University of Warwick
| University of Warwick | |
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Mens agitat molem | |
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 University House | |
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| Endowment: | £8.3 million (2025) |
| Website: | warwick.ac.uk |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | SP299758 |
| Location: | 52°22’48"N, 1°33’42"W |
The University of Warwick is a public research university on the outskirts of Coventry in Warwickshire.[1] The university was founded in 1965 as part of a government initiative to expand higher education.
Warwick Business School was established in 1967, Warwick Law School in 1968, Warwick Manufacturing Group in 1980, and Warwick Medical School in 2000. Warwick incorporated Coventry College of Education in 1979 and Horticulture Research International in 2004.
The university is primarily based on a 721-acre campus on the outskirts of Coventry, with a satellite campus in Wellesbourne and a base in Southwark in urban Surrey within the Shard. It is organised into three faculties—Arts; Science, Engineering and Medicine; and Social Sciences—within which there are thirty-two departments. In 2021, Warwick had around 29,534 full-time students and 2,691 academic and research staff, with an average intake of 4,950 undergraduates out of 38,071 applicants.[2] The annual income of the institution for 2024–2025 was £859.9 million, of which £147.5 million was from research grants and contracts, with an expenditure of £828.7 million.[3] Warwick Arts Centre is a multi-venue arts complex in the university's main campus and is the largest venue of its kind in the UK outside of London.
Warwick's alumni and staff include winners of the Nobel Prize, Turing Award, Fields Medal, Richard W. Hamming Medal, Emmy Award, Grammy, and the Padma Vibhushan, and are fellows to the British Academy, the Royal Society of Literature, the Royal Academy of Engineering, and the Royal Society. Alumni also include heads of state, government officials, leaders in intergovernmental organisations. Researchers at Warwick have also made significant contributions such as the development of penicillin, music therapy, the Washington Consensus, computing standards, including complexity theory, contract theory, and the International Political Economy as a field of study.
History
Twentieth century
The idea for a university in Warwickshire was first mooted shortly after Second World War, although it was not founded for a further two decades. A partnership of the city and county councils ultimately provided the impetus for the university to be established on a 400-acre site jointly granted by the two authorities.[4] There was some discussion between local sponsors from both the city and county over whether it should be named after Coventry or Warwickshire.[4] The name "University of Warwick" was adopted, even though Warwick, the county town, lies some eight miles to its southwest and Coventry's city centre is only three and a half miles north-east of the campus. The establishment of the University of Warwick was given approval by the government in 1961 and it received its Royal Charter of Incorporation in 1965. Since then, the university has incorporated the former Coventry College of Education in 1979 and has extended its land holdings by the continuing purchase of adjoining farm land. The university also benefited from a substantial donation from the family of John Martin, a Coventry businessman who had made a fortune from investment in Smirnoff vodka, and which enabled the construction of the Warwick Arts Centre.
The university admitted its first, small intake of graduate students in 1964, and took its first 450 undergraduates in October 1965. Since its establishment Warwick has expanded its grounds to 721 acres, with many modern buildings and academic facilities, lakes, and woodlands. In the 1960s and 1970s, Warwick had a reputation as a politically radical institution.[5] Under Vice-Chancellor Lord Butterworth, Warwick was the first UK university to adopt a business approach to higher education, develop close links with the business community and exploit the commercial value of its research. These tendencies were discussed by British historian and then-Warwick lecturer, E. P. Thompson, in his 1970 edited book Warwick University Ltd..[6] The Leicester Warwick Medical School, a new medical school based jointly at Warwick and Leicester University, opened in September 2000.[7]
Twenty-first century
The university was seen as a favoured institution of the Labour government during the New Labour years from 1997 to 2010. It was academic partner for a number of flagship Government schemes including the National Academy for Gifted and Talented Youth and the NHS University which is now defunct. Tony Blair described Warwick as "a beacon among British universities for its dynamism, quality and entrepreneurial zeal". In a 2012 study by Virgin Media Business, Warwick was described as the most "digitally-savvy" UK university.
