University of York
The University of York is a public collegiate research university in York, England. Established in 1963, the university has expanded to more than thirty departments and centres, covering a wide range of subjects.
South-east of the city of York, the university campus is about in size. The original campus, Campus West, incorporates the York Science Park and the National Science Learning Centre, and its wildlife, campus lakes and greenery are prominent. In May 2007 the university was granted permission to build an extension to its main campus, on arable land just east of the nearby village of Heslington. The second campus, Campus East, opened in 2009 and now hosts five colleges and three departments as well as conference spaces, a sports village and a business start-up 'incubator'. The institution also leases King's Manor in York city centre. The university had a total income of £538.6 million in 2024–25 of which £107.1 million was from research grants and contracts, with an expenditure of £525.1 million.Financial Statement 24/25">
York was one of the first of the plate glass universities established in the 1960s, and runs a distinctive collegiate system, which currently consists of eleven colleges. The eleventh college, David Kato, opened in 2022. The university is a member of regional research groups including the N8 Group and White Rose University Consortium as well as the national Russell Group.
History
Origins
The first petition for the establishment of a university in York was presented to James I in 1617. In 1641, a second petition was drawn up but was not delivered due to the English Civil War in 1642. A third petition was created in 1647 but was rejected by Parliament. In the 1820s there were discussions about the founding of a university in York, but this did not come to fruition owing to the founding of Durham University in 1832. In 1903, F. J. Munby and the Yorkshire Philosophical Society, among others, proposed a "Victoria University of Yorkshire".Oliver Sheldon a director of Rowntree's and co-founder of York Civic Trust, was a driving force behind the campaign to found the university.
Establishment
was the driving force behind the university's establishment. York accepted its first students the year of Morrell's death, 1963, opening with 216 undergraduates, 14 postgraduates, and 28 academic and administrative staff. The university started with six departments: Economics, Education, English, History, Mathematics, Politics. At the time, the university consisted of three buildings, principally the historic King's Manor in the city centre and Heslington Hall, which has Tudor foundations and is in the village of Heslington on the edge of York. A year later, work began on purpose-built structures on the Heslington Campus, which now forms the main part of the university.Baron James of Rusholme, the university's first Vice-Chancellor, said of the University of York that "it must be collegiate in character, that it must deliberately seek to limit the number of subjects and that much of the teaching must be done via tutorials and seminars". Due to the influence of Graeme Moodie, founding head of the Politics Department, students are involved in the governance of the university at all levels, and his model has since been widely adopted.
York's first two colleges, Derwent and Langwith, were founded in 1965, as was the University of York Library. These were the first residential colleges. They were followed by Alcuin and Vanbrugh in 1967 and Goodricke in 1968. In 1972 this was followed by Wentworth College.
The university was noted for its inventive approach to teaching. It was known for its early adoption of joint honours degrees, which were often very broad, such as history and biology. It also took an innovative approach to social science introducing a five-year-long degree in the subject.
Expansion
After 1972, the construction of colleges ceased until 1990 with the foundation of James College. Initially James was intended to be a postgraduate only college. However, the university began to expand rapidly, almost doubling in size from 4,300 to 8,500 students. In 1993, therefore it was decided that the college should become open to undergraduates. The expansion of student numbers also resulted in the creation of more accommodation by the university, which was named 'Halifax Court'; the members of Halifax Court were members of other colleges, however, soon formed their own Junior Common Room. In 2002, Halifax Court was made a full college of the university and was renamed Halifax College.In 2003, the university set out plans to create a campus for 5,000 additional students, and to introduce a number of new subjects such as law and dentistry. For a number of years, the university's expansion plans were limited by planning restrictions. The City of York planning conditions stipulate that only 20% of the land area may be built upon, and the original campus was at full capacity.
In 2004, plans were finalised for a 117 hectare extension to the campus, initially called Heslington East, designed to mirror the existing Heslington West campus. They are now known as Campus East and Campus West. The plans set out that the new campus would be built on arable land between Grimston Bar park and ride car park and Heslington village. The land was removed from the green belt especially for the purpose of extending the university. After a lengthy consultation and a public inquiry into the proposals in 2006, Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government Ruth Kelly gave the go-ahead in May 2007. In May 2008 the City of York planners approved the design for the residential college, Goodricke. In The Press on 28 July 2008, Shepherd Construction was named as the preferred contractor for the Goodricke College buildings. The proposal included landscaping the whole area, constructing a lake with marsh borders, planting light woodland and many specimen trees, and maximising biodiversity.
