University of Sheffield

In 1811 Hall Overend, a Sheffield surgeon-apothecary, began training medical students. In 1812 Dr Arnold Knight founded the Sheffield Medical Institution, the precursor of today’s Medical School, which opened on Surrey Street on July 2. In 1828 the rival medical schools merged and a publicly funded joint Medical School opened; the university describes it as the oldest provider of higher or professional education in Sheffield.⁠[1]

The Sheffield School of Medicine was the oldest of the three predecessor institutions, but its early history was insecure; it was saved when Firth College took over the teaching of the basic sciences to medical students.⁠[2]

In 1879 Mark Firth, a local steel manufacturer, established Firth College as a centre for teaching arts and science; it grew out of the Cambridge UniversityUniversity 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 Extension Movement.⁠[2]

In 1884 the Sheffield Technical School was established as Firth College’s technical department in response to local demand for technical training in industries such as steelmaking; in 1886 it moved to the site of the old Grammar School at St George’s Square.⁠[2]

In 1897 the three institutions were amalgamated by royal charter to form the University College of Sheffield, as part of a plan to join the federal Victoria University. By 1900 the federal university was disintegrating, and within a few years independent universities were formed from its three university colleges.⁠[2][3]

In 1904 the university appealed to the people of Sheffield for funds, and more than £50,000 was raised, much of it in penny donations from steel and factory workers and residents. On May 31, 1905, the university was granted its royal charter. In July 1905 King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra opened the Firth Court building on Western Bank; applied science remained at St George’s Square, while arts, medicine and science were based at Western Bank. There were 114 full-time students that year.⁠[2]

The university states that its legal status derives from the royal charter granted in 1905.⁠[4]

On June 6, 1905, the Medical Faculty resolved to admit female students for the first time; in 1916 Lydia Henry became its first female medical graduate.⁠[1]

The Edgar Allen library opened in 1909.⁠[2]

During the First World War some of the university’s teaching and research shifted to munitions, medical appliance design and politics. In 1919 large numbers of ex-servicemen were admitted and full-time enrolment briefly peaked at about 1,000, by which time the first hall of residence, the original Stephenson Hall, had been established. Between the wars full-time numbers settled at about 750. The Second World War brought research and training in areas including radar, vitamins, anaesthetics and naval cartography.⁠[2]

The Main Library was built in 1959. The 1960s brought the Arts Tower, the Hicks Building, the Alfred Denny Building, University House, the Students’ Union building and five halls of residence; the 1970s added buildings for Geography and Psychology, the Crookesmoor Building and the Royal Hallamshire Hospital; the 1980s saw the Octagon Centre and the Sir Henry Stephenson Building for engineering open; and in the 1990s new premises for Clinical Dentistry, the Management School and the Division of Education were completed.⁠[2]

In 1973 the Medical School moved to Beech Hill Road, and in 1978 the Royal Hallamshire Hospital opened to mark the school’s 150th anniversary.⁠[1]

The university was one of the 17 original members of the Russell Group, which was established in 1994.⁠[5][6]

In 1995 the Sheffield and North Trent College of Nursing and Midwifery was integrated into the university, followed by a building programme for nursing and midwifery.⁠[2]

The University of Sheffield Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (AMRC) was founded in 2001. It was conceived by Professor Keith Ridgway of the university and businessman Adrian Allen while working on a project with BoeingBoeingBoeing is an American company that provides commercial airplanes, defense and space systems, and aviation services, and is listed on the New York Stock Exchange.Open the full entry, with help from John Baragwanath and Richard Caborn. It now has more than 500 researchers and engineers and works with SMEs, start-ups and large manufacturers.⁠[7]

Dame Anne Rafferty served as Chancellor from 2015 until November 2025.⁠[8][9]

