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The University of York (abbreviated as Ebor or York for post-nominals) is a collegiate public research university in York, England. Established in 1963, the university has expanded to more than thirty departments and centres, covering a wide range of subjects.

South-east of the city of York, the university campus is about 500 acres (200 hectares) in size. The original campus, Campus West, incorporates the York Science Park and the National Science Learning Centre, and its wildlife, campus lakes and greenery are prominent. In May 2007 the university was granted permission to build an extension to its main campus, on arable land just east of the nearby village of Heslington. The second campus, Campus East, opened in 2009 and now hosts five colleges and three departments as well as conference spaces, a sports village and a business start-up 'incubator'. Between 1963 and 2026 the institution also leased King's Manor in York city centre, now part of York St John University. The university had a total income of £538.6 million in 2024–25 of which £107.1 million was from research grants and contracts, with an expenditure of £525.1 million.

York was one of the first of the plate glass universities established in the 1960s, and runs a distinctive collegiate system, which currently consists of eleven colleges. The eleventh college, David Kato, opened in 2022. The university is a member of regional research groups including the N8 Group and White Rose University Consortium as well as the national Russell Group.

History

Origins

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 but 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 there were discussions about the founding of a university in York, but this did not come to fruition owing to the founding of Durham University in 1832. In 1903, F. J. Munby and the Yorkshire Philosophical Society, among 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.

Establishment

John Bowes Morrell was the driving force behind the university's establishment. York accepted its first students the year of Morrell's death, 1963, opening with 216 undergraduates, 14 postgraduates, and 28 academic and administrative staff. The university started with six departments: Economics, Education, English, History, Mathematics, Politics. At the time, the university consisted of three buildings, principally the historic King's Manor in the city centre and Heslington Hall, which has Tudor foundations and is in the village of Heslington on the edge of York. A year later, work began on purpose-built structures on the Heslington Campus, which now forms the main part of the university.

Baron James of Rusholme, the university's first Vice-Chancellor, said of the University of York that "it must be collegiate in character, that it must deliberately seek to limit the number of subjects and that much of the teaching must be done via tutorials and seminars". Due to the influence of Graeme Moodie, founding head of the Politics Department, students are involved in the governance of the university at all levels, and his model has since been widely adopted.

York's first two colleges, Derwent and Langwith, were founded in 1965, as was the University of York Library. These were the first residential colleges. They were followed by Alcuin and Vanbrugh in 1967 and Goodricke in 1968. In 1972 this was followed by Wentworth College.

The university was noted for its inventive approach to teaching. It was known for its early adoption of joint honours degrees, which were often very broad, such as history and biology. It also took an innovative approach to social science introducing a five-year-long degree in the subject.

Expansion

After 1972, the construction of colleges ceased until 1990 with the foundation of James College. Initially James was intended to be a postgraduate only college. However, the university began to expand rapidly, almost doubling in size from 4,300 to 8,500 students. In 1993, therefore it was decided that the college should become open to undergraduates. The expansion of student numbers also resulted in the creation of more accommodation by the university, which was named 'Halifax Court'; the members of Halifax Court were members of other colleges, however, soon formed their own Junior Common Room. In 2002, Halifax Court was made a full college of the university and was renamed Halifax College.

Campus

Campus West

In 1964, work began on the campus facilities in the grounds of Heslington Hall. The marshy land was drained, the winding lake that dominates the campus was built, and the area was landscaped. The original buildings were designed by architects Sir Andrew Derbyshire and Sir Stirrat Johnson-Marshall, with input also from the Vice-Chancellor Lord James, Professor Patrick Nuttgens and the Registrar, John West-Taylor. The new structures were assembled using the CLASP system of prefabricated construction, hence York's inclusion among the so-called plate glass universities. The buildings are connected by numerous covered walkways and bridges. Most of the university's arts departments occupy premises in the college buildings, while many of the science departments have their own buildings.

