Introduction

http://www.dur.ac.uk/

Durham is one of the UK's metropolitan universities founded in the early Victorian years (1832), long after the ancient universities of Oxford and Cambridge. It was founded on grounds owned originally by the Dean and Chapter of Durham's cathedral, right in the heart of this beautiful, northern town. It ranks in age alongside the universties of Manchester, Liverpool, Bristol and others.

It admits around 3000 undergraduates each year, but gets applications from 21000. There are 647 full-time academic staff, with another 260 academic-related.

The University is academically of world class in the six areas listed below, and is strong in many others.

Durham was been awarded the highest mark (5 stars) for the following departments under the UK government's most recent Research Assessment Exercise - RAE

Chemistry English Geography History Law Mathematics

Durham is half-way between a collegiate university, like Oxford and Cambridge, and a normal university, such as Newcastle. This means that students and staff are affiliated with a college, but the academic departments are at the University level, so that students from all colleges attend lectures together. Each college has an income, and some expenditure, but none of them has the vast wealth associated with the ancient Oxbridge colleges.

A second campus, Stockton, Campus, or UDSC, was added in 1992

History

Durham University was founded following the efforts of William van Mildert, last Prince Bishop of Durham, and of the Dean and Chapter of the Cathedral. An Act of Parliament in 1832 enabled the Dean and Chapter of Durham to "appropriate part of the property of their church to the establishment of a University in connection therewith".

The first students were taken in the following year, and were housed in temporary accommodation on Palace Green. The Constitution of the University was formally recognised in 1837, when it's Royal Charter was granted, and within a week, the university awarded its first degrees.

Departments

Go for http://www.dur.ac.uk/acad_depts.htm

Anthropology Archaeology Biological Sciences Business School Chemistry Classics and Ancient History Computer Science East Asian Studies Economics and Finance School of Education School of Engineering English Studies Foundation for Small and Medium Enterprise Development Geography Geological Sciences Health, School for .....Medicine, .....Sport and Health .....Public Policy and Health History House of Sport Law Lifelong Learning, Centre for Linguistics and English Language Mathematical Sciences Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies, Institute for Modern European Languages Music Philosophy Physics Politics Psychology Sociology and Social Policy Applied Social Studies, Centre for (CASS) Community and Youth Work Studies Unit Theology

Combined' programmes at Durham Combined Honours in Arts Combined Honours in Social Sciences Natural Sciences European Studies

Academic programmes at Stockton Campus Applied Psychology Biomedical Sciences Business Finance

Education: Initial Teacher Training (Primary Education, Science, Information & Communications Technology)

Environmental and Geographical Sciences Geography and Cities Health and Human Sciences Human Sciences Medicine Sport, Health and Exercise

Colleges

Collingwood College Graduate Society Grey College Hatfield College St Aidan's College St Chad's College St Cuthbert's Society George Stephenson College College of St. Hild & St. Bede St John's College John Snow College St Mary's College Trevelyan College University College University of Durham, Stockton Campus Ushaw College Van Mildert College Teikyo University in Durham

other highlights

* The Oriental Museum: * Old Fulling Mill Museum: * Botanic Garden