The University of York (abbreviated as or York for post-nominals) is a 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 £458.8 million in 2021–22 of which £79.7 million was from research grants and contracts, with an expenditure of £542.2 million.
York was one of the first of the plate glass universities established in the 1960s, and runs a distinctive collegiate system with 11 colleges as of 2022. The eleventh college, David Kato, opened in 2022. In 2012, York joined the Russell Group of research-intensive British universities.
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 due 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
John Bowes Morrell 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.