The University of Chester is a

public university A public university, state university, or public college is a university or college that is State ownership, owned by the state or receives significant funding from a government. Whether a national university is considered public varies from o ...

located in

Chester Chester is a cathedral city in Cheshire, England, on the River Dee, Wales, River Dee, close to the England–Wales border. With a built-up area population of 92,760 in 2021, it is the most populous settlement in the borough of Cheshire West an ...

, England. The university originated as the first purpose-built teacher training college in the UK. As a university, it now occupies five campus sites in and around Chester, one in

Warrington Warrington () is an industrial town in the Borough of Warrington, borough of the same name in Cheshire, England. The town sits on the banks of the River Mersey and was Historic counties of England, historically part of Lancashire. It is east o ...

, and a University Centre in

Shrewsbury Shrewsbury ( , ) is a market town and civil parish in Shropshire (district), Shropshire, England. It is sited on the River Severn, northwest of Wolverhampton, west of Telford, southeast of Wrexham and north of Hereford. At the 2021 United ...

. It offers a range of foundation,

undergraduate Undergraduate education is education conducted after secondary education and before postgraduate education, usually in a college or university. It typically includes all postsecondary programs up to the level of a bachelor's degree. For example, ...

and

postgraduate Postgraduate education, graduate education, or graduate school consists of academic or professional degrees, certificates, diplomas, or other qualifications usually pursued by post-secondary students who have earned an undergraduate (bachelor' ...

courses, as well as undertaking

academic research Research is creative and systematic work undertaken to increase the stock of knowledge. It involves the collection, organization, and analysis of evidence to increase understanding of a topic, characterized by a particular attentiveness to ...

. The university is a member of

AACSB The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) is an American professional and accreditation organization. It was founded as the American Assembly of Collegiate Schools of Business in 1916 to provide accreditation to business ...

, the

Association of Commonwealth Universities The Association of Commonwealth Universities (ACU) is a charitable organization that was established in 1913, and has over 400 member institutions in over 40 countries across the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth.Cathedrals Group, the

North West Universities Association The North West Universities Association (NWUA) was a representative body in the North West of England, intended to advance the development of the thirteen higher education establishments. The Association ceased operation on the 30th June 2012. R ...

and

Universities UK Universities UK (UUK) is an advocacy organisation for universities in the United Kingdom. It began life in the early 20th century through informal meetings of vice-chancellors of a number of universities and principals of university colleges and ...

. It holds an overall Silver Award in the 2023

Teaching Excellence Framework The Teaching Excellence and Student Outcomes Framework (TEF) is a government assessment of the quality of undergraduate teaching in universities and other higher education providers in England, which may be used from 2020 to determine whether state ...

(TEF). A 2021 article in ''

Times Higher Education ''Times Higher Education'' (''THE''), formerly ''The Times Higher Education Supplement'' (''The THES''), is a British magazine reporting specifically on news and issues related to higher education. Ownership TPG Capital acquired TSL Education ...

'' described the University of Chester as being the fifth-oldest higher education establishment in England, with only the universities of

Oxford Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town. The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a List of cities in the United Kingdom, city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 Unit ...

Durham Durham most commonly refers to: *Durham, England, a cathedral city in north east England **County Durham, a ceremonial county which includes Durham *Durham, North Carolina, a city in North Carolina, United States Durham may also refer to: Places ...

and

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

predating it.

History

1839 to 2000

The university was founded as Chester Diocesan Training College in 1839 by a distinguished group of local leading figures in the

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...

, including future

Prime Ministers A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but rat ...

William Ewart Gladstone William Ewart Gladstone ( ; 29 December 1809 – 19 May 1898) was a British politican, starting as Conservative MP for Newark and later becoming the leader of the Liberal Party (UK), Liberal Party. In a career lasting over 60 years, he ...

and the

14th Earl of Derby Edward George Geoffrey Smith-Stanley, 14th Earl of Derby (29 March 1799 – 23 October 1869), known as Lord Stanley from 1834 to 1851, was a British statesman and Conservative Party (UK), Conservative politician who served three times as Prime ...

