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Queen Mary University of London

Coordinates: 51°31′23″N 0°02′25″W / 51.52306°N 0.04028°W / 51.52306; -0.04028
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51°31′23″N 0°02′25″W / 51.52306°N 0.04028°W / 51.52306; -0.04028

Queen Mary, University of London
File:Qm logo.png
MottoConiunctis Viribus
With United Powers
TypePublic
Established1123 (Medical College of St Bartholomew's Hospital)
1785 (London Hospital Medical College)
1843 (Medical College of St Bartholomew's Hospital)
1882 (Westfield College)
1885 (Queen Mary College)
1989 (merger of Queen Mary & Westfield)
1995 (medical schools merge with QMW)
Endowment£33 million [1]
PrincipalProfessor Philip Ogden (acting)
Students15,000 [2]
Location
London
,
United Kingdom
CampusUrban
Colours
AffiliationsUniversity of London
Association of Commonwealth Universities
1994 Group
Websitehttp://www.qmul.ac.uk/
QMUL Crest

Queen Mary, University of London (known as Queen Mary and Westfield College until 2000, and still officially named as such in its charter)[1] is a constituent college of the University of London. Amongst the largest of the colleges of the University of London, Queen Mary’s 3,000 staff deliver degree programmes and research across 21 academic departments and institutes, within three sectors: Science and Engineering; Humanities, Social Sciences and Laws; and Medicine and Dentistry.

The College is a leading research-focused university, which was highly ranked in the official 2008 Research Assessment Exercise, placed 11th (The Guardian) and 13th (The Times Higher) nationally, out of 132 higher education institutions submitted. It has a strong international reputation, with 24 per cent of students coming from over 100 countries.[4][5][6] Queen Mary incorporates several leading international research units such as the Centre for Commercial Law Studies, the Interdisciplinary Research Centre in Biomedical Materials, as well as many centres for medical and dental teaching and research. In particular the University is very highly rated for English, Geography, Law, Linguistics and Medicine and Dentistry. Queen Mary has an annual turnover of £220 million, research income worth £43 million, and generates employment and output worth over £600 million to the UK economy each year. The College is known for student employability: The Sunday Times ranked it second highest in the UK for graduate starting salaries after the London School of Economics. A new learning resource centre with 24-hour access opened in 2003, and a new student village with 2,000 en-suite rooms followed in 2004. More residences and an arts quarter, containing research facilities, a conference centre, drama studio and teaching space, were completed in 2006. In September 2008 a £6-million health and fitness centre was also opened on the College’s Mile End campus. A £15-million Humanities building is due to open in spring 2010 and a biosciences innovation centre is already under construction, next door to the £44-million award-winning Blizard Building – a striking new part of Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry's campus in Whitechapel.

History

Queen Mary's origins lie in the mergers, over the years, of four older colleges: Queen Mary College, Westfield College, St Bartholomew's Hospital Medical College and the London Hospital Medical College. In 1989 Queen Mary merged with Westfield College to form Queen Mary & Westfield College. Although teaching began at the London Hospital Medical College in 1785, it did not become part of Queen Mary until 1995. In that same year the two medical schools merged together to form the School of Medicine and Dentistry at Queen Mary & Westfield College, but Barts and The London has, to some extent, retained its own identity. In 2000, the college adopted its present title of Queen Mary, University of London.

Queen Mary College

Formative years

Queen Mary College was founded in the mid Victorian era when growing awareness of conditions in London's East End led to drives to provide facilities for local inhabitants, popularised in the 1882 novel All Sorts of Conditions of Men - An Impossible Story by Walter Besant, which told of how a rich and clever couple from Mayfair went to the East End to build a "Palace of Delight, with concert halls, reading rooms, picture galleries, art and designing schools."[7] Although not directly responsible for the conception of the People's Palace, the novel did much to popularise it.

The trustees of the Beaumont Trust, administering funds left by Barber Beaumont, purchased the site of the former Bancroft's School from the Drapers' Company. On May 20 1885 the Drapers' Court of Assistants resolved to grant £20,000 "for the provision of the technical schools of the People's Palace."[8] The foundation stone was laid on June 28 1886 and on May 14 1887 Queen Victoria opened the palace's Queen's Hall as well as laying the foundation stone for the technical schools in the palace's east wing.

