University of Bradford

University of Bradford
Motto	Give invention light (from Shakespeare's Sonnet 38)
Established	1966 - gained University Status by Royal Charter 1957 - Bradford Institute of Technology
Type	Public
Endowment	£3.7m
Chancellor	Imran Khan
Vice-Chancellor	Prof Mark Cleary
Academic staff	615
Admin. staff	1205
Students	13,570
Undergraduates	10,525
Postgraduates	3,050
Location	Bradford, England, UK 53°47′30″N 1°45′44″W
Former names	Bradford Institute of Technology
Colours	University of Bradford
Affiliations	EQUIS AMBA University Alliance
Website	http://www.brad.ac.uk/

The University of Bradford (informally Bradford University) is a British public research university located in the city of Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. The university received its Royal Charter in 1966, making it the 40th university to be created in Britain, but its origins date back to the early 19th century. There are two campuses: the main campus (which now, following recent development, includes the School of Health), located on Richmond Road and the School of Management, at Emm Lane.

The student population includes 10,525 undergraduate and 3,050 postgraduate students. Mature students make up around a third of the undergraduate community. 22% of students are foreign, and come from over 110 different countries. There were 14,406 applications to the university through UCAS in 2010, of which 3,421 were accepted.

It was the first British University to establish a Department of Peace Studies in 1973, which is currently the world's largest university centre for the study of peace and conflict. The Division has a reputation as a centre of excellence in peace research, international relations, security studies, conflict resolution and development and peace studies. The university was also the first university outside London to offer part-time degree courses.

The university is currently undergoing a £84 million redevelopment programme, including Student Central, which is now home to the brand new student union, social and study zones and bars. The School of Health Studies was recently moved from the Trinity Road Campus to the university's City Campus in summer 2011, after major refurbishment, offering brand new state of the art facilities.

The university has won its campus the award for ‘Outstanding Contribution to Sustainable Development’ in The Times Higher Education Awards two years running. The Green, is an accommodation student village situated on-campus and has the highest ever BREEAM rating for any building.

History

Early history and founding

School of Health Studies, The University of Bradford

Richmond Building, University of Bradford

The university's origins date back to the Mechanics Institute, founded in 1832, formed in response to the need in the city for workers with cutting-edge skills relevant to the workplace. In 1882, the institute became the Bradford Technical College. In 1957, the Bradford Institute of Technology, was formed as a College of Advanced Technology to take on the running of higher education courses. Construction of the Richmond Building, the largest building on campus, began in 1963. The Horton Building and Chesham building were subsequently added, on the opposite side of Richmond Road.

The Charter of Incorporation was granted in 1966, to create the University of Bradford; the then Prime Minister Harold Wilson became the university's first chancellor.

1980s and 1990s

Expansion of the main campus continued in the 1980s, with the addition of the Library and Computer Centre, Communal Building, Pemberton Building and Ashfield Building. An extension to the Library and Computer Centre was completed in the mid-1990s. In 1996, the university joined with the former Bradford and Airedale College of Health, which then became the School of Health Studies within the university. The Department of Physics was closed in the 1980s. The Department of Mathematics was closed to new undergraduates in 1997, with the remaining postgraduate activities and lecture support being integrated into the Department of Computing as the Mathematics Unit. The Department of Mathematics has since been reopened within the School of Computing, Informatics and Media.

In 1987, the University became one of the twelve founding members of the Northern Consortium.

21st century

In September 2009, it was announced that the University was to merge with Leeds College of Music. The college had originally announced a merger with Leeds Metropolitan University in April 2009, however, discussions broke down due to issues with the provision of further education courses at the college. It was later announced that this merger would not go ahead due to financial constraints, although both institutions are committed to building up a working relationship and the University validates LCM's courses.

Facilities

In 2005, a £84 million redevelopment of the campus was announced, and a project to create the world's first 'Ecoversity' was formed. The university would strive to reduce its environmental footprint by reducing waste and using sustainable materials, and would imbue sustainability into everything that the institution does, including teaching. As part of this, Bradford became a Fairtrade University in December 2006.

As of 2008, several of the redevelopment projects have been completed. The Richmond Building has been partially re-clad with extra insulation and a new atrium; designed by local, Saltaire based Architects Rance Booth & Smith; opened in December 2006, the roof of which uses ETFE - the same material used in the Eden Project. The university's cancer therapeutics research centre was moved from a separate site on All Saint's Road onto the main campus, into a new building which also provides conference facilities; the buildings on the old site were demolished in February 2008.