.Ian Dunn, ''The University of Chester, 1839–2008: The Bright Star in the Present Prospect'', 2nd edn (Chester: Chester Academic Press, 2008) It was the UK's first purpose-built teacher training college, which makes it one of the longest established

higher education Tertiary education (higher education, or post-secondary education) is the educational level following the completion of secondary education. The World Bank defines tertiary education as including universities, colleges, and vocational schools ...

institutions in the country. In 1842, Gladstone opened the college's original buildings for its first intake of ten male student teachers on the Parkgate Road site, (just outside the City Walls), that the university occupies today. In 1921, Chester formally became an affiliated college of the

University of Liverpool The University of Liverpool (abbreviated UOL) is a Public university, public research university in Liverpool, England. Founded in 1881 as University College Liverpool, Victoria University (United Kingdom), Victoria University, it received Ro ...

, which meant that the University of Liverpool awarded Chester's qualifications and Chester's students were able to use Liverpool's facilities. The institution was threatened with closure in the 1930s, but its future was secured by the

Bishop of Chester The Bishop of Chester is the Ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Chester in the Province of York. The diocese extends across most of the historic county boundaries of Cheshire, including the Wirral Peninsula and has its see in the ...

in 1933. From then on, the college continued to grow steadily. By the 1960s, as the UK was massively expanding its higher education capacity in reaction to the

Robbins Report The Robbins Report (the report of the Committee on Higher Education, chaired by Lionel Robbins) was commissioned by the British government and published in 1963. The committee met from 1961 to 1963. After the report's publication, its conclusions ...

, the college was considered as a possible candidate for university status. These proposals, however, were not followed through. The college continued to expand and women were first admitted in 1961. In 1963, the government renamed teacher training colleges to colleges of education, so Chester's name became Chester College of Education. In 1974, the number of courses was expanded beyond teacher education to include

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

and

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, B.S., B.Sc., SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree that is awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Scienc ...

degrees. To reflect its wider remit, the college was renamed Chester College of Higher Education. In the early 1990s the School of Nursing and Midwifery (now the Faculty of Health and Social Care) was established. The college also began to offer a

Bachelor of Theology The Bachelor of Theology degree (BTh, ThB, or BTheol) is a two- to five-year undergraduate degree or graduate degree in theological disciplines and is typically (but not exclusively) pursued by those seeking ordination for ministry in a church, de ...

degree, HNDs and more

courses, such as

master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional prac ...

s and

PhD A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

s. It also embarked on a £10 million campus improvement programme. By 1996, Chester had earned the right to call itself University College Chester. This name, however, was short-lived as the government changed the requirements for

university college In a number of countries, a university college is a college institution that provides tertiary education but does not have full or independent university status. A university college is often part of a larger university. The precise usage varies f ...

s in 1999 to include only those that had their own degree-awarding powers. Thus, Chester had to drop the 'University College' tag and reverted to the title Chester College of Higher Education, though the more descriptive Chester, a College of the University of Liverpool was frequently used in publicity material.

2000 to present

The college expanded in 2002 through the acquisition of the higher education faculty and campus of Warrington Collegiate Institute. (The further and adult education campuses of Warrington remained independent and was known as Warrington Collegiate, until in August 2017, when it merged with Mid Cheshire College.)) In 2003 Chester was granted its own degree-awarding powers, allowing it to be known as University College Chester once again. Due to its long (and well-advertised) association with the University of Liverpool, Chester continued to award Liverpool degrees until the 2005 intake of students. In 2005, University College Chester was awarded full university status and became the University of Chester. This was followed by the right to award its own research degrees in 2007, ending Chester's last validation arrangement with Liverpool. Following the 2008

Research Assessment Exercise The Research Assessment Exercise (RAE) was an exercise undertaken approximately every five years on behalf of the four UK higher education funding councils ( HEFCE, SHEFC, HEFCW, DELNI) to evaluate the quality of research undertaken by British ...

, some of the university's research was declared to be of international quality, with a proportion of 'World Leading' research in History (15% of submitted research), English, Sports Studies, and Drama (each 5% of submitted research).''The Cestrian'', 2008 In 2010, the Centre for Work Related Studies (CWRS) received a commendation by the UK quality body, for its radically flexible and high quality negotiated work based learning framework - enabling professionals to customise their own qualifications, 'learn through work', and enable rapid accreditation of commercial training provision. At the same time, the funding body showcased CWRS's flexible approach to accrediting workplace learning.

