Manchester, Victoria University of

Manchester, Victoria University of, institution of higher education in Manchester, north-western England. Manchester University began in 1851 as Owens College, named after its founder, John Owens. In 1880 it became part of the Victoria University, a northern consortium of colleges of the university. Some of the buildings date from this period, including the Old Quadrangle (1873)—an example in stone of Victorian civic architecture. In 1903 Manchester obtained a royal charter as a separate independent university and developed steadily to become one of the United Kingdom’s largest universities with over 14,000 full-time undergraduate students and over 4,000 postgraduates, and in 2004 it merged with the neighbouring University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology (UMIST).

The formal governing bodies of Manchester University were the university court and chancellor, with the council exercising executive powers. The senate regulated academic business; below it were seven faculties organized into schools and departments. These comprised the faculties of: arts; biological sciences; business; education; medicine, dentistry, nursing and pharmacy; science and engineering; and social sciences and law.

Manchester University numbers 20 Nobel prize-winners among former students or members of staff. Research work leading to the splitting of the atom in 1918 by Ernest Rutherford was undertaken in Manchester’s laboratories, as was early work on the first computer. The university’s current research projects include developments in criminology, wound healing, the treatment of AIDS, and artificial intelligence.

Manchester University’s campus is compact: a recent addition is an information technology centre with over 600 workstations for student use. The huge student campus area also contains UMIST, the Manchester Business School, and the Metropolitan University, and includes an art gallery, a museum, and a theatre. The John Rylands Library is one of the largest libraries in the United Kingdom: total stock is in excess of 3.5 million books and 7,000 periodicals. Another library on campus has over 500,000 books; in addition, the Deansgate Building (originally the John Rylands Library) has the special collections division and hosts a research institute. Residential accommodation is partly in flats on the campus but mainly in the student village of Owens Park, a 1,000-bed complex of 24 halls and blocks of flats.

In October 2002 the university announced plans to fully merge with its neighbour UMIST by 2004. The two institutions merged to form the University of Manchester in October 2004. Divided into four faculties: engineering and physical sciences; humanities; life sciences; and medical and human sciences, this combined institution is housed on the campuses of its predecessors.