, latin_name = , image_name = Shield of the University of Cardiff.svg , image_size = 150px , caption =

Coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldic visual design on an escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the latter two being outer garments). The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central element of the full heraldic achievement, which in its ...

of Cardiff University , motto = cy, Gwirionedd, Undod a Chytgord , mottoeng = Truth, Unity and Concord , established = 1883 (/)
2005 (independent university status) , type =

Public In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociology, sociological concept of the ''Öf ...

, endowment = £45.5 million (2021) , budget = £603.4 million (2020–21) , total_staff = 6,900 (2019/20) , academic_staff = 3,350 (2019/20) , chancellor =

Jenny Randerson Jennifer Elizabeth Randerson, Baroness Randerson (born 26 May 1948) is a Welsh Liberal Democrat member of the House of Lords. She is former junior minister in the Wales Office serving in the Cameron–Clegg coalition. Prior to her peerage she ...

, vice_chancellor = Colin Riordan , students = () , undergrad = () , postgrad = () , other = , city =

Cardiff Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of Wales. It forms a Principal areas of Wales, principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a ...

, country =

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and ...

, coor = , campus = Urban , colours = , mascot = , affiliations =

Russell Group The Russell Group is a self-selected association of twenty-four public research universities in the United Kingdom. The group is headquartered in Cambridge and was established in 1994 to represent its members' interests, principally to governm ...

EUA
Universities UK

GW4 GW4 (also known as GW4 Alliance or Great Western 4) is a consortium of four research intensive universities in South West England and Wales. It was formed in January 2013 by the universities of Bath, Bristol, Cardiff and Exeter to enhance resear ...

, website
cardiff.ac.uk
, logo = Cardiff University (logo)

Cardiff University ( cy, Prifysgol Caerdydd) is a public research university in

. It was established in 1883 as the University College of South Wales and Monmouthshire and became a founding college of the University of Wales in 1893. It merged with the University of Wales Institute of Science and Technology (UWIST) in 1988 as the University of Wales College, Cardiff (University of Wales, Cardiff, from 1996). In 1997 it received degree-awarding powers, but held them in abeyance. It adopted the operating name of Cardiff University in 1999; this became its legal name in 2005, when it became an independent university awarding its own degrees. Cardiff University is the only Welsh member of the

of research-intensive British universities. Academics and alumni of the university have included three heads of state or government, two Nobel Prize winners, 15 fellows of the Royal Society, 11 fellows of the Royal Academy of Engineering, seven fellows of the British Academy, 21 fellows of the Academy of Medical Sciences and 34 fellows of the Academy of Social Sciences.

Present status

Cardiff University is the third oldest university in Wales and contains three colleges: Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences; Biomedical and Life Sciences; and Physical Sciences and Engineering. In 2018–2019, Cardiff had a turnover of £537.1 million, including £116.0 million in research grants and contracts. It has an undergraduate enrolment of and a total enrolment of (according to HESA data for ) making it one of the ten largest UK universities. The Cardiff University Students' Union works to promote student interests in the university and further afield.

History

University College

Discussions on the founding of a university college in South Wales began in 1879, when a group of Welsh and English MPs urged the government to consider the poor provision of higher and intermediate education in Wales and "the best means of assisting any local effort which may be made for supplying such deficiency." In October 1881,

William Ewart Gladstone William Ewart Gladstone ( ; 29 December 1809 – 19 May 1898) was a British statesman and Liberal politician. In a career lasting over 60 years, he served for 12 years as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, spread over four non-con ...

's government appointed a departmental committee to conduct "an enquiry into the nature and extent of intermediate and higher education in Wales", chaired by

Lord Aberdare Baron Aberdare, of Duffryn in the County of Glamorgan, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created on 23 August 1873 for the Liberal politician Henry Bruce. He served as Home Secretary from 1868 to 1873. His grandson, the thi ...

and consisting of Viscount Emlyn, Reverend Prebendary H. G. Robinson, Henry Richard,

John Rhys John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Seco ...

and Lewis Morris. The Aberdare Report, as it came to be known, took evidence from a wide range of sources and over 250 witnesses and recommended a college each for North Wales and South Wales, the latter to be located in Glamorgan and the former to be the established ''University College of Wales'' in Aberystwyth (now

Aberystwyth University , mottoeng = A world without knowledge is no world at all , established = 1872 (as ''The University College of Wales'') , former_names = University of Wales, Aberystwyth , type = Public , endowment = ...

). The committee cited the unique Welsh national identity and noted that many students in Wales could not afford to travel to University in England or Scotland. It advocated a national degree-awarding university for Wales, composed of regional colleges, which should be non-sectarian in nature and exclude the teaching of theology. Statue of John Viriamu Jones

After the recommendation was published, Cardiff Corporation sought to secure the location of the college in Cardiff, and on 12 December 1881 formed a University College Committee to aid the matter. There was competition to be the site between Swansea and Cardiff. On 12 March 1883, after arbitration, a decision was made in Cardiff's favour. This was strengthened by the need to consider the interests of Monmouthshire, at that time not legally incorporated into Wales, and the greater sum received by Cardiff in support of the college, through a public appeal that raised £37,000 and a number of private donations, notably from the Lord Bute and

Lord Windsor Earl of Plymouth is a title that has been created three times: twice in the Peerage of England and once in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. History The first creation was in 1675 for Charles FitzCharles, one of the dozens of illegitima ...