Koen Lamberts joined the university as President and Vice-Chancellor in November 2018, having previously held the same position at the University of YorkUniversity of YorkThe University of York is a collegiate research university in York, England, United Kingdom. It was incorporated by royal charter and admitted its first students in 1963, and it joined the Russell Group in 2012.Open the full entry. Born in Hasselt, Belgium, he holds undergraduate degrees in philosophy (1985) and psychology (1987) and a PhD in experimental psychology (1992) from the University of Leuven. After a research appointment at the University of Chicago, he became a lecturer at the University of BirminghamUniversity of BirminghamThe University of Birmingham is a research university in Birmingham, England. It grew out of Mason Science College, founded by Josiah Mason in 1875, received its Royal Charter from Queen Victoria in 1900 and is a member of the Russell Group.Open the full entry in 1992 and was Professor of Cognitive Science at the University of WarwickUniversity of WarwickThe University of Warwick is a research university in Coventry, England, United Kingdom. It received its royal charter in 1965 and is a member of the Russell Group.Open the full entry from 2000 to 2013, where he also served as Faculty Chair for Science, Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Research (Science and Medicine) and Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Provost.⁠[10][11]

In October 2024 The Princess Royal officially opened the university’s Gene Therapy Innovation and Manufacturing Centre (GTIMC).⁠[12]

In May 2025 the university officially launched Runway Park, a planned 100-acre, innovation-led development building on its existing Innovation District.⁠[12]

University of Sheffield academics founded the Women’s HealthTech Innovation Network in November 2025.⁠[13]

On March 31, 2025, the university announced that alumnus Andy Haldane would become its ninth Chancellor, and he was installed on January 12, 2026, during a graduation ceremony, the first time a Sheffield Chancellor had been installed at a graduation. Haldane graduated from the university in 1988 with a BA in Accounting and Financial Management and Economics. He worked at the Bank of England from 1989 to 2021, rising to Chief Economist and Executive Director of Monetary Analysis and Statistics and serving on the Monetary Policy Committee until June 2021; he became Chief Executive of the Royal Society of Arts in September 2021, was Permanent Secretary for Levelling Up at the Cabinet Office from September 2021 to March 2022, and chairs the AMRC’s Industrial Board.⁠[8][9]

In the 2024–25 financial year ended July 31, 2025, the university’s total income was £850.1 million (underlying income of £805.7 million, down £56 million on the previous year), including £204.2 million from research grants and contracts and £355.8 million from tuition fees and education contracts, with international tuition fee income down 22%. It recorded a surplus of £0.9 million before other gains and losses and an underlying operating deficit of £11.5 million. During the year it introduced a voluntary severance scheme expected to save £20 million a year, incurred restructuring costs of £12.4 million and deliberately reduced investment in its estate, spending £69 million. The annual report puts student numbers at more than 27,000 across five faculties.⁠[12]

The university is ranked 82nd in the world and 14th in the UK in the QS World University Rankings 2027, 104th in the world and 12th in the UK in the Times Higher EducationTimes Higher EducationTimes Higher Education (THE) is a London-based higher education news and data company. It grew out of the Times Higher Education Supplement, launched in 1971, and is best known for its World University Rankings, founded in 2004; it has been owned by the private equity firm Inflexion since 2019.Open the full entry World University Rankings 2027, 13th in the UK in the Complete University Guide 2027 and 15th in the UK in the Guardian University Guide 2027. In the Research Excellence Framework 2021, 92 per cent of its research was rated in the top two categories. It has received five Queen’s Anniversary Prizes.⁠[14][4]

The university lists six Nobel laureates: Howard Florey (Physiology or Medicine, 1945), Joseph Hunter Chair of Pathology from 1932 to 1935; Sir Hans Krebs (Physiology or Medicine, 1953), Lecturer in Pharmacology from 1935 to 1945 and Professor of Biochemistry from 1945 to 1954; Lord Porter of Luddenham (Chemistry, 1967), Professor of Physical Chemistry from 1955 to 1966; Sir Richard Roberts (Physiology or Medicine, 1993), who earned a BSc in chemistry in 1965 and a PhD in 1968; Sir Harry Kroto (Chemistry, 1996), who earned a BSc in chemistry in 1961 and a PhD in 1964; and Sir Fraser Stoddart (Chemistry, 2016), ICI Research Fellow and then Lecturer from 1970 to 1978 and Reader in Chemistry from 1981 to 1990.⁠[15]

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

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-sheffield/ (opens in a new window).⁠[16]