The technical schools were opened on October 5 1888, with the entire palace completed by 1892. When opening them, the Master of the Drapers' Company declared their aims to be "to improve the scientific and technical knowledge of apprentices and workmen engaged in industrial life". However others saw the technical schools as one day becoming a technical university for the East End.[9] The conflicting demands of pleasure and education were identified by the Assistant Charity Commissioner as early as 1891 and for the next forty years this was to dog the People's Palace. In 1892 the Drapers' Company provided £7000 a year for ten years to guarantee the educational side income.

Into the University of London

Part of the Charterhouse Square site

The classes reached a peak of 8000 tickets in 1892–1893 but fell to less than half for the following year, due to competition from the London School Board, despite the Palace's classes being more advanced. With the level of teaching grew, in 1895 John Hatton, Director of Evening Classes (1892–1896; later Director of Studies 1896–1908 and Principal 1908–1933) proposed introducing a course of study leading to the University of London (then a degree awarding body) Bachelor of Science degree. By the turn of the century the first degrees were awarded and Hatton, along with several other Professors, were recognised as Teachers of the University of London. In 1906 an application for Parliamentary funds "for the aid of Educational Institutions engaged in work of a University nature", led to the College being told it was "of the highest importance that there should be a School of the University in the faculties of Arts, Science and Engineering within easy reach of the very large population of the East End of London." The educational part of the People's Palace was admitted on an initial three year trial basis as a School of the University of London on May 15 1907 as East London College. In 1910 the College's status in the University was extended for a further five years, with unlimited membership achieved in May 1915. During this period the organisation of the governors of the People's Palace was rearranged, creating the separate People's Palace Committee and East London College Committee, both under the Palace Governors, as a sign of the growing separation of the two concepts within a single complex.[10]

During the First World War the College admitted students from the London Hospital Medical College who were preparing for the preliminary medical examination, the first step in a long process that would eventually bring the two institutions together. After the war, the College grew, albeit constrained by the rest of the People's Palace to the west and a burial ground immediately to the east. In 1920 it obtained both the Palace's Rotunda (now the Octagon) and rooms under the winter gardens at the west of the palace, which became chemical laboratories. The College's status was also unique, being the only School of the University of London that was subject to both the Charity Commissioners and the Board of Education. In April 1929 the College Council decided it would take the steps towards applying to the Privy Council for a Royal Charter, but on the advice of the Drapers' Company first devised a scheme for development and expansion, which recommended amongst other things to reamalgamate the People's Palace and the College, with guaranteed provision of the Queen's Hall for recreational purposes, offering at least freedom of governance if not in space.[11]

In the early hours of February 25 1931 a fire destroyed the Queen's Hall, though both the College and the winter gardens escaped. In the coming days discussions on reconstruction led to the proposal that the entire site be transferred to the College which would then apply for a Charter alone. The Drapers' Company obtained St Helen's Terrace, a row of six houses neighbouring the site, and in July 1931 it was agreed to give these over to the People's Palace for a new site adjacent to the old, which would now become entirely the domain of the College. Separation was now achieved. The Charter was now pursued, but the Academic Board asked for a name change, feeling that "East London" carried unfortunate associations that would hinder the College and its graduates. With the initial proposed name, "Queen's College", having already been taken by another institution and "Victoria College" felt to be unoriginal, "Queen Mary College" was settled on. The Charter of Incorporation was presented on December 12 1934 by Queen Mary herself.[12]

Under the Charter

The Queens' Building

During the Second World War the College was evacuated to Cambridge, where it shared with King's College. Meanwhile the Mile End site was requisitioned for war work and was for a time used as the Municipal Offices of Stepney Borough Council. After the war the College returned to London, facing many of the same problems but with prospects for westward expansion.[13]

The East End had suffered considerable bomb damage (although the College itself had incurred little) and consequently several areas of land near to the College site now became vacant. The former church of St Benets' to the immediate east of the College was now defunct and was demolished in 1950, with the space used to build a new block for physics, but most of the acquisitions in the immediate post war years were to the west of the college. Even the new People's Palace was no longer able to meet its needs and it was acquired by the College along with several pieces of land that together formed a significant continuous stretch along the Mile End Road. New buildings for engineering, biology and chemistry were built on the new sites, whilst the arts took over the space vacated in the original building, now renamed the Queens' Building (to reflect the support and patronage of both Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother).

