YEN Top 10 – Yorkshire Universities

#10 - Leeds Beckett University

Leeds Beckett can be traced back to 1824, when the ‘Leeds Mechanics’ Institute’ was founded, this would later become ‘Leeds Institute of Science, Art and Literature’. By 1927, it was renamed again to the ‘College of Technology’. 40 years later, Leeds College of Technology merged with the Leeds College of Commerce, a part of the Leeds College of Art, and also Yorkshire College of Education, to form Leeds Polytechnic. The Polytechnic became one of the founding members of the Northern Consortium. When the Further and Higher Education Act came the into effect in 1992, the Polytechnic became ‘Leeds Metropolitan University’, with the right to award its own degrees.

Now called Leeds Beckett, the university provides 4,500 bedrooms in a number of locations, enough to provide accommodation for every student who chooses Leeds Beckett as their first choice university.

Leeds Beckett have won a number of awards such as ‘Outstanding Contribution to the Local Community’, it even came second in The Times’ Higher Education Supplement for the “University of the Year” award (ranking it second to the University of Nottingham). In June 2013, Leeds Beckett became the third university to achieve the Customer Service Excellence Standard, this is awarded by the government to public sector bodies who demonstrate a commitment to driving customer focused change within their organisation.

Chancellor Sir Bob Murray is a businessman and former chairman of Sunderland Football Club. An accountant by trade, he made his fortune through the growth and sale of the Spring Ram kitchen manufacturing company.

#9 - Leeds Trinity University College

Leeds Trinity opened in 1966 as two Roman Catholic teacher training colleges for Yorkshire - Trinity College for women and All Saints College for men. The two colleges merged in 1980 to form Trinity and All Saints College. During the 1970s new academic divisions were introduced including humanities, languages, Mathematics and Sciences and Social and Environmental Sciences, enabling students to specialise in another subject in addition to their teacher training. After the college merger in 1980, the degrees became more modular in design enabling students to undertake wide-ranging professional studies. In November 2012, following the government’s announcement that the qualifying threshold for university title will be lowered from 4,000 to 1,000 students, it was announced that it would be recommended to the Privy Council that 10 institutions, including Leeds Trinity, should be granted university status. The change of title was made in December 2012.

Leeds Trinity has 7 Halls of Residence on campus at Leeds Trinity, with a variety of catering options and facilities. These include All Saints Court, which is a £6m development of 198 bedrooms with ensuite and self-catered facilities that was opened in September 2010. Leeds Trinity is the home of a number of research centres and research projects.

Leeds Centre for Victorian Studies
Established in 1994, the LCVS is one of the longest-established and most active Victorian Studies centres in Britain. As well as sponsoring the publication of the Journal of Victorian Culture and the Leeds Working Papers in Victorian Studies, it runs an M.A. in Victorian Studies, and sponsors a full programme of seminars, one day colloquia and residential conferences.

Schools History Project
The Schools History Project is a curriculum development project focussing on history education in the 13-16 age range. It has been based at Leeds Trinity University College since 1979. The Project holds an annual conference, sponsors in-service training, publishes a regular bulletin, and collaborates with John Murray Ltd in the publishing of materials to support the SHP curriculum.

The Chancellor is Leeds-born Gabby Logan, a former Wales international gymnast, but she is better known for her presenting roles with BBC Sport and ITV.

#8 - York St John University

York St John University is a public university located on a large urban campus in York, England. It achieved university status in 2006. As of 2014/15, there were 6,550 students, reading a wide variety of subjects, in four faculties: Arts; Education and Theology; York St John Business School and Health and Life Sciences.

The university descends from two Anglican teacher training colleges, which were founded in York in 1841 (for men) and 1846 (for women). In 1862, the women's college relocated to Ripon. Over the next century, the colleges gradually diversified their education programmes. The colleges, St John's College and Ripon College, merged in 1974 to form the "College of Ripon and York St John".

In 1990 the combined institution formally became a college of the University of Leeds; this arrangement allowed it to award degrees in the name of the latter, while remaining in practice largely autonomous. Between 1999 and 2001, all activities were transferred to York and the college received the name "York St John College".

In February 2006, the College was granted the right to award degrees in its own name and the right to call itself a University College. On 10 July 2006 the Privy Council approved a request from the college to become a full-fledged University; the name became "York St John University" on 1 October 2006 once granted by Tony Blair, and the first Chancellor (installed at a ceremony in York Minster on 7 March 2007) is the Archbishop of York John Sentamu.

John Sentamu is the 97th archbishop of York and Primate of England. The Archbishop of York is the second highest position in the Church of England after the Archbishop of Canterbury, Primate of all England.

#7 - University of Huddersfield

The University of Huddersfield traces its roots back to a Science and Mechanic Institute founded in 1825. Some 19th century students earned qualifications as external students of the University of London. The university's main campus, Queensgate, is south-east of Huddersfield town centre. Over £100 million has been invested in the campus and its resources over the last 10 years. After £1 million renovation work, the Student Centre was formally opened in November 2007 by Chancellor, Sir Patrick Stewart.

The centre enables students to access a range of support services (computing, library, careers, welfare support) in a single location. The four floors of the library were refurbished from 2008 to 2009. A £4 million students' union building was opened in 2005 with a variety of social, leisure and retail facilities. New drama facilities were opened in the refurbished Milton building, in 2005.

Prince Andrew has replaced actor Sir Patrick Stewart as the university’s Chancellor in July 2015. Prince Andrew, The Duke of York, is the second son and third child of Queen Elizabeth II. He currently sixth in line for the British Throne.

