Newcastle University

In 1834 a School of Medicine and Surgery was founded in the Barber Surgeon’s Company Hall in Newcastle to meet demand for surgeons and doctors, with doctors beginning to teach medicine there; the university dates its origins to that year.⁠[1][2]

In 1880 this medical teaching became the Durham University College of Medicine.⁠[2]

In 1871, following campaigning by the North of England Institute of Mining and Mechanical Engineers (NEIMME), the College of Physical Science was established in Newcastle as part of Durham University. Born of the need to train mining engineers, it focused on the practical applications of science and engineering for local industries such as shipbuilding, steel, mining and agriculture.⁠[3][1][4]

The university states that the college had eight teaching staff and 173 students in its first year.⁠[3]

In 1904 the College of Physical Science was renamed Armstrong College in honour of the local industrialist and philanthropist Lord William Armstrong, a scientist, engineer and inventor noted for advances in hydraulics, whose home at Cragside was the first in the world to be lit by hydroelectricity.⁠[3]

In 1908 an Act of Parliament set up the federal Durham University, dividing its colleges into a Durham Division and a Newcastle Division; the Newcastle Division comprised the College of Medicine and Armstrong College.⁠[5][1]

In 1937 Armstrong College merged with the School of Medicine and Surgery, the other Durham University college in Newcastle, to form King’s College, bringing medicine and engineering together in one college. King’s College pioneered applied sciences of regional importance such as geology, mining, naval architecture, engineering and agriculture.⁠[3][1]

In 1957 the Computing Laboratory was created, initially to provide computing support to researchers in both Durham and Newcastle. The university states that Newcastle then became the first British university to teach a course in computer programming to undergraduates.⁠[3]

With the two divisions about 15 miles apart, several proposals had been made for a university or university college in Newcastle. On January 29, 1960, the Academic Board of the Newcastle Division backed the creation of a University of Newcastle to replace King’s College. A bill then passed through Parliament as the Universities of Durham and Newcastle upon Tyne Act 1963.⁠[5]

Thursday, August 1, 1963 was the Appointed Day on which the University of Newcastle upon Tyne came into existence, with King’s College becoming the new university. That day the Lord Mayor of Newcastle, Harry Simm, visited and presented a Lindisfarne silver salver, and the new university’s Court, Council and Senate held formal meetings; the Senate of the University of Newcastle upon Tyne held its first meeting on August 8, 1963.⁠[5][1]

In 1964 Hugh Percy, 10th Duke of Northumberland, was installed in King’s Hall as the university’s first Chancellor.⁠[2]

On May 7, 1965, Prime Minister Harold Wilson officially opened Merz Court, which has since housed Chemical Engineering and Electrical Engineering.⁠[3]

On November 13, 1967, the university awarded Martin Luther King an honorary Doctor of Civil Law. The university states that it was the only UK university to honour him in this way during his lifetime and regards the day as one of the most important moments in its history.⁠[6]

The Dental School and Hospital opened in 1978. Construction of a new Medical School building began in early 1979, and it was formally opened by the Queen Mother on November 6, 1984.⁠[2]

In 1994 the university was one of the 17 founding members of the Russell Group.⁠[7][8]

Since February 2006 the university has used Newcastle University as its trading title; its legal name remains the University of Newcastle upon Tyne.⁠[9]

In 2011 the university opened a branch campus, Newcastle University Medicine Malaysia (NUMed), in the south of Johor, Malaysia, across from Singapore. It offers the MBBS degree following the same curriculum as in Newcastle, along with Biomedical Sciences, Medical Education and Foundation in Science programmes.⁠[10]

In July 2016 the university announced that Chris Day, Pro-Vice-Chancellor for the Faculty of Medical Sciences, would become Vice-Chancellor from January 2017, succeeding Chris Brink on his retirement in December 2016. Day had led the medical faculty since 2007 and earlier headed the School of Clinical Medical Sciences. The university archives describe him as its seventh Vice-Chancellor.⁠[11][2]

From 2023 to 2026 Chris Day served as Chair of the Russell Group.⁠[12]

In June 2018 the Urban Sciences Building at Newcastle Helix, formerly Science Central, was opened by Matt Hancock, Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, who unveiled a digital plaque in place of a traditional one. The building houses the School of Computing and is the hub of the UK’s first Urban Observatory; fitted with more than 1,000 sensors, it serves as a testbed for city technologies. Newcastle Helix is a partnership between the university, Newcastle City Council and Legal & General.⁠[13]