Expansion

The university has expanded in recent years, buying buildings in Chester and constructing student accommodation at Parkgate Road Campus in 2013. In 2013 the university took over the Shell Technology Centre at Thornton-le-Moors from Shell UK, former owners of the adjacent

Stanlow Oil Refinery Stanlow Refinery is an oil refinery owned by Essar Energy in Ellesmere Port, North West England. Until 2011, it was owned by Royal Dutch Shell, Shell UK. The refinery is situated on the south bank of the Manchester Ship Canal, which is used to ...

. The Thornton Science Park, as it was renamed, was opened in 2014 by

George Osborne George Gideon Oliver Osborne (born 23 May 1971) is a British retired politician and newspaper editor who served as Chancellor of the Exchequer from 2010 to 2016 and as First Secretary of State from 2015 to 2016 in the Cameron government. A ...

, then the

Chancellor of the Exchequer The chancellor of the exchequer, often abbreviated to chancellor, is a senior minister of the Crown within the Government of the United Kingdom, and the head of HM Treasury, His Majesty's Treasury. As one of the four Great Offices of State, t ...

. The Science Park was used for a variety of science and engineering-based courses. However, following guidance from the

Health and Safety Executive The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is a British public body responsible for the encouragement, regulation and enforcement of workplace health, safety and welfare. It has additionally adopted a research role into occupational risks in Great B ...

, in 2018 the local authority

Cheshire West and Chester Council Cheshire West and Chester Council is the local authority for Cheshire West and Chester, a local government district with borough status in the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. The council is a unitary authority, being a district council w ...

refused a retrospective planning application for continued use for educational purposes on safety grounds, due to the proximity to the refinery. In 2014,

Loyd Grossman Sir Loyd Daniel Gilman Grossman (born 16 September 1950) is an American-British author, broadcaster, musician, businessman and cultural campaigner who has mainly worked in the United Kingdom. He presented the BBC programme ''MasterChef (British T ...

, who holds an honorary degree from the university, officially opened the North West Food Research Development (NoWFOOD) Centre.

Campuses

The University of Chester has six campuses and a University Centre in Shrewsbury. The Parkgate Road Campus, Chester, is located on Parkgate Road, just north of the City Walls. It has a mixture of

Victorian Victorian or Victorians may refer to: 19th century * Victorian era, British history during Queen Victoria's 19th-century reign ** Victorian architecture ** Victorian house ** Victorian decorative arts ** Victorian fashion ** Victorian literatur ...

buildings (such as Old College, which includes a chapel built by some of the original students in the 1840s) and modern buildings (such as the

Students' Union A students' union or student union, is a student organization present in many colleges, universities, and high schools. In higher education, the students' union is often accorded its own building on the campus, dedicated to social, organizat ...

). The Parkgate Road Campus also features a fitness centre, sports hall, swimming pool, science and language laboratories and bar. Some departments are housed offsite at locations within walking distance of the main campus, for example, the Department of English is located in a

Grade II-listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

former Victorian vicarage, while the Law School is based at 67 Liverpool Road. The former County Hall, which is located in the city centre near the racecourse, houses the Faculty of Education and Children's Services and the Faculty of Health and Social Care and is known as the Riverside Campus. The university has also developed the Kingsway Campus in Newton with the addition of a three-storey teaching block, ground floor exhibition space and art gallery, learning resource centre and changing rooms. The site features a number of green innovations, such as ground source heating. The university acquired a former

Lloyds Bank Lloyds Bank plc is a major British retail banking, retail and commercial bank with a significant presence across England and Wales. It has traditionally been regarded one of the "Big Four (banking)#England and Wales, Big Four" clearing house ...

corporate headquarters in Queen's Park,

Handbridge Handbridge is a district of Chester, England on the south bank of the River Dee. A settlement has existed on the site since the Iron Age , but the site saw major expansion during the collapse of the Roman occupation of Britain, as the city grew ...

, Chester in 2015. This houses the Faculty of Business and Management and the Chester Business School. The university has modernised the facilities in Bridge House and Churchill House to cater for 2,700 students. In the autumn of 2015, the university opened a sister institution in the Guildhall and Rowley's House,

, Shropshire as part of a joint venture with Shropshire Council to establish University Centre Shrewsbury. The university-owned student accommodation is primarily reserved for first year and overseas students. This consists of halls of residence and houses nearby. The smaller Warrington campus originally hosted a camp for Canadian officers in

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

and is located in the Padgate area of

. This campus includes the North West Media Centre, which has close ties to

Granada Television ITV Granada, formerly known as Granada Television, is the ITV (TV network), ITV franchisee for the North West of England and Isle of Man. From 1956 to 1968 it broadcast to both the north west and Yorkshire on weekdays only, as ABC Weekend TV, ...

