University of Liverpool

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article needs additional citations for verification.
Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (August 2007)
University of Liverpool

Motto Latin: Haec otia studia fovent
Motto in English "These days of peace foster learning"
Established 1903 - University of Liverpool[1]
1884 - gained University Status as part of Victoria University [1]
1881 - University College Liverpool[2]
Type Public
Endowment £110 million[3]
Chancellor Sir David King
Vice-Chancellor Sir Howard Newby
Visitor The Lord President of the Council ex officio
Students 20,655[4]
Undergraduates 16,805[4]
Postgraduates 3,860[4]
Location Liverpool, England, UK
Coordinates: 2°58′01″W / 53.406°N 2.967°W / 53.406; -2.967
Campus Urban
Affiliations Russell Group, EUA, N8 Group, NWUA
Website http://www.liv.ac.uk/

The University of Liverpool is a teaching and research university in the city of Liverpool, England. It is a member of the Russell Group of large research-intensive universities and the N8 Group for research collaboration; and founded in 1881 (as a University College) it is also one of the six original "red brick" civic universities. The university has produced eight Nobel Prize winners and today has more than 230 first degree courses offerred across 103 subjects. It has an annual turnover of £340 million, including £123 million for research.[5]

History

The University was established in 1881 as University College Liverpool, admitting its first students in 1882.[2] In 1884, it became part of the federal Victoria University. In 1894 Oliver Lodge, a professor at the University, made the world's first public radio transmission and two years later took the first surgical X-ray in the United Kingdom.[6] The Liverpool University Press was founded in 1899, making it the third oldest university press in England.

Following a Royal Charter and Act of Parliament in 1903, it became an independent university with the right to confer its own degrees called the University of Liverpool. The next few years saw major developments at the university, including Sir Charles Sherrington's discovery of the synapse and Professor William Blair-Bell's work on chemotherapy in the treatment of cancer. In the 1930s to 1940s Professors Sir James Chadwick and Sir Joseph Rotblat made major contributions to the development of the atomic bomb.[7] From 1943 - 1966 Allan Downie, Professor of Bacteriology, was involved in the eradication of smallpox.

In 1994 the university was a founding member of the Russell Group, a collaboration of twenty leading research-intensive universities, as well as a founding member of the N8 Group in 2004. In the 21st Century physicists, engineers and technicians from the University of Liverpool were involved in the construction of the Large Hadron Collider at CERN, working on two of the four detectors in the LHC.[8]

The University has produced eight Nobel Prize winners, from the fields of science, medicine and peace. The Nobel laureates include the physician Sir Ronald Ross, physicist Professor Charles Barkla, the physiologist Sir Charles Sherrington, physicist Sir James Chadwick, chemist Sir Robert Robinson, physiologist Professor Har Gobind Khorana, physiologist Professor Rodney Porter, and physicist Professor Joseph Rotblat. Sir Ronald Ross was also the first British Nobel laureate in 1902.

The term "red brick" was first coined by Liverpool professor Edgar Allison Peers (writing as Bruce Truscot) to describe the red brick built civic universities that were built in the UK, mostly in the latter part of the 19th century; these were characterised by Victorian buildings of red brick, such as Victoria Building, which was historically the administrative heart of the University.

Present

Liverpool has the sixth largest financial endowment of any UK university, valued at £110m, according to the Sutton Trust.[3] It is a member of the Russell Group of Universities and a founding member of the Northern Consortium. The University has over 23,000 registered students, with almost 18,000 full-time registered students. The University has a broad range of teaching and research in both arts and sciences, and has a large medical school, which is associated with the neighbouring Royal Liverpool University Hospital. In September 2008, Sir Howard Newby took up the post of Vice-Chancellor of the University, following the retirement of Sir James Drummond Bone.

The University has a Students' union to represent students' interests, known as the Liverpool Guild of Students.

It should be noted that whilst Liverpool has a total of three universities, the colloquial term Liverpool University commonly refers to the University of Liverpool rather than either of the other two, Liverpool Hope University or Liverpool John Moores University.

Campus and facilities

The University is mainly based around a single urban campus approximately five minutes walk from Liverpool City Centre, at the top of Brownlow Hill and Mount Pleasant. The main site is divided into three faculties: Health and Life Sciences; Humanities and Social Sciences; and Science and Engineering. The Veterinary Teaching Hospital (Leahurst) and Ness Botanical Gardens are based on the Wirral Peninsula. There was formerly a research station at Port Erin on the Isle of Man until it closed in 2006. The Johnston Laboratories, a pathology research facility of repute during much of the 20th century, is now the biochemistry department of the university.

Harold Cohen Library

The Harold Cohen Library is the main library for science, engineering and medical, dental and veterinary sciences. It also contains eight computer centres as well as the Wolfson training suite.

Sydney Jones Library

The Sydney Jones Library is the main library for arts and humanities in the University of Liverpool. The library is housed in two buildings, the Grove Wing and the Abercromby Wing (formerly Senate House). The Grove Wing contains the majority of the collection and the special collections. The Abercromby Wing contains the Law Library, the library offices, computer services and the main Service Desk. The two buildings are linked by the Link Building which has the information support desks.

Liverpool Medical School

Liverpool Medical School was ranked as the ninth best medical school in the United Kingdom by The Times Good University Guide 2008.[9] One of the key features of the medical programme is Problem-based learning (PBL). This is an educational process that encourages students, working in small groups, to learn through curiosity and to seek out information for themselves. Students have the opportunity to link basic medical science with clinical practice early in the programme, thereby stimulating and maintaining their interest instead of overwhelming it with facts.^{[citation needed]} Other features of the programme include introduction to clinical and communication skills training, a greater emphasis on learning medicine in the community and early patient contact. However, a recent study published on the pass rates of medical school graduates in MRCP postgraduate exams has shown Liverpool graduates to be the least likely to pass amongst all other UK medical schools, even after controlling for pre-admission variability of medical school entrants.[10] The Medical School offers a five-year undergraduate course, and a four-graduate entry course. The Medical School also has one of the oldest student societies - Liverpool Medical Students' Society. LMSS in fact pre-dates the University in its conception from when simply a teaching hospital existed around which the University was built.[11] As of 2008 the medical school accepts some 268 home students per year and a further 24 from overseas making it one of the larger medical schools in the UK [12].