Limited accommodation resulted in the acquisition of further land in South Woodford (now directly connected to Mile End tube station by means of the Central Line's eastward extension), upon which tower blocks were established. Consequently, student numbers continued to expand. The College also obtained the Co-operative Wholesale Society's clothing factory on the Mile End Road which was converted into a building for the Faculty of Laws (and some other teaching), despite being physically separated from what was now a campus to the west. [14]

From the mid 1960s until the mid 1980s the College was in a period of uncertainty and flux. Much planning was dominated by the "BLQ scheme" which proposed to link Queen Mary College with the London Hospital Medical College and St Bartholomew's Hospital Medical College with a joint facility in Mile End, but the land was not yet available. Over the period land that come onto the market was purchased with the intention to consolidate as soon as possible. The Queen Mary College Act 1973 was passed "to authorise the disposal of the Nuevo burial ground in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets and to authorise the use for other purposes thereof..." and gave the authority to disinter and reinter most of the graves to Dytchleys. A further link with both The London and St. Bartholomew's was made in 1974 when an anonymous donor provided for the establishment of a further hall of residence in Woodford, to be divided equally between Queen Mary College students and the two medical colleges.[15]

At the start of the 1980s changing demographics and finances caused much concern through the university sector and led to a reorganisation of the University of London. At Queen Mary some subjects, such as Russian and Classics were discontinued, whilst the College became one of five in the University with a concentration of laboratory sciences, including the transfer of science departments from Westfield College, Chelsea College, Queen Elizabeth College and Bedford College.[16]

From the mid 1980s onwards the College began expanding across the newly acquired land to the east, taking the campus to the Regent's Canal. A part of the burial ground remains to this day but the rest of the area has been absorbed by the College's expansion. The long planned Pre Clinical Medicine building for the BLQ Scheme finally materialised in the late 1980s, further strengthening the ties between the three colleges.[17] In 2007 parts of the School of Law — postgraduate facilities and the Centre for Commercial Law Studies— moved to premises in Lincoln's Inn Fields in central London.

Westfield College

Main article: Westfield College

Queen Mary & Westfield College

The arms of Queen Mary & Westfield College (prior to the merger with the medical schools), combining details from the arms of the two individual colleges. The triple crowns come from the arms of Queen Mary College, originating in the Drapers' arms.

Continued uncertainty about the future of Westfield College led to its merger with Queen Mary in 1989 to form Queen Mary & Westfield College (often abbreviated to QMW). Over subsequent years, activities were concentrated on the Queen Mary site, with the Westfield site eventually sold off.

Merger with the medical schools

A reorganisation of medical education within the University of London resulted in most of the freestanding medical schools being merged with existing large colleges to form multi-faculty institutions. In 1995 the London Hospital Medical College and St Bartholomew's Hospital Medical College merged together and into Queen Mary & Westfield College to form the entity now named Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry.

Public name change

In 2000 the college changed its name for general public use to Queen Mary, University of London. However the College's charter has not been reissued and its legal name remains Queen Mary & Westfield College.

Rankings and Research

In the official Research Assessment Exercise results published in December 2008, one of the few publications of official data that allow comparisons of academic excellence between universities, Queen Mary was ranked 11th nationally, according to an analysis by The Guardian newspaper, and 13th according to the Times Higher Education supplement, out of the 132 institutions submitted for the exercise. The Times Higher commented "the biggest star among the research-intensive institutions was Queen Mary, University of London, which went from 48th in 2001 to 13th in the 2008 Times Higher Education table, up 35 places."

Queen Mary is ranked third amongst University of London multi-faculty colleges and ahead of several Russell Group institutions, including King’s College London, Bristol, Sheffield, Leeds, Nottingham, Birmingham, Southampton, Liverpool and Newcastle.[18]

Queen Mary was ranked 99th in The Times Higher Education Supplement rankings of higher education institutions worldwide in 2006,[19] [20] The Times Higher Education Supplement's peer review-based separate table for the top 100 international Universities in Arts and Humanities subjects included Queen Mary in joint 21st place in the world, alongside University College London. The Shanghai Jiao Tong University's 2007 Academic Ranking of World Universities placed it 57 - 80 in Europe and 151 - 201 globally, putting it level with LSE, Durham and St. Andrews.[21] The 2007 CHE-ExcellenceRanking, examining the academic performance of graduate programs in natural sciences, placed Queen Mary in the European top group for biology and physics.[22] In addition, The Guardian Newspaper's League Tables placed it 12th in the UK in 2005, 42nd by The Times, 28th in 2006. Queen Mary has also been ranked the sixth best UK university for student employability. [23] - with the second highest UK graduate starting salary.[24]