In February 2001, IBM donated a new S/390 computer and software worth £2 million to Warwick, to form part of a "Grid" enabling users to remotely share computing power.[8] In April 2004 Warwick merged with the Wellesbourne and Kirton sites of Horticulture Research International.[9] In July 2004 Warwick was the location for an important agreement between the Labour Party and the trade unions on Labour policy and trade union law, which has subsequently become known as the "Warwick Agreement".[10]
In June 2006, the new University Hospital Coventry opened, including a university clinical sciences building of 102,000 square feet.[11] Warwick Medical School was granted independent degree-awarding status in 2007, and the School's partnership with the University of Leicester was dissolved in the same year.[12] In February 2010, Lord Bhattacharyya, director and founder of the WMG unit at Warwick, made a £1 million donation to the university to support science grants and awards.[13][14]
In September 2013, it was announced that a new National Automotive Innovation Centre would be built by WMG at Warwick's main campus at a cost of £100 million, with £50 million to be contributed by Jaguar Land Rover and £30 million by Tata Motors.[15][16] The centre will open in Summer 2018.[17] The building was opened by HRH The Prince of Wales on 18 February 2020.[18]
In July 2014, the government announced that Warwick would be the host for the £1 billion Advanced Propulsion Centre (APC), a non-profit organization that facilitates funding to UK-based research and development projects developing low-carbon emission powertrain technologies.[19] The APC manages a £1 billion investment fund, which is jointly supplied by the automotive industry – through the Automotive Council – and the Department for Business and Trade and managed by Innovate UK.
Campus
Warwick is located on the outskirts of Coventry, three and a half miles south-west of the city centre. The university's main site comprises three contiguous campuses, all within walking distance of each other. The university also owns a site in Wellesbourne, acquired in 2004 when it merged with Horticulture Research International.
The original buildings of the campus are in contemporary 1960s architecture. The campus contains all of the main student amenities, all but four of the student halls of residence, and the Students' Union.
Warwick Arts Centre
- Main article: Warwick Arts Centre
The Warwick Arts Centre is a multi-venue arts complex situated at the centre of Warwick's main campus.[20] It attracts around 300,000 visitors a year to over 3,000 individual events spanning contemporary and classical music, drama, dance, comedy, films and visual art. The centre comprises six principal spaces: the Butterworth Hall, a 1,500-seat concert hall; a 550-seat theatre; a 180-seat theatre studio; three cinema screens; the Mead Gallery, an art gallery; and the Music Centre, with practice rooms, and an ensemble rehearsal room where music societies and groups can rehearse. In addition the site includes a restaurant/café.[21]
University House
In 2003, Warwick acquired the former headquarters of National Grid, which it converted into an administration building renamed University House. There is a student-run facility called the ‘Learning Grid’ in the building, which includes two floors of PC clusters, scanners, photocopiers, a reference library, interactive whiteboards and plasma screens for use by individuals and for group work.[22]
Other sites
Other Warwick sites include:
- Gibbet Hill Campus, located contiguous to the main campus; home to the department of Life Sciences and the pre-clinical activities of Warwick Medical School.
- Westwood Campus, located contiguous to the main campus; home to the Centre for Professional Education, Centre for Lifelong Learning, the Arden House conference centre, an indoor tennis centre, a running track and some postgraduate facilities and student residences.
- University of Warwick Science Park.
- University Hospital Coventry, in Walsgrave on Sowe area and home to the Clinical Sciences Building of the medical school.
- Warwick Horticulture Research International Research & Conference Centre, located in Wellesbourne, Warwickshire.
- The Shard skyscraper, in Southwark, in Surrey, houses Warwick Business School's metropolitan campus.
Faculties and departments
Warwick's academic activities are organised into the following faculties and departments:
| Faculty of Arts | Faculty of Science, Engineering, and Medicine | Faculty of Social Sciences |
|---|---|---|
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Coat of arms
Warwick's coat of arms depicts atoms of two isotopes of lithium, a DNA helix to represent science and also the Bear and Ragged Staff, historically associated with Warwickshire and previously the Earls of Warwick as well as the Elephant and Castle of Coventry. (The Bear is not chained in the current depiction of the university's coat of arms, although it had been in its original grant of Letters Patent by the College of Arms).[23]
Library
The main university library is located in the middle of the main campus. It houses approximately 1,265,000 books and over eight miles of archives and manuscripts. The main library houses services to support Research and Teaching practice and collaboration between departments. The Wolfson Research Exchange opened in October 2008 and provides collaboration spaces, seminar rooms, conference facilities and study areas for Postgraduate Research students. The Teaching Grid, which opened in 2008, is a flexible space which allows teaching staff to try out new technologies and techniques. Adjacent to the main library building is the Modern Records Centre, a sizeable archive collection, including the United Kingdom's largest industrial relations collection.
Research
In 2013, Warwick had a total research income of £90.1 million, of which £33.9 million was from Research Councils; £25.9 million was from central government, local authorities and public corporations; £12.7 million was from the European Union; £7.9 million was from UK industry and commerce; £5.2 million was from UK charitable bodies; £4.0 million was from overseas sources; and £0.5 million was from other sources.[3] In the 2014 UK Research Excellence Framework (REF), Warwick was again ranked 7th overall amongst multi-faculty institutions and was the top-ranked university in the Midlands. 87% of the university's academic staff were rated as being in "world-leading" or "internationally excellent" departments with top research ratings of 4* or 3*.