Redevelopment of the sports facilities was completed in summer 2009, and a new student village called "The Green" was constructed which opened in September 2011. Of the existing halls owned by the university, those on the Laisteridge Lane site were sold to Corporate Residential Management in 2005, and Shearbridge Green Halls were demolished in December 2006. Longside Lane halls and Kirkstone Halls were demolished during the first half of 2009.

The university has a "leading-edge 100-seat PC cluster" for teaching, learning and computer-based assessment, and there is an art gallery, theatre and music centre. The university has recently invested £84m in the campus, including a major refurbishment of the laboratories in the school of life sciences, creation of a new MBA suite and library at the school of management, refurbishment of the student union building, Student Central, as well as the creation of a new accommodation student village, The Green.

The J B Priestley library is open 24 hours on weekdays and more limited hours at weekends, it has 530,000 volumes, more than 1,100 printed periodical titles and more than 7,000 electronic journals. In addition to the university library, there are two Waterstones bookshops located on campus.

Motto

The motto which appears on most current University of Bradford publications is Making Knowledge Work, which relates to the institution's focus on courses that lead to employment. The university announced in June 2007 it was to use this phrase as a trademark. However, the motto inscribed beneath the official coat of arms is Give Invention Light, which is taken from Shakespeare's Sonnet 38. It has also used the slogans Be Inspired and Confronting Inequality, Celebrating Diversity in recent promotional material.

Coat of arms

The coat of arms was granted to the university along with its charter in 1966. As would normally be expected in heraldry, University of Bradford's coat of arms is packed with meaning.

Shield

The white Yorkshire rose on a red background signifies the West Riding of Yorkshire: the colour is used in the coat of arms of Bradford itself. The book on the shield symbolises a university. The seven clasps represent the quadrivium and trivium: the groups of four and three related studies which were the typical medieval university subjects. The horns symbolise the City of Bradford, taken from the legend of the Bradford Boar (of which more in the document below).

Crest

Above the shield, the closed helm shows that the arms belong to an organisation rather than an individual. The red and gold colours are the Bradford liveries. The torch symbolises enlightenment and progress, and is often used in heraldry for technological education. It contains seven sun-rays, the wavy symbolising heat and energy and the straight for light, showing natural forces tamed to serve humanity.

Supporters

The falcons imply “aspiration and determination in technological studies”, as they were sacred to the sun-god Horus through their supposed ability to fly towards the sun without being dazzled. They also relate to the white falcon badge of the House of York, particularly favoured by Edward IV, who was lord of the Manor of Bradford.

Reputation

The Times Good University Guide ranked Bradford 7th in UK for graduate employment in 2005 and 2nd in 2006.

The university has a strong reputation for research and knowledge transfer. It is ranked in the Top 50 English Universities based on research funding (HEFCE 2009–10). Staff-student ratios are amongst the best in the UK (The University of Bradford is in the 2nd quartile for staff-student ratios in The Independent, The Times and The Guardian League Tables). The 2008 RAE reported that 80 per cent of academics at the university who submitted research to the panel are doing international or world-leading research.

UK University Rankings

	2013	2012	2011	2010	2009	2008	2007	2006	2005	2004	2003	2002	2001	2000	1999	1998	1997	1996	1995	1994	1993
Times Good University Guide			53rd	57th	49th	48th	47th	47th=	47th	59th=	54th		56th	54th	54th	52nd	53rd	52nd	51st=	50th=	44th=	32nd=
Guardian University Guide			84th	74th	63rd	44th	50th	39th	31st	54th	69th
Sunday Times University Guide	64th=	58th	54th		52nd=	52nd	52nd	52nd	50th	56th=	55th	54th	54th	50th	57th	58th=
The Independent / Complets		73rd	61st	57th	50th	49th
FT											52nd		52nd	52nd	52nd
Daily Telegraph			73rd	61st			49th				73rd=

Administration

The current chancellor is the former world-class cricketer and Pakistani politician Imran Khan, who was installed on 7 December 2005. He took over from Baroness Lockwood, who had served since 1997. Prior chancellors have included, in reverse order, Trevor Holdsworth (1992–1997), John Harvey-Jones (1986–1991) and Harold Wilson (later Lord Wilson of Rievaulx) (1966–1985).

The current Vice-Chancellor (as of 1 June 2007) is Professor Mark Cleary. He joined the university from the University of Plymouth where he was the Acting Vice-Chancellor (Academic). He was due to start in his new position following Professor Chris Taylor's retirement on 1 May. However due to the sudden death of Professor Roland Levinsky, the vice-chancellor of Plymouth, his appointment was delayed until the summer. Mark Cleary is due to step down from this role in October 2013, following the appointment of Brian Cantor.

