Bristol University

, mottoeng = earningpromotes one's innate power (from Horace, ''Ode 4.4'')
, established = 1595 – Merchant Venturers School
1876 – University College, Bristol
1909 – received royal charter
, type = Public red brick research university
, endowment = £91.3 million (2021)
, budget = £752.0 million (2020–21)
, chancellor = Paul Nurse
, vice_chancellor = Professor Evelyn Welch
, head_label = Visitor
, head = Rt Hon. Penny Mordaunt MP

, academic_staff = 3,385 (2020)
, students = ()
, undergrad = ()
, postgrad = ()
, city = Bristol
, country = England
, coor =
, campus = Urban
, free_label = Students' Union
, free = University of Bristol Union
, colours = Pantone 187
, website
bristol.ac.uk
, logo =
, affiliations = Russell Group
Coimbra Group
Worldwide Universities Network
Universities UK
PEGASUS
SETsquared
GW4
Sutton 13
EUA

The University of Bristol is a red brick Russell Group research university in Bristol, England. It received its royal charter in 1909, although it can trace its roots to a Merchant Venturers' school founded in 1595 and University College, Bristol, which had been in existence since 1876.

Bristol is organised into six academic faculties composed of multiple schools and departments running over 200 undergraduate courses, largely in the Tyndalls Park area of the city. The university had a total income of £752.0 million in 2020–21, of which £169.8 million was from research grants and contracts. It is the largest independent employer in Bristol. Current academics include 21 fellows of the Academy of Medical Sciences, 13 fellows of the British Academy, 13 fellows of the Royal Academy of Engineering and 44 fellows of the Royal Society. Among alumni and faculty, the university counts 9 Nobel laureates.

Bristol is a member of the Russell Group of research-intensive British universities, the European-wide Coimbra Group and the Worldwide Universities Network, of which the university's previous vice-chancellor, Eric Thomas, was chairman from 2005 to 2007. In addition, the university holds an Erasmus Charter, sending more than 500 students per year to partner institutions in Europe. It has an average of 6.4 (Sciences faculty) to 13.1 (Medicine & Dentistry Faculty) applicants for each undergraduate place.

History

Foundation

The earliest antecedent of the university was the engineering department of the Merchant Venturers' Technical College (founded as a school as early as 1595) which became the engineering faculty of Bristol University. The university was also preceded by Bristol Medical School (1833) and University College, Bristol, founded in 1876, where its first lecture was attended by only 99 students. The university was able to apply for a royal charter due to the financial support of the Wills, Fry and Colston families, who made their fortunes in tobacco plantations, chocolate, and (via Edward Colston) the transatlantic slave trade, respectively. A 2018 study commissioned by the university estimated 85% of the philanthropic funds used for the institution's foundation was directly connected with the transatlantic slave trade.

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. The University College was the first such institution in the country to admit women on the same basis as men. However, women were forbidden to take examinations in medicine until 1906.

Historical development

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 is smaller by student numbers than the nearby University of the West of England. It is a member of the Russell Group of research-led UK universities, the Coimbra Group of leading European universities and the Worldwide Universities Network (WUN).

Early years

After the founding of the university college in 1876, government support began in 1889. Funding from mergers with the Bristol Medical School in 1893 and the Merchant Venturers' Technical College in 1909, 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. Henry Wills became its first chancellor and Conwy Lloyd Morgan the first vice-chancellor. 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.
The building now houses the Department of Music and is a Grade II* listed building.

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. He succeeded Richard Haldane who had held the office from 1912 following the death of Henry Wills.

During World War II, the Wills Memorial was bombed, destroying the Great Hall and the organ it housed, along with 7,000 books removed from King's College London for safe keeping. It has since been restored, complete with oak panelled walls and a new organ.

Post-war development

In 1946, the university established the first drama department in the country. In the same year, Bristol began offering special entrance exams and grants to aid the resettlement of servicemen returning home. Student numbers continued to increase, and the Faculty of Engineering eventually needed the new premises that were to become Queen's Building in 1955. This substantial building housed all of the university's engineers until 1996, when the electrical engineering and computer science departments moved over the road into the new Merchant Venturers' Building to make space for these rapidly expanding fields. Today, Queen's Building caters for most of the teaching needs of the faculty and provides academic space for the "heavy" engineering subjects (civil, mechanical, and aerospace).

