University of Sheffield

The University of Sheffield (informally Sheffield University or TUOS) is a public research university in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. Its history traces back to the foundation of Sheffield Medical School in 1828, Firth College in 1879 and Sheffield Technical School in 1884. The University College of Sheffield was subsequently formed by the amalgamation of the three institutions in 1897. It was granted a royal charter as the University of Sheffield in 1905 by King Edward VII.

Sheffield has 21 academic schools organised into five faculties. The annual income of the institution for 2024–25 was £845.2 million, of which £355.8 million was from tuition fees and education contracts (£401.8 million in the year prior), £204.2 million was from research grants and contracts, with an expenditure of £847.7 million.

The university is one of the original redbrick universities and a founding member of the Russell Group. It is also part of the Worldwide Universities Network, the N8 Group of the eight most research intensive universities in Northern England and the White Rose University Consortium. Six Nobel laureates have been affiliated with Sheffield as alumni or academics.

In 2026, Sheffield was ranked 64th in 'The World's Top Universities' list by Time magazine.

History

Origins

The University of Sheffield was formed by the merger of three local institutions: the Sheffield School of Medicine, Firth College, and the Sheffield Technical School. The oldest of these was the Sheffield School of Medicine. Surgeon-apothecary Hall Overend, began training medical students in Sheffield in 1811, conducting and teaching human dissection in an anatomy museum at his home in Church Street. Overend, however, was not registered as a lecturer with the Society of Apothecaries, a recognised body for medical education. Physicians and surgeons of the General Infirmary suggested that a school associated with the hospital would be highly eligible for recognition by the society. As a result, in 1828, a public meeting was called by physician Sir Arnold Knight, supported by Overend, to establish a new medical school. The Sheffield Medical Institution was formally opened a year later in 1829 on Surrey Street, with the Latin motto "Ars longa vita brevis" (art is long, life is short), referring to the difficulty of acquiring and practicing the art of medicine. Knight laid the foundation stone and delivered the opening lecture.

The University Extension Movement emerged in the 1870s with the aim of providing education in cities that lacked tertiary institutions. At that time, the steel industry in Sheffield was prospering and the city's population had doubled since the 1840s to around 240,000. In 1871, the university extension scheme arrived in Sheffield, and a group of lecturers from the universities of Oxford and Cambridge travelled to the city giving lectures and educating people about the benefits of tertiary education. Steel manufacturer and former mayor of Sheffield Mark Firth and clergyman Samuel Earnshaw organised courses in English literature and political economy. The popularity of the courses led Firth to donate £20,000 and purchase a site in the city centre (now Leopold Street and West Street) in 1877 to build a new institution for the classes. Firth College opened in 1879. The college saved the medical school from collapse and took over the teaching of basic science to medical students. In 1888 the medical school relocated to a new building on Leopold Street.

A grant was secured in 1883 to fund a professor of metallurgy and mechanical engineering, and former mayor of Sheffield Sir Frederick Mappin began fundraising for a technical department in Firth College in 1884, raising £10,240. This opened in 1886 as the Sheffield Technical School. Many of the steel-making firms in Sheffield contributed to funding the technical school, and research from the school in turn helped develop new processes and products for the companies.

Campus and locations

The University of Sheffield is a city-based university rather than a campus university, with many of its 290 buildings located in close proximity to each other in the city centre campus on the west side of the city centre. The university's halls of residence are mainly located in Endcliffe Student Village in Endcliffe and Ranmoor Student Village in Ranmoor (jointly referred to as "Ranmoor & Encliffe") on the western edge of the city. The university also has an innovation district at Parkway North and the Advanced Manufacturing Park at Parkway South, on either side of Sheffield Parkway on the eastern edge of the city. The university's sports pitches are at Norton Sports Park, 2.7 miles (4.3 km) south of the city centre campus.