He succeeded Professor Chris Taylor who held the post from 1 October 2001 to 30 April 2007, when he retired from the university. Taylor took over from Professor Colin Bell, who was Vice-Chancellor between 1998 and 2001 and who was later Vice-Chancellor at the University of Stirling. Bell died suddenly in April 2003 and the University of Bradford now holds an annual memorial lecture in his name discussing widening participation.

Membership at the University of Bradford’s Students’ Union, (UBU), is automatic upon confirmation of enrolment. The UBU has a union shop, several bars and advice services, a radio station, cinema and other entertainment facilities.

Students get to make use of the Unique Fitness and Lifestyle centre which is located on campus. Facilities at the Unique centre include a top of the range fitness suite, an indoor 25-metre pool and a climbing wall. There are more than 30 sports clubs which are provided by the UBU.

The Green, Student Accommodation

Accommodation

The Green, which opened September 2011, is a new £40 million purpose built student accommodation village. Designed for eco-friendly living, The Green has the highest ever BREEAM rating for any building (95.05%), awarded for sustainable building development and operation. It is also the first BREEAM 'Outstanding' student accommodation in the country.^{citation needed}

Students' Union

Main article: University of Bradford Union

The University of Bradford Union (UBU) is run by an executive committee of six full-time sabbatical officers and up to six part-time executive officers, elected annually. The committee is unusual in not having a Union President: the post was abolished by Shumon Rahman in 2001, who was elected the Union's first Asian President in 2000.

The Union is located in the newly refurbished Student Central on campus, and is politically active (nominally to the left), running regular campaigns.

The largest student involvement in their Union comes in the forms of the sports clubs (through the Athletics Union, commonly known as the AU), and the societies (through the Societies Federation). There is a wide variety of both, and students are free to start their own societies.

The Student Union also has Ramair, one of the UK's longest running student radio stations, as well as a student newspaper and the long-established Bradford Student Cinema cinema that now regularly screens recent releases to students and staff for free. RamAir was also able to host the Student Radio Conference in 2012 with student Ian Thursfield winning a national award for Radio in 2011.

Schools

The diverse course available at the university have been divided into seven academic 'schools' which each cover a broad range of specialisms.

Six schools are based at the city campus, and share many facilities, whilst the School of Management is a short bus ride away.

Computing, Informatics and Media

The Digital Arts Centre in the School of Computing, Informatics & Media
SCIM website: http://scim.brad.ac.uk/

The second-largest school in the university consists of the departments of Computing, Bradford Media School (BMS), Creative Technology (CT) and Mathematics. It was renamed from the School of Informatics to the School of Computing, Informatics & Media (SCIM) in 2009 when the department of Electronic Imaging and Media Communications (EIMC) was split to CT and BMS. SCIM offers over 40 undergraduate degrees and postgraduate study in various areas including computing, ICT, robotics, mathematics, media and television. The School has a very lively research culture with over 100 students registered for MPhil/PhD.

The School was originally known as the "Department of Computing" and subsequently as the "School of Computing and Mathematics", following the integration of mathematics activities after the decision to close the Department of Mathematics as a separate entity in 1997. Mathematics was revived as a separate department in 2009 and now offers a degree in Computational Mathematics. The Department of Computing was one of the first in the UK to run an MSc course in Computing back in 1967. Undergraduate courses began in 1970. Most of the school's computing courses are accredited by the British Computer Society (BCS).

The EIMC department was founded in 1991 and developed its courses in conjunction with the School of Art, Design & Textiles at Bradford and Ilkley Community College (now known as Bradford College) and the National Museum of Photography, Film and Television (now the National Media Museum). The first cohort of 37 students graduated in 1994. It was one of the first departments to offer BSc courses in media technology, going on to introduce some of the first animation and computer games degrees, and more recently expanding to offer a new range of similar BA courses. Previous graduates have gone on to become notable and high-profile members in their field. Today, SCIM no longer works in association with the college, but has strengthened its relationship with the nearby National Media Museum. The school would still claim to be leading the field, albeit against increasing competition. None of its competitors has a collaboration with a brand-leading museum. In association with the Department of Computing, it obtained a research grade 4 at RAE 2001.

A non-linear Video editing / training suite is named in honour of the Shipley born film director Tony Richardson, and was opened by his daughter, the film actress Natasha Richardson in 1996. It currently operates using [Final Cut Pro]. In 2007 the School launched a partnership with East Coast Media at the Grimsby Institute and the National Media Museum to bid for Skillset Media Academy status, which was granted in 2008. Accreditation mainly covers courses in the Bradford Media School.