. In April Lord Aberdare was appointed as the college's first president. The possible locations considered included Cardiff Arms Park, Cathedral Road, and Moira Terrace, Roath, before the site of the Old Royal Infirmary buildings on Newport Road was chosen. The ''University College of South Wales and Monmouthshire'' opened on 24 October 1883 with courses in Biology, Chemistry, English, French, German, Greek, History, Latin, Mathematics and Astronomy, Music, Welsh, Logic and Philosophy, and Physics. It was incorporated by

Royal Charter A royal charter is a formal grant issued by a monarch under royal prerogative as letters patent. Historically, they have been used to promulgate public laws, the most famous example being the English Magna Carta (great charter) of 1215, b ...

the following year, this being the first in Wales to allow the enrolment of women, and specifically forbidding religious tests for entry.

John Viriamu Jones John Viriamu Jones, FRS (2 January 1856 – 1 June 1901), was a Welsh scientist, who worked on measuring the ohm, and an educationalist who was instrumental in establishing the University of Sheffield and Cardiff University. (Reproduced on th ...

was appointed as the university's first principal at the age of 27. As Cardiff was not an independent university and could not award its own degrees, it prepared its students for examinations of the University of London or for further study at

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...

. In 1888 the University College at Cardiff and that of North Wales (now Bangor University) proposed to the University College Wales at Aberystwyth joint action to gain a university charter for Wales, modelled on that of Victoria University, a confederation of new universities in Northern England. Such a charter was granted to the new University of Wales in 1893, allowing the colleges to award degrees as members. The Chancellor was set '' ex officio'' as the

Prince of Wales Prince of Wales ( cy, Tywysog Cymru, ; la, Princeps Cambriae/Walliae) is a title traditionally given to the heir apparent to the English and later British throne. Prior to the conquest by Edward I in the 13th century, it was used by the rule ...

, and the position of operational head would rotate among heads of the colleges. In 1885, Aberdare Hall opened as the first hall of residence, allowing women access to the university. This moved to its current site in 1895, but remains a single-sex hall. In 1904 came the appointment of the first female associate professor in the UK,

Millicent Mackenzie Millicent Hughes Mackenzie (1863 in Bristol – 10 December 1942 in Brockweir) was a British professor of education at University College of South Wales and Monmouthshire, the first female professor in Wales and the first appointed to a fully ch ...

, who in 1910 became the first female full professor at a fully chartered UK university. In 1901 Principal Jones persuaded Cardiff Corporation to give the college a five-acre site in Cathays Park (instead of selling it as they would have done otherwise). Soon after, in 1905, work on a new building commenced under the architect W. D. Caröe. Money ran short for the project, however. Although the side-wings were completed in the 1960s, the planned Great Hall has never been built. Caroe sought to combine the charm and elegance of his former ( Trinity College, Cambridge) with the picturesque balance of many

colleges. On 14 October 1909 the "New College" building in Cathays Park (now Main Building) was opened in a ceremony involving a procession from the "Old College" in Newport Road. In 1931, the School of Medicine, founded as part of the college in 1893 along with the Departments of Anatomy, Physiology, Pathology, Pharmacology, was split off to form the Welsh National School of Medicine, which was renamed in 1984 the

University of Wales College of Medicine The Cardiff University School of Medicine ( cy, Ysgol Feddygaeth Prifysgol Caerdydd) is the medical school of Cardiff University and is located in Cardiff, Wales, UK. Founded in 1893 as part of the University College of South Wales and Monmo ...

. In 1972, the institution was renamed ''University College Cardiff''.

1988 merger

In 1988, University College Cardiff underwent financial difficulties, and a declaration of insolvency was considered. This led to a merger with the University of Wales Institute of Science and Technology (UWIST), to form the ''University of Wales College of Cardiff''. The Principal of the new institution was Sir Aubrey Trotman-Dickenson, who had been the principal of UWIST. After changes to the constitution in 1996, its name was changed to the ''University of Wales, Cardiff''. In the early 1990s, the university's computer systems served as the home for The Internet Movie Database.

Independence and 2004 merger

In 1997, the college was granted full independent degree-awarding powers by the Privy Council, though, as a member of the University of Wales it could not begin using them, and in 1999 the public name of the university was changed to Cardiff University. In 2002, ideas were floated to merge Cardiff again with the

, after publication of the Welsh Assembly Government's review of higher education in Wales. This merger became effective on 1 August 2004, when Cardiff University ceased to be a constituent of the University of Wales and became an independent "link institution" affiliated to the federal university. The process of the merger was completed on 1 December 2004, when the

Act of Parliament Acts of Parliament, sometimes referred to as primary legislation, are texts of law passed by the legislative body of a jurisdiction (often a parliament or council). In most countries with a parliamentary system of government, acts of parliame ...

transferring UWCM's assets to Cardiff University received Royal Assent. On 17 December it was announced that the Privy Council had given approval to the new Supplemental Charter and had granted university status to Cardiff, legally changing the name of the institution to Cardiff University. Cardiff awarded University of Wales degrees to students admitted before 2005, but these have been replaced by Cardiff degrees. Cardiff University Graduation Ceremony

In 2005, Wales College of Medicine, as part of the university, launched the North Wales Clinical School in

Wrexham Wrexham ( ; cy, Wrecsam; ) is a city and the administrative centre of Wrexham County Borough in Wales. It is located between the Welsh mountains and the lower Dee Valley, near the border with Cheshire in England. Historically in the count ...

, in collaboration with the

North East Wales Institute of Higher Education North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating direction or geography. Etymology The word ''north' ...

in Wrexham, the University of Wales, Bangor, and the National Health Service in Wales. This received funds of £12.5 million from the Welsh Assembly and trebled the number of trainee doctors in clinical training in Wales over a four-year period. The university also has a popular Centre for Lifelong Learning, which has been teaching a wide range of courses for over 125 years. However, in July 2009, the university announced it was ending over 250 humanities courses at the centre, making over 100 staff redundant. The university has since reintroduced a number of humanities courses for a trial period beginning in 2010. In June 2010, the university launched three new research institutes, each offering a new approach to a major modern research issue. The Neurosciences and Mental Health Research Institute and the Cancer Stem Cell Research Institute are housed in the purpose-built Hadyn Ellis Building, and in the Sustainable Places Research Institute. Another part of the Science and Development Campus, the Cardiff University Brain Research Imaging Centre (CUBRIC), opened in June 2016 for

neuroimaging Neuroimaging is the use of quantitative (computational) techniques to study the structure and function of the central nervous system, developed as an objective way of scientifically studying the healthy human brain in a non-invasive manner. Incr ...

research.