City centre campus

The city centre campus is composed of an eclectic range of buildings from Victorian style to modernism to contemporary. The Sir Frederick Mappin Building and the Central Block are two Victorian university buildings, now linked by a contemporary curved glass roof constructed in 2020. Opened as the Western Bank Building, Firth Court is a red brick Edwardian building in Perpendicular Revival style, and is connected to the 1971 modernist Alfred Denny Building. The nearby Arts Tower is also an example of postwar modernist building in the International Style. The Diamond, a contemporary architecture designed by Twelve Architects, is situated next to the Victorian Jessop Building on the former site of Jessop's Edwardian wing.

A total of 36 university buildings are listed. Of these, the Arts Tower and Western Bank Library are Grade II* listed buildings, whilst Firth Court, Sir Frederick Mappin, St George's Church and the Jessop are Grade II listed.

The campus is divided into the Western Bank and St George's campuses on either side of the Sheffield Inner Ring Road, based around the two original sites of the University College of Sheffield.

Western Bank campus

The western part of the city centre campus, formerly known as the Western Bank campus, is bounded by Upper Hanover Street to the east, Glossop Road to the south, Clarkson Street to the west, and Bolsover Street to the north. The Western Bank road (A57) runs through the campus. The area to the north of Western Bank includes Firth Court, Alfred Denny Building, Western Bank Library and Arts Tower, Geography and Planning building, Bartolomé House, and Dainton and Richard Roberts Buildings. Within the southern area of the campus are the Sheffield Students' Union, the Octagon Centre, Graves Building and Hicks Building. A concourse under the A57 flyover connects Alfred Denny Building on the north side and Students' Union on the south. Until the completion of three pedestrian crossings on Western Bank in 2017, the concourse underpass was the only link that allowed students to easily move between buildings in this cluster. The Information Commons, a library and computing centre opened in 2007, is also located at the Western Bank Campus on Leavygreave Road. In addition, throughout 2010 the Western Bank Library received a £3.3 million restoration and refurbishment, the University of Sheffield Union of Students underwent a £5 million rebuild, and work commenced on a multimillion-pound refurbishment of the Grade II* listed Arts Tower to extend its lifespan by 30 years.

Organisation

Faculties and schools

The university has five academic faculties, into which 21 academic schools are organised:

Former faculties

Sheffield had four faculties in 1905, which were arts, pure science, medicine and applied science. The faculty of applied science was split into engineering and metallurgy in 1919.

International faculty

The University previously had an international faculty known as CITY College, located in Thessaloniki, Greece. It was established in 1989 and was a separate, private legal entity established under Greek law. The International Faculty was organised into four departments (business administration and economics, psychology, computer science, and english studies). The faculty also operated the South East European Research Centre, a multidisciplinary research centre established in 2003.

In 2024, the University ended their partnership with CITY College, which became part of the University of York.

Bodies

The bodies which govern the university under the terms of its royal charter are the council, the senate and the faculties.

The council is the governing body of the university. It is responsible for the strategic development, legal and regulatory affairs, and performance of university business (finance and property). Council membership comprises a majority of non-executive lay members appointed under the statutes of the university. The chair of council and pro-chancellor is Martin Temple.

The senate manages the academic side of the university. It is the highest academic authority of the university, and is also responsible for the regulation of research work and students' discipline. The senate is chaired by the vice-chancellor, with its membership drawn mainly from the university's academic staff.

The five faculties regulate departmental teaching, research, examination and admission. They are responsible for making recommendations to the senate on the award of degrees, fellowships, and academic staff appointments and promotions.

Officers

The officers of the university are the chancellor, the president and vice-chancellor, the chair of council and pro-chancellor, the vice-presidents and heads of the facilities, the vice-president for education, the vice-president for research and innovation, the university secretary, the treasurer, and two other pro-chancellors.

Chancellor

The chancellor is the formal head of the university.

• 1905: Henry Fitzalan-Howard, 15th Duke of Norfolk
• 1917: Robert Crewe-Milnes, 1st Marquess of Crewe
• 1944: Henry Lascelles, 6th Earl of Harewood
• 1947: Edward Wood, 1st Earl of Halifax
• 1959: Rab Butler, Baron Butler
• 1979: Frederick Dainton, Baron Dainton

Academic profile

Admissions

In the 2024/25 academic year, the student body consisted of 28,280 students, composed of 20,215 undergraduates and 8,065 postgraduate 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 147–149 UCAS Tariff points in their top three pre-university qualifications – the equivalent of AAA to A*AA 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 Sheffield achieved 158 points – the 26th highest in the country.