The school was renamed Informatics when Computing was joined by the EIMC department. A department of Cybernetics was established around the time of the Mathematics department's demise, and its courses and staff were merged with those in Computing and EIMC in 2005 for financial reasons.

A core part of the school is the Innovations Unit, which offers the expertise of specialists within SCIM to commercial and social enterprises. This collaboration is part of a Government initiative called Knowledge Transfer, which also includes partnerships with national and international companies. The IIU is also home to "Simula", which using knowledge transfer and resources for commercial projects including the school's motion capture suite for video games including Driver Parallel Lines, World Snooker Championships and GTR.

Engineering, Design and Technology

The university inherited several engineering courses from the Bradford Institute of Technology and some of these courses, such as Civil Engineering are still taught today. All of the engineering courses are accredited by their relevant institute.

The school also has a large number of both undergraduate and postgraduate design and technology courses. Its research areas include automotive engineering, polymers, telecommunications and advanced materials engineering.

From the establishment of the university in 1966, the individual branches of engineering were taught in separate departments. When reorganisation of the three faculties of the university took place, a single School of Engineering, Design and Technology was created and incorporated the Department of Mechanical Engineering, the Department of Civil & Structural Engineering, the Department of Electrical & Electronic Engineering and the Department of Industrial Studies. The Department of Chemical Engineering was closed shortly before the creation of the new school.

Recently the school has had a number of initiatives to boost the number of women studying on its courses, the latest being called 'FAIRER' (Females Actively Involved in Rewarding Engineering Roles).

Health Studies

Formerly the Bradford and Airedale College of Health, this became part of the university in 1996; previously it was an associate college with the university validating its degrees and diplomas. The School has moved to the main city campus, into the Horton A building which underwent major refurbishment in 2011. The Horton building was extended and another floor added to accommodate the School of Health Studies. The School of Health Studies was previously located on a separate site on Trinity Road, about 10 minutes walk from the main campus and near to St. Luke's Hospital.

It specialises in courses in nursing, physiotherapy, midwifery, occupational therapy and radiography. A specialist drug therapy course is run by the department and there are also part-time courses in dementia care. The department's student demographics are largely female, with a higher proportion of mature students.

Life Sciences

The School of Life Sciences has the highest number of students of all of the schools, with more than 2,000 students admitted to a variety of undergraduate courses in the areas of Biomedical Sciences, Chemical and Forensic Science, Clinical Sciences, Optometry, Pharmacy and Archaeological, Geographical and Environmental Sciences.

Headed by the Dean, Professor Richard Greene, the school has an academic staff of over 100, with a support staff also of more than 100. The majority of academic staff is actively involved in research, which is supported with laboratory and workshop facilities, and by a team of technicians.

As a result of their research, the Bradford School of Pharmacy (BSP) has developed highly successful spin-off companies: Bradford Particle Design, which was sold to an American organisation and which has recently changed the name to Nektar Therapeutics, and AGT (Advanced Gel Technology) and AGT Life Sciences. The BSP has also undergone planned expansion with the new Institute of Pharmaceutical Innovation, which provides a hub for research across the School. The building incorporates a new Analytical Centre which is available for use by staff across the University.

The Bradford School of Optometry and Vision Science (BSOVS) has its own Eye Clinic, situated on the nearby Science Park, providing Primary Care for the local community in conjunction with a student training facility. BSOVS also provides a variety of other clinical services (e.g. an Electro-diagnostic Unit opened October 2010) that people may be referred to by practitioners.

The Division of Chemical and Forensic Science runs a number of forensic science courses in conjunction with the Division of Biomedical Sciences and further undergraduate and postgraduate courses are being developed in the area of Biotechnology. The Division of Biomedical Sciences is also a major contributor to a new Clinical Sciences degree, which commenced in 2002. Although the Division of Clinical Sciences provides a degree in its own right, as importantly there is provision for students to transfer to Leeds Medical School's MBChB programme.

The Institute of Cancer Therapeutics has an excellent reputation for high calibre research and there is very close collaboration with staff from other divisions within the School. The ICT recently moved to a new on-campus building in October 2006.

The Division of Archaeological, Geographical and Environmental Sciences is located in refurbished, late 19th century mill buildings, housing extensive specialist facilities. Formerly a separate school, it was merged with Life Sciences in 2006.

