Aberystwyth University

Aberystwyth University, institution of higher education in Aberystwyth, Wales. Aberystwyth University is an accredited institution of the University of Wales, which is its degree-awarding body.

Founded in 1872 as University College Wales, it was the first university institution to be established in Wales, and was given its charter in 1889. It became a constituent college of the University of Wales in 1893 as the University of Wales College Aberystwyth. Most of the university’s academic departments are on the 160-hectare (400-acre) hillside Penglais Campus overlooking Cardigan Bay and close to Aberystwyth town centre. In September 2007, following a revision of the University of Wales’s charter, it became an independent institution, and changed its name to Aberystwyth University in October 2007.

The university has 18 departments—art; biological sciences; computer science; education and lifelong learning; English literature; European languages; geography and Earth sciences; history and Welsh history; information studies; international politics; law and criminology; management and business; mathematical and physical sciences; the music centre; rural sciences; sport and exercise science; theatre, film, and television studies; and Welsh.