University of Hertfordshire

The University of Hertfordshire is a British new university based largely in Hatfield, in the county of Hertfordshire, England, from which the university takes its name. It has more than 27,000 students and 2358 staff, 812 of which are academic members of staff. It has over 5200 international students and a global network of over 160,000 alumni. Hatfield is known for being the birthplace of the modern jet airliner with the de Havilland Comet.

Throughout its history, the university has been strong in aerospace engineering and computer science. More recently, it has built up its strengths in other areas such as pharmacology, history, business, geography and astrophysics. The university is ranked 9th for physics by the Guardian University guide for 2011. The university has a unique history in training aerospace engineers.

Origins
In 1951, the de Havilland company gave land in Hatfield adjoining the A1 to Hertfordshire County Council for educational use in perpetuity; in 1952, the Council used this to build and operate Hatfield Technical College which would train engineers for Hatfield’s aerospace industry. In 1958, Hatfield Technical College was redesignated as Hatfield College of Technology.

20th Century
Hatfield College of Technology became a polytechnic offering degrees in technology in 1969. The renamed Hatfield Polytechnic was given corporate status in 1989, giving it more control over how it was run. In 1992, the institution was awarded university status and became self-governing, adopting the name of University of Hertfordshire.

21st Century
2003 saw the de Havilland campus open, as well as the opening of the Hertfordshire Sports Village. 2005 saw the University launch The Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire Postgraduate Medical School and the School of Pharmacy to enhance medical education, training and research in the region. 2006 saw the university open new School of Film, Music and Media. The university officially opened the MacLaurin building in 2007, named in honour of its former Chancellor Lord MacLaurin, designed to support its business facing activities. This was followed by the University opening a new Law Building in 2011. The university is a lead academic sponsor of Elstree University Technical College, a new university technical college which is due to open in September 2013.

Organisation and administration
The Board of Governors has overall responsibility for running the University, while the Academic Board is responsible for academic quality and standards, academic policies, research and scholarship. The Vice-Chancellor oversees the day-to-day running of the University. The current Chancellor of the university is Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 7th Marquess of Salisbury and the Vice-Chancellor is Quintin Mckellar.

Schools
The university has ten academic schools:
 * Computer Science
 * Creative Arts
 * Education
 * Engineering and Technology
 * Health and Social Work
 * Hertfordshire Business School
 * Humanities
 * Law
 * Life and Medical Sciences
 * Physics, Astronomy and Mathematics

Campuses and facilities
The university is primarily based on two campuses, College Lane and de Havilland.

College Lane Campus
The main site of the university remains the College Lane campus, which houses the original Hatfield Technical College building. Notable among these is the Learning Resources Centre, a combined library and computer centre. There is also a substantial collection of halls of residence and student houses, and the University of Hertfordshire Students' Union based on this campus. The University of Hertfordshire is also home to HIBT and Hertfordshire Intensive Care & Emergency Simulation Centre (HICESC). HIBT is part of the Navitas group, providing a direct pathway for international students to the University.

de Havilland Campus
The £120-million de Havilland campus opened in September 2003 and is situated within 15 minutes walk of College Lane, and is built on a former BAe site. This campus also has its own Learning Resources Centre, a combined library and computer centre. Hertfordshire Sports Village which includes a gym, swimming pool, squash courts is also on this site.

Bayfordbury Campus
A fourth site in Bayfordbury houses the university's astronomical and atmospheric physics remote sensing observatory, Science Learning Centre for the East of England and geography/biology field stations.

Academic dress
The University of Hertfordshire prescribes academic dress for its members. Both dress and undress are prescribed, though only dress is used in practice - for example, at the graduation ceremonies, held in St Albans Cathedral.

Coat of arms
The University's coat of arms was granted in 1992. The shield is charged with an oak tree taken from the coat of arms of the former Hatfield Rural District, the constellation Perseus (containing the binary star Algol) and a representation of the letter "H" recalling the emblem of the former Hatfield Polytechnic. The crest, a Phoenix rising from an astral crown, represents the University's evolution from a technical college training apprentices for the aviation industry. The two harts supporting the shield represent the County of Hertfordshire, with the covered cups referring to A.S. Butler, who donated the land upon which the original campus was built. A scroll bears the motto "Seek Knowledge Throughout Life".

Ceremonial mace
The ceremonial mace was produced in 1999 by craftsman Martyn Pugh. Its design supposedly symbolises the University's origins, expertise and associations. Its shape is inspired by the shape of an aeroplane wing symbolising the university's origin in the aviation industry. The head of the mace is engraved with zodiac symbols representing the university's contribution to astronomy and also contains the DNA double helix representing the biological sciences and microprocessor chips representing information and communications technology.

Current Rankings
University of Hertfordshire ranks 301-350 among world universities by Times Higher Education. This has been maintained since 2010. It also ranks 75th globally on Times Higher Education 100 Under 50, a global ranking of the top 100 world universities under 50 years old. The university is ranked 52nd in the top 100 most international universities in the world.

According to the National Student survey the University of Hertfordshire has a score of 82 out of 100, for overall student satisfaction. This is below the national average of 85 out of 100.

The Sunday Times has ranked the university 15th place, out of the 19 universities, based in the south east of England.

As one of the UK's Modern universities, achieving university status after 1992, the university is currently ranked 42nd out of 67, by the Sunday Times University Guide, for modern university rankings.