, The Warrington School of Management, Social Sciences and Health and Social Care.Elsie Newton, ''The Padgate Story, 1946–2006''; University of Chester ''Annual Review 2009'' The Warrington Campus is also the training ground for the rugby league team The Warrington Wolves, and Warrington town was the host for the

Rugby League World Cup The Rugby League World Cup is an international rugby league competition contested by senior men's national teams who each represent member nations of the International Rugby League who run and administer the tournament. The tournament has be ...

2013, with the Campus hosting the Samoan players. In 2022 two new buildings, Time Square and Remond House, were opened in Warrington Town Centre. The university also has a number of bases at NHS sites across

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Merseyside to the north-west, Greater Manchester to the north-east, Derbyshire to the east, Staffordshire to the south-east, and Shrop ...

and

the Wirral The Wirral Peninsula (), known locally as the Wirral, is a peninsula in North West England. The roughly rectangular peninsula is about long and wide, and is bounded by the Dee Estuary to the west, the Mersey Estuary to the east, and Liverpool ...

, and opened University Centre Birkenhead in September 2018. File:University of Chester Senate House.jpg, Senate House, Parkgate Road Campus, Chester File:University of Chester Law School 67 Liverpool Road.JPG, University of Chester Law School, Liverpool Road File:Former Bank of Scotland offices, Handbridge, Chester - DSC08032.JPG, The University of Chester's Business School. File:Chester Cathedral ext Hamilton 001.JPG,

Chester Cathedral Chester Cathedral is a Church of England cathedral and the mother church of the Diocese of Chester. It is located in the city of Chester, Cheshire, England. The cathedral, formerly the abbey church of a Benedictine monastery dedicated to Saint ...

, site of the graduation ceremonies. File:Chester Cathedral Choir, Cheshire, UK - Diliff.jpg, Chester Cathedral interior

Organisation and structure

The university is organised into seven faculties of study. Several of these are subdivided into academic departments. The faculties and departments are: ;Faculty of Arts and Humanities * School of Arts and Media * School of Humanities * Chester Centre for Research in Arts and Media ;Chester Business School * Centre for Work Related Studies * Corporate Business and Enterprise * University of Chester Business School * Professional Development * Sport and Community Engagement * Work Based Learning Office * Chester Business School @ Warrington ; Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Life Sciences * Biological Sciences * Clinical Sciences and Nutrition * Chester Medical School * Sport and Exercise Sciences * Centre for Stress Research ;Faculty of Science and Engineering * Centre for Science Communication * Computer Science * Chemical Engineering * Electronic and Electrical Engineering * Mathematics * Mechanical Engineering * Natural Sciences (Physics and Chemistry) * New Technology Initiative (NTI) * The Informatics Centre ;Faculty of Social Sciences * Geography and International Development * Psychology * Social and Political Science * University of Chester Law School * Institute of Policing ;Faculty of Education and Children's Services ;Faculty of Health and Social Care In addition, a number of research centres operate alongside the departments. From 2015 to 2020 the University of Chester provides validation for PhD programmes offered by

Glyndŵr University Wrexham University (; ) is a public university in the north-east of Wales, with campuses in Wrexham, Northop and St Asaph. It offers both undergraduate and postgraduate degrees, as well as professional courses. The university had students in ...

Coat of arms

The university's coat of arms was granted by the

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

in 1954. The arms, pictured above, are made up of an

argent In heraldry, argent () is the tincture of silver, and belongs to the class of light tinctures called "metals". It is very frequently depicted as white and usually considered interchangeable with it. In engravings and line drawings, regions to b ...

shield featuring the

St George's cross In heraldry, Saint George's Cross (or the Cross of Saint George) is a red cross on a white background, which from the Late Middle Ages became associated with Saint George, the military saint, often depicted as a crusader. Associated with ...

on which there is a golden wheatsheaf, representing the Earldom of

. In the first quarter of the shield is a clasped open book, symbolising learning. The crest features a

mitre The mitre (Commonwealth English) or miter (American English; American and British English spelling differences#-re, -er, see spelling differences; both pronounced ; ) is a type of headgear now known as the traditional, ceremonial headdress of ...

