INTRODUCTION

The University of Leicester was established in the early part of the last century as a University College - a memorial to those men from Leicestershire and Rutland who had died in the Great War.

The University was granted a Royal Charter and its own degree awarding powers in 1957 and it has flourished to become a leading academic institution with world-renowned centres of excellence in various disciplines.

The University of Leicester currently has over 18,500 students and is celebrating its 80th Anniversary with record achievements in terms of undergraduate recruitment, research income and research and teaching assessments.

The University of Leicester is ranked as the leading provider of postgraduate degree programmes in the UK by the Financial Times (2002) and is ranked as a top 20 university by the Financial Times and the Sunday Times.

It is renowned for the discovery of the revolutionary technique of DNA genetic fingerprinting and houses the biggest university-based Space Research Centre in Europe. The University is a co-founder of the National Space Centre, a £52 million Millennium Project in Leicester.

ACADEMIC STRUCTURE

The University of Leicester is organised into six faculties: Arts, Education and Continuing Studies, Law, Medicine and Biological Sciences, Science, Social Sciences.

There are 44 academic departments and more than 60 specialist divisions, centres and units. The University offers over 140 undergraduate degree programmes, more than 100 postgraduate degree programmes and nearly 400 certificate and general interest courses.

The University's academic structures include a Graduate School and an Institute of Lifelong Learning. The Colleges-University of Leicester Network, designed to promote greater collaboration particularly in terms of the lifelong learning agenda and widening access, extends to 14 local colleges.

The University has an international reputation for teaching and research:

• 18 subject areas have been graded as 'Excellent' by the Quality Assurance Agency - including 14 successive scores of 22 points or above, six of which were maximum scores
• In the latest Research Assessment Exercise (2001), the University gained 13 grades of 5 and 5* and 84% of staff were rated as conducting research of national or international standard
• The University's Medical School, established in 1974, is expanding in partnership with the University of Warwick - and is set to become the biggest Medical School in the UK by 2003
• The University was successful in winning prototype funding for the establishment of two Foundation Degrees in Educational Studies for Teaching Assistants (with Bishop Grosseteste College) and Risk and Security Management

ESTATE

The total estate of the University extends to 94 hectares, approximately one-two miles from the city centre.

Teaching and research is undertaken in buildings with a floor area of some 150,000 sq. m. Clinical teaching takes place in local hospitals. A £33 million programme of investment - the biggest since the sixties - is currently under way.

The University has residential accommodation for 4,000 students. Many of the halls of residence and conference facilities are in a six hectare botanic garden just over two miles from the main campus, while self-catering accommodation is within a short walking distance from the campus.

Sports and health and fitness provision is offered at the halls of residence and on the main campus; the University is bordered by parkland, offering recreational facilities.

PRINCIPAL OFFICERS
Chancellor: Sir Michael Atiyah OM, FRS, MA, PhD, DSc
Pro-Chancellors: Mr John Foster OBE, Dip Ed
Mr Tom McKillop BSc, PhD, DSc
Vice-Chancellor: Professor Robert Burgess BA, PhD, AcSS

CONTACT
University of Leicester
University Road
Leicester
LE1 7RH
0116 2522 522
http://www.le.ac.uk