University of Nottingham

The university’s antecedents include the Adult School, established in 1798, and the University Extension Lectures inaugurated by the University of CambridgeUniversity of CambridgeThe University of Cambridge is a university in Cambridge, England, United Kingdom. It gives 1209 as its founding date, is made up of Schools, Faculties, Departments and autonomous Colleges, and is a member of the Russell Group.Open the full entry in 1873.⁠[1]

University College, Nottingham was founded in 1877 after an anonymous benefactor offered £10,000 on condition that the council erect a suitable building and give the college £4,000 a year; on September 27, 1877, the former Prime Minister W E Gladstone laid the foundation stone of the college building in Shakespeare Street, and construction began.⁠[2][1][3]

In 1881 Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany, opened the college building, and the college began teaching as the city centre’s first civic college, with four professors, of literature, physics, chemistry and natural science, and admitting students aged 14 and over.⁠[1][3][2]

In 1884 Henry Savile became the first student of the college to be awarded a BA, as an external candidate of the University of London. In 1887 a Board of Professors was created along with the post of Principal, first held by Frank Clowes; in 1890 the Reverend John Elliotson Symes became the second principal, the college was established as a day training college for teachers, and engineering and technical classes began. New buildings behind the original college in Shakespeare Street opened in 1893.⁠[2]

The college was incorporated by charter in 1903, and its Council and Court of Governors were established in 1904.⁠[1][2]

In 1920 Sir Jesse Boot made the first of his donations to the college, including £30,000 for a new campus building fund and £20,000 to endow a chair of chemistry; in 1922 he gave 35 acres of land at Highfields for the new campus.⁠[2][3]

In 1928 the college moved to what is now the main University Park campus, initially occupying the Trent Building, which King George V opened on July 10, 1928; he and Queen Mary opened the University Park campus, and that year the college launched an endowment appeal aimed at raising £250,000. Visiting lecturers in the early years at University Park included Albert Einstein, Mahatma Gandhi and H G Wells.⁠[1][2][3]

In 1939 the University of London’s Institute of Education and Goldsmiths’ College were evacuated to University College, Nottingham.⁠[2]

On August 20, 1948, the college was granted a royal charter founding the University of Nottingham, with the power to award its own degrees; the Midland Agricultural College at Sutton Bonington had been merged into the University College from April 1, 1947, as its School of Agriculture. The main site grew from 135 acres in 1948 to 306 acres by 1958.⁠[1][3]

The university established its Medical School in 1970, which it describes as the UK’s first medical school of the 20th century.⁠[3]

The Russell Group was founded in 1994; the university describes itself as a founding member of both the Russell Group and Universitas 21.⁠[4][5][6][7]

On August 1, 1995, the Mid-Trent School of Nursing and Midwifery merged with the university, which formed its School of Nursing following the merger.⁠[1][3]

The £50 million Jubilee Campus opened in 1999, and its second phase followed in March 2009.⁠[3]

In 2000 the University of Nottingham Malaysia opened in the MISC building in Kuala Lumpur, which the university describes as the first overseas branch campus of a British university; it was officially launched in September 2000 with its first cohort of students, and its first cohort graduated in 2002.⁠[8][1]

In 2001 the Malaysia campus set up a local campus in Semenyih, where its purpose-built park campus opened in September 2005. In 2006 it opened the Kuala Lumpur Teaching Centre in Chulan Tower.⁠[8][3]

In 2003 the university opened a new campus at Derby City General Hospital.⁠[3]

The University of Nottingham Ningbo China was founded in 2004 with the approval of China’s Ministry of Education and registered its first students in Ningbo in September 2004; its purpose-built campus, part of a joint venture, was formally opened in February 2006, and the university describes it as the first independent campus of a foreign university in China. The Ningbo institution describes itself as the first Sino-foreign cooperative university in China with independent legal personality and has nearly 10,000 enrolled students.⁠[1][3][9]

In March 2005 the King’s Meadow Campus opened in the former Carlton Television Studios.⁠[3]

The School of Veterinary Medicine and Science admitted its first students in September 2006 and was officially opened in April 2007; the university describes it as the first purpose-built new veterinary school opened in the UK in 50 years.⁠[3]

Baroness Young of Hornsey (Lola Young) has been Chancellor since February 6, 2020, succeeding Sir Andrew Witty, former chief executive of GlaxoSmithKline, who served from 2013 to 2017. An author, actor and peer, Young has sat in the House of Lords as an independent Crossbench member since 2004, working on legislation to eliminate modern slavery, and in 2018 was given an honorary professorship with the university’s Rights Lab and School of Politics and International Relations.⁠[10][11]

Jane Norman became the university’s 8th President and Vice-Chancellor on January 1, 2025. She had been its Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Provost since December 2022, and earlier served as Dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences at the University of BristolUniversity of BristolThe University of Bristol is a research university in Bristol, England, United Kingdom. It began as University College, Bristol, which opened in 1876, became a university under a royal charter in 1909 and is a member of the Russell Group.Open the full entry (2019–2022), Vice Principal for People and Culture at the University of EdinburghUniversity of EdinburghThe University of Edinburgh is a research university in Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded by the Town Council in 1583, it is one of Scotland’s four ancient universities and a member of the Russell Group.Open the full entry (2013–2019) and Regius Professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at the University of GlasgowUniversity of GlasgowThe University of Glasgow is a research university in Glasgow, Scotland. Founded in 1451, it describes itself as the fourth oldest university in the UK, and it is a member of the Russell Group.Open the full entry (2007–2008).⁠[12]

On November 2, 2026, the university officially named and opened the Lady Carol Djanogly Clinical Teaching Centre, which it describes as one of the largest facilities of its kind in the country. The centre houses the Martin Totty Immersive Suite, an immersive simulated operating theatre, seven other simulation suites, a clinical skills teaching zone, collaborative classrooms and two simulated hospital wards with seven beds each; it was supported by the Office for Students and the donors Sir Harry Djanogly and Martin Totty.⁠[13]

In the financial year ended July 31, 2025, the university group’s total income was £862.1 million (2024: £849.4 million), including £453.1 million in tuition fees and £140.4 million in research income. It recorded a deficit of £76.8 million (2024: surplus of £220.7 million), including impairments of £74.8 million relating mainly to Castle Meadow Campus and King’s Meadow Campus and one-off restructuring costs of £11.3 million.⁠[14]

In 2003 Sir Peter Mansfield shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Paul Lauterbur of the University of Illinois for his work on the application of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI); the importance of his work had led to the founding of the university’s Magnetic Resonance Centre in 1991, and it is now named the Sir Peter Mansfield Magnetic Resonance Centre. In the same year Clive Granger, who spent 22 years at Nottingham as an undergraduate, lecturer and professor before moving to the University of California, San Diego, received the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences.⁠[15]

University of Nottingham: Official website: https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/ (opens in a new window).⁠[16]

University of Nottingham Malaysia: Official website: https://www.nottingham.edu.my/ (opens in a new window).⁠[8]

University of Nottingham Ningbo China: Official website: https://www.nottingham.edu.cn/ (opens in a new window).⁠[9]

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/university-of-nottingham/ (opens in a new window).⁠[16]

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/channel/UCzdaFtpPWb-Pn6oYXQTCnxA (opens in a new window).⁠[16]