University of Warwick

The Ranking of University of Warwick

www2.warwick.ac.uk

The University of Warwick is a British campus university located on the outskirts of Coventry, West Midlands, England and is regarded as one of the country's leading universities. It was established in 1965 as part of a government initiative to expand access to higher education, and in 2000 Warwick Medical School was opened as part of an initiative to train more doctors in Britain. In the last Research Assessment Exercise the University was the 7th highest-ranked research institution in the UK. Furthermore, according to the latest University League Table 2010 Warwick is ranked 6th in the UK after Oxford, Cambridge, Imperial College, LSE and Durham.

In the 1960s and 1970s, Warwick had a reputation as a politically radical institution. More recently, the University has been seen as a favoured institution of the British New Labour government. Warwick was one of the first UK universities to develop close links with the business community, and has been successful in the commercialisation of research. This commercial approach has resulted in its being nicknamed "Warwick University Limited" (or, more recently, "Warwick University PLC"). Warwick is a member of the Russell Group. It also used to be a member of the 1994 Group but left in July 2008.

History

The idea for a university in Coventry was mooted shortly after the conclusion of the Second World War but it was a bold and imaginative partnership of the City and the County which brought the University into being on a 400-acre (1.6 km2) site jointly granted by the two authorities. There was some discussion between local sponsors from both the city and county over whether it should be named after Coventry or Warwickshire. The name "University of Warwick" was adopted, even though the county town of Warwick itself lies some 8 miles (13 km) to the southwest and Coventry city centre lies only 3.5 miles (5.5 km) northeast of the campus. The establishment of the University of Warwick was given approval by the government in 1961 and received its Royal Charter of Incorporation in 1965. Since then, the University has incorporated the former Coventry College of Education in 1979 and has extended its land holdings by the purchase of adjoining farm land. The University also benefited from a substantial donation from the family of Jack Martin, which enabled the construction of the Warwick Arts Centre.

The University initially admitted a small intake of graduate students in 1964 and took its first 450 undergraduates in October 1965. The student population is now 16,646 (as of April 2008), with around a third being postgraduates. 25% of the student body comes from overseas and over 114 countries are represented on the campus. The University has 29 academic departments and over 40 research centres and institutes, in four Faculties: Arts, Medicine, Science and Social Studies. There are 1,607 academic staff, 844 research staff, and 5,168 total staff (as of April 2008).

Since its establishment Warwick has expanded its grounds to 721 acres (2.9 km2) with many modern buildings and academic facilities, lakes and woodlands. A recent survey by The Times resulted in the campus being voted the best in the UK by a national poll of university students.

Campus

The University of Warwick is located on the outskirts of Coventry, 5 km (3 miles) southwest of the city centre, and not in Warwick as its name suggests. The University comprises three contiguous campuses, all in easy walking distance of the others:

The Main Campus

The Gibbet Hill Campus — home to Biological Sciences and Warwick Medical School
The Westwood Campus — home to the Institute of Education, some postgraduate facilities and residences

In addition, other University properties include:

University of Warwick Science Park
Clinical Sciences Building at University Hospital Coventry — part of the Warwick Medical School
Warwick Horticulture Research International (HRI) Research & Conference Centre, Wellesbourne, Warwickshire
Warwick Horticulture Research International (HRI) Research Centre, Kirton, Lincolnshire

Research

The University was ranked seventh for quality of research out of 159 of the institutions which took part in the UK Funding Councils' 2008 Research Assessment Exercise. Over 65% of the University's academic staff are located in "world-leading" or "internationally excellent" departments with top research ratings of 4* or 3*. Warwick is particularly renowned for its research in environmental science, history, mathematics, statistics, economics, French, Italian, classics, business and management, film studies and theatre studies in which it ranked in the top 5 of the Research Assessment Exercise. Furthermore, 19 Warwick departments are in the top 10 in the UK and Warwick has achieved a 35% increase in the number of staff submitted with almost 90% taking part.

Academic Reputation

Warwick is consistently placed among the elite in UK University rankings. According to The Sunday Times' University Guide 2006, Warwick has the fourth highest place contention in the UK with about ten applicants for every place., and admission more competitive than ever this year, as the university accepted a record-low 10 percent of applicants in 2007, making it one of the most selective universities in the world. The majority of its subjects are consistently in the top ten in subject wise rankings.. Warwick students also average the fifth highest UCAS tariff score in the UK, with an average of 448 points (equivalent to more than AAAa at A-level).

In the World MBA rankings published by the Financial Times, Warwick ranked 14th in the world for its Executive MBA and 29th for its MBA. Furthermore, The Economist Intelligence Unit's Which MBA? Guide, published annually, ranked Warwick's Full-Time MBA program 23rd in the world; top 10 in Europe, and 6th in the world for the final salaries of its graduates, beating top international business schools like The Said Business School (Oxford), Yale School of Management and ESADE.

According to The Sunday Times, September 2006: "In barely forty years, Warwick has established itself as a leading alternative to Oxford and Cambridge. It recruits some of the brightest students who are taught by staff often working at the cutting edge of their subjects." The Guardian, in May 2007, described the University as "consistently rated among the best universities in the country. Warwick is something of a leader in the academic field."

Moreover, the Sunday Times released averages of all its tables over 10 years, ranking Warwick as 7th in the country from 1998 - 2007.

In 2000 the Sutton Trust also named Warwick as one of the leading universities in the UK, placing it 7th overall.

Departments

The University has 30 departments organised into four faculties.

• Faculty of Arts
• Faculty of Medicine
• Faculty of Science
• Faculty of Social Studies
• Research centres
  

University of Warwick was ranked 69th in the 2008 THES-QS World University Ranking.