The University of Reading (pronounced "Redding") is a university in the English town of Reading.
Established in 1892, receiving its Royal Charter in 1926, the University has a long tradition of research, education and training at a local, national and international level.
Campuses
The University maintains over 1.6 km² of grounds. The largest area is the Whiteknights campus, 1.23 km², including Whiteknights lake, conservation meadows and woodlands. The University also has campuses on London Road in Reading (the original University site) and at Bulmershe Court in Woodley.
The University also owns 8.5 km² of farmland in the nearby villages of Arborfield, Sonning and Shinfield. These support a mixed farming system including dairy cows, ewes and beef animals, and host internationally renowned research centres of which the flagship is the Centre for Dairy Research.
Community
The heraldic shield of the University
In the 2004-5 academic year, the university had 4,024 staff and 15,326 students.
Probably the best known current member of the university community is the cyberneticist Professor Kevin Warwick.
Reading University Students' Union is the affiliated student organisation which represents the students interest. With around 3,000 international students from 120 countries, the university adds considerably to Reading's dynamic multi-cultural environment.
Research
The university had a research income of almost £24.5 million in 2003-4, of which around 10 percent of annual research income derived from industrial or commercial sponsors. Over £2 million of funding has been secured in 2004 for business development and the commercial activities at the University.
In the Research Assessment Exercise in 2001, five departments were awarded the top rate of 5* - Archaeology, English, Italian, Meteorology and Psychology and fifteen departments were awarded the rating of 5.
Awards
Reading was the first university to win a Queen's Award for Export Achievement in 1989. It was also awarded a Queen's Anniversary Prize for Higher and Further Education in 1998.
St. David's and Mansfield Halls were part of Witan Hall (see below). St. George's and The Reading Student Village are leased back to the University from UJC. The cost of leasing back the Student Village to the University, according to the University accounts, was £1.5 million for 2003/2004 and £1.3 million in 2002/2003.
Associated organisations
Formerly associated with Reading University was Gyosei International College, a Japanese/British bi-cultural institution established on part of the University's original London Road campus. Subsequently the college's links with the Japan-based Gyosei organisation were broken, and it became a charitably funded institution called Witan Hall. Recently this has in turn been purchased by the University of Reading, who have ceased student recruitment.
