United Kingdom
University of Hertfordshire
University of Hertfordshire
United Kingdom
United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The University of Hertfordshire (UH) is a public research university in Hertfordshire, United Kingdom. It is based primarily in Hatfield, Hertfordshire. Its antecedent institution, Hatfield Technical College, was founded in 1948 and was identified as one of 25 Colleges of Technology in the United Kingdom in 1959. In 1992, Hatfield Polytechnic was granted university status by the British government and subsequently renamed the University of Hertfordshire. It is one of the post-1992 universities.
Hertfordshire is mainly based at two campuses: College Lane and de Havilland. The university has six schools: Hertfordshire Business School, Creative Arts, Education, Health, Medicine and Life Sciences, Hertfordshire Law School, and Physics, Engineering and Computer Science.
As of 2024, it has around 34,000 students, including more than 19,000 international students that together represent 110 countries, making the university host the highest proportion of international students (outside of London) in England. The university is one of Hertfordshire's largest employers with over 3,400 staff, 2,045 of whom are academic members of staff. The annual income of the institution for 2021–22 was £317.5 million of which £9 million was from research grants and contracts, with an expenditure of £305.3 million. Hertfordshire is a member of University Alliance, Universities UK and European University Association.
The original campus for the university was at Roe Green in Hatfield, where it was founded as a technical college with a particular focus on training aerospace engineers for the aerospace industry that was then a feature of Hatfield. The Gape family of St Michael's Manor in St Albans owned the land at Roe Green from the late 17th century. In the 1920s they sold it to Hill, a farmer, who then sold it to Alan Butler, chairman of the de Havilland Aircraft Company who lived at Beech Farm nearby. In 1944 he donated 90 acres (36 hectares) of land at Roe Green to be used for educational purposes. In 1948 building commenced. The first principal, W. A. J. Chapman, began work on 1 January 1949, and in spring 1952 the 33 full-time and 66 part-time teachers were appointed. Hatfield Technical College opened with 1,738 students in September 1952, and in December it was formally opened by Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. It was the first large technical college to be established in England after the war. Students attended the college on part-time or full-time courses.
In 1958 it was renamed Hatfield College of Technology, and by 1960 it offered four-year sandwich diplomas in technology. In 1961 it was designated a regional college in England and Wales by the Ministry of Education. The governors purchased a digital computer at a cost of £29,201 in 1962 so that a computer science degree could be established. The Council for National Academic Awards was formed in 1965 and Hatfield College was recognised for 13 honours degree courses.
Sir Norman Lindop became the Principal of the College of Technology in 1966. A year later L.E. Haines was made Chair of Governors, but he died shortly afterwards and was replaced by F. Bramston Austin. A year later, Bayfordbury was acquired for the college.
In 1969 Hatfield College of Technology became Hatfield Polytechnic, offering honours degree courses in engineering and technology. In 1970 an observatory was built on the Bayfordbury Campus. Wall Hall and Balls Park Teacher Training Colleges merged in 1976 to become Hertfordshire College of Higher Education. In the same year Hatfield Polytechnic took over Balls Park. By 1977 more than ten per cent of the 4000 students came from more than forty different countries. The Students' Union Social Centre opened in 1977.
In 1982 John Illston succeeded Sir Norman Lindop as the director. A sports hall was built on the Hatfield Campus in 1984 and the number of students in that year was more than 5000. The number of staff, in the same year, had increased to 824.
The university was established as an independent Higher Education Corporation in 1989 under the terms of the Education Reform Act (1989). The institution is an exempt charity. The board of governors has responsibility for running the university, while the academic board is responsible for academic quality and standards, academic policies, research and scholarship. The vice-chancellor oversees its day-to-day running. The current chancellor is Grace Ononiwu and the current vice-chancellor is Anthony Woodman.
The following people have been vice-chancellors of the university.