With unprecedented growth in the 1960s, particularly in undergraduate numbers, the Students' Union eventually acquired larger premises in a new building in the Clifton area of the city, in 1965. This building was more spacious than the Victoria Rooms, which were now given over to the Department of Music. The University of Bristol Union provides many practice and performance rooms, some specialist rooms, as well as three bars: Bar 100, the Mandela (also known as AR2) and the Avon Gorge. Whilst spacious, the Union building is thought by many to be ugly 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'. More recently, plans for redevelopment of the current building have been proposed.

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). A series of chancellors and vice-chancellors led the university through these decades, with Henry Somerset, 10th Duke of Beaufort taking over from Churchill as chancellor in 1965 before being succeeded by Dorothy Hodgkin in 1970 who spent the next 18 years in the office.

As the age of mass higher education dawned, Bristol continued to build its student numbers. The various undergraduate residences were repeatedly expanded and, more recently, some postgraduate residences have been constructed. These more recent ventures have been funded (and are run) by external companies in agreement with the university.

One of the few centres for deaf studies in the United Kingdom was established in Bristol in 1981, followed in 1988 by the Norah Fry Centre for research into learning difficulties. Also in 1988, and again in 2004, 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 1988, Sir Jeremy Morse, then chairman of Lloyds Bank, became chancellor.

21st century

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 was involved in an argument over press intrusion after details of then-prime minister Tony Blair's son's application to university were published in national newspapers. In the same year, the university opened the 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.

Brenda Hale, the first female Law Lord, became chancellor of the university in 2003. Sir Paul Nurse succeeded Lady Hale as chancellor on 1 January 2017.

2003 admissions controversy

The university has been regarded as being elitist by some commentators, taking 41% of its undergraduate students from non-state schools, according to the most recent 2009/2010 figures, despite the fact that such pupils make up just 7% of the population and 18% of 16+ year old pupils across the UK. The intake of state school pupils at Bristol is lower than many Oxbridge colleges. The high ratio of undergraduates from non-state school has led to some tension at the university. 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. In 2016, the 93% Club was established at Bristol University after students from a working-class state-school were criticised for their background and upbringing.

The university has a new admissions policy, which lays out in considerable detail the basis on which any greater or lesser weight may be given to particular parts of an applicant's backgrounds – in particular, what account may be taken of which school the applicant hails from. This new policy also encourages greater participation from locally resident applicants.

2004-present

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 is intended 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 is the only chemistry CETL in the UK.

September 2009 saw the opening of the university's Centre for Nanoscience and Quantum Information. This £11 million building is known as the quietest building in the world and has other technologically sophisticated features such as self-cleaning glass. Advanced research into quantum computing, nanotechnology, materials and other disciplines are being undertaken in the building.

There is also a plan to significantly redevelop the centre of the University Precinct in the coming years. The first step began in September 2011, with the start of construction of a state-of-the-art Life Sciences building.

In 2018 while building work was underway in the Fry Building, the building caught fire.

In 2018 the University of Bristol Students' Union (Bristol SU) adopted a motion that banned trans-exclusionary radical feminists (TERFs) from appearing as speakers at Bristol SU events and that called upon the university to adopt the same policy. The motion said the TERF ban was necessary because TERF activity on the university campus "put trans students’ safety at risk ... in direct violation of the aims outlined in the Code of Conduct".

In February 2021, University of Bristol professor David Miller called for the "end of Zionism", said that Israel is "trying to exert its will all over the world" and called members of the University of Bristol Jewish Society “political pawns by a violent, racist foreign regime", comments that the All-Party Parliamentary Group Against Anti-Semitism deemed to "incit hatred against Jewish students". On 17 March, the university announced that it had begun an investigation of Miller, and observed that it did not endorse his remarks. The Avon and Somerset Police announced about a week later that they had opened a hate crime investigation. Miller's employment at the university was terminated "with immediate effect" at the beginning of October 2021.

