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| University of Surrey |
The University of Surrey is a university located within the county town of Guildford, Surrey in the South East of England. It received its charter on 9 September 1966, and was previously situated near Battersea Park in south-west London. The institution was known as Battersea College of Technology before gaining university status. Its roots however go back to the Battersea Polytechnic Institute, founded in 1891 to provide further and higher education for London's poorer inhabitants.
The university is a member of the 1994 Group. The university conducts extensive research on small satellites and has a high number of staff who are members of learned societies. The Research Assessment Exercise 2001 awarded nine departments at the university 5 or 5* ratings. The university has recently expanded into China by launching the Surrey International Institute with Dongbei University of Finance and Economics.
The university's main campus is located on Stag Hill close to the centre of Guildford and adjacent to Guildford Cathedral. A second campus, at Manor Park, is located a short distance away and has been developed to expand upon existing accommodation, academic buildings and sporting facilities.
History University of Surrey
The University of Surrey was preceded by the Battersea Polytechnic Institute which was founded in 1891 and admitted its first students in 1894. Its aims were to provide greater access to further and higher education for some of the "poorer inhabitants" of London. The Institute focused on science and technology subjects, and from about 1920 taught some classes for University of London students.
In 1956 the Institute was among the first to receive the designation "College of Advanced Technology" and was renamed Battersea College of Technology. By the beginning of the sixties the College had virtually outgrown its building in Battersea and had decided to move to Guildford. In addition to this, the Robbins Report of 1963 proposed that the Colleges of Advanced Technology, including Battersea, should expand and become degree-awarding Universities.
In 1965 the university-designate acquired a greenfield site in Guildford from Guildford Cathedral, Guildford Borough Council and the Onslow Village Trust. The following year, on 9 September 1966 the University of Surrey was established by Royal Charter and by 1970 the move from Battersea to Guildford was complete.
Early visitors to the new campus were Led Zeppelin, who performed their very first gig at the university on 15 October 1968.
In 1982 the university became the trustee of the building of the Guildford Institute and uses parts of the building for its adult education programme which ensures a university presence in the heart of Guildford. The Assessment and Qualifications Alliance (formerly Associated Examining Board) moved from Aldershot to its own headquarters building on the Stag Hill campus in 1985.
The university marked its Silver Jubilee in 1991, an event celebrated by the publishing of Surrey - The Rise of a Modern University by Roy Douglas and by a Service of Thanksgiving in Guildford Cathedral attended by Her Majesty The Queen in March 1992.
The university celebrated its 35th anniversary year in May 2002 with a major event in Guildford Cathedral. It was also marked by the unveiling of the Surrey Scholar sculpture (by Allan Sly FBS) to mark the Golden Jubilee of Her Majesty The Queen and as a gift to the people of Guildford. The Surrey Scholar is located at the bottom of Guildford High Street. Understanding the Real World, a visual history of the university, by Christopher Pick, was published to coincide with this anniversary.
On 1 July 2005, Prof. Christopher Snowden became Surrey’s fourth Vice-Chancellor and Chief Executive. Like his predecessors Prof. Dowling and Prof. Kelly, Prof. Snowden is a fellow of the Royal Society. He was appointed in recognition of his pioneering work in the fields of microwave engineering and compound semiconductors.
In 2007 the university saw a major increase in overall applications by 39% compared with the previous year. This was followed by a further increase in applications of 12% in 2008.
In June 2008, Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page was awarded an honorary doctorate by the university for services to the music industry
In October 2008, the university lost out to Royal Holloway in a bid to merge with London medical institute St George's, University of London.
Academic Standards
The university conducts extensive research on small satellites, with its Surrey Space Centre and spin-off commercial company, Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd. In the 2001 Research Assessment Exercise, the University of Surrey received a 5* rating in the categories of "Sociology", "Other Studies and Professions Allied to Medicine", and "Electrical and Electronic Engineering" and a 5 rating in the categories of "Psychology", "Physics", "Applied Mathematics", "Statistics and Operational Research", "European Studies", and "Russian, Slavonic and East European Languages".
In addition, the Surrey Research Park is a 28 ha (69-acre) low density development which is owned and developed by the university, providing large landscaped areas with water features and facilities for over 110 companies engaged in a broad spectrum of research, development and design activities. The university generates the third highest endowment income out of all UK universities "reflecting its commercially-orientated heritage."
In 1991 the university was granted the Queen's Award for Export Achievement, and in 1996 it was awarded the Queen's Anniversary Prize for Higher & Further Education in recognition of the university's outstanding achievement in satellite engineering and communications, teaching and research by the Centre for Satellite Engineering Research and its associated companies. In 1998 Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd (SSTL) was awarded the Queen's Award for Technological Achievement. This was presented in person by the Queen on her second visit to the university, accompanied by HRH The Duke of Edinburgh and HRH The Duke of Kent, Chancellor of the University.
More recently the university was awarded the 2002 Queen's Anniversary Prize for Higher & Further Education, this time for its internationally renowned research and development on optoelectronic devices and ion beam applications. The university has a high number of staff who are academicians of the learned societies: 10 Fellows of the Royal Society, 21 Fellows of the Royal Academy of Engineering, one Fellow of the British Academy and 6 Fellows of the Academy of Social Sciences.
In July 2007, the university was awarded Fairtrade University status by the Fairtrade Foundation.
Rankings University of Surrey
For 2009, the university was ranked 22nd overall by The Guardian, while The Times placed the university 39th overall. Its highest ranked subject is Food Science (1st), whilst its Sociology department is ranked second only to the University of Cambridge. In world rankings, Times Higher Education ranked the university 190th in 2007.
International partners
- Brazil University of São Paulo, Brazil
- South Africa University of Cape Town, South Africa
- South Korea Seoul National University, South Korea
- United States North Carolina State University, USA.