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 200 acres (0.81 km²) in size, incorporating the York Science Park and the National Science Learning Centre. The University is divided into eight colleges, which resemble a halfway house between halls of residence and the traditional colleges of the collegiate Universities of Oxford, Cambridge and Durham. All students and all Departments are allocated to a college. The University occupies a number of historic buildings within York's city centre as well as its main campus. In May 2007 it gained 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.
The University of York-A Brief Overview
The University of York was founded in 1963 with 200 students. Since then, it has expanded to 11,000 students and has over 30 academic departments and research centres.
Academic excellence
From its inception, the University has concentrated on strong viable departments and teaching and research of the highest quality. The quality of York's teaching has received many accolades. York and Cambridge top the teaching league with the highest scores in official teaching assessments.
York is also rated 6th out of 172 Higher Education institutions for research, with 18 of its 23 departments rated 5 or 5*. In the last Research Assessment Exercise, carried out by the Higher Education Funding Council for England in 2001, York out performed all the large civic universities, see the full set of results here.
The Collegiate System
The University has a collegiate system in which most staff and all students are members of colleges. Further information is available at www.york.ac.uk/univ/coll/.
The Campus
The main campus at Heslington is a 200-acre landscaped park, well known for its lake and wildfowl. Here the colleges and academic buildings are on a level site within walking distance of each other. Proximity to the historic city of York makes the University a popular choice and provides a pleasant working and residential environment.
The University has plans to expand its campus at Heslington East.
Former Students
Former students of the University include Editor of the Sunday Times, John Witherow; former Director-General of the BBC Greg Dyke; authors Jung Chang and Helen Dunmore; comedian Harry Enfield, and 10 MPs.
The Vice-Chancellor
The Vice-Chancellor of the University is Professor Brian Cantor. York's fifth Vice-Chancellor, he joined the University in October 2002.
The Chancellor
The Chancellor of the University is Greg Dyke, former Director-General of the BBC. He is the University's fifth Chancellor and took up his position in August 2004.
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 can be quoted as saying, "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
The latest information for entry standards (gathered from the 2005-2006 academic year by the HESA) show 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.
When compared to other universities in the United Kingdom, York lists as having the 8th highest entrant grades in the country.
Official teaching statistics
The last QAA report on the institution gave it the highest praise possible 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, is not 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.
Academics Departments
Department of Archaeology
Department of Biology
Department of Chemistry
Department of Computer Science
Department of Economics and Related Studies
Department of Educational Studies
Institute for Effective Education
Department of Electronics
Department of English and Related Literature
Environment Department
Centre for Health Economics
Department of Health Sciences
Department of History
Department of Health Sciences
Department of History
Department of History of Art
Hull York Medical School
Department of Language and Linguistic Science
York Law School
Centre for Lifelong Learning
The York Management School
Department of Mathematics
Department of Music
Department of Philosophy
Department of Physics
Department of Politics
Department of Psychology
Centre for Reviews and Dissemination
Department of Social Policy and Social Work
Department of Sociology
Department of Theatre, Film and Television
The University of York ranked 74th in the 2007 THES-QS World University ranking
The University of York ranked 81st in the 2008 THES-QS World University ranking
The University of York ranked 70th in the 2009 THES-QS World University ranking
The University of York ranked 88th in the 2010 QS World University ranking
The University of York ranked 96th in the 2011 QS World University ranking