Campus

Academic facilities

The university's academic facilities are centred around Cathays Park in central Cardiff, which contains the university's grade II* listed main building, housing administrative facilities and the science library, previously called the Drapers' library; the grade II listed

Bute building The Bute Building ( cy, Adeilad Bute) is a Cardiff University building in Cathays Park, Cardiff, Wales. It houses the Welsh School of Architecture. It is a Grade II listed building. The neoclassical building was designed by architects Per ...

, which contains the Welsh School of Architecture, the grade I listed Glamorgan building, which houses the Cardiff Schools of Planning and Geography and Social Sciences, the Redwood Building (named in 1979 after the Redwood Family of Boverton near Llantwit Major by a 1978 suggestion by J. D. R. Thomas), which houses the School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences; the law building which houses the

Cardiff Law School Cardiff School of Law and Politics (also known as Cardiff Law School) () is part of Cardiff University in Cardiff, Wales. It confers LLB and LLM degrees for British and international students. Background In 1963, the Law Building (previous ...

; and the biosciences building, which provides facilities for both biosciences and medical teaching. The

School of Engineering Engineering education is the activity of teaching knowledge and principles to the professional practice of engineering. It includes an initial education (bachelor's and/or master's degree), and any advanced education and specializations that ...

, School of Computer Science and Informatics and School of Physics and Astronomy are located in the Queen's Buildings, off Newport Road, and the School of Journalism, Media and Culture at 2 Central Square. A number of university academic facilities are located at the Heath Park campus, based at the

University Hospital of Wales University Hospital of Wales ( cy, Ysbyty Athrofaol Cymru) (UHW), also known as the Heath Hospital, is a major 1,000-bed hospital in the Heath district of Cardiff, Wales. UHW is a teaching hospital of Cardiff University School of Medicine. Const ...

. This covers the Cardiff University School of Medicine, the School of Dentistry, the School of Healthcare Sciences, and the School of Optometry and Vision Sciences.

Athletics facilities

Most of the university's sports facilities are located at the sports training village in the Talybont Halls complex. This includes facilities for football, badminton, basketball, tennis, hockey and gym. Additional gym facilities and squash courts are located at the university fitness and squash centre, near the city centre campus at Cathays Park. Extensive playing fields for

Rugby Rugby may refer to: Sport * Rugby football in many forms: ** Rugby league: 13 players per side *** Masters Rugby League *** Mod league *** Rugby league nines *** Rugby league sevens *** Touch (sport) *** Wheelchair rugby league ** Rugby union: 1 ...

, football and

lacrosse Lacrosse is a team sport played with a lacrosse stick and a lacrosse ball. It is the oldest organized sport in North America, with its origins with the indigenous people of North America as early as the 12th century. The game was extensiv ...

are located at the university playing fields near Llanrumney. The university also utilises the nearby Millennium Stadium for rugby fixtures such as the annual varsity tournament.

Organisation

Schools and colleges

The 26 academic schools of the university are divided into three colleges: Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences; Biomedical and Life Sciences; and Physical Sciences. College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences * Business *English, Communication and Philosophy *Geography and Planning *History Archaeology and Religion * Journalism, Media and Cultural Studies * Law and Politics *Modern Languages * Music *Social Sciences *Welsh College of Biomedical and Life Sciences *Biosciences *Dentistry *Healthcare Sciences *

Medicine Medicine is the science and practice of caring for a patient, managing the diagnosis, prognosis, prevention, treatment, palliation of their injury or disease, and promoting their health. Medicine encompasses a variety of health care pr ...

*Optometry and Vision Sciences *Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences *Postgraduate Medical and Dental Education (Wales Deanery) *Psychology College of Physical Sciences and Engineering *

Architecture Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and constructing buildings ...

*Chemistry *Computer Science & Informatics *Earth and Environmental Sciences *

Engineering Engineering is the use of scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad range of more speciali ...

*Mathematics *Physics and Astronomy Cardiff also has a Doctoral Academy, that brings together the work of four previous discipline-based Graduate Schools and the postgraduate research activity of the university's Graduate Centre.

Finances

In the

financial year A fiscal year (or financial year, or sometimes budget year) is used in government accounting, which varies between countries, and for budget purposes. It is also used for financial reporting by businesses and other organizations. Laws in many ...

ended 31 July 2012, Cardiff University had a total net income of £425.54 million. Key sources of income included £87.65 million from research grants and contracts, £117.36 million from Funding Council grants, £123.84 million from tuition fees and support grants and £3.17 million from endowment and investment income. During the 2011/12 financial year Cardiff had a capital expenditure of £14.29 million. At 31 July 2012 Cardiff had endowments of £25.58 million and total net assets of £402.86 million.

Academic profile

Reputation and rankings

Cardiff has two Nobel Laureates on its staff, Sir Martin Evans and

Robert Huber Robert Huber (; born 20 February 1937) is a German biochemist and Nobel laureate. known for his work crystallizing an intramembrane protein important in photosynthesis and subsequently applying X-ray crystallography to elucidate the protein's st ...

. A number of Cardiff University staff have been elected as

Fellows of the Royal Society Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the judges of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural knowledge, including mathemati ...