Central Hall

A landmark building is Central Hall, a half-octagonal concert hall used for convocations and examinations, as well as theatrical and musical performances. It is a Grade II-listed building, as is the West campus landscape. It has played host to the Wailers, George Melly, Soft Machine, Pink Floyd, and Paul McCartney. Performances by big-name acts have been rarer at the university following a 1985 the Boomtown Rats concert, during which the cover of the orchestra pit was damaged. A ban on pop performances, and in particular dancing, in Central Hall was imposed by the university, although it has occasionally been relaxed. Central Hall is still used for classical concerts and since a rock concert was held there on 13 March 2010 it has been available again for full booking. Public concerts are regularly held in the music department's Sir Jack Lyons Concert Hall, the Arthur Sykes Rymer Auditorium and in some of the colleges.

University library

The University of York Library opened in 1965 two years after the university itself opened. The building was designed by Robert Mathews, Johnson-Marshall and partners. The primary site of library comprises a series of three linked buildings to the north side of the University of York's West Campus: the JB Morrell, the Raymond Burton, and the Fairhurst buildings. Originally just consisting of the JB Morrell, in 2003 the Raymond Burton library was added to the site, designed by Leach Rhodes Walker architects and houses both the Humanities research reading room and the Borthwick institute for archives. The Raymond Burton Library was also recently nominated for a SCONUL Design award. In 2012 the Library had a £20 million renovation incorporating the neighbouring Fairhurst building, now housing the majority of libraries study spaces including the postgraduate study lounge.

Organisation and administration

Colleges

York is a collegiate university and has eleven colleges. All colleges have equal status, and each has its own constitution. Each college is governed by its own College Council, which contains a combination of university staff and elected student members and is chaired by a Senior College Fellow. The day-to-day running of the colleges is managed by administrative staff from the university's Student Life and Wellbeing unit, with all the colleges coordinated by an administrative Senior Colleges Manager. In 2023, the university substituted the academic role of College Principal for the unrenumerated post of Senior College Fellow. Most colleges have a Junior Common Room for undergraduate students, which is managed by the elected Junior Common Room Committee. Some colleges retain a Graduate Common Room for postgraduate students, as well as a Senior Common Room, which is managed by elected representatives of the college's academic and administrative members. Other colleges however combine undergraduate and postgraduate representation together into student associations. The colleges are deliberately assigned undergraduates, postgraduate students and staff from a wide mixture of disciplines. The Sunday Times noted, "The colleges are tight-knit communities within the university and enjoy a healthy rivalry." The colleges share practical features of the halls of residence of other UK universities, as well as the traditional Oxbridge and Durham colleges. In recent years, the university has built three new colleges on Campus East. The ninth college was founded in 2014 and was named Constantine after the Roman emperor Constantine I, who was proclaimed Augustus in York in 306 AD. The tenth was founded in 2021 and named after Anne Lister. The eleventh was founded in 2022 and named after David Kato.

Academic departments

The university hosts a number of interdisciplinary research centres, including the Borthwick Institute for Archives, Centre for Renaissance and Early Modern Studies, the Centre for Eighteenth-Century Studies, the Centre for Modern Studies, the Centre for Medieval Studies, the Institute for Effective Education and the Institute for the Public Understanding of the Past. The Department of Politics hosts the Post-war Reconstruction and Development Unit and the Centre for Applied Human Rights.

Campus West hosts the National Science Learning Centre which opened in March 2006, it serves as the hub for a £51 million national network of centres dedicated to revitalising science teaching in schools. It is operated by the White Rose University Consortium (which comprises the Universities of Leeds, Sheffield and York) together with Sheffield Hallam University.

Academic profile

Reputation and rankings

In 2010, York was named "University of the Year" by Times Higher Education for its "success in combining academic excellence with social inclusion, as well as its record in scientific discovery".

In national university rankings for 2026, the University of York was ranked 12th by the Complete University Guide, 38th by the Guardian University Guide and 20th by the Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide.

