tables, until 2017, where it was overtaken by Swansea University. Cardiff is also the only university in Wales to be a member of the Russell Group of Research Intensive Universities. Cardiff is by far the strongest research-focused university in Wales. In the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise, 33 out of the 34 research areas submitted by the University for assessment were shown to be undertaking research that includes world-leading work.
Cardiff has two Nobel Laureates on its staff, Sir Martin Evans and Robert Huber. A number of Cardiff University staff have been elected as Fellows of the Royal Society, these include Graham Hutchings FRS, professor of Physical Chemistry and Director of the Cardiff Catalysis Institute, School of Chemistry, Ole Holger Petersen, MRC Professor and Director of Cardiff School of Biosciences. and John M. Pearce, Professor of Psychology.
In 2013, Cardiff University was ranked as one of the best universities in the UK for supporting LGB students by the charity Stonewall in its annual Gay by Degree guide. The University was one of only two universities in the UK and the only university in Wales to achieve top marks in a Stonewall checklist of priorities for LGB students.
Cardiff University was ranked 188th in Best Global Universities internationally and 19th nationally.
Admissions
In terms of average UCAS points of entrants, Cardiff ranked 32nd in Britain in 2015. The university gave offers of admission to 75.2% of its applicants in 2015, the 13th lowest amongst the Russell Group.
According to the 2017 Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide, approximately 15% of Cardiff's undergraduates come from independent schools. In the 2016-17 academic year, the university had a domicile breakdown of 76:5:19 of UK:EU:non-EU students respectively with a female to male ratio of 59:41.
Student life
Student accommodation
The University maintains fourteen student halls and a number of student houses throughout the city of Cardiff; providing a total of 5,362 student places in accommodation. They are in a variety of architectural styles and ages, from the Gothic Aberdare Hall, built in 1895, to the modern Talybont Halls, built in 1995. All first-year students are guaranteed a place in Halls. The Cardiff University Halls are:
Students' Union
The Cardiff University Students' Union is a student-run organisation that aims to promote student interests both within the University and further afield. The Cardiff University Students' Union building is near Cathays Park, next to Cathays railway station. It has shops, a nightclub and the studios of Xpress Radio and Gair Rhydd, the student newspaper. It is democratically controlled by the student body through the election of eight full-time officers who manage the running of the Union. The Union provides a range of services, including a number of cafes, bars and shops, as well as advice, training and representation. The Union is an affiliated member of the National Union of Students.
Groups and societies
The Union also supports over 260 other clubs and societies across a wide range of interests, including: Cardiff University Debating Society, and Act One, the student dramatic society. All clubs offer opportunities for beginners and the more experienced students.
Media
The Union provides facilities and support for several student media groups, including: gair rhydd, an award-winning, free student newspaper that is released every Monday of term; Quench, a monthly arts and lifestyle magazine that specialises in the local music scene as well as original investigative feature articles; and CUTV, the student television channel.
Xpress Radio is the student radio station. The station broadcasts from 8Â am to 1Â am daily, with programming ranging from comedy panel shows and film review shows to new and local music showcases. It operates from a studio on the third floor of the Students' Union building.
Athletics
The Cardiff University Athletic Union is the body that supports student sport at Cardiff, it oversees more than 60 competitive and non-competitive sports clubs, many of which compete in the British Universities and Colleges Sport league. The University's Ice Hockey team, the Cardiff Redhawks (which also recruits players from other Welsh universities) competes in the British Universities Ice Hockey Association leagues.
The university's sports teams also take part in the annual Welsh Varsity against Swansea University, which includes the Welsh Boat Race, and several other sporting competitions. The Welsh Varsity is the second biggest University Varsity event in the UK after the "Oxbridge Varsity" between Oxford and Cambridge.
Cardiff participates in British Universities and Colleges Sport which manages a sporting framework of competitive fixtures and events for over 150 institutions around the UK. Cardiff registers nearly 100 teams in the various leagues and competitions each year and sees students travelling around the country to represent Cardiff University. In 2013 Cardiff team achieved 15th position overall across the 50 different sports hosting events.
Insignia and other representations
Motto
Cardiff University's motto is Gwirionedd, Undod a Chytgord. The Welsh motto is translated as Truth, Unity and Concord or Truth, Unity and Harmony and is taken from the prayer for the Church militant as it appears in the 1662 Book of Common Prayer.