, these include Graham Hutchings FRS, professor of Physical Chemistry and Director of the Cardiff Catalysis Institute, School of Chemistry,

Ole Holger Petersen Ole Holger Petersen (born 3 March 1943) is a research professor at Cardiff University where he studies physiology, especially calcium signalling and the pancreas. He was born in 1943 in Copenhagen, the first son of Joergen Petersen, an offic ...

, MRC Professor and Director of Cardiff School of Biosciences. and John M. Pearce, Professor of Psychology. In 2013, Cardiff University was ranked as one of the best UK universities for supporting

LGBT ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term ...

students, by the charity Stonewall in its annual ''Gay by Degree'' guide. The university was one of only two in the UK and the only one in Wales to achieve top marks in a Stonewall checklist of priorities for LGBT+ students. Cardiff University was ranked joint 168th in Best Global Universities by US News in 2021. It was ranked 164th among universities around the world by

SCImago Institutions Rankings The SCImago Institutions Rankings (SIR) since 2009 has published its international ranking of worldwide research institutions, the SIR World Report. The SIR World Report is the work of the SCImago Research Group, Other subjects ranked within the top 100 are dentistry, and mineral and mining engineering (49) civil and structural engineering, geography, social policy and administration, pharmacy and pharmacology, English language and literature, psychology, and sociology.

Admissions

In terms of average UCAS points of entrants, Cardiff ranked 26th in Britain in 2018. The university gave offers of admission to 75.2 per cent of its applicants in 2015, the 13th lowest amongst the

. According to the 2017 ''Times'' and ''Sunday Times'' Good University Guide, approximately 15 per cent of Cardiff's undergraduates come from independent schools. In the 2016–2017 academic year, the university had a domicile breakdown of 76:5:19 of UK:EU:non-EU students respectively with a female to male ratio of 59:41.

Student life

Student accommodation

The university maintains 15 student halls and a number of student houses throughout the city of Cardiff; providing a total of 5,362 student places in accommodation. They are in a variety of architectural styles and ages, from the

Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

Aberdare Hall, built in 1895, to the modern Talybont Gate Building, completed in 2014. All first-year students are guaranteed a place in university owned and managed halls. The Cardiff University Halls are: *Aberconway Hall * Aberdare Hall *Cartwright Court *Clodien House *Colum Hall *Hodge Hall *Gordon Hall *Roy Jenkins Hall *Senghennydd Court *Senghennydd Hall *The Talybont 'Student Village' (Including Talybont North, South, Court and Gate Halls) *University Hall *Houses in Colum Road and Colum Place *Student Village Houses

Students' Union

The Cardiff University Students' Union is a student-run organisation aiming to promote student interests within the university and further afield. The Cardiff University Students' Union building is near Cathays Park, next to

Cathays railway station Cathays railway station is a station on the Merthyr and Rhondda lines in the Cathays district of Cardiff, Wales. It is north of . The station is next to Cardiff University Students' Union and across the road from many Cardiff University bu ...

. It has shops, a night club and the studios of Xpress Radio and Gair Rhydd, the student newspaper. It is democratically controlled by the student body through the election of seven full-time officers, who manage the running of the Union. The Union provides a range of services, including a number of cafes, bars and shops, as well as advice, training and representation. The Union is an affiliated member of the National Union of Students.

Groups and societies

The Union also supports over 260 other clubs and societies across a wide range of interests, including: Cardiff University Debating Society, and Act One, the student dramatic society. All clubs offer opportunities for beginners and the more experienced students.

Media

The Union provides facilities and support for several student media groups, including: '' Gair Rhydd'', an award-winning, free student newspaper that is released every Monday of term; ''Quench'', a monthly arts and lifestyle magazine that specialises in the local music scene as well as original investigative feature articles; and CUTV, the student television channel. Xpress Radio is the student radio station. It broadcasts daily during term from studios in the Students' Union building, with programming such as comedy panel shows, new music showcases, local music showcases, and film reviews.

Athletics

The Cardiff University Athletic Union is the body that supports student sport at Cardiff, it oversees more than 60 competitive and non-competitive sports clubs, many of which compete in the British Universities and Colleges Sport league. The university's

Ice Hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice ...

team, the Cardiff Redhawks (which also recruits players from other Welsh universities) competes in the British Universities Ice Hockey Association leagues. The university's sports teams also take part in the annual Welsh Varsity against Swansea University, which includes the Welsh Boat Race, and several other sporting competitions. The Welsh Varsity rugby match has been described as "probably... the second biggest Varsity Game next to Oxford vs Cambridge". Cardiff participates in British Universities and Colleges Sport which manages a sporting framework of competitive fixtures and events for over 150 institutions around the UK. Cardiff registers nearly 100 teams in the various leagues and competitions each year and sees students travelling around the country to represent Cardiff University. In 2013 Cardiff team achieved 15th position overall across the 50 different sports hosting events.

Insignia and other representations

Motto

Cardiff University's motto is ''Gwirionedd, Undod a Chytgord''. The

Welsh Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, referring or related to Wales * Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales * Welsh people People * Welsh (surname) * Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peopl ...

motto translates as ''Truth, Unity and Concord'' or ''Truth, Unity and Harmony''. It is taken from the prayer for the

Church militant In some strains of Christian theology, the Christian Church may be divided into: *the Church Militant (), also called the Church Pilgrim which consists of Christians on earth who struggle as soldiers of Christ against sin, the devil, and "the ...

as it appears in the 1662 ''Book of Common Prayer''.