The university runs on a three-term calendar in which the academic year is divided into three terms: Autumn (September–December), Spring (January–April), and Summer(April–May). Full-time undergraduate students take three to four courses every year for approximately eleven weeks before their quarterly academic breaks. The school year typically begins in late September and ends in mid-May.
The university offers over 700 degree courses in its 6 schools of study, within which there are around 50 academic departments and 24 research centres.
Being a Higher Education Corporation created by the 1988 Education Reform Act as amended by the 1992 Act, the University of Hertfordshire is an exempt charity as defined under the various Charities Acts.
The University of Hertfordshire has due regard to the Charity Commission's guidance on the reporting of public benefit, and particularly its supplementary guidance on the advancement of education, in accordance with the requirements of HEFCE, the Higher Education Funding Council for England, as the principal regulator of English higher education institutions under the Charities Act 2006.
The university has entered an agreement with the Office for Students (OFS) to demonstrate that access to programmes of full-time undergraduate education should not be limited on grounds of individual financial circumstances.
Hertfordshire is a member of Association of Commonwealth Universities which is the representative body of 535 universities from 37 Commonwealth countries. It is the world's first and oldest international university network, established in 1913. It is also a member of University Alliance, a network of British universities which was formed in 2006, adopting the name in 2007. University Alliance is a group of 'business engaged' universities that claim to drive innovation and enterprise growth through research and teaching. Its MBA programme is affiliated with Association of MBAs, the only global MBA-specific Accreditation and Membership Organisation.
The university is primarily based on two campuses, College Lane and de Havilland. It previously owned a BioPark facility in Welwyn Garden City, a science park managed by Exemplas on behalf of the university. It also provides 6,000 square metres of laboratory and office space to life science and health technology businesses. As of 2014, there are currently 27 permanent and virtual tenants.
Additionally, a pool and climbing wall are among its sports facilities. It has also the Weston auditorium, for arts events, two art galleries and owns one of the highly recognised teaching observatories in the United Kingdom.
With over 34,000 students, Hertfordshire has a global alumni of over 165,000.
The main site of the university remains the College Lane campus, which houses the original Hatfield Technical College building. Notable among the buildings in this campus is the university's Learning Resource Centre, a combined library and computer centre. There is also a substantial collection of halls of residence and student houses, and the University of Hertfordshire Students' Union is headquartered at College Lane campus. The College Lane campus is also the location of Hertfordshire International College, which is part of the Navitas group, providing a direct pathway for international students to the university. The Hertfordshire Intensive Care & Emergency Simulation Centre is also located at College Lane. In 2016, the designed for purpose Science Building was opened, primarily offering teaching laboratories, a range of research laboratories and other specialist facilities. This was renamed to 'Nexus' in September 2024 to accompany the grand opening of the Spectra building opposite. Spectra, which cost £100m to construct, is a five-storey facility for the School of Physics, Engineering and Computer Science and contains several computer rooms and research areas, a robotics lab, racing simulator, and large electronics CDIO workshop.
The £120-million de Havilland campus, which was built by Carillion, opened in September 2003 and is situated within 15 minutes walk of College Lane, and is built on a former British Aerospace site. This campus also houses its own Learning Resource Centre, a combined library and computer centre. Hertfordshire Sports Village which includes a gym, swimming pool, squash courts is also on this site. The large Weston Auditorium is present on the de Havilland campus, adjacent to the Learn Resource Centre. The auditorium has a capacity of 450 and can host talks both by university lectures for students and for guest lecturers for guests and students, music and films events and dance events. The campus also contains 11 halls of residence; named after local towns and villages. Ashwell and Welwyn are examples of the buildings with the towns being present in Hertfordshire. The campus is mostly themed around law and business, having its business school located on the campus as well as its law school. A full scale, mocked up court room is present, being available for use for students studying a law degree. Along with publicly Northampton University it provides the 2 years accelerated law degree.
