University of Nottingham

The University of Nottingham is a public research university in Nottingham, England. It was founded as University College Nottingham in 1881, and was granted a royal charter as a university in 1948.

Nottingham's main campus (University Park), the Jubilee Campus and the main teaching hospital (Queen's Medical Centre) are located within the City of Nottingham, with a number of smaller campuses and sites elsewhere in Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire. Outside the UK, the university has campuses in Semenyih, Malaysia, and Ningbo, China. UK academic operations are organised into five faculties, and the university has more than 46,000 students and 7,000 staff across the UK, China and Malaysia. It had an income of £845 million in 2024–25, of which £140.3 million was from research grants and contracts, with an expenditure of £924.2 million.

The institution's alumni, staff and former staff have won three Nobel Prizes and a Fields Medal. The university is a member of the Russell Group and the international Universitas 21 network.

History

Founding

The University of Nottingham traces its origins to both the founding of an adult education school in 1798, and the University Extension Lectures inaugurated by the University of Cambridge in 1873, which were launched at Nottingham before expanding to other posts of 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 the former Prime Minister William Ewart Gladstone, and the college's neo-gothic building on Shakespeare Street was formally opened on 30 July 1881 by Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany, with the college admitting its first students that autumn 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. The university college was part of the Borough of Nottingham, under the town clerk's department, until it was incorporated by royal charter in 1903. While this made it formally independent, there was almost complete overlap between the city council and the court of governors.

Development

Following the first world war, the university college's leadership proposed the creation of a federal East Midlands University, taking in University College Nottingham, University College Leicester, Loughborough College, and other colleges in Lincoln, Derby and Northampton. A charter was drawn up for the federal university but the proposed dominance of Nottingham led to opposition from Leicester in 1923, and in 1927 the proposal was dropped in favour of Nottingham pursuing university status on its own.

The university college underwent significant expansion in the 1920s, when it moved from the centre of Nottingham to a large campus on the city's outskirts. The new campus, called University Park, was completed in 1928, and financed by an endowment fund, public contributions, and the generosity of Sir Jesse Boot (later Lord Trent) who presented 35 acres (14 ha) to the City of Nottingham in 1921. Boot and his fellow benefactors sought to establish an "elite seat of learning" committed to widening participation, and hoped that the move would solve the problems facing University College Nottingham, in its restricted building on Shakespeare Street. Boot stipulated that, whilst part of the Highfields site, lying south-west of the city, should be devoted to the university college, the rest should provide a place of recreation for the residents of the city, and, by the end of the decade, the landscaping of the lake and public park adjoining University Boulevard was completed. The original university college building on Shakespeare Street in central Nottingham, known as the Arkwright Building, now forms part of Nottingham Trent University's City Campus.

Campuses

University Park Campus

University Park Campus, to the west of Nottingham city centre, is the 330-acre (1.3 km2) main campus of the University of Nottingham. Set around its lake and clock-tower and with extensive parkland greenery, University Park has won several awards for its architecture and landscaping, and was claimed to be the greenest campus in the country in 2009 after winning seven Green Flag Awards.

At the south entrance to the main campus, in Highfields Park, lies the Lakeside Arts Centre, the university's public arts facility and performance space. The D.H. Lawrence Pavilion houses a range of cultural facilities, including a 225 capacity theatre space, a series of craft cabinets, the Weston Gallery (which displays the university's manuscript collection), the Wallner gallery, which exists as a platform for local and regional artists, and a series of visual arts, performance and hospitality spaces. Other nearby facilities include the Djanogly Art Gallery, Recital Hall and Theatre, which in the past have hosted recordings and broadcasts by BBC Radio 3, local community theatre partnerships, contemporary art exhibitions, and cultural festivals.