Management

Main article: University of Bradford School of Management

The Bradford School of Management is located 3 miles (4.8 km) away from the main campus on a 13-acre (53,000 m²) parkland campus, Emm Lane. It teaches courses in business, finance, accountancy, management and marketing. As of 2005 the department commenced teaching an accredited LLB law degree.

It has a number of masters degrees, MBA programmes and doctoral programmes running alongside undergraduate programmes.

Bradford University School of Management works with organisations such as Asda, the BBC and Emirates, as well as small businesses, providing management development, MBAs and research and graduate links^{citation needed}.

Its research is both international and interdisciplinary and has five main research groups covering all the main areas of management, and co-operative links and exchange agreements with 20 universities in America, Australia, Canada, Denmark, France, Holland, Spain and Sweden.

School of Management has full Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) accreditation for DBA and PhD programmes, portfolio Association of MBAs accreditation for MBA programmes and EQUIS accreditation.

Social and International Studies

The School of Social and International Studies covers the areas of development, economics, humanities (including English and history), politics, international relations, peace studies, psychology, criminology and social work. The school offers a range of taught undergraduate and postgraduate courses and has a number of active research areas, especially in conflict resolution. The school is actively engaged in the Programme for a Peaceful City initiative.

The recently launched Centre for Psychology Studies offers a psychology course for undergraduates, accredited by the British Psychological Society. In 2008, Professor, Lord Robert Winston officially opened new state of the art psychology laboratories, for teaching and research. One of the university's most popular courses, The National Student Survey ranked Psychology at Bradford as being within the Top 5 in the UK with 94% Student Satisfaction.

Alumni

See also: :Category:Alumni of the University of Bradford

• Melih Abdulhayoglu - Founder & CEO Comodo Group, Inc.
• Peter Alexander - Executive Vice President and CMO of RoamWare
• Rinchinnyamyn Amarjargal - Former PM of Mongolia
• Nick Baines - Bishop of Bradford and broadcaster
• John Beaman - Channel Islands Politician
• Crawford W. Beveridge - Executive Vice President and Chairman, EMEA, APAC and the Americas of Sun Microsystems
• Roland Boyes - Labour MP
• Alex Brummer - Journalist
• Jean-Jacques Burnel - Bass guitarist in The Stranglers
• David Chaytor - Labour MP
• Chakufwa Chihana - Malawian Pro-Democracy Activist, Trade Unionist and Second Vice President of Malawi
• Michael H.K. Chung - Senior Vice President and International Ventures Officer of Eastman Chemical Company EMN
• Michael Clapham - Labour MP
• Nexhat Daci - Former speaker of Assembly of Kosovo
• Paul Donovan - CEO Eircom Group
• Saeb Erakat - Chief of the PLO Steering and Monitoring Committee
• Dame Janet Finch former Vice-Chancellor of Keele University
• Martin Fletcher (TV reporter) - NBC News Middle East correspondent
• Kevin Gaskell - CEO(Europe) of CarsDirect.com, former managing director of BMW (GB)
• John Gater - Archeological geophysicist, Time Team presenter
• Tori Good - BBC Weather forecaster
• Stephen Griffiths - convicted for triple murder of 3 local women in 2010 whilst a Phd student
• John Hegley - Performance poet
• Stephen Hesford - Labour MP
• David Hinchliffe - Labour MP
• Mo Ibrahim - Entrepreneur
• Frederick William Jowett - Labour MP
• Riek Machar - Vice-president of the autonomous Government of Southern Sudan
• Bernard Mariette - Global President, Quiksilver
• Steve McCabe - Labour MP
• Jon McGregor - Writer
• Mehran Karimi Nasseri - Iranian refuge who lived in CDG airport
• Iffy Onuora - former footballer
• Sir Tony O'Reilly - Chairman Independent News & Media Group, Former CEO H.J. Heinz Company
• Mwangi Kamae - KCB Group
• John Pienaar - BBC journalist
• Susan Price (academic) - Vice-chancellor of Leeds Metropolitan University
• Linda Riordan - Labour MP
• Kate Swann - CEO of WH Smith
• Ann Taylor - Minister of State for International Defence and Security
• David Ward - Liberal Democrat MP for Bradford East
• Gary Watton - prolific writer of non-fiction

University Challenge

The University were champions of University Challenge in 1979. It was less successful in 2004, achieving only 35 points: The joint 3rd lowest score ever recorded on the show.

See also

• Plate glass university

External links

• University of Bradford website
• University of Bradford Union
• Bradford Scholars - the University of Bradford research repository

Video clips

• School of Computing, Informatics and Media YouTube channel
• Division of Rehabilitation Studies YouTube channel