UK University Rankings
2009 2008 2007 2006 2005 2004 2003 2002 2001 2000 1999 1998 1997 1996 1995 1994 1993
Times Good University Guide 37th[25] 42nd[26] 41st[27] 44th[28] 42nd 40th 39th 23rd= 25th 25th 28th 27th 46th= 42nd= 32nd 25th= 39th
Guardian University Guide 47th[29] 41st 29th 29th[30] 12th[31] 35th[32] 45th[33]
Sunday Times University Guide 38th[34] 34th[35] 32nd[36] 34th[35] 42nd[35] 40th[35] 39th[35] 35th[35] 36th[35] 40th[35] 37th[35]
Daily Telegraph 39th[37] 64th
FT 39th[38] 22nd=[39] 28th[40] 19th[41]
Independent - Complete University Guide 34th[42] 39th[42]

Academic Strengths

In the 2008 official Research Assessment Exercise, according to rankings published in the Times Higher Education, Queen Mary was placed in the top five nationally, including:

• Linguistics (ranked 1st ahead of UCL, Oxford and Cambridge) • Geography (ranked 1st equal with Bristol, Cambridge, Durham and Oxford) • Drama, dance and performing arts (ranked 1st for Drama, but 2nd equal in the unit of assessment with the department ahead of Queen Mary not being entered for Drama) • Dentistry (ranked 2nd ahead of KCL and UCL) • English Language and Literature (ranked 2nd ahead of UCL, Oxford and Cambridge) • Epidemiology and public health (ranked 3rd ahead of Oxford, UCL and Bristol) • Pre-clinical and human biological sciences (ranked 4th ahead of KCL, Bristol and Nottingham) • Health Services Research (ranked 4th ahead of Oxford, UCL and KCL) • Cancer studies (ranked 5th equal ahead of Oxford, Imperial, KCL and UCL).

Queen Mary was also placed in the highest quartile in: • Law • Iberian Languages • History • Computer Science • Economics and Econometrics • Other hospital-based clinical subjects

In addition, Queen Mary has recorded substantial achievements in a number of other competitive subjects, including Russian, French, Materials, Politics, Pure Maths and Electronic Engineering. Business and Management, despite being a new department that was not entered at all in the 2001 RAE, has equalled the Cass Business School at City University in the Times Higher RAE ranking, coming within the top half of business schools.

Full accounts from the Guardian and Times Higher Education can be found at :http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/table/2008/dec/18/rae-2008-results-uk-universities and www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/Journals/THE/THE/18_December_2008/attachments/RAE2008_THE_RESULTS.pdf For the full results see: www.rae.ac.uk.

University of London Institute in Paris

Queen Mary collaborates with Royal Holloway, University of London to help run programmes at a remote college of the University of London in Paris, France, known as the University of London Institute in Paris (ULIP). This offers undergraduate and graduate students the chance to study University of London ratified French Studies degrees in France.

Notable staff

Notable alumni


In addition, the musician Pete Doherty attended Queen Mary, but left before completing his course.

