University of Nottingham

About the University

The University of Nottingham is a public research university based inNottingham, Nottinghamshire, England, United Kingdom. It was founded as University College Nottingham in 1881 and was granted a Royal Charter in 1948.

Nottingham's main campus, University Park, and teaching hospital (Queen's Medical Centre), is situated on the outskirts of the City of Nottingham, with a number of smaller campuses and sites located elsewhere in Nottinghamshire, Derby, Derbyshire, and Lincoln. Outside the United Kingdom, Nottingham has campuses in Semenyih, Malaysia and Ningbo, China. Nottingham is organised into five constituent faculties, within which there are more than 50 schools, departments, institutes and research centres.

Several of its subjects have been consistently ranked in the top ten, including economics, law and pharmacy. It is ranked 5th in the UK in terms of the number of students and 15th for the proportion of students who achieved AAB+ at A-level. The university is one of 12 "elite" institutions that accommodates the top achieving students in England. The 2014 High Flierssurvey stated that Nottingham was the most targeted university by the UK's top employers between 2013-14. In 2012, Nottingham was ranked 13th in the world in terms of the number of alumni listed among CEOs of the Fortune Global 500. It is also ranked 2nd (joint with Oxford) in the 2012 Summer Olympics table of British medal winners. Moreover, Nottingham is the 9th largest European producer of entrepreneurs. In the 2011, and 2014 GreenMetric World University Rankings, Nottingham was the world's most sustainable campus.

It is a member of the Association of Commonwealth Universities, the Virgo Consortium, the European University Association, the Russell Group,Universities UK, Universitas 21 and participates in the Sutton Trust Summer School programme as a member of the Sutton 13.

• Faculty of Arts

  The Faculty of Arts provides a stimulating and welcoming community where you can enjoy a high quality educational experience. Colleagues in the Faculty have been recognised for their outstanding and inspirational teaching, both with awards and impressive National Student Survey results. Academic colleagues produce world-leading research and, following our strong REF 2014 results, we aim to continue to promote a thriving research environment.

  The Faculty has a tremendous range of facilities to support your learning including a theatre, museum, recital hall, galleries, libraries, Manuscripts and Special Collections, and digital resources with the latest graphics equipment and software.

  The Faculty consists of the following departments:

  • American and Canadian Studies 
  • Archaeology 
  • Classics 
  • Culture, Film and Media
  • Cultures, Languages and Area Studies  
  • English
  • French and Francophone Studies
  • German Studies
  • History
  • History of Art
  • Humanities
  • Language Centre
  • Music
  • Philosophy
  • Russian and Slavonic Studies
  • Spanish, Portuguese and Latin American Studies
  • Theology and Religious Studies

• Faculty of Engineering

  The Faculty of Engineering at Nottingham is known for its world-class research, inspirational teaching, and diverse academic community.

  The Faculty is known for its world-class research, inspirational teaching, and diverse academic community with many exciting opportunities for study abroad and industrial placements. Our engineers and architects are passionate about what they do. They are at the forefront of new research, challenging conventional thinking, and producing novel and sustainable technologies that are changing infrastructure, communication, and the health of nations around the globe.

  The Faculty consists of the following departments: 

  • Architecture and Built Environment
  • Chemical and Environmental Engineering 
  • Civil Engineering 
  • Foundation Engineering and Physical Sciences
  • Electrical and Electronic Engineering 
  • Mechanical, Materials and Manufacturing Engineering

• Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences

  The Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences is a truly exciting place to learn, to conduct research and to work. Together we are making a real difference to people’s lives.

  Our high-quality and innovative teaching in a research-intensive environment benefits our students, our patients and the public. Our key values are excellence and partnership, and we apply these to our teaching and learning, and to our research. Partnerships are key to all our activities and to their delivery.

  We work closely across the schools in our faculty, and with other faculties in the University, so that our work is truly interdisciplinary. We pride ourselves on the way we embed internationalisation in all we do, but we also work closely with our local NHS and other healthcare providers, veterinary practices and industry, this brings relevance and real-life impact to our teaching and research.

  The Faculty consists of the following deparments:

  • Health Sciences
  • Life Sciences
  • Medicine
  • Veterinary Medicine and Science 

• Faculty of Science

  The Faculty of Science undertakes world-class research spanning wide ranging topics including quantum physics, plant genomics, human imaging, sustainable chemistry, neuroscience, mathematical modelling and beyond. We work closely with industry on the training of the next generation of scientists and collaborate worldwide to ensure our research has a major societal impact.