The University of Hertfordshire prescribes academic dress for its members. In accordance with tradition, Hertfordshire's academic dress consists of a gown, a cap and a hood. The black gown and square cap familiar to all readers of the Beano had evolved into their present form in England by the end of the Reformation. The hood, which is now the distinctive mark of a university-level qualification, is medieval in origin, and was originally functional.
The ceremonial mace was produced in 1999 by craftsman Martyn Pugh, a Freeman of the Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths, member of the British Jewellers Association and a Founder Member of the Association of British Designer Silversmiths. Its design symbolises the university's origins, expertise and associations. Its shape is inspired by the shape of an aeroplane wing symbolising the university's origin in the aviation industry. The head of the mace is engraved with zodiac symbols representing the university's contribution to astronomy and also contains the DNA double helix representing the biological sciences and microprocessor chips representing information and communications technology.
The university's coat of arms was granted in 1992. The shield is charged with an oak tree taken from the coat of arms of the former Hatfield Rural District, the constellation Perseus (containing the binary star Algol) and a representation of the letter "H" recalling the emblem of the former Hatfield Polytechnic. The crest, a Phoenix rising from an astral crown, represents the university's evolution from a technical college training apprentices for the aviation industry. The two harts supporting the shield represent the county of Hertfordshire, with the covered cups referring to A.S. Butler, who donated the land upon which the original campus was built. A scroll bears the motto Seek Knowledge Throughout Life.
The standard university logo comprises the university name and the UH symbol in a horizontal panel. There is an exclusion zone equivalent to the height of the H in the logo above, below and to the right of the logo. The university has created an endorsed version of the logo to be used where legibility is an issue with the standard logo. It comprises just the university name in a horizontal panel. Although the university brands its logo in various colours, the standard colours are black and white.
The University of Hertfordshire is recognised as one of the top twenty universities in the world to study animation.
According to the UK Graduate Outcomes Survey, 84.5% of full-time undergraduate and postgraduate students were in employment or further study 15 months after graduation (2022–23).
University of Hertfordshire ranked 601–800 among world universities in Times Higher Education World University Rankings in 2019.
It was awarded the Entrepreneurial University of the Year by Times Higher Education in 2010. In 2026, it was ranked 82nd by The Complete University Guide among UK universities.
The university underwent a Higher Education Review by the Quality Assurance Agency (QAA) in 2015, which concluded that it met UK expectations for academic standards and quality.
According to the annual statistics from the Office of the Independent Adjudicator, the university issued 44 completion of procedures letters in relation to student complaints in 2024. This is below the band medium of 126, possibly suggesting greater student satisfaction when compared to universities of a similar size.
The university has three research institutes: Health and Human Sciences Research Institute; Science and Technology Research Institute; Social Sciences, Arts and Humanities Research Institute. It also has an expanding research profile in nursing, psychology, history, philosophy, physics and computer science.
In recognition of development activities related to research careers and the position of researchers at the university, the European Commission awarded University of Hertfordshire the right to use the HR Excellence in Research logo in spring 2010.
In the Research Excellence Framework (REF) 2021 assessment, over 78% of the university's research was rated 'world leading' and 'internationally excellent'.
Kaspar, a social robot, has been designed by the University of Hertfordshire's Adaptive Systems Research Group (ASRG). The Kaspar project began in 2005, drawing upon previous researches to develop a social robot for engaging autistic children in a variety of play scenarios. The aim was to research whether interacting and communicating with Kaspar would help children with autism interact and communicate more easily with people. This is important because there is mounting evidence that early intervention for children with autism may change the child's development trajectory. Kaspar is a research tool with programmed responses adapted to be used by an autistic child in a safe, non-judgemental environment. The Kaspar research has shown that robots may provide a safe and predictable tool for children with autism, that enables the children to learn social interaction and communication skills, addressing specific therapeutic and educational objectives (for example, being able to engage in direct eye-contact or shared eye-gaze), in an enjoyable play context.
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