University of York

University Of York

The University of York (informally York University, or simply York, abbreviated as Ebor. for post-nominals), is a research-intensive university located in the city of York, England. Established in 1963, the campus university has expanded to more than thirty departments and centres, covering a wide range of subjects. Despite its relatively young age, the university has quickly forged a strong reputation in less than half a century. York has been named the 8th best young university in the world, and is 1st within the UK, building a "reputation to rival Oxford and Cambridge". The university also places among the top 10 in the country, top 20 universities in Europe, and ranked 96th in the world, according to the 2011 QS World University Rankings. This places York in the top 1% of all higher education institutions across the globe.

In the last Research Assessment Exercise in 2008, York was also named as the 8th best research institution in the United Kingdom. The university was named Sunday Times university of the year in 2003 and Times Higher Education university of the year in 2010. In 2012, The University of York was invited to join the Russell Group in recognition of the institution's world-leading research and outstanding teaching.

The University attracts a student body with a wide range of backgrounds (with over 41,016 part-time and full-time student applications in 2010/11), including a large number of international students, and a relatively high number of state school students in comparison to other well-ranked universities according to The Times Good University Guide. Situated to the east of the city of York, the university campus is approximately 200 acres (0.81 km2) in size, incorporating the York Science Park and the National Science Learning Centre. Priding itself on its wildlife, renowned campus lakes and greenery, the institution also occupies buildings in the historic city of York. Every student is allocated to one of the university's eight colleges, as is the case at the traditional collegiate universities of Oxford, Cambridge, and Durham. In May 2007 the university was granted permission to build an extension to its main campus, on arable land just east of the nearby village of Heslington. The land was removed from the green belt especially for the purpose of extending the university.