Coat of arms

Cardiff University's current

coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldic visual design on an escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the latter two being outer garments). The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central element of the full heraldic achievement, which in its ...

was granted by the

College of Arms The College of Arms, or Heralds' College, is a royal corporation consisting of professional officers of arms, with jurisdiction over England, Wales, Northern Ireland and some Commonwealth realms. The heralds are appointed by the British Sover ...

in 1988 following the merger of University College Cardiff and the University of Wales Institute of Science and Technology. The coat of arms incorporates features from the heraldry of both former institutions. The three chevrons are derived from the arms of the de Clare lords of Glamorgan. The open book signifies learning; on it are the crescent and annulet, marks of cadence that indicate that University College Cardiff was the second of the University of Wales' institutions, and that the University of Wales Institute of Science and Technology was the fifth. A notable feature of the arms are the supporters, which in heraldry are rarely granted to universities. The supporters are an angel from University College Cardiff and a Welsh Dragon from the University of Wales Institute of Science and Technology. The crest is a Welsh dragon in the stance of a lion; it stands on the helmet. Both the dragon and the helmet are distinguished by being front-facing rather than in profile as is more usually found in Welsh heraldry.

Notable alumni and faculty

Vice-Chancellors

List of Vice-Chancellors and Principals of Cardiff University and its predecessors (shown in brackets): *1883–1901 (University College of South Wales and Monmouthshire):

*1901–1918 (University College of South Wales and Monmouthshire):

Ernest Howard Griffiths Ernest Howard Griffiths (15 June 1851 – 3 March 1932) was a British physicist born in Brecon, Wales. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1895 and won its Hughes Medal in 1907. On his maternal side he was a descendant of the 17th ...

*1918–1929 (University College of South Wales and Monmouthshire): A.H. Trow *1929–1949 (University College of South Wales and Monmouthshire): Frederick Rees *1949–1966 (University College of South Wales and Monmouthshire): Anthony Steel *1966–1972 (University College of South Wales and Monmouthshire): C. W. L. Bevan *1972–1987 (University College Cardiff): C. W. L. Bevan *1968–1988 (University of Wales Institute of Science and Technology): Sir Aubrey Trotman-Dickenson *1988–1993: Aubrey Trotman-Dickenson *1993–2001: Brian Smith *2001–2012: David Grant *2012–present: Colin Riordan

Heads of state and government

* Lord Jenkins, former Chancellor of the Exchequer,

Home Secretary The secretary of state for the Home Department, otherwise known as the home secretary, is a senior minister of the Crown in the Government of the United Kingdom. The home secretary leads the Home Office, and is responsible for all nationa ...

, President of the European Commission and Chancellor of the University of Oxford (did not graduate) * Barham Salih, president of Iraq, former prime minister of the Iraqi Kurdistan Region and former deputy prime minister of the Iraqi federal government * Faisal Al-Fayez, Prime Minister of Jordan

Politics

* David Bahati, State Minister of Finance for Planning in the Cabinet of Uganda *

Christine Chapman Christine Chapman (born 7 April 1956) is a Welsh Labour Co-operative politician who was a Member of the National Assembly for Wales for Cynon Valley from 1999 to 2016. She has not held senior government posts and has been described as "one of ...

, MS for Cynon Valley *

Jeffrey Cuthbert Jeffrey Hambley Cuthbert (born 4 June 1948) is a Welsh politician serving as Gwent Police and Crime Commissioner since 2016. Cuthbert served as a Labour Party member of the National Assembly for Wales for Caerphilly from 2003 to 2016. He bega ...

, Gwent Police and Crime Commissioner, MS for Caerphilly and Welsh Government Minister for Communities and Tackling Poverty *

Hefin David Hefin Wyn David (born 1977) is a Welsh Labour politician and the Member of the Senedd (MS) for Caerphilly. He was elected in 2016 to replace Jeff Cuthbert, who became Gwent Police and Crime Commissioner. Despite the common surname, he is n ...

, MS for Caerphilly * Wayne David, MP for Caerphilly and UK Shadow Minister for Europe, Shadow Minister for Defence Procurement and Shadow Minister for the Armed Forces * S. O. Davies, miner, trade union official and Labour Party MP * Guto Harri, broadcaster, Communications Director for the Mayor of London * Elin Jones, MS for Ceredigion,

Presiding Officer of the National Assembly for Wales , unofficial_names = Presiding Officer of the SeneddLlywydd / Presiding Officer of the Welsh Parliament , insignia = , insigniasize = 150px , insigniacaption = , image = File:Elin Jones AM (27889497280).jpg , imagesize = 220px , incum ...

and Welsh Government Minister for Rural Affairs *

Fatou Sanyang Kinteh Fatou Sanyang Kinteh also known as Fatou Kinteh is a Gambian politician and women's rights activist. She currently serves as the Gambian minister for women's affairs, children, and social welfare. She also serves as the national coordinator of ...

, Gambian Minister for Women's Affairs, Children and Social Welfare * Sir Emyr Jones Parry, British Permanent Representative to the United Nations * Glenys Kinnock, MEP and UK Foreign Office Minister * Neil Kinnock, MP for

Bedwellty Bedwellty is a small village in Caerphilly County Borough in south Wales. The village stands on a ridge of high ground between the Rhymney and Sirhowy valleys. The village comprises a parish church, public house and a few houses. The ancient pa ...

and for

Islwyn The Borough of Islwyn was one of five local government districts of Gwent from 1974 to 1996. History The borough was formed in 1974 as a local government district of Gwent. It covered the whole area of three former districts and part of a four ...

, Leader of the Labour Party, Leader of the Opposition * Mike Hedges, MS for Swansea East * Hilary Marquand, MP for Cardiff East and Minister for Health. * Robert Minhinnick, co-founder of Friends of the Earth (Cymru) * Christopher Walter Monckton, 3rd Viscount Monckton of Brenchley, advisor to

Margaret Thatcher Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 to 1990. She was the first female British prime ...

* Craig Oliver, Conservative Party Director of Communications *

Adam Price Adam Robert Price (born 23 September 1968) is a Welsh politician serving as the Leader of Plaid Cymru since 2018. , he has sat in the Senedd for Carmarthen East and Dinefwr, having previously been a Member of Parliament (MP) for the Carmart ...

