University of Hertfordshire

The University of Hertfordshire (UOH) is a public university in Britain located in Hertfordshire. The forerunner of this university was Hatfield Technical College, which was established in 1948 and in 1959, it was named in the list of the top 25 colleges in the United Kingdom. It has 25,130 (approx) students as of 2021, including more than 5,200 international students from over 100 countries. With almost 2,700 employees, including 812 academics, the institution is one of Hertfordshire's largest employers.

The first site of the university was at Roe Green in Hatfield. It was created as a technical college specialising in producing aerospace engineers for Hatfield's thriving aerospace sector. The Gape family of St Michael's Manor in St Albans owned the land at Roe Green since the 17th century. They sold it to a farmer in the 1920s, who later sold it to Alan Butler, chairman of the de Havilland Aircraft Company, who resided nearby at Beech Farm. He gave 90 acres (36 hectares) of property to be utilised for educational purposes at Roe Green in 1944. Construction began in 1948.

Hatfield College of Technology was renamed in 1958, and by 1960, it was offering four-year degrees in technology. The Ministry of Education classified it as a regional college in England and Wales in 1961. In 1962, the governors spent �29,201 on a digital computer to establish a computer science degree. Hatfield College was recognised for 13 honours degree courses by the Council for National Academic Awards in 1965.

In 1969 Hatfield College of Technology became Hatfield Polytechnic, offering engineering and technology honours degree programs. On the Bayfordbury Campus, an observatory was established in 1970.

Olivia de Havilland, Sir Geoffrey de Havilland's cousin, paid a visit to the university in 2000 to celebrate the start of a proposal to establish a new campus named after her cousin. In 2002 it celebrated its 50th anniversary when it had 21,695 students. The de Havilland campus opened in 2003 after Tim Wilson became the next Vice-Chancellor after Neil Buxton.

In 2003, Hertfordshire Sports Village opened as well. In 2005 with the aim to improve medical education, research, and training in the region, the university established the Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire Postgraduate Medical School and School of Pharmacy. The university's School of Film, Music, and Media launched in 2006.

Hertfordshire began naming its buildings after people or organisations with significant local or regional effects in 2015. All of the halls will be named after influential Hertfordshire alumni who the university believes exemplify the university's values. Kate Bellingham, a British engineer and TV presenter, and Alistair Spalding, the chief executive and artistic director of Sadler's Wells Theatre, are honoured.

The University of Hertfordshire Observatory celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2020 and unveiled an eight-year-long exposure shot, setting a new record for the longest exposure. In August 2012, when Regina Valkenburgh was a student of Master's, she installed the pinhole camera on one of the Observatory's telescope domes.

Campus

The institution's two main campuses are College Lane and de Havilland. It owns a science park that Exemplars manages on behalf of the university and a BioPark Facility. It also has 6,000 sq. mt of laboratory and office space available for life science and health technology enterprises. There are 27 permanent and virtual renters as of 2014.

Among the sporting, amenities are a pool and a climbing wall. It also owns the Weston Theatre, which holds cultural events, as well as two art galleries and one of the most well-known teaching observatories in the United Kingdom.

Hertfordshire University has a global alumni base of approximately 165,000 students, including over 5,200 international students from over 100 countries.

College Lane Campus

The University of Hertfordshire Students' Union is located on the College Lane campus, which also includes a number of halls of residence and student apartments. The ancient Hatfield Technical College building still stands on the university's main campus, College Lane. The Learning Resource Centre, which serves as both a library and a computer centre for the institution, is a significant facility on this campus. The Navitas Group's Hertfordshire Overseas College is also on the College Lane campus, giving overseas students easy access to the institution.

Meridian House

This facility, off the College Lane campus, is on the outskirts of Hatfield town centre and contains specific Schools of the Health and Human Faculty. Meridian House houses eight clinical skills laboratories for the nursing and midwifery programmes of the university. Meridian House also houses a counselling programme, staff offices and skills facilities, and ambulances for paramedic training.

Affiliations and Membership

Hertfordshire University is a member of the Association of Commonwealth Universities, representing 535 universities from 37 Commonwealth nations. It is the first and oldest international university network the university that was created in 1913. It is also a member of University Alliance, a British university network that was created in 2006 and given its name in 2007. University Alliance is a network of 'business engaged' universities that promise to use research and teaching to generate innovation and industry growth.