In 2021, Raquel Rosario-Sánchez, a Dominican graduate student at Bristol who had attended meetings of feminist groups that opposed allowing trans women into female-only spaces, filed a civil action against Bristol University; Rosario-Sánchez alleges that she was the victim of a campaign of bullying and abuse against her by other members of the university, and that the university failed to protect her because it was afraid of upsetting trans-rights activists. The case went to trial in February 2022. The judgment was delivered in April 2022. The judge acknowledged that she had been subject to threats of violence, but dismissed all her claims, saying that there had been no actionable breach of duty by the university. He said that his ruling focused on how the university managed her complaints rather than any judgment about gender rights.

Campus

Buildings and sites

The university does not have a main campus but is spread over a considerable geographic area. Most of its activities, however, are concentrated in the area of the city centre, referred to as the "University Precinct".

Some of the University of Bristol's buildings date to its pre-charter days when it was University College Bristol. These buildings were designed by Charles Hansom, and suffered being built in stages due to financial pressure. The first large scale building project the University of Bristol undertook on gaining a charter was the Wills Memorial Building. The armorials on the Founder's Window represent all of the interests present at the founding of the University of Bristol including the Wills and Fry families. Other notable buildings and sites include Royal Fort House, the University of Bristol Botanic Garden, many large Victorian houses which were converted for teaching in the Faculty of Arts, and the Victoria Rooms which house the Music Department and were designed by Charles Dyer. The tympanum of the building depicts a scene from ''The Advent of Morning'' designed by Jabez Tyley.

Goldney gardens entered the property of the University of Bristol through George Wills who had hoped to build an all-male hall of residence there. This was prevented due to the moral objection of the then warden of Clifton Hill House who objected to the idea of male and female residences being in such close proximity. University records show that Miss Starvey was prepared to resign over the issue and that she had the support of the then Chancellor Conwy Lloyd Morgan. Eventually land was purchased in Stoke Bishop, allowing the building of what has been described as a "quasi-Oxbridge" hall, Wills Hall, to which was added the Dame Monica Wills Chapel by George Wills' widow after his death. When Goldney did become student accommodation in 1956, the flats were designed by Michael Grice who received an award from the Civic Trust for their design.

Burwalls, a mansion house on the other side of the Avon Gorge, was used as a halls of residence in the past and was a home of Sir George Oatley. The building is now used to house the Centre for Continuing Education.

Many of the more modern buildings, including Senate House and the newer parts of the HH Wills Physics Laboratory, were designed by Ralph Brentnall using funds from the University Grants Committee. He is also responsible for the extension to the Wills Memorial Building library which was completed to such standard that few now realise that is an extension to the original building.

In May 2022, the university announced the opening of the Gambling Harms and Research Centre (GHRC). The centre worth £4 million aims to increase awareness and understanding of the dangers of gambling. The project was funded by the GambleAware charity, which chose the university for its history in researching gambling issues, and will integrate research from six facilities.

Planned expansion

In November 2016, the university announced that it plans to build a £300 million Temple Quarter Campus for c. 5,000 students, next to Bristol Temple Meads railway station within Bristol Temple Quarter Enterprise Zone. The new campus, which will include a business school, digital research facilities and a student village, is expected to open in 2021. For the existing campus, there are plans to remodel Tyndall Avenue, pedestrianise the surrounding area and build a new library and resource hub.

Organisation and governance

In common with most UK universities, Bristol is headed formally by the chancellor, currently Sir Paul Nurse and led on a day-to-day basis by the vice-chancellor, currently Professor Evelyn Welch, who is the academic leader and chief executive. 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. The vice-chancellor is supported by a deputy vice-chancellor.

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, but is otherwise principally a forum for discussion and to ensure graduates stay in touch with the university.

