The University of Hertfordshire is a modern university based largely in Hatfield, in the county of Hertfordshire, United Kingdom, from which the university takes its name. It has more than 20,000 students.

History

In 1951, the de Havilland company gave land in Hatfield adjoining the A1 to Hertfordshire County Council for educational use in perpetuity; the Council used this to build and operate Hatfield Technical College, which trained aerospace engineers for Hatfield's then-dominant aerospace industry . In 1967 it became an early polytechnic. With the passage of the Further and Higher Education Act, 1992, the institution gained university status and became self-governing rather than controlled by the county council.

The university is unusual in owning its own bus company, UniversityBus .

Faculties

Hertfordshire was described as "the flagship of the former polys" by the Independent in 2002[1]. As a polytechnic, it was strong in aerospace engineering and computer science. More recently, it has built up its strengths in other areas such as pharmacology. Entry requirements have been rising in recent years.

The university has eight faculties:

• Art and Design
• the Business School
• Engineering and Information Sciences
• Health and Human Sciences
• Humanities and Education
• Inter-disciplinary Studies
• Law
• Natural Sciences

Campuses

The main site of the university remains the original technical college buildings in Hatfield, though the site has had many new buildings added since. Notable among these is the Learning Resources Centre, a combined library and computer centre which is the largest university building of its kind in Britain. Computer science, engineering, and natural sciences are here, along with halls of residence and the Roberts Way student village.

Nearby in Hatfield is the de Havilland campus, converted from a former BAe site. The Business School and the faculty of Humanities and Education are housed here, along with another library. The law faculty is based in St Albans, conveniently for the law courts. There were formerly campuses in Watford (Wall Hall) and Hertford (Balls Park), but these were closed when the de Havilland campus opened. A very small site in Bayfordbury houses the university's telescopes and the biology field station. The University has particular research strengths in History, Engineering, Computer Science, Philosophy and Nursing.

Since the town of Hatfield does not have a very active nightlife, the Students' Union (UHSU) puts on regular events at the Hatfield campus. These often take place in the Union's Hutton Hall or the peculiarly shaped building commonly known as the "Elehouse" because its original architecture was similar to the elephant house at London Zoo.

Alumni

• Claire Ward, Labour MP
• Sanjeev Bhaskar, comedian

Graduation ceremonies are held in St Albans Cathedral.

See also

• Academic dress of the University of Hertfordshire

External links

• University of Hertfordshire website
• Guardian profile, 2001
• Map of Hatfield, showing location of UH campuses
• Detailed map of the Hatfield campus
• StudyNet: UH student portal and Voyager book search
• UH Students' Union
• Online stream of Crush 1278 AM (UH Students' Union radio station)
• UniversityBus