, signifying the institution's founding by the Church of England, in front of two crossed swords, which are taken from the County of Cheshire's coat of arms. The golden scroll contains the

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

motto A motto (derived from the Latin language, Latin , 'mutter', by way of Italian language, Italian , 'word' or 'sentence') is a Sentence (linguistics), sentence or phrase expressing a belief or purpose, or the general motivation or intention of a ...

, "''qui docet in doctrina''", an extract from

Saint Paul Paul, also named Saul of Tarsus, commonly known as Paul the Apostle and Saint Paul, was a Christian apostle ( AD) who spread the teachings of Jesus in the first-century world. For his contributions towards the New Testament, he is generally ...

epistle An epistle (; ) is a writing directed or sent to a person or group of people, usually an elegant and formal didactic letter. The epistle genre of letter-writing was common in ancient Egypt as part of the scribal-school writing curriculum. The ...

to the Romans and translates as "he that teacheth, on teaching" or "let the teacher teach". The coat of arms was used as the college's logo until the early 1990s when a new logo, with a depiction of the Old College building, was introduced. The coat of arms returned to the college's logo in 2002 when a simplified version became part of the logo. The university's current logo, introduced in 2005, features the shield and scroll from the coat of arms. From 2015, as part of the 175th-anniversary celebrations, the university's coat of arms was changed to include supporting griffins on either side – one in gold, and one in black reach referencing one of the institution's founders. The gold griffin of Edward Smith-Stanley, 14th Earl of Derby bears the University Mace. The Black griffin of William Gladstone bears a sword. Each gorged with a collar of university colours red and white.

Academic profile

There are approximately 1,737 administrative and academic members of staff. Many take part in research and often publish their work through the institution's own publishing house, the University of Chester Press. The 2014

resulted in Chester's research being declared world-leading in 14 areas of that submitted. Former Archbishop of Canterbury

Rowan Williams Rowan Douglas Williams, Baron Williams of Oystermouth (born 14 June 1950) is a Welsh Anglican bishop, theologian and poet, who served as the 104th Archbishop of Canterbury from 2002 to 2012. Previously the Bishop of Monmouth and Archbishop of W ...

was, in 2011, bestowed a visiting professorship with the title Gladstone Professor of Literature and Theology. His inaugural lecture 'The Messiah and the novelist: approaches to Jesus in fiction' took place in

. Peter Blair and Ashley Chantler edit "Flash: The International Short-Short Story Magazine", a major literary periodical, which publishes stories and reviews of up to 360 words by writers from around the world. At the beginning of April 2021, the university announced its intention to make up to 86 compulsory redundancies across staff in the Humanities department. The

University and College Union The University and College Union (UCU) is a British trade union in further and higher education representing over 120,000 academics and support staff. UCU is a vertical union representing casualised researchers and teaching staff, "permanent" ...

has strongly condemned these plans, and student protests in opposition to the measures have taken place throughout the city.

Reputation and rankings

The

Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education The Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education (usually referred to simply as the Quality Assurance Agency or QAA) is the United Kingdom higher education sector's independent expert quality body. It has a remit to maintain and enhance the qu ...

(QAA) 2010 audit praised the university for its good practice in ensuring standards and enhancing the quality of learning opportunities, the supportive relationships that underpin the learning and working in the institution and the strength of its partnership work. The Faculty of Education and Children's Services also celebrated an 'outstanding' outcome in its recent

Ofsted The Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills (Ofsted) is a non-ministerial department of His Majesty's government, reporting to Parliament. Ofsted's role is to make sure that organisations providing education, training ...

inspection of Initial Teacher Training.

