University of Bradford

The University of Bradford is a university in Bradford, West Yorkshire in the United Kingdom.

History[edit | edit source]

The university has its origins in the Bradford Schools of Weaving, Design and Building which in 1882 became the Bradford Technical College. This was succeeded by the Bradford Institute of Technology in 1957, and in 1966 a Charter of Incorporation was granted to create the University of Bradford. 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 Bradford Race Riots of 2001 lead to a sharp fall in applications to the university, but the situation has improved since and in 2005 undergraduate applications from home students was up by 35% on the previous year.

In 2003, a merger with the nearby Bradford College was proposed, to create a combined further and higher education institution; at the time, the university validated the college's degree courses and some resources were shared between the institutions. This plan was discarded later in the year at least partially due to a dispute over the name of the new institution, as any change of name would necessitate a new charter. The two institutions resumed the competition and co-operation between them. In 2004, courses in Law and Human Resource Management were launched in direct competition with the college, leading the college to announce in 2005 that it was to seek validation of its degrees from Leeds Metropolitan University instead, of which it is now an associate college.

94% of students are from the state sector, though overseas students may account for most of the remaining 6%, with comparatively few independent-schooled students enrolled. The student drop-out rate for the 2005-6 academic year was 7.9%, a reduction over previous years.^[1]

In 2005, a £79 million redevelopment of the campus was announced, which included new and replacement halls of residence, sports facilities and a cancer therapeutics research centre. Shearbridge Halls were closed, and their demolition commenced during December 2006. The Richmond Building is currently being refurbished internally and resurfaced externally, and a large new atrium opened in October 2006.^[2]

The university became a Fairtrade University in December 2006.^[3]

Chancellor[edit | edit source]

The current chancellor is the former world-class cricketer and politician, Imran Khan, who was installed on 7 December 2005.^[4] 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).

Vice-Chancellor[edit | edit source]

The 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 the 1st May. However due to the sudden death of Professor Roland Levinsky, the vice-chancellor of Plymouth, his appointment was delayed until the summer.

He succeeds Professor Chris Taylor who held the post from 1 October 2001 to 30 April 2007, when he retired from the university.

Chris 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.

Schools[edit | edit source]

The University of Bradford comprises seven Schools:

Engineering, Design and Technology[edit | edit source]

Health Studies[edit | edit source]

Formerly the Bradford and Airedale College of Health, this became part of the university in 1996. It is currently located on a separate site on Trinity Road, about 10 minutes walk from the main campus, but its facilities will be moved into new purpose-built premises onto the main campus in the coming years. Specialises in courses in nursing, physiotherapy, midwifery and radiography. A specialist drug therapy course is run by the department. The department's student demographics are largely female, with a higher proportion of older students.

Informatics[edit | edit source]

The second-largest school in the university consists of the departments of Computing, and of Electronic Imaging and Media Communications (EIMC). Informatics offers over 40 undergraduate degrees and postgraduate in various areas including computing, ICT, cybernetics, robotics and media. The School has a very lively research culture with over 100 students registered for MPhil/PhD.

The School was originally known as the "School of Computing and Mathematics" and contained the university's department of Mathematics, and although this no longer exists this area is now covered by the Maths Unit within the school. 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.

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.^[5] Today, EIMC no longer works in association with the college, but has strengthened its relationship with the nearby National Media Museum. The department 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. In 2005 it opened a new Digital Arts Centre offering the latest computer technology for animation, photography, imaging, and printing. 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 was refurbished for the latest Avid Media Composer systems in August 2007.

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, however 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 Informatics Innovations Unit, which offers the expertise of specialists within Informatics 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 owns one of the most sophisticated motion capture setups in the UK. Their 14 camera Viacon system is used for teaching, student project work on Informatics courses, community workshops and has also been used commercially to create animation for video games including Driver Parallel Lines, World Snooker Championships and GTR.

The EIMC department has a recording studio known as The Blue Room. It was here that local band Rudolf Rocker recorded the track Voodoo Lady, as used in the BBC TV series The League of Gentlemen. Jeremy Dyson, one of the League's writers and a member of the school's academic staff, Mark Goodall perform in the group.

