The University of Surrey is located within the county town of Guildford with the University’s main campus located on Stag Hill, close to the centre of Guildford, adjacent to Guildford cathedral. The institution was better known as Battersea College of Technology before gaining University status on September 9, 1966 when it was granted a royal charter. Students were admitted through its doors as early as 1894, when Battersea Polytechnic Institute was the forerunner of the University and provided further and higher education for London’s poorer inhabitants.
From the 1920s the institute started focusing on science and technology and even taught day and evening students for degrees of the University of London. Its academic reputation steadily grew to the point in 1956 where it was one of the first colleges to be designated a ‘college of advanced technology’ and was thus renamed Battersea College of Technology in 1957.
The College had virtually outgrown its main building in Battersea Park Road and by 1962 it had already decided to move to Guildford. In 1963, the Robbins Report proposed that Battersea College, along with some of the other colleges of advanced technology, should expand and become a university awarding its own degrees. The move from Battersea was completed in 1970 after the Greenfield site for the University-designate was acquired from Guildford Cathedral, Guildford Borough Council and the Onslow Village Trust in 1965.
By 1980, the University of Surrey was validating courses at the Roehampton Institute London and following the University’s accreditation of Roehampton’s taught course provision in 1991, the Institute was granted Taught Degree and Research Degree awarding powers by the Privy Council in 1993 and 1998 respectively. The University was established with an aim to educate men and women who had a thirst for knowledge and a hunger to succeed. Whilst times have changed, the belief at the University in the power of education and innovation remains the same.
The University marked its Silver Jubilee in 1991 by publishing a book, Surrey – The Rise of a Modern University by Roy Douglas and by a Service of Thanksgiving in Guildford Cathedral attended by HM The Queen in March 1992. In 2005, the University celebrated its 35th anniversary by hosting another major event at Guildford Cathedral, but also by donating to the people of Guildford the Surrey Scholar sculpture (by Allan Sly FBS), located at the bottom of the town’s historic High Street.
The University recently expanded into China by launching the Surrey International Institute with Dongbei University of Finance and Economics. It also has existing relationships globally with University of São Paulo, Seoul National University, University of Central Florida and others.
The University generates the third highest endowment income out of all UK universities ‘reflecting its commercially-orientated heritage’. In 2007, the university saw a major increase in overall applications by 39% compared with the previous year. This was followed by a further increase in applications of 12% in 2008.
A second campus is located at Manor Park, a short distance away which has been developed in order to expand the existing accommodation, academic buildings and sporting facilities. The brand new Surrey Sports Park is located a short walk away from the main campus and is now one of Europe’s most elite sporting facilities; it is the envy of all other British universities.
In addition, the Surrey Research Park is a 69-acre low density development which is owned and developed by the University, providing large landscaped areas with water features and facilities for over 110 companies engaged in a broad spectrum of research, development and design activities. It currently accommodates over one hundred companies, employing over 2,500 workers that are engaged in research and development activities.
The University of Surrey Students’ Union is the sole representative body of Surrey students to the University, consisting of a membership and a commercial department. The membership department represents students on academic and welfare issues, and administers the sports clubs and societies.
Ade Lawal