In 2019 the Pakistani-born poet Imtiaz Dharker became the university’s eighth Chancellor. Because of the pandemic, her formal installation was delayed until July 12, 2022, when it took place in King’s Hall.⁠[2][14]

In May 2021 the university’s newest building, the Dame Margaret Barbour Building, was officially opened by the business pioneer and philanthropist Dame Margaret Barbour. The six-storey building of about 9,000 square metres includes a 300-seat lecture theatre and provides teaching space for the whole university as well as specialist facilities for sport and exercise science, human nutrition and dietetics, psychology and medical education. The Barbour Foundation has supported the university since 2012 with gifts totalling more than £5 million for research in areas such as childhood cancer and dementia.⁠[15]

In November 2023 the redeveloped Stephenson Building completed its first phase and welcomed engineering students, adding collaborative learning spaces, specialist research facilities and offices; the second phase was scheduled for completion in autumn 2024.⁠[16]

The university states that the £70 million project creates an 18,000-square-metre engineering hub on the original footprint for education, research, innovation and industrial collaboration; the original building, designed in the 1940s, had been home to more than 25,000 engineering students.⁠[17]

In the 2025–26 academic year the university had 27,260 students, including 1,483 at its overseas campuses, of whom 22,323 were undergraduates and 4,937 postgraduates. As of July 31, 2025, it employed 6,463 staff, including 2,976 academic staff. In 2024–25 it awarded 10,858 degrees.⁠[18]

In the financial year ended July 31, 2025, total income was £636.9 million, including £319.2 million from academic fees and support grants, £133.8 million from research grants and contracts and £88.1 million in funding council grants; total expenditure for the same period was £639.7 million.⁠[18]

The university has three faculties, Humanities and Social Sciences, Medical Sciences, and Science, Agriculture and Engineering, and campuses in Newcastle, Malaysia and Singapore; the Singapore campus offers engineering and technology programmes at all levels.⁠[19]

In 2025–26 the Faculty of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences had 12,084 students, Science, Agriculture and Engineering 7,711 (including 704 in Singapore) and Medical Sciences 7,465 (including 779 in Malaysia).⁠[18]

The university is governed in accordance with the Universities of Durham and Newcastle upon Tyne Act 1963; its current Statutes were approved by the Privy Council on July 24, 2023. Under the Statutes, the Chancellor is the ceremonial head of the university, appointed by Convocation on the nomination of the Court and the Senate, and the Vice-Chancellor is the chief academic and executive officer, appointed by the Council. The university is an exempt charity under Schedule 3 of the Charities Act 2011, with the Office for Students as its principal regulator.⁠[20][9]

The university’s principal officers include Pat Ritchie, Chair of Council and Pro-Chancellor; Nigel Harkness, Deputy Vice-Chancellor; and Colin Campbell, Registrar.⁠[21]

The university states that its Thousand Families Study, launched in 1947, followed children born in Newcastle to examine how poverty and early-life experience affect long-term wellbeing, and that in 1960 Newcastle scientists identified the major biochemical defect associated with Alzheimer’s disease. Its researchers have played a central role in genetics, stem-cell science and diabetes research, including mitochondrial replacement treatment, an IVF technique to prevent inherited incurable disorders that was licensed in the UK in 2017, and its scientists helped develop the ovarian cancer drug Rubraca.⁠[22]

Newcastle University: Official website: https://www.ncl.ac.uk/ (opens in a new window).⁠[23]

LinkedInLinkedInLinkedIn is a social networking platform for professionals. It was founded in 2002 by Reid Hoffman and others, launched in 2003, and listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 2011; after Microsoft acquired it for approximately $26.2 billion in 2016, it became a wholly owned Microsoft subsidiary. Its revenue comes from membership subscriptions, advertising, and recruitment solutions.Open the full entry: Public profile: https://www.linkedin.com/school/newcastle-university/ (opens in a new window).⁠[24]

YouTubeYouTubeYouTube is Google’s video-sharing and creator platform, founded in 2005 by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim and acquired by Google in 2006. Built around video uploading, viewing, and creator earnings, the platform has developed Shorts, YouTube Music, Premium, YouTube TV, and products for children, and is headquartered in San Bruno, California, United States.Open the full entry: Public channel: https://www.youtube.com/@newcastleuni (opens in a new window).⁠[24]