, MS and leader of Plaid Cymru *

Bill Rammell William Ernest Rammell (born 10 October 1959) is a British Labour Party politician, who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Harlow from 1997 until 2010, and served as a Minister of State in several departments from 2002. From August 2012 ...

, MP for Harlow *

David Rees David or Dai Rees may refer to: Entertainment * David Rees (author) (1936–1993), British children's author * Dave Rees (born 1969), American drummer for SNFU and Wheat Chiefs * David Rees (cartoonist) (born 1972), American cartoonist and televis ...

, MS for

Aberavon Aberavon ( cy, Aberafan) is a town and community in Neath Port Talbot county borough, Wales. The town derived its name from being near the mouth of the river Afan, which also gave its name to a medieval lordship. Today it is essentially a di ...

and Deputy Presiding Officer of the Senedd Cymru. * Lord Richards, Chief of the Defence Staff * Michael Shrimpton, barrister, politician, and conspiracy theorist * John Smith, MP for the

Vale of Glamorgan The Vale of Glamorgan ( cy, Bro Morgannwg ), often referred to as The Vale, is a county borough in the south-east of Wales. It borders Bridgend County Borough to the west, Cardiff to the east, Rhondda Cynon Taf to the north, and the Bristol ...

, member of the Defence Select Committee. * Brian Wilson, MP for Cunninghame North and Minister of State. * Mike Wood, MP for Dudley South

Academia

* Abedelnasser Abulrob, medical researcher * Miguel Alcubierre, Mexican theoretical physicist * Rudolf K. Allemann, Swiss biochemist * Gabrielle Allen, computer scientist * Robin Attfield, philosopher *

Martin J. Ball Martin J. Ball is Honorary Professor in Linguistics at Bangor University in Wales. Until August 2017 he was Professor of Speech-Language Pathology (Clinical Linguistics and Phonetics) at Linköping University in Sweden. He holds dual UK-US citiz ...

, Emeritus Professor of Linguistics at Bangor University, Cymru/Wales * Paul E. A. Barbier, Professor of French at the

University of Leeds , mottoeng = And knowledge will be increased , established = 1831 – Leeds School of Medicine1874 – Yorkshire College of Science1884 - Yorkshire College1887 – affiliated to the federal Victoria University1904 – University of Leeds , ...

* Yehuda Bauer, Professor of Holocaust Studies at the Avraham Harman Institute of Contemporary Jewry at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem * Leszek Borysiewicz, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cambridge *

Gregory Cameron Gregory Kenneth Cameron (born 6 June 1959) is a Welsh Anglican bishop. He is Bishop of the Diocese of St Asaph in Wales, having been elected on 5 January 2009 and confirmed as bishop on 16 March 2009. Life and career Cameron was born in sout ...

Bishop of St Asaph The Bishop of St Asaph heads the Church in Wales diocese of St Asaph. The diocese covers the counties of Conwy and Flintshire, Wrexham county borough, the eastern part of Merioneth in Gwynedd and part of northern Powys. The Episcopal seat is loca ...

* Sheila Cameron, lawyer and ecclesiastical judge * Archie Cochrane, pioneer of scientific method in medicine *

Peter Coles Peter Coles (born 1963) is a theoretical cosmologist at Maynooth University. He studies the large scale structure of our Universe. He studied for his PhD in 1985-1988, subsequently becoming a postdoctoral researcher at Sussex and Queen Mary, su ...

, Professor of Astrophysics *

Paul Colton William Paul Colton (born 13 March 1960), known as Paul Colton, is an Irish Anglican bishop. Since 1999, he has served as Bishop of Cork, Cloyne and Ross in the Church of Ireland. Biography Paul Colton attended St Luke's National School, Dougl ...

Bishop of Cork, Cloyne and Ross The Bishop of Cork, Cloyne and Ross is the Church of Ireland Ordinary of the united Diocese of Cork, Cloyne and Ross in the Province of Dublin. The current bishop is the Right Reverend Paul Colton BCL, DipTh, MPhil, LLM, PhD. He was consecrat ...

David Crouch Sir David Lance Crouch (23 June 1919 – 18 February 1998) was a British Conservative politician. Crouch was educated at University College School, London and became a marketing consultant. He contested Leeds West in 1959, and served as Memb ...

, historian * Alun Davies, bioscientist * Huw Dixon, economist * Stephen Dunnett, neuroscientist *

Alice Laura Embleton Alice Laura Embleton (1876 – 1960) was one of the first women to study sciences at the University College of South Wales and Monmouthshire, and among the first group of women to be appointed Fellows of the Linnean Society in 1905. A biologist a ...

biologist A biologist is a scientist who conducts research in biology. Biologists are interested in studying life on Earth, whether it is an individual cell, a multicellular organism, or a community of interacting populations. They usually specialize ...

, zoologist and suffragist. * Martin Evans, Nobel Prize for Medicine 2007 * Mahmoud Ezzamel, professorial fellow * Dimitra Fimi, writer * John S. Fossey, Professor of synthetic chemistry at the University of Birmingham * Burt Goldberg, university professor, microbiologist *

Karen Holford Karen Margaret Holford (born 1962) is a Welsh engineer, Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Vice-Chancellor and Chief Executive of Cranfield University. She was formerly Deputy Vice-Chancellor at Cardiff University. She is also a former Pr ...

, engineer *

, Professor of

Chemistry Chemistry is the scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a natural science that covers the elements that make up matter to the compounds made of atoms, molecules and ions: their composition, structure, proper ...