Students' accommodation

Many QMUL students are accommodated in the college's own halls of residence or other accommodation; QMUL students are also eligible to apply for places in the University of London intercollegiate halls of residence, such as Connaught Hall. Most students in college or university accommodation are first-year undergraduates or international students. The majority of second and third-year students and postgraduates find their own accommodation in the private sector. [citation needed]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b "Financial Statements 2004-2005" (PDF). Queen Mary, University of London. Retrieved 2006-11-18. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |work= (help)
  2. ^ "Table 0a - All students by institution, mode of study, level of study, gender and domicile 2005/06". Higher Education Statistics Agency online statistics. Retrieved 2007-09-24.
  3. ^ "Queen Mary, University of London Notable Alumni and Staff". Retrieved 2007-09-23.
  4. ^ Queen Mary, University of London - A-Z Unis & Colleges , Getting Into University - Independent.co.uk
  5. ^ Queen Mary College
  6. ^ "Table 0a - All students by institution, mode of study, level of study, gender and domicile 2005/06". Higher Education Statistics Agency online statistics. Retrieved 2007-09-24.There are 8855 home students (1560 postgraduates, 7295 undergraduates), 715 European Union students (380 postgraduates, 335 undergraduates) and 2055 students from outside the EU (1115 postgraduates, 940 undergraduates).
  7. ^ G. P. Moss and M. V. Saville From Palace to College - An illustrated account of Queen Mary College (University of London) (1985) pages 15-17 ISBN 0-902238-06-X
  8. ^ G. P. Moss and M. V. Saville From Palace to College - An illustrated account of Queen Mary College (University of London) (1985) page 21 ISBN 0-902238-06-X
  9. ^ G. P. Moss and M. V. Saville From Palace to College - An illustrated account of Queen Mary College (University of London) (1985) page 37 ISBN 0-902238-06-X
  10. ^ G. P. Moss and M. V. Saville From Palace to College - An illustrated account of Queen Mary College (University of London) (1985) pages 39-48 ISBN 0-902238-06-X
  11. ^ G. P. Moss and M. V. Saville From Palace to College - An illustrated account of Queen Mary College (University of London) (1985) pages 49-57 ISBN 0-902238-06-X
  12. ^ G. P. Moss and M. V. Saville From Palace to College - An illustrated account of Queen Mary College (University of London) (1985) pages 57-62 ISBN 0-902238-06-X
  13. ^ G. P. Moss and M. V. Saville From Palace to College - An illustrated account of Queen Mary College (University of London) (1985) pages 75-85 ISBN 0-902238-06-X
  14. ^ G. P. Moss and M. V. Saville From Palace to College - An illustrated account of Queen Mary College (University of London) (1985) pages 86-102 ISBN 0-902238-06-X
  15. ^ G. P. Moss and M. V. Saville From Palace to College - An illustrated account of Queen Mary College (University of London) (1985) pages 103-117 ISBN 0-902238-06-X
  16. ^ G. P. Moss and M. V. Saville From Palace to College - An illustrated account of Queen Mary College (University of London) (1985) pages 117-130 ISBN 0-902238-06-X
  17. ^ G. P. Moss and M. V. Saville From Palace to College - An illustrated account of Queen Mary College (University of London) (1985) pages 131-146 ISBN 0-902238-06-X
  18. ^ Full accounts from the Guardian and [and www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/Journals/THE/THE/18_December_2008/attachments/RAE2008_THE_RESULTS.pdf Times Higher Education]. RAE full results
  19. ^ http://www.fc.ethz.ch/facts/ir/rankings/thes_ranking/THES_World_University_Rankings_2004.pdf/Kong
  20. ^ THES - QS World University Ranking 2007
  21. ^ http://ed.sjtu.edu.cn/rank/2007/ARWU2007_102-202.htm Academic Ranking of World Universities 2007
  22. ^ http://www.che.de/downloads/CHE_ExcellenceRanking_AP99.pdf
  23. ^ "Queen Mary in top 10 UK universities for student employability". Queen Mary, University of London press release. Retrieved 2006-11-18. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |work= (help)
  24. ^ "Table: Best graduate starting salaries". The Sunday Times University Guide 2005 press release. Retrieved 2006-11-18.
  25. ^ http://extras.timesonline.co.uk/tol_gug/gooduniversityguide.php
  26. ^ "The Times Good University Guide 2008". The Times. Retrieved 2007-11-03.
  27. ^ "The Times Good University Guide 2007 - Top Universities 2007 League Table". The Times. Retrieved 2007-11-03.
  28. ^ "The Times Top Universities". The Times. Retrieved 2007-11-03.
  29. ^ "University ranking by institution". The Guardian. Retrieved 2007-10-29.
  30. ^ "University ranking by institution". The Guardian. Retrieved 2007-10-29.
  31. ^ "University ranking by institution". The Guardian.
  32. ^ "University ranking by institution 2004". The Guardian. Retrieved 2009-01-19.
  33. ^ "University ranking by institution". The Guardian 2003 (University Guide 2004).
  34. ^ "The Sunday Times University League Table". The Sunday Times. Retrieved 2008-10-08.
  35. ^ a b c d e f g h i "University ranking based on performance over 10 years" (PDF). Times Online. 2007. Retrieved 2008-04-28.
  36. ^ "The Sunday Times University League Table" (PDF). The Sunday Times. Retrieved 2007-11-03.
  37. ^ "University league table". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 2007-10-29.
  38. ^ "The FT 2003 University ranking". Financial Times 2003.
  39. ^ "FT league table 2001". FT league tables 2001.
  40. ^ "FT league table 1999-2000" (PDF). FT league tables 1999-2000.
  41. ^ "FT league table 2000". FT league tables 2000.
  42. ^ a b "The Independent University League Table". The Independent.
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