Construction began in 2008, with the first buildings, including Goodricke college, coming into use in October 2009. It was decided that rather than create a new college that an existing college should be moved. Goodricke College was selected for this and moved onto the new campus in 2009 with James taking over its building on Campus West. Goodricke was officially opened by the then Duke of York in April 2010. In 2012, the same process took place with Langwith moving to Campus East and Derwent taking over its previous buildings. In 2014 Campus East saw the establishment of the ninth college, named Constantine College after the Roman emperor Constantine the Great, who was proclaimed Augustus in York in 306 AD.
Work began in December 2019 to build two new colleges on Campus East. These will comprise around 1,400 new student bedrooms as well as new social spaces. The university says that "development has been designed to optimise the beautiful landscape and will be built with respect for the existing ecological diversity around the lake".
Campus
Campus West
In 1964, work began on the campus facilities in the grounds of Heslington Hall. The marshy land was drained, the winding lake that dominates the campus was built, and the area was landscaped. The original buildings were designed by architects Sir Andrew Derbyshire and Sir Stirrat Johnson-Marshall, with input also from the Vice-Chancellor Lord James, Professor Patrick Nuttgens and the Registrar, John West-Taylor. The new structures were assembled using the CLASP system of prefabricated construction, hence York's inclusion among the so-called plate glass universities. The buildings are connected by numerous covered walkways and bridges. Most of the university's arts departments occupy premises in the college buildings, while many of the science departments have their own buildings.Central Hall
A landmark building is Central Hall, a half-octagonal concert hall used for convocations and examinations, as well as theatrical and musical performances. It is a Grade II-listed building, as is the West campus landscape. It has played host to the Wailers, George Melly, Soft Machine, Pink Floyd, and Paul McCartney. Performances by big-name acts have been rarer at the university following a 1985 the Boomtown Rats concert, during which the cover of the orchestra pit was damaged. A ban on pop performances, and in particular dancing, in Central Hall was imposed by the university, although it has occasionally been relaxed. Central Hall is still used for classical concerts and since a rock concert was held there on 13 March 2010 it has been available again for full booking. Public concerts are regularly held in the music department's Sir Jack Lyons Concert Hall, the Arthur Sykes Rymer Auditorium and in some of the colleges.University library
The University of York Library opened in 1965 two years after the university itself opened. The building was designed by Robert Mathews, Johnson-Marshall and partners. The primary site of library comprises a series of three linked buildings to the north side of the University of York's West Campus: the JB Morrell, the Raymond Burton, and the Fairhurst buildings. Originally just consisting of the JB Morrell, in 2003 the Raymond Burton library was added to the site, designed by Leach Rhodes Walker architects and houses both the Humanities research reading room and the Borthwick institute for archives. The Raymond Burton Library was also recently nominated for a SCONUL Design award. In 2012 the Library had a £20 million renovation incorporating the neighbouring Fairhurst building, now housing the majority of libraries study spaces including the postgraduate study lounge.Grounds
The campus lake is the largest plastic-bottomed lake in Europe. The decision by Sir Andrew Derbyshire and Stirrat Johnson-Marshall to give the university a lake had two motivations: one, to give the university a distinct image and identity while also creating areas to foster community; and two, more practically to create a drainage basin for the relatively flat agricultural site as it was feared the construction of the new buildings would increase the risk of flooding. The lake has attracted a large population of wild and semi-wild waterfowl, including greylag, Canada, barnacle and snow geese, coots, moorhens and large numbers of ducks, including mallards, tufted ducks, and common pochards. There is also a growing population of black swans and a few great crested grebe. Grey herons have also been sighted on the lake. The southern end of the lake has been established as a bird sanctuary. Fishing is permitted in season, on purchase of a licence. On occasions the lake has been called Scullion's Lake. However, the use of this name varies, which challenges it's authenticity. It has been applied to the whole lake, to the Derwent fish pond, and to the end of the lake around Wentworth. No historic use of the term has been found to add support to any of these terms use.Other parts of the campus support a large rabbit population. On at least one occasion, students have been cautioned by the university for hunting rabbits.
Campus West has both indoor and outdoor sports facilities, including an all-weather AstroTurf pitch and County standard cricket pitch. A large, tent-like structure allows for indoor sport, gymnastics and dance.
In 2013 it was reported that the university was planning a major redevelopment of Campus West, which would also result in the creation of a tenth college.