  We have access to the latest technology and academics who are specialists in their field, enabling us to produce high-quality graduates.

  The latest Research Excellence Framework (2014) found ourresearch to be 'world-class' and 'internationally excellent'.

  The Faculty consists of the following departments:

  • Biosciences 
  • Chemistry 
  • Computer Science 
  • Mathematical Sciences 
  • Pharmacy
  • Physics and Astronomy 
  • Psychology

• Faculty of Social Sciences

  The Faculty of Social Sciences has over 9,000 undergraduate, postgraduate and research students; two campuses spread across eight schools in the UK, seven schools at the Malaysia campus and two major divisions at the Ningbo China campus, as well as over 400 permanent academics of international standing who are actively involved in teaching and research, 100 post-doctoral staff and over 700 postgraduate research students.

  The Faculty consists of the following departments: 

  • Contemporary Chinese Studies
  • Economics 
  • Education
  • Geography 
  • Law 
  • Nottingham University Business School 
  • Politics and International Relations 
  • Sociology and Social Policy

History of the University

The University of Nottingham traces its origins to the founding of an adult education school in 1798, and the University Extension Lectures inaugurated by the University of Cambridge in 1873—the first of their kind in the country. However, the foundation of the university is generally regarded as being the establishment of University College Nottingham, in 1881 as a college preparing students for examinations of the University of London.

In 1875, an anonymous donor provided £10,000 to establish the work of the Adult Education School and Cambridge Extension Lectures on a permanent basis, and the Corporation of Nottingham agreed to erect and maintain a building for this purpose and to provide funds to supply the instruction.

The foundation stone of the college was duly laid in 1877 by former UK Prime Minister William Ewart Gladstone, and the college's distinctive neo-gothic building on Shakespeare Street was formally opened in 1881 by Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany. In 1881, there were four professors – of Literature, Physics, Chemistry and Natural Science. New departments and chairs quickly followed: Engineering in 1884, Classics combined with Philosophy in 1893, French in 1897 and Education in 1905; in 1905 the combined Department of Physics and Mathematics became two separate entities; in 1911 Departments of English and Mining were created, in 1912, Economics, and Geology combined with Geography; History in 1914, Adult Education in 1923 and Pharmacy in 1925.

Accredination and rankings

Accreditation: Privy Council (1948)

Student life

Nottingham is a great city for students and is also home to a diverse community of residents from many cultures. As well as experiencing British culture, you can enjoy multicultural festivals such as Chinese New Year, Holi, Eid, Diwali, a Christmas market and a Caribbean Carnival. Local shops and restaurants provide foods from around the world, making it easy to enjoy food from your home country or try something new.

Nottingham's Students' Union hosts over 200 student-run societies. As well a wide variety of hobbies and interests, these include many cultural, national and religious societies, providing you a way to connect with other students from your country, background or faith. There are also over 70 sports clubs and a variety ofvolunteering opportunities.

Each year the International Office recruits a small number of international and EU students to support us as International Student Ambassadors. This role provides an opportunity to share your positive experiences of life at Nottingham and to gain experience working with International Office staff, University visitors and prospective students.

MOOC - Massive Open Online Course

Massive, open, online courses (known as MOOCs) are short courses that are delivered online for free. They don't have any entry requirements and are open to anyone anywhere in the world with an internet connection.

Our courses are delivered by FutureLearn, the first UK-led, multi-institutional Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) platform. The FutureLearn proposition is to increase access to Higher Education for students in the UK and around the world by offering a diverse range of high quality courses through a single website.

Our courses cover a range of topics and are delivered by academics across the University, sometimes in collaboration with experts from external organisations.

Why choose University of Nottingham

Five reasons to choose Nottingham...

• International careers provision – our Careers and Employability Service can assist you with career development and employability, helping you to plan for your future.
• Our beautiful campuses – each has a distinct style and personality.
• You can meet us overseas – our International Relations Officers regularly travel overseas to meet with prospective international students and discuss their application and studying at Nottingham.
• Our immigration advice – Nottingham has a top-rated International Office for visa support.
• Unitemps – the university’s recruitment agency for part-time and temporary work can help you find work on campus and in the local area. Please note, there are regulations on work for those who require a student visa.