Jubilee Campus

The Jubilee Campus, designed by Sir Michael Hopkins, was opened by Queen Elizabeth II in 1999, and is approximately 1 mile (1.6 km) from University Park. The campus houses the schools of education and computer science, along with the Nottingham University Business School. The site is also the home of the National College for School Leadership. A second building for the business school was opened by Lord Sainsbury in 2004.

The environmentally friendly nature of the campus and its buildings have been a factor in the awards that it has received, including the Millennium Marque Award for Environmental Excellence, the British Construction Industry Building Project of the Year, the RIBA Journal Sustainability Award, and the Civic Trust Award for Sustainability. The Jubilee Campus was also commended by the Energy Globe Award judges in 2005. The GlaxoSmithKline Carbon Neutral Laboratory is part of the university's school of chemistry and was the UK's first carbon neutral laboratory.

On 12 September 2014 a large fire broke out during its construction, resulting in the official opening being delayed until 2017.

The campus is distinct for its modern architecture, culminating in Aspire, a 60-metre (200 ft) tall artistic structure that was the tallest freestanding work of art in the UK. However, not all of the buildings have been well received, with the Amenities Building and YANG Fujia Building being labelled the second worst new architectural design in Britain in the 2009 Carbuncle Cup.

Organisation and administration

Faculties and departments

The university is divided between the main university in the UK, the Malaysia campus, and the China campus. Each of these is divided into faculties and further divided into schools and departments.

UK campuses

The University of Nottingham in the UK has a number of schools and departments organised into five faculties: arts; engineering; medicine and health sciences; science; and social science. Each faculty is divided into schools or departments, and some schools in the faculty of arts are further subdivided into departments, as shown below:

Malaysia campus

The Malaysia campus has two faculties: the faculty of arts and social sciences and the faculty of science and engineering.

China campus

The China campus has three facilities: the Nottingham University Business School China, the faculty of humanities and social sciences, and the faculty of science and engineering.

Governance

The head of the university is the chancellor, appointed by the university council. The principal academic and administrative officer of the university is the president and vice-chancellor, assisted by the provost and deputy vice-chancellor, the provost and pro-vice-chancellor for each of the China and Malaysia campuses, and a number of other pro-vice-chancellors and chief officers, who together form the university executive board and have responsibility for the day-to-day running of the university.

As of December 2025, the vice-chancellor is Jane Norman, who took up the post in January 2025.

The governing body is the university council, which has 25 members, 14 of whom come from outside the university. The academic authority is the senate, consisting of senior academics (including all heads of schools and deans of faculties) and elected staff and student representatives. The visitor is the monarch, acting through the Lord President of the Council.

Finances

In the financial year ending 31 July 2025, Nottingham had a total group income (including its 37.5% share of the University of Nottingham Ningbo and its 29.9% share of the University of Nottingham Malaysia) of £863.1 million (2023/24 – £849.4 million) and an income for the university alone of £845.0 million (2023/24 – £834.7 million). It had a total group expenditure of £947.4 million (2023/24 – £627.8 million) an expenditure for the university alone of £924.2 million (2023/24 – £615.3 million). This gave an overall deficit for the group of £76.8 million (2023/24 surplus of £220.7 million) and for the university alone of £71.5 million (2024/24 – surplus of £220.1 million). The 2024/25 expenditure included an impairment of £74.8 million from revaluation of the Castle Meadow and King's Meadow campuses and restructuring costs of £11.3 million, while the 2023/24 expenditure included £-243.6 million from changes in pension liabilities and restructuring costs of £13.8 million. The accounts also reported that the adjusted deficit was £85.3 million (2023/24 – £17.0 million); this included the impairment and restructuring costs but not changes in pension liabilities and other losses or gains. Jane Norman, the vice-chancellor of the university, told the Nottingham Post that the university had moved "from an underlying deficit position of -£3.2 million in 2024 to a small underlying surplus position of £0.8 million in 2025".

Academic profile

Research

The university is a member of the Russell Group of research-led British universities, the international Universitas 21 association of research-intensive universities, and the Midlands Innovation regional research and innovation partnership.