Warwick is particularly strong in the areas of decision sciences research including economics, finance, management, mathematics and statistics. For instance, researchers of Warwick Business School have won the highest prize of the prestigious European Case Clearing House.[24] Warwick has also established a number of stand-alone units to manage and extract commercial value from its research activities. The four most prominent examples of these units are University of Warwick Science Park; Warwick HRI; Warwick Ventures; and WMG (formerly Warwick Manufacturing Group).
Outside links
| ("Wikimedia Commons" has material about University of Warwick) |
References
- ↑ "Oxford University Calendar Style Guide". https://www.ox.ac.uk/media/global/wwwoxacuk/localsites/gazette/documents/universitycalendar/Calendar_Style_Guide_2015.pdf.
- ↑ "People | University Profile". The University of Warwick. https://warwick.ac.uk/about/profile/people.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 "Statement of accounts for the year ended 31 July 2025". University of Warwick. https://warwick.ac.uk/services/finance/resources/accounts/annual-report-24_25_v24singlepages.pdf.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Rees, H.: 'A University is Born' (Avalon Books, 1989)
- ↑ "University of Warwick Student Union". http://www.sunion.warwick.ac.uk/30year/protests_and_campaigns.htm.
- ↑ Thompson, E. P. (2013). Warwick University Ltd.. Nottingham: Spokesman Press.
- ↑ "Medical school's open doors". BBC News. 29 September 2000. https://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/948126.stm.
- ↑ "IBM puts Warwick ahead in Grid quest". Times Higher Education. 2 February 2001. http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?storycode=156954.
- ↑ "Government cash secures site's future". Coventry Telegraph. 24 March 2004. http://www.coventrytelegraph.net/news/south-warwickshire-news/tm_objectid=14084916&method=full&siteid=50003&headline=government-cash-secures-site-s-future-name_page.html.
- ↑ Griffiths, Ian J. (13 September 2005). "Q&A: The 'Warwick agreement'". The Guardian (London). https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2005/sep/13/tradeunions.labour.
- ↑ Robin Guenther and Gail Vittori (2008). Sustainable healthcare architecture. London, UK: John Wiley and Sons. ISBN 9780471784043. https://books.google.com/books?id=ManAuhBT1BUC&q=Sustainable+healthcare+architecture. Retrieved 16 November 2011.
- ↑ "University of Warwick". The Independent (London). 1 May 2011. https://www.independent.co.uk/student/into-university/az-uni-colleges/university-of-warwick-459106.html.
- ↑ "Warwick peer puts £1 million where his mouth is". Times Higher Education. 25 February 2010. http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?storyCode=410545§ioncode=26.
- ↑ "Academic to give £1million to Warwick University". Coventry Telegraph. 25 February 2010. http://www.coventrytelegraph.net/news/coventry-news/2010/02/25/academic-to-give-1million-to-warwick-university-92746-25912475/.
- ↑ Cooke, Daniel (25 September 2013). "£100m investment boost for Warwick University". The Independent (London). https://www.independent.co.uk/student/news/100m-investment-boost-for-warwick-university-8839352.html.
- ↑ "University of Warwick £100m car centre 'will secure jobs'". BBC News. 24 September 2013. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-coventry-warwickshire-24227662.
- ↑ "Key stage passed at WMG's £150m National Automotive Innovation Centre". 13 October 2017. https://www.theengineer.co.uk/wmgs-automotive-innovation-centre-naic/.
- ↑ "HRH The Prince of Wales officially opens the NAIC". https://warwick.ac.uk/newsandevents/pressreleases/hrh_the_prince/.
- ↑ Advanced Propulsion Centre UK @ LCV2016 Template:Webarchive, Cenex. Retrieved 29 May 2018.
- ↑ "Arts Team - projects". http://www.artsteam.co.uk/artsteam/ThenProjects/ProjectRHWL.aspx?id=56.
- ↑ "Music Centre Facilities". 15 June 2012. http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/services/musiccentre/about/facilities.
- ↑ "Warwick learning grid". The Guardian (London). https://www.theguardian.com/education/librariesunleashed/story/0,,2275364,00.html.
- ↑ "1.1 Armorial Bearings of the University". https://warwick.ac.uk/services/gov/calendar/armorialbearings.
- ↑ Bradshaw, Della (25 February 2013). "Warwick, Harvard and Insead scoop the academic 'Oscars'". Financial Times. http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/2/07e23e0c-7c57-11e2-99f0-00144feabdc0.html.