QAA and OIA

In March 2009, the university underwent an institutional examination by the Quality Assurance Agency. The conclusion was that "reasonable trust may be placed in the institution's current and likely future administration of the academic standards of the awards it offers." In 2013 according to the complaint statistics data from the Independent Adjudicator, the university issued 69 completion of procedures letters in response to student complaints.

This is lower than the band median of 81, showing that students at this university are happier than students at similar-sized universities. In 2013 it received 22 complaints.

Research

Kaspar

The Adaptive Systems Research Group at the University of Hertfordshire created Kaspar, a social robot (ASRG). The Kaspar project began in 2005 to create a social robot that could engage autistic youngsters in various play scenarios. The goal was to see if interacting and conversing with Kaspar would make it easier for children with autism to engage and communicate with others. According to the Kaspar study, robots can provide a safe and reliable tool for children with autism to improve social interaction and communication skills while meeting therapeutic and educational goals.

Facilities

Art collection

The University of Hertfordshire's art collection has about 450 works of art. The UH Art Collection's mission is to bring modern and contemporary art to places where people learn, work, and visit. This represents the University of Hertfordshire's commitment to providing an appealing educational environment and one that informs, enlightens, and enriches the lives of its students, faculty, and community members.

Park and ride

Park and Ride, the frequent shuttle bus service of Hertfordshire, links 800 parking spaces at Engerland Common to College Lane and de Havilland Campus facilities. The plan began in 2006, with a 700-car facility at Engerland Common, off South Way in Hatfield, to keep cars off local roads. Since 2006, the university has planned to open a second location near Stanborough Lakes in Welwyn Garden City, with 150 parking spots.

Uno bus

Uno (previously UniversityBus) is a reduced bus service run by the University of Hertfordshire that serves the general public and its students and staff. In 1992 the Institution of Hertfordshire planned to establish and operate a bus service to and from the university. Uno, initially known as UniversityBus, was founded to provide transportation facilities to the students from neighbouring communities to the university, as well as to improve east-west transit in Hertfordshire and to create new links between Hertfordshire and North London.

Rankings

The University of Hertfordshire is ranked 601-800 in the 2019 Times Higher Education World University Rankings. According to the Young University Rankings 2018, it is ranked 101-150. In terms of subject-specific rankings, it was ranked 301-400 in Arts & Humanities in 2019. European Teaching had a subject-specific world ranking of 150-200 in 2018.

In January 2015, Hertfordshire was ranked 84th in the Times Higher Education ranking of most international institutions. It was ranked 122nd among the top 200 international universities in the world by Times Higher Education in 2016. The rankings are based on a variety of characteristics, including teaching, research, citations, industry income, and international outlook. The University of Hertfordshire is ranked 69 in the Times Higher Education Student Experience Survey 2018, with 75.5 for overall student satisfaction.

Student Life

The Forum, which is the main source of nightlife, has three performance areas, a restaurant, a caf�, various bars, and onsite parking. At the University of Hertfordshire, there is also a student union named Hertfordshire Student's Union. In 1977 The Students' Union Social Centre first opened its doors. The Students' Union at the University of Hertfordshire represents all students on campus by arranging campus activities and administering a variety of clubs and societies ranging from athletics to entertainment. In 1982, Hatfield Technical College's administration sponsored the formation of a Student Representative Council (SRC) to foster unity and broaden the social activities of the college's day students. The SRC was linked with the National Union of Students, but it focused on social activities. After 1988, it began to push for cafeteria improvements, the relaxation of the restriction on religious and political activities at Hatfield Polytechnic, and a formal students' union. In 1992, the sectarian restriction was repealed, and a Union was granted in 1995. Throughout the 2000s, however, the canteen remained a problem.

Trident Media Radio

The student radio station is Trident Media Radio (previously Crush Radio). TMR is run entirely by university students. University students and amateurs run crushes from neighbouring communities. Crush, which began as CRH in 1960, was the first campus radio station (Campus Radio Hatfield). Following its transformation from a pirate radio station to a University Society of the University of Hertfordshire, CRH was renamed Crush 1278 in recognition of its frequency of 1278AM.

Partner institutions

The university has a variety of official partnerships with world-class universities to share teaching and research and support staff and student exchanges.

Chulalongkorn University, Thailand
Stony Brook University, US
University of Oklahoma, US
Yonsei University, Korea

In addition to its worldwide partners, the university has a strong regional schedule and a variety of regional partner institutions: The Watford UTC, a University Technical College for the Watford area; Elstree Screen Arts Academy, a university technical college near Borehamwood. Event Management and Computer Sciences are two of the UTC's specialities.