Coat of arms
Cardiff University's current coat of arms was granted by the College of Arms in 1988 following the merger of University College Cardiff and the University of Wales Institute of Science and Technology. The coat of arms incorporates features from the heralds of both of the former institutions. The three silver chevrons on a red background are derived from the arms of Iestyn ap Gwrgant, an 11th-century ruler of the Welsh Kingdom of Morgannwg that encompassed Glamorgan and Monmouthshire. The open book signifies learning; on it are the crescent and annulet, marks of cadence that indicate that University College Cardiff was the second of the University of Wales' institutions, and that the University of Wales Institute of Science and Technology was the fifth.
A notable feature of the arms are the supporters, which in heraldry are rarely granted to universities. The supporters are an angel from University College Cardiff and a Welsh Dragon from the University of Wales Institute of Science and Technology. The crest is a Welsh dragon in the stance of a lion; it stands on the helmet. Both the dragon and the helmet are distinguished by being front-facing rather than in profile as is more usually found in Welsh heraldry.
Notable alumni and faculty
Vice-Chancellors
List of Vice-Chancellors and Principals of Cardiff University and its predecessors (shown in brackets):
- 1883 to 1901 (University College of South Wales and Monmouthshire): John Viriamu Jones
- 1929 to 1949 (University College of South Wales and Monmouthshire): Sir Frederick Rees
- 1966 to 1972 (University College of South Wales and Monmouthshire): Dr CWL 'Bill' Bevan
- 1972 to 1987 (University College Cardiff): Dr CWL 'Bill' Bevan
- 1968 to 1988 (University of Wales Institute of Science and Technology): Sir Aubrey Trotman-Dickenson
- 1988 to 1993: Sir Aubrey Trotman-Dickenson
- 1993 to 2001: Sir Brian Smith
- 2001 to 2012: Sir David Grant
- 2012 to present: Professor Colin Riordan
Heads of state and government
- Lord Jenkins, former Chancellor of the Exchequer, Home Secretary, President of the European Commission and Chancellor of the University of Oxford (did not graduate)
Politics
- David Bahati, current State Minister of Finance for Planning in the Uganda's Cabinet.
- Christine Chapman, former AM for Cynon Valley
- Jeffrey Cuthbert, Gwent Police and Crime Commissioner, former AM for Caerphilly and former Minister for Communities and Tackling Poverty
- Hefin David, AM for Caerphilly
- Wayne David, MP for Caerphilly and former Shadow Minister for Europe
- Guto Harri, Communications Director for the Mayor of London Boris Johnson's administration at London City Hall
- Elin Jones, AM for Ceredigion, current Presiding Officer and former Minister for Rural Affairs
- Sir Emyr Jones Parry, former British Permanent Representative to the United Nations, (2003â€"2007)
- Glenys Kinnock, former MEP and former UK Foreign Office Minister
- Neil Kinnock, Leader of Her Majesty's Most Loyal Opposition (2 October 1983 â€" 18 July 1992)
- Mike Hedges, AM for Swansea East
- Hilary Marquand, former MP for Cardiff East
- Robert Minhinnick, co-founder of Friends of the Earth (Cymru)
- Christopher Walter Monckton, 3rd Viscount Monckton of Brenchley, advisor to Margaret Thatcher
- Craig Oliver, former Conservative Party Director of Communications
- Bill Rammell, former MP for Harlow
- David Rees, AM for Aberavon
- Lord Richards, former Chief of the Defence Staff
- Michael Shrimpton, barrister, politician, and conspiracy theorist
- John Smith, former MP for the Vale of Glamorgan, former member of the Defence Select Committee.
- Brian Wilson, former MP for Cunninghame North
Academia
- Miguel Alcubierre, Mexican theoretical physicist
- Rudolf K. Allemann, Swiss biochemist
- Robin Attfield, philosopher
- Martin J. Ball, Professor of Speech Language Pathology at Linköping University, Sweden
- Yehuda Bauer, Professor of Holocaust Studies at the Avraham Harman Institute of Contemporary Jewry at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem
- Leszek Borysiewicz, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cambridge
- The Rt Revd Gregory Cameron, Bishop of St Asaph
- Sheila Cameron QC, lawyer and ecclesiastical judge
- Archie Cochrane, pioneer of scientific method in medicine
- Peter Coles, Professor of Astrophysics
- The Rt Revd Paul Colton, Bishop of Cork, Cloyne and Ross
- David Crouch, historian
- Alun Davies, bioscientist
- Huw Dixon, economist
- Stephen Dunnett, neuroscientist
- Sir Martin Evans, Nobel Prize for Medicine 2007
- Karen Holford, engineer
- Robert Huber, Professor of Chemistry, Nobel Laureate â€" The Nobel Prize in Chemistry1988
- John Loughlin, Professor of Politics
- Vaughan Lowe QC, (Chichele Professor of Public International Law in the University of Oxford
- Patrick Minford, Professor of Applied Economics
- John Warwick Montgomery â€" American lawyer and theologian; Distinguished Research Professor of Philosophy and Christian Thought at Patrick Henry College.