, Nobel Laureate in Chemistry 1988 * John Loughlin, Professor of Politics * Vaughan Lowe, Chichele Professor of Public International Law in the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

Ursula Masson Ursula Masson (1945–2008), born Ursula O'Connor, was a Welsh academic and writer who worked closely with Jane Aaron and Honno Press/Gwasg Honno, the Welsh Women's Press, on the imprint Welsh Women's Classics – to bring back into print the ...

, women's history and feminism *

Patrick Minford Anthony Patrick Leslie Minford (born 17 May 1943) is a British macroeconomist who is professor of applied economics at Cardiff Business School, Cardiff University, a position he has held since 1997. He was Edward Gonner Professor of Applied Ec ...

, Professor of Applied Economics * John Warwick Montgomery – American lawyer and theologian; Distinguished Research Professor of Philosophy and Christian Thought at Patrick Henry College. * Christopher Norris, literary critic * Keith Peters, Regius Professor of Physic in the

University of Cambridge , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

* Leighton Durham Reynolds, Emeritus Professor of Classical Languages and Literature,

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

* Alice Roberts, clinical anatomist and osteoarchaeologist * Wendy Sadler, physicist and science communicator *

H. W. Lloyd Tanner Henry William Lloyd Tanner (generally known as H. W. Lloyd Tanner) (17 January 1851 – 6 March 1915) was Professor of Mathematics at the University College of South Wales and Monmouthshire from 1883 to 1909. Life Tanner was born on 17 January 1 ...

, Professor of Mathematics and Astronomy (1883–1909) *

Pamela Taylor Pamela Jane Taylor, (born 23 April 1948) is a British psychiatrist and academic, who specialises in the links between psychosis and violence, and mental and physical health in the criminal justice system. Since 2004, she has been Professor of ...

, Professor of Forensic Psychiatry since 2004 * Meena Upadhyaya, medical geneticist * Dominic Walker,

Bishop of Monmouth The Bishop of Monmouth is the diocesan bishop of the Church in Wales Diocese of Monmouth. The episcopal see covers the historic county of Monmouthshire with the bishop's seat located at the Cathedral Church of Saint Woolos in Newport, which ...

* Keith Ward, philosopher, Gresham Professor of Divinity, Gresham College *

Chandra Wickramasinghe Nalin Chandra Wickramasinghe (born 20 January 1939) is a Sri Lankan-born British mathematician, astronomer and astrobiologist of Sinhalese ethnicity. His research interests include the interstellar medium, infrared astronomy, light scattering t ...

, mathematician, astronomer and astrobiologist, Professor of Applied Mathematics *

Rheinallt Nantlais Williams Rheinallt Nantlais Williams (1911–1993) was a Welsh professor of the philosophy of religion and principal of the Presbyterian United Theological College, Aberystwyth in Wales from 1979 to 1980. Rheinallt Williams was born in Ammanford in Carm ...

, professor of the philosophy of religion, principal of the United Theological College, Aberystwyth * Emma Yhnell, biomedical research scientist

Business

* Spencer Dale, Chief economist, Bank of England * Andrew Gould, chairman and former CEO, Schlumberger * Martin Lewis, personal finance journalist, television presenter and website entrepreneur * Dame Mary Perkins, co-founder, Specsavers * Ceri Powell, senior

Royal Dutch Shell Shell plc is a British multinational oil and gas company headquartered in London, England. Shell is a public limited company with a primary listing on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) and secondary listings on Euronext Amsterdam and the New ...

executive * John Pettigrew (businessman), CEO, National Grid plc *

Lorenzo Simonelli Lorenzo Simonelli is the Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of Baker Hughes, an energy technology company. Early life and education Simonelli is originally from Tuscany, Italy, where his family owns a vineyard producing wine and ...

, CEO, Baker Hughes Company

Sport

* Nathan Cleverly, professional boxer and former

WBO The World Boxing Organization (WBO) is an organization which sanctions professional boxing bouts. It is recognized by the International Boxing Hall of Fame (IBHOF) as one of the four major world championship groups, alongside the World Boxing ...

light heavyweight

world champion A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

* Gareth Davies, former

and British and Irish Lions international rugby union player, and current chief executive of Cardiff Rugby Football Club * Gerald Davies, former

and British and Irish Lions international rugby union player * Mike Hall, former Wales and British and Irish Lions international rugby union player * Heather Knight, English cricketer *

Steven Outerbridge Steven Devonne Outerbridge (born 20 May 1983) is a Bermudian cricketer. He is a left-handed batsman and a right-arm off-break bowler. He has played for Bermuda in seven One Day Internationals to date, making his debut at this level against Cana ...

, Bermudian

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by st ...

er * Jamie Roberts,

and British and Irish Lions international

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In it ...

player * James Tomlinson, English cricketer * Bradley Wadlan, Welsh cricketer * Alex Gough, Squash player

Arts and journalism

Paul Atherton Paul Atherton (born 20 March 1968) is a London-based filmmaker. He produced and directed ''The Ballet of Change'', a series of four short films that were projected onto London landmarks. His video-diary ''Our London Lives'' is in the permanent c ...

, television and film producer and director * Matt Barbet, journalist *

Manish Bhasin Manish Dev Bhasin (born 21 May 1976 in Leicester, England) is a sports journalist and presenter broadcasting for Premier League Productions as the face of the Premier League's global coverage to over 700 million viewers as well as the BBC in th ...

, journalist and television presenter * Nick Broomfield, documentary filmmaker and receiver of the BAFTA Lifetime Achievement Award for Contribution to Documentary *

Philip Cashian Philip Cashian (born 1963) is an English composer. He is the head of composition at the Royal Academy of Music. Biography Philip Cashian was born in Manchester in 1963 and studied at Cardiff University and the Guildhall School of Music and Dra ...