Libraries

The University of Sheffield has four libraries: Western Bank Library, the Information Commons, Health Sciences Library (Royal Hallamshire Hospital), and The Diamond, holding a total of 1.5 million printed books. Western Bank Library was the university's main library until the opening of the Information Commons in 2007. The Grade II* listed library has 730 study spaces and contains 1.2 million texts for most subjects, as well as archives and special collections. The Information Commons (IC) is a 24/7 learning centre combining both library and IT services. The IC houses 120,000 core textbooks for all undergraduate and postgraduate subjects, and has approximately 1,300 study spaces and 550 PCs. The university has a medical library at the Royal Hallamshire Hospital, which opened 1978. Opened in 2018, the Diamond provides 24-hour library services (and other teaching facilities), with in-demand textbooks, a non-loanable reference collection and over 1,000 study spaces. The University of Sheffield Library is a member of Research Libraries UK.

Former libraries include the Edgar Allen Library closed by the late 1950s and St George's Library closed on 14 June 2015. The Edgar Allen Library was the first university library. In 1905 when the university was established, the library was housed in a lecture room due to lack of funds to construct a purpose-built library. William Edgar Allen, a member of the University Council, provided £10,000 to build a proper library named Edgar Allen Library, locating beside the main university building (Firth Court). Edgar Allen Library had 100 seats in its reading room, shelves for 20,000 books, and a stack space for 60,000 more books. Sir Charles Harding Firth, the first lecturer in Modern History in Firth College, donated part of his personal collection to the library. The Sheffield Town Trust also helped the university to transform the General Lecture Theatre into a reading room housing the Firth Collection (rare book collection of approximately 20,000 volumes) in 1931. As the university rapidly expanded in the 1950s, it became necessary to replace the Edgar Allen Library with a modern post-war era library. The new library, later known as the Western Bank Library, opened in 1959. Edgar Allen Library (now the Rotunda in Firth Court) became the registrar and secretary's office. St George's Library was refurbished as an exam venue.

Student life

Students' union

The University of Sheffield Students' Union was founded in 1906, and has over 300 student societies and 60 sports teams. The students' union was voted best in the UK for ten consecutive years, from 2009 to 2018, by the Times Higher Education Student Experience Survey.

Sheffield University Football Club has been established for many decades and has previously competed in the FA Amateur Cup and FA Vase. The union building contains society and union workplaces and coffee shops, restaurants, shops, and the student run cinema film unit. Facilities include two bars (Bar One – which has a bookable function room with its own bar, The Raynor Lounge – and The Interval); a three-room club venue (Foundry); There is also a student radio station called Forge Radio, a TV station called Forge TV, and a newspaper called Forge Press, which are run under the umbrella of Forge Media since 2008.

In November 2009 a development project began to redevelop the students' union building, funded by £5 million by the HEFCE, which was completed and re-opened in September 2010. Works centred on improving circulation around the building by aligning previously disjointed floors, improving internal access between the union building and neighbouring University House, and constructing a new entrance and lobby that incorporates the university's traditional colours of black and gold.

During the 2012–13 academic year the students' union underwent further redevelopment with a £20 million refurbishment of University House, resulting in the 1963 building being fully integrated with the students' union in a single building.

Sheffield Varsity

The annual Sheffield Varsity is an annual varsity match that takes place between sports teams from the university and its rival Sheffield Hallam University starting from 1996. The varsity is divided into winter and summer competitions. Over 1,000 students from both universities compete in over 30 varsity sports in more than 70 events. The Sheffield Varsity series is home to the largest Ice Hockey Varsity Match outside North America, as well as one of the largest collegiate ice hockey matches in the world. With an annual ice hockey match at Utilita Arena attracting over 9500 supporters. The university's sports colours are black and gold. Sheffield won the Varsity competition in 2013, beating Hallam for the first time in ten years. Since finding victory in 2013, the University has had consistent success against Sheffield Hallam, with the University winning for 11 consecutive years.

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