Lifelong Education and Development[edit | edit source]

Offers mostly part-time and specialist degrees, focusing on areas such as community regeneration and social studies. It also has a new Combined Studies degree and has for several years been noted for its research and teaching in Local and Regional Studies in which it also runs a part-time BA with Honours.

Life Sciences[edit | edit source]

has the highest number of students of all of the schools and is a vibrant school within the University of Bradford. Currently the school has excess of more than 2,000 students admitted to a variety of undergraduate courses in the areas of Biomedical Sciences, Chemical and Forensic Sciences, Clinical Sciences, Optometry, Pharmacy and Archaeological, Geographical and Environmental Sciences. Headed by the Dean, Professor David Coates, 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 excellent laboratory and workshop facilities, and by a team of highly experienced technicians.

As a result of their research, the Bradford School of Pharmacy 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 Division of Optometry has its own Eye Clinic, situated on the nearby Science Park, providing Primary Care for the local community in conjunction with a state of the art student training facility.

The Division of Chemical and Forensic Sciences 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 to become doctors.

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. Again, high calibre research, learning and teaching are crucial to the mission.

Management[edit | edit source]

The Bradford School of Management is located 3 miles away from the main campus on a 13 acre parkland campus, Emm Lane. It teaches courses in the realm of business, finance, accountancy, management and marketing. As of 2005 the department will commence 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 is also a leading European business school, regularly appearing as one of the top ten in league tables such as the Financial Times. It work with large corporates such as ASDA, the BBC and the airline, Emirates, as well as small businesses, providing management development, MBAs and research and graduate links. Its MBAs and undergraduates have some of the highest employment rates of any business school.

In 2005, the School of Management ranked 4th in the world for value of MBA program and 2nd in UK and 5th in Europe for its Master program by Financial Times.

According to Financial Times European Business School Rankings 2005 , School of Management achieved 20th out of 50 Best European B-schools and 10th in the UK.^[6]

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 as a School which only accredits to few best B-schools. The University has also started Law courses for the first time as well as MSC Total Performance Quality Management at a post graduate level.

The School of Management is one of the oldest university schools of management in the UK, being one of the first to offer a MBA.

Social and International Studies[edit | edit source]

The mission of the School of Social and International Studies is to provide a research-informed education environment that embraces a commitment to excellence in teaching and an applied contribution to social and economic issues at local, regional, national and international levels.

The School comprises a number of Departments, Centres and Units that are involved with exciting inter-disciplinary research projects and which offer a wide range of courses at graduate and postgraduate levels.

Departments within the School have been rated internationally excellent in research and teaching under various quality assurance processes and programmes such as social work have accreditation from professional bodies.

The School is host to a new degree programme in psychology, accredited by the British Psychological Society, which was launched in 2005/06 and this exciting new venture has taken the School student body to nearly 1500; about a quarter of whom will be international students from all over the world.

The School has a particular focus on international issues in research, teaching and consultancy in subjects such as peace, international development and languages. We are committed to assisting in delivering the University’s mission to support the local and regional community and the School is actively engaged in this endeavour through various practical initiatives such as the Programme for a Peaceful City.

The School offers courses in social sciences and humanities, and is home to the internationally-renowned Bradford Centre for International Development (BCID) and the Department of Peace Studies. It is also a leading research base for European Studies, which is focused within the Centre for European Studies.

Motto[edit | edit source]

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.

In 2005 it was ranked 2nd in the country (after the University of Cambridge) by The Times University Guide for graduate employment and many of its courses have 100% records for graduates getting jobs within 6 months of graduating.

However, the motto inscribed beneath the official coat of arms is Give Invention Light, which is taken from Shakespeare's Sonnet 38.^[7] It has also used the slogans Be Inspired and Confronting Inequality, Celebrating Diversity in recent promotional material.

2006 terrorism arrests[edit | edit source]

In March 2006, four Bradford students were arrested and detained under the Terrorism Act 2000, on suspicion of terrorism-related offences.^[8] In 2007, all four were tried and found guilty of possessing material for terrorist purposes.^[9]