University of Manchester Degree: An Industrial City’s Tradition of Discovery
The University of Manchester is a public university in Manchester, England that conducts research and has a history closely related to the industrial history of the city. Its present form was created in 2004 when the Victoria University of Manchester and the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology (UMIST) merged. Its earliest roots, however, lie in institutions created to serve a fast-changing nineteenth-century city.
One strand of this history started with the Manchester Mechanics’ Institution in 1824. Its purpose was to give working men a scientific and technical education and it was geared to the needs of a region dominated by manufacturing and engineering. It developed into UMIST through a series of changes.
The other strand started with Owens College, which opened in 1851, aided by a bequest from the merchant John Owens. Its first classrooms were in a house on Quay Street. Initially, enrollment was a struggle, but the college began to develop a stronger academic profile combining research with teaching. In 1873 it moved to Oxford Road and became the Victoria University of Manchester in 1903. The 2004 merger brought these complementary traditions together into one institution. Further details about these institutional origins are available in the University of Manchester’s official history.
A Place in the History of Science
This is one of the most distinctive chapters in Manchester’s contribution to computing. In 1948, the Manchester Baby was the first computer to run a program stored in its memory electronically. Alan Turing later worked at Manchester where his investigations into machine intelligence helped to shape the debates that continue to this day.
Another landmark was reached in 2004, when Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov isolated graphene, a material that consists of a single layer of carbon atoms. For these experiments they received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2010. These achievements link the university’s history to the advancement of contemporary computing as well as research on new materials.
Those who are interested in a University of Manchester Degree can follow the university’s teaching and research which is divided into three faculties: Biology, Medicine and Health; Science and Engineering; and Humanities. The subject areas covered range from medicine and physics to languages, business and social sciences, a reflection of the scope achieved through its institutional development.
Its cultural collections are another facet of university life. In 1972 the university incorporated the John Rylands Library on Deansgate, and in 1958 the Whitworth. The buildings of Alfred Waterhouse along Oxford Road maintain the architectural character of the earlier college. Together, the libraries, galleries and teaching spaces demonstrate how closely the university’s academic history is interwoven with the fabric of Manchester’s wider civic life.