University of Sheffield

University of Sheffield

Former names	University College of Sheffield
Motto	Latin: Rerum cognoscere causas
Motto in English	To discover the causes of things
Type	Public
Established	1828 (1828) – Sheffield Medical School 1879 (1879) – Firth College 1884 (1884) – Sheffield Technical School 1897 (1897) – University College of Sheffield 1905 (1905) – University of Sheffield
Endowment	£39.7 million (as of 31 July 2016)
Chancellor	Lady Justice Rafferty
Vice-Chancellor	Sir Keith Burnett
Administrative staff	5,306
Students	27,925 (2015/16)
Undergraduates	19,555 (2015/16)
Postgraduates	8,370 (2015/16)
Location	Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England Coordinates: 53°22′53″N 1°29′18″W / 53.381389°N 1.488272°W / 53.381389; -1.488272
Campus	Urban
Colours	Black & gold
Affiliations	Russell Group, WUN, ACU, N8 Group, White Rose, EQUIS, AMBA
Website	www.sheffield.ac.uk

The University of Sheffield (informally Sheffield University) is a public research university in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. It received its royal charter in 1905 as successor to the University College of Sheffield, which was established in 1897 by the merger of Sheffield Medical School (founded in 1828), Firth College (1879) and Sheffield Technical School (1884).

Sheffield is a multi-campus university predominantly over two campus areas: the Western Bank and the St George's. The university is organised into five academic faculties composed of multiple departments. It had 19,555 undergraduate and 8,370 postgraduate students in 2015/16 and its total and research income came to £635.7 million and £168.5 million in 2015/16 respectively, which made Sheffield among the top 10 of the UK universities in terms of Net assets.

Sheffield was placed 84th worldwide by The QS World University Rankings 2016. In 2011, Sheffield was named 'University of the Year' in the Times Higher Education awards. The Times Higher Education Student Experience Survey 2014 ranked the University of Sheffield 1st for student experience, social life, university facilities and accommodation, among other categories.

It is one of the original red brick universities, a member of the Russell Group of research-intensive universities, the Worldwide Universities Network, the N8 Group of the eight most research intensive universities in Northern England and the White Rose University Consortium. There are seven Nobel Prize laureates amongst Sheffield academics, six of which are its alumni or former staff.

The University of Sheffield was originally formed by the merger of three colleges. The Sheffield School of Medicine was founded in 1828, followed in 1879 by the opening of Firth College, which developed out of the Cambridge University Extension Movement scheme, by Mark Firth, a steel manufacturer, to teach arts and science subjects. Firth College then helped to fund the opening of the Sheffield Technical School in 1884 to teach applied science, the only major faculty the existing colleges did not cover. The Sheffield Technical School was founded because of local concern about the need for technical training, particularly steelmaking in Sheffield, and the school moved to St George's Square in 1886. The three institutions merged in 1897 to form the University College of Sheffield by Royal Charter. Sheffield was the only large city in England without a University. Steelworkers, coal miners, factory workers and the people of Sheffield donated over £50,000 in 1904 to help found the University of Sheffield.