In the 2021 Research Excellence Framework, which assessed the quality of research in UK higher education institutions, Nottingham was ranked joint 25th by GPA and 7th for research power (the grade point average score of a university, multiplied by the full-time equivalent number of researchers submitted) in analysis of the results by Times Higher Education.

Admissions

According to the latest statistics (2024/25) compiled by the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA), Nottingham is the UK's 9th largest university based on total student enrolment with 34,840 students. The university is consistently designated as a 'high-tariff' institution by the Department for Education, with the average undergraduate entrant to the university in recent years amassing between 143–146 UCAS Tariff points in their top three pre-university qualifications – the equivalent of AAA at A-Level. Based on 2022/23 HESA entry standards data published in domestic league tables, which include a broad range of qualifications beyond the top three exam grades, the average student at the University of Nottingham achieved 154 points. The university gave offers of admission to 70.1% of its undergraduate applicants in 2024.

In 2016/17, 20% of Nottingham's undergraduates were privately educated, the 17th highest proportion among mainstream British universities. In the 2023/24 academic year, the university had a domicile breakdown of 78:2:20 of UK:EU:non-EU students respectively with a female to male ratio of 56:44.

Reputation and rankings

The university was named Times Higher Education "University of the Year" in 2006 and Times Higher Education "Entrepreneurial University of the Year" in 2008. It has been awarded two Queen's Anniversary Prizes (2000 and 2011) and one Queen Elizabeth Prize for Education (2025).

In national rankings, Nottingham was ranked joint 26th by the Complete University Guide for 2026, 51st by the Guardian University Guide for 2026, and 30th by the Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide for 2026. Internationally, it was ranked 97th by the 2026 QS World University Rankings, in the 101–150 band by the 2025 Shanghai Ranking Consultancy Academic Ranking of World Universities, and joint 136th by the 2026 Times Higher Education World University Rankings.

The High Fliers Research UK graduate market report for 2026 placed Nottingham third in its table of universities targeted by the largest number of top employees.

Student life

Students' union

The University of Nottingham Students' Union is the students' union of the university and is based in the university's Portland Building. It has more than 200 affiliated student societies and 70 sports clubs.

The students' union publishes the magazine Impact five times a year. It also has a radio station, University Radio Nottingham. and manages the Nottingham New Theatre. The union's rag, "Karnival" (abbreviated to "Karni") set a European record for fundraising by a student-run group in 2012, raising £1.6 million for charity. The students' union also has a branch of the international volunteering charity, InterVol, which places student volunteers locally and internationally.

Sports

Nottingham has a strong reputation for sport and was named the Times and Sunday Times sports university of the year for 2019, 2021 and 2024.

In addition to competing in national British Universities and Colleges Sport competitions, Nottingham also participates in the annual Varsity Series, a multi-sport series between Nottingham University and local rivals Nottingham Trent University.

Nottingham also has an extensive intramural sport programme, with 4,000 students playing on teams representing halls, courses, societies and groups of friends. Nottingham intramural teams compete against Loughborough Hall Sports teams in the annual IMS Varsity. There are specific "Hall Sports Leagues" in football and netball for teams from university-owned halls of residence.

Residential life

Nottingham historically had junior common room committees (elected from the student body) that organised social events for residents of university halls. However, as of 2025, social events in University of Nottingham halls of residence are instead organised by the university's residential experience team. The university's community engagement team supports students living off-campus in purpose built student accommodation or in private rental properties.

Notable people

The university has been associated with a range of notable alumni and staff in a number of disciplines: Nobel Prize or Fields Medal winners include Sir Clive Granger – 2003 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences, Sir Peter Mansfield – 2003 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for contributions to Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Andre Geim – 2010 Nobel Prize in Physics for the discovery of graphene, and Caucher Birkar – 2018 Fields Medal "for his proof of the boundedness of fano varieties and for contributions to the minimal model program".

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