The university is made up of a number of schools and departments organised into six faculties:

Faculty of Arts

* School of Arts
** Anthropology and Archaeology
** Film and Television
** Music
** Philosophy
** Theatre (see also the University of Bristol Theatre Collection)
* School of Humanities
** Classics and Ancient History
** English
** History
** History of Art
** Religion and Theology
* School of Modern Languages
** French
** German
** Hispanic, Portuguese and Latin American Studies
** Italian
** Russian
* Centre for English Language and Foundation Studies
* Centre for Innovation

Faculty of Engineering

* School of Computer Science, Electrical and Electronic Engineering, and Engineering Mathematics
** Computer Science
** Electrical & Electronic Engineering
** Engineering Mathematics
* School of Civil, Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering
** Aerospace Engineering
** Civil Engineering
** Mechanical Engineering
** Engineering Design
** Engineering with Management

Faculty of Life Sciences

* School of Biological Sciences
* School of Biochemistry
* School of Cellular and Molecular Medicine
* School of Physiology, Pharmacology and Neuroscience
* School of Psychological Science

Faculty of Science

* School of Chemistry
* School of Earth Sciences
* School of Geographical Sciences
* School of Mathematics
* School of Physics
** Centre for Device Thermography and Reliability
** Centre for Nanoscience & Quantum Information
** Interface Analysis Centre

Faculty of Health Sciences

* Bristol Dental School
* Bristol Medical School
** Population Health Sciences
** Translational Health Sciences
* Bristol Veterinary School
* Centre for Health Sciences Education
** Centre for Applied Anatomy
** Master's in Teaching and Learning for Health Professionals

Faculty of Social Sciences and Law

* School of Education
* School for Policy Studies

School of Management
* School of Accounting and Finance
* School of Economics
*Centre for Market and Public Organisation
* School of Sociology, Politics and International Studies
* University of Bristol Law School

Academic dress

The university specifies a mix of Cambridge and Oxford academic dress. For the most part, it uses Oxford-style gowns and Cambridge-style hoods, which are required to be 'university red' (see the logo at the top of the page).

Logo and arms

In 2004, the university unveiled its new crest. The icons in the crest are the sun for the Wills family, the dolphin for Colston, the horse for Fry and the ship-and-castle from the medieval seal of the City of Bristol, as also used in the coat of arms. The shape of the whole crest represents the open book of learning. This crest has replaced the university arms shown, but the arms continue to be used where there is a specific historical or ceremonial requirement. The arms comprise:

The inscription on the book is the Latin opening of the 124th Psalm, ''"If the Lord Himself had not (been on our side...)"''.

Academics

Admissions

Bristol had the 8th highest average entry qualification for undergraduates of any UK university in 2015, with new students averaging 485 UCAS points, equivalent to just above AAAaa in A-level grades. Competition for places is high with an average 7.7 applications per place according to the 2014 Sunday Times League Tables, making it the joint 11th most competitive university in the UK. The university gives offers of admission to 67.3% of its applicants, the 8th lowest amongst the Russell Group.

According to the 2017 ''Times'' and ''Sunday Times'' Good University Guide, approximately 40% of Bristol's undergraduates come from independent schools. In the 2016–17 academic year, the university had a domicile breakdown of 78:5:17 of UK:EU:non-EU students respectively with a female to male ratio of 55:45.

Rankings and reputation

Internationally, the 2021 QS World University Rankings placed Bristol at 58th overall in the world and 9th in the UK. The 2021 QS World University Rankings for Graduate Employability also placed Bristol at 58th in the world and 9th in the UK in terms of reputation with employers. Bristol was chosen as the ninth best university in the UK for the quality of graduates according to recruiters from the UK's major companies in 2015. The Times Higher Education World University Ranking placed Bristol at 87th globally and 10th in the UK in 2020. Another international ranking, the Shanghai Jiao Tong University Academic Ranking of World Universities, placed Bristol 64th globally and 8th in the UK in 2019. Bristol is ranked 47th in the world (and 6th in the UK) in the 2016 '' Round University Ranking''. The 2017 ''U.S. News & World Report'' ranks Bristol 76th in the world. In 2019, it ranked 120th among the universities around the world by ''SCImago Institutions Rankings

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