In global rankings, York was ranked in the 201–300 range in the Shanghai Ranking Consultancy Academic Ranking of World Universities, 169th in the Quacquarelli Symonds QS World University Ranking and joint 154th in the Times Higher Education World University Ranking.

Historically, York was ranked 6th in the UK in The Sunday Times 10-year (1998–2007) average ranking of British universities based on their performance in the Sunday Times league tables. In a 2000 analysis of league tables published by

The Times, Daily Telegraph, Sunday Times and Financial Times, the Sutton Trust also placed York 6th. The University of York reached its best ever position of 70th in the QS World University Rankings in 2009.

Admissions

In the 2024/25 academic year, the student body consisted of 22,345 students, composed of 16,015 undergraduates and 6,330 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 142–151 UCAS Tariff points in their top three pre-university qualifications – the equivalent of AAB 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 York achieved 158 points – the 26th highest in the country. The university gave offers of admission to 78.5% of its applicants in 2015, the joint 15th lowest amongst the Russell Group. There are around 6.2 applications for every undergraduate place, and a completion rate of 93.2% with around 80% of graduates graduating with a First/2:1.

17.9% of York's undergraduates are privately educated, the joint 20th highest proportion amongst mainstream British universities. In the 2016–17 academic year, the university had a domicile breakdown of 80:5:16 of UK:EU:non-EU students respectively with a female to male ratio of 56:44. 56.2% of international students enrolled at the institution are from China, the third highest proportion out of all mainstream universities in the UK.

Student activities

Representation

The students' union is the University of York Students' Union and is referred to as YorkSU. Its membership is currently the entire student population of the university. It merged with the postgraduate union, the Graduate Students Association (GSA) in 2024. In 2008 YUSU was able to open its first Union-run licensed venue The Courtyard.

Each college has its own JCRC or students' association which provide a variety of services, including college events and student welfare services; they also organise the Freshers' Fortnight activities in their college.

Non-partisan political societies are well represented at the university, with the York Student Think Tank, which produces student policy research and hosts informal debates; the York Dialectic Union, which hosts speakers and debates; and the debating society, which competes in inter-varsity debating tournaments against other universities. There are also party political societies on campus with the University of York Labour Club, the University of York Liberal Democrat Society, the University of York Conservative and Unionist Association and the University of York Green Party Society; campaigning on issues both on and off campus, as well as organising debates and talks by high-profile speakers. There is also a branch of People and Planet, which campaigns on environmental and ethical issues. Additionally, there is an active Palestinian Solidarity Society, and multiple pro-Palestinian protests and encampments have appeared over the past few years.

There are multiple organisations for lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and queer (LGBT) students. The York SU LGBTQ+ Network is a liberation society built into the students' union, which represents LGBTQ+ students by campaigning for issues on campus, offering welfare & support and running events for all LGBTQ+ students to attend, such as cabaret evenings and chilled mixers. YorQueer, formerly the LGBTQ Social Society, also organises social events aimed at LGBTQ+ students and their friends. In November 2024 the two officially merged, however as of May 2025 they still use both the YorQueer and Network labels for different events. They have strong links with the Staff LGBTI+ Matters Forum, which offers a largely similar provision to staff members of the university. Additionally, the 2024/25 academic year saw the creation of the Sapphic Society, which "aims to provide an uplifting and inclusive space for all students interested in Sapphic culture, identity and history".

Student Union bars and venues

The university's Students' Union run a number of bars and venues across both campuses, namely The Courtyard, The Kitchen, The Glasshouse, The Lounge and Vanbrugh Arms. Additionally, the Union also ran a venue known as D-Bar (located in Derwent College) but had to temporarily close it due to the COVID-19 pandemic. D-Bar later reopened as a cafe during refurbishments of Derwent, before fully reopening in 2022. Shortly after reopening as a bar, D-Bar was hosting an LGBTQ+ event when it was gate crashed by Derwent College Rugby team which was criticised on social media by the then-LGBTQ+ Officers, Matt Rogan and Daniel Loyd.

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