- Christopher Norris, literary critic
- Sir Keith Peters, FRS PMedSci (Regius Professor of Physic in the University of Cambridge)
- Leighton Durham Reynolds, Emeritus Professor of Classical Languages and Literature, University of Oxford
- Alice Roberts, clinical anatomist and osteoarchaeologist
- Wendy Sadler, physicist and science communicator
- H. W. Lloyd Tanner, Professor of Mathematics and Astronomy (1883â€"1909)
- Pamela Taylor, Professor of Forensic Psychiatry since 2004
- Meena Upadhyaya, medical geneticist
- The Rt Revd Dominic Walker, OGS, Bishop of Monmouth
- Keith Ward, philosopher, Gresham Professor of Divinity, Gresham College
- Chandra Wickramasinghe, Professor of Applied Mathematics
- Rheinallt Nantlais Williams, academic
Business
- Spencer Dale, Chief economist, Bank of England
- Andrew Gould, Chairman and former CEO, Schlumberger
- Martin Lewis, personal finance journalist, television presenter and website entrepreneur
- Dame Mary Perkins, Co-Founder, Specsavers
- Ceri Powell, senior Royal Dutch Shell executive
- John Pettigrew (businessman), CEO, National Grid plc
Sport
- Nathan Cleverly, professional boxer and former WBO light heavyweight world champion
- Gareth Davies, former Wales and British and Irish Lions international rugby union player, and current chief executive of Cardiff Rugby Football Club
- Gerald Davies, former Wales and British and Irish Lions international rugby union player
- Mike Hall, former Wales and British and Irish Lions international rugby union player
- Steven Outerbridge, Bermudian cricketer
- Jamie Roberts, Wales and British and Irish Lions international rugby union player
- James Tomlinson, English cricketer
- Bradley Wadlan, Welsh cricketer
- Alex Gough, Squash player
Arts and journalism
- Matt Barbet, journalist
- Manish Bhasin, journalist and television presenter
- Nick Broomfield, documentary filmmaker and receiver of the BAFTA Lifetime Achievement Award for Contribution to Documentary
- Philip Cashian, composer
- Suw Charman-Anderson, journalist and social software consultant.
- Adrian Chiles, television presenter
- Gillian Clarke, poet and receiver of the Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry
- Huw Edwards, journalist
- Ken Elias, artist/painter
- Max Foster, CNN Anchor, CNN Today
- M. A. Griffiths, poet
- Julia Hartley-Brewer, journalist and television presenter
- Jiang Heping, Executive Director of the CCTV Sports Programming Centre and Controller of CCTV-5
- Tim Hetherington, photo-journalist and co-director of Academy Award-nominated Restrepo
- Elis James, stand up comedian and actor
- Alun Hoddinott, composer
- Sioned James (1974-2016]], choral conductor
- Karl Jenkins, composer
- Alan Johnston, journalist
- Riz Khan, journalist and television interviewer
- Bernard Knight, crime writer
- Simon Lane, one half of the popular internet show "The Yogscast"
- Siân Lloyd, television presenter
- Los Campesinos!, six piece indie pop band
- Philip Madoc, actor
- Paul Moorcraft, writer
- Sharon Morgan, actress
- Joanna Natasegara, documentary producer, Academy Award winner for Netflix documentary The White Helmets
- Siân Phillips, actress
- Susanna Reid, television presenter
- James Righton, musician
- Arlene Sierra, composer
- Richard Tait, former BBC Governor and BBC trustee
- Craig Thomas, author
- Vedhicka, Indian actress
- Grace Williams, composer
- Ron Smerczak actor
- Ibrahim Sheme. Nigerian journalist, novelist, publisher
See also
- List of universities in Wales
- List of modern universities in Europe (1801â€"1945)
- Education in Wales
- Town and gown
References
External links
- Official website