#6 - Sheffield Hallam University

Sheffield Hallam University (SHU) is a public university in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. It is based on two sites; City Campus is located in the city centre, close to Sheffield railway station, and Collegiate Crescent Campus is about two miles away, adjacent to Ecclesall Road in south-west Sheffield. The university is the sixth largest university in the UK (out of 165) with 31,530 students (of whom 4,400 are international student), 4,494 staff and 708 courses.

In 1843 as the industrial revolution gathered pace and Sheffield was on the verge of becoming the steel, tool and cutlery making capital of the world, the Sheffield School of Design was founded following lobbying by artist Benjamin Haydon. The day-to-day running was controlled by the local council, whilst the Board of Trade in London appointed the head. Tuition began in a 60x40ft rented room off Glossop Road. In 1850 the School of Design was renamed Sheffield School of Art.

Life peer and fertility expert Robert Winston was installed as Chancellor in a ceremony at the Millennium Galleries in October 2001. Winston has a long history in academia, being a full-time faculty member at Imperial College London for the majority of his career.

#5 - University of Hull

The University of Hull is a public university, founded in 1927, located in Kingston upon Hull, a city in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. The main university campus is located in Hull and there is a smaller campus in Scarborough on the North Yorkshire coast. The main campus is home to the Hull York Medical School, a joint initiative with the University of York. Students are served by Hull University Union.

The foundation stone of University College Hull, then an external college of the University of London, was laid in 1927 by Prince Albert, the Duke of York (who later became king as George VI). The college was built on land donated by Hull City Council and by two local benefactors, Thomas Ferens and G F Grant. A year later the first 14 departments, in pure sciences and the arts, opened with 39 students.

Lord Wilberforce was chancellor of the University from 1978 until 1994. Robert Armstrong was the chancellor from 1994 to 2006. Virginia Bottomley (The Baroness Bottomley of Nettlestone) was installed as the current chancellor in April 2006.

#4 - University of Bradford

The University of Bradford is a public, plate glass university located in the city of Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. The university received its Royal Charter in 1966, making it the 40th university to be created in Britain, but its origins date back to the early 19th century. There are two campuses: the main campus located on Richmond Road and the School of Management, at Emm Lane.

The student population includes 8,820 undergraduate and 2,700 postgraduate students. Mature students make up around a third of the undergraduate community. 22% of students are foreign, and come from over 110 different countries. It was the first British university to establish a Department of Peace Studies in 1973, which is currently the world's largest university centre for the study of peace and conflict. The division has a reputation as a centre of excellence in peace research, international relations, security studies, conflict resolution and development and peace studies.

Former Chancellors include Harold Wilson (Former UK Prime Minister), John Harvey-Jones,
Trevor Holdsworth and Baroness Lockwood. The current chancellor is Kate Swann, she is a prominent English retail executive and former University of Bradford graduate. Up until July 2013, Kate was the Chief Executive of WH Smith, and is now the Chief Executive of SSP.

#3 - The University of Sheffield

The University of Sheffield is a public research university in Sheffield, South Yorkshire. 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 and it consists of a number of sites and individual buildings 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 18,975 undergraduate and 8,220 postgraduate students in 2014/15.

The university has won Queen's Anniversary Prizes in 1998, 2000, 2002 and 2007. In 2011, Sheffield was named 'University of the Year' in the Times Higher Education awards. The latest 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. The university is also in the UK's 9-17 bracket of universities according to the Shanghai Jiao Tong University's ranking of the top 500 universities worldwide. The university's business school is one of only five Russell Group business schools to have the internationally recognised Triple Crown accreditation.

The University Chancellor is Lady Justice Rafferty, an English jurist, who has served as a Lady Justice of Appeal of England and Wales since 2011.

#2 - University of Leeds

The University of Leeds is a redbrick university located in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. Originally named the Yorkshire College of Science and later simply the Yorkshire College, it incorporated the Leeds School of Medicine and became part of the federal Victoria University alongside Owens College (which eventually became the University of Manchester) and University College Liverpool (which became the University of Liverpool). In 1904, a royal charter, created in 1903, was granted to the University of Leeds by King Edward VII.

The University has 31,030 students, the eighth largest university in the UK (out of 165). From 2006 to present, the university has consistently been ranked within the top 5 in the United Kingdom for the number of applications received. For 2015-16, Leeds is ranked nationally between 14th (Times and Sunday Times) and 23rd (The Guardian). Leeds was ranked as the 10th most targeted British university by the UK's top graduate employers.

Melvyn Bragg serves as the current Chancellor, a British broadcaster, author and parliamentarian. He is best known for his work with ITV as editor and presenter of the The South Bank Show (1978–2010).

#1 - The University of York

The University of York (abbreviated as Ebor. for post-nominals), is a research-intensive plate glass university located in the city of York, England. Established in 1963, the campus university has expanded to more than thirty departments and centres, covering a wide range of subjects. In 2012 York joined the Russell Group in recognition of the institution's world-leading research and outstanding teaching. In the 2014 Research Assessment Exercise, York was also named as the 14th best research institution in the United Kingdom. The university also places among the top 20 in the country, top 50 universities in Europe, and ranked 120th in the world, according to the 2015 QS World University Rankings.

The University attracts a student body with a wide range of backgrounds (with over 41,000 part-time and full-time student applications in 2010/11), including a large number of international students, and a relatively high number of state school students in comparison to other well-ranked universities (according to The Times Good University Guide).

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, however 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 discussions began about the founding of a University in the North, however 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, amongst 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.

Chancellor Sir Malcolm Grant is also the Chairman of NHS England, formerly known as the NHS Commissioning Board. Born in New Zealand, he is also a barrister and academic lawyer.

Source: The Complete University Guide: University League Table 2016