, composer * Suw Charman-Anderson, journalist and social software consultant. *

Adrian Chiles Adrian Chiles (born 21 March 1967) is a British writer and television and radio presenter. He has co-presented both '' The One Show'' (2007–2010) and '' Daybreak'' (2010–2011) with Christine Lampard. He was also the chief presenter for fo ...

, television presenter * Gillian Clarke, poet and receiver of the Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry * Huw Edwards, journalist *

Ken Elias Ken Elias is a Welsh artist. Born in 1944, into a working-class family in Glynneath, his childhood was formed during the 1950s. He attended art school in the 1960s, during the height of the Pop Art movement in the UK. Artwork Ken Elias's work i ...

, artist/painter * Max Foster, CNN anchor, CNN Today * M. A. Griffiths, poet *

Julia Hartley-Brewer Julia Hartley-Brewer is an English radio presenter, political journalist and newspaper columnist. She hosts the weekday breakfast radio show on Talkradio. Early life Julia Hartley-Brewer's father, Michael John Hartley-Brewer, stood unsuccessfu ...

, journalist and television presenter * Jiang Heping, executive director of the CCTV Sports Programming Centre and Controller of CCTV-5 * Tim Hetherington, photo-journalist and co-director of Academy Award-nominated '' Restrepo'' *

Elis James Owain Elis James (born 3 November 1980) is a Welsh comedian, broadcaster and actor originally from Haverfordwest. He grew up in Carmarthen and later lived in Cardiff. He is now based in South London. He is bilingual in Welsh and English and has ...

, stand-up comedian and actor * Alun Hoddinott, composer *

Sioned James Sioned Nest James (10 Sept 1974 – 19 July 2016) was a Welsh musician and conductor, known for founding the successful Cardiff-based choir Côrdydd and contributing to musical programmes on television. Early life and education Born and brought ...

(1974-2016), choral conductor * Karl Jenkins, composer * Alan Johnston, journalist *

Riz Khan Rizwan "Riz" Khan ( ur, ; born August 1962 ) is a British broadcaster of Asian origin. From 2006 until April 2011 he hosted his own eponymous television show on Al Jazeera English. He first rose to prominence while working for the BBC and CNN ...

, journalist and television interviewer *

Bernard Knight Bernard Henry Knight (born 3 May 1931) is a British forensic pathologist and writer. He became a Home Office pathologist in 1965 and was appointed Professor of Forensic Pathology, University of Wales College of Medicine, in 1980. Early life Kn ...

, crime writer * Simon Lane, co-founder and Creative director of The Yogscast Ltd * Gwilym Lee, actor. * Siân Lloyd, television presenter * Los Campesinos!, six piece indie pop band * Philip Madoc, actor *

Paul Moorcraft Paul Leslie Moorcraft (born 1948 in Cardiff, Wales) is the Director of the Centre for Foreign Policy Analysis in London and a visiting professor at Cardiff University's School of Journalism, Media and Cultural Studies. Biography Personal life M ...

, writer *

Sharon Morgan Sharon Morgan (born 29 August 1949) is a Welsh actress of stage and screen, currently based in Cardiff. She was brought up in the village of Llandyfaelog. She is best known for her work within the Welsh film and television industries and has b ...

, actress *

Joanna Natasegara Joanna Natasegara is a British film director and producer. She produced '' Virunga'' (2014) and '' The White Helmets'' (2016), for which she received nominations for Academy Award in the categories of Best Documentary Feature and Best Documen ...

, documentary producer, Academy Award winner for Netflix documentary The White Helmets * Siân Phillips, actress * Susanna Reid, television presenter * James Righton, musician * Leo Rowlands, Welsh musical composer, Catholic priest *

Arlene Sierra Arlene Sierra is an American composer of contemporary classical music, working in London, United Kingdom. Education Sierra studied at Oberlin College Conservatory of Music, Yale University School of Music and the University of Michigan, Ann ...

, composer *

Mari Strachan Mari Strachan (born 1945) is a Welsh novelist and librarian. Her first novel, ''The Earth Hums in B Flat'' (Canongate, 2009), works on one level as a detective story, while on another dealing with the problems of growing up in a small Welsh vill ...

, novelist and librarian *

Richard Tait Richard Graham Tait CBE (born 22 May 1947) is a British journalist and Professor of Journalism at Cardiff University. He had been a member of the BBC Trust, the governing body of the British Broadcasting Corporation, and was replaced by Richard ...

, former BBC governor and BBC trustee * Craig Thomas, author * Alex Thomson, journalist & television presenter *

Vedhicka Vedhika Kumar is an Indian actress and model who has established a career in the Malayalam, Telugu, Tamil and Kannada films. She started her acting career with the Tamil film '' Madrasi''. She made her breakthrough portraying ''Angamma'' in B ...

, Indian actress * Grace Williams, composer * Ron Smerczak actor

Workload controversy

On 19 February 2018, Malcolm Anderson, a university lecturer committed

suicide Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Mental disorders (including depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, personality disorders, anxiety disorders), physical disorders (such as chronic fatigue syndrome), and ...

by jumping off a university building and died at age 48. The inquiry determined that Anderson's suicide was the result of a high-pressure workload. In 2020, Grace Krause, a PhD student employed at Cardiff University started experiencing headaches and back pain after lengthy work at a computer. She tweeted that "Staff are marking hundreds of essays in an impossibly short time. It is exhausting. Everyone is in crisis mode. Stressed, moody, morose, everyone feels like they’re drowning." Soon after, an email from the university was sent to all PhD students asking for these comments to be deleted, in order to avoid negative media attention. This has since sparked a debate about freedom of speech between employers and employees.

References

External links

* {{authority control Cathays Dental schools in Wales Education in Cardiff Educational institutions established in 1883 Organisations based in Wales with royal patronage Russell Group Universities UK 1883 establishments in Wales