Student life

Chester Students' Union (CSU) offers services and provides facilities for students and is a member of the NUS. Three sabbatical officers are elected each year and serve a maximum of two years. The executive committee are the trustees of the Union. Members are elected each year before the end of March, with a president and vice-president, and each with a different role, such as Education representative, Activities representative and a Warrington representative. The support staff for the Union consists of a number of full-time employees, part-time student staff and volunteers from the elected Executive Committee and the Union Council. The Union runs a bar 'CH1' on the main Parkgate Road Campus, Chester. The previously known 'Padgate Union Bar' on the Warrington campus was, in August 2010, taken over by the university, and is now known as 'Bar and Club 2010'. The Union also has three shops. Two are on the Parkgate Road Campus, Chester, consisting of a general shop and a

Starbucks Coffee Starbucks Corporation is an American multinational chain of coffeehouses and roastery reserves headquartered in Seattle, Washington. It was founded in 1971 by Jerry Baldwin, Zev Siegl, and Gordon Bowker at Seattle's Pike Place Market i ...

franchise, and one at Warrington. The Union also runs over 110 sports clubs and societies; with each campus having its own teams, many of which compete in

British Universities and Colleges Sport British Universities and Colleges Sport (BUCS; ) is the sports governing body, governing body for higher education sport in the United Kingdom. Founded in 2008, BUCS is responsible for organising 54 inter-university sports in the United King ...

competitions. Once a year, the Union runs an inter-campus competition known as ''Varsity'' on campus where sporting societies, such as seven-a-side football, and non-sporting societies, such as poker, compete. Non-sporting societies include the Debating Society (which has hosted hustings events which have featured on 'BBC North West Tonight'), the Politics Forum, the Drama Society, the

Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says that it has more than ten million members a ...

Society, the International Development Society and the People and Planet Society. A

student radio Campus radio (also known as college radio, university radio or student radio) is a type of radio station that is run by the students of a college, university or other educational institution. Programming may be exclusively created or produced ...

station, ''The Cat Radio'', is based on the Warrington campus and broadcasts daily, with presenters on air from September until July.

Student body

Most of Chester's 14,900 students are from the United Kingdom. A quarter of students are

mature Mature is the adjectival form of maturity, as immature is the adjectival form of immaturity, which have several meanings. Mature or immature may also refer to: * Mature, a character from ''The King of Fighters'' series *"Mature 17+", a rating in ...

and there are twice as many female students as male (partially due to the number of nursing, midwifery and teaching students). The increasing number of foreign students are mainly participants in the university's active exchange policy.

Notable people

Chancellors

* 2005–2016: Major General

Gerald Grosvenor, 6th Duke of Westminster Major General Gerald Cavendish Grosvenor, 6th Duke of Westminster (22 December 1951 – 9 August 2016) was a British landowner, businessman, aristocrat, Territorial Army general, and peer. He was the son of Robert Grosvenor, 5th Duke of West ...

* 2016 to date:

Gyles Brandreth Gyles Daubeney Brandreth (born 8 March 1948) is a British broadcaster, writer and former politician. He has worked as a television presenter, theatre producer, journalist, author and publisher. He was a presenter for TV-am's '' Good Morning Bri ...

Vice-chancellor/ Principals

Until university status was awarded in 2005, the Vice-Chancellor was known as the principal. * 1839–1869: Arthur Rigg * 1869–1886: J. M. Chritchley * 1886–1890: A. J. C. Allen * 1890–1910: John Best * 1910–1935: Richard Thomas * 1935–1953: Stanley Astbury * 1953–1965: Aubrey Price * 1966–1971: Bernard de Bunsen * 1971–1987: Malcolm Seaborne * 1987–1998: Ned Binks * 1998–2019: Timothy Wheeler (Foundation Vice-Chancellor and Principal) * 2020–present
Eunice Simmons

Staff

Anglican Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

bishop A bishop is an ordained member of the clergy who is entrusted with a position of Episcopal polity, authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance and administration of di ...

, theologian and poet * Stewart Ainsworth, archaeologist (Department of History and Archaeology, 2010–present) *

Sir William Crookes Sir William Crookes (; 17 June 1832 – 4 April 1919) was an English chemist and physicist who attended the Royal College of Chemistry, now part of Imperial College London, and worked on spectroscopy. He was a pioneer of vacuum tubes, inventing ...

, chemist (1855-unknown) *

Elaine Graham Elaine L. Graham (born 1959) is Professor Emerita of Practical theology at the University of Chester. She was until October 2009 the Samuel Ferguson Professor of Social and Pastoral Theology at the University of Manchester. In March 2014, she w ...

, theologian (Department of Theology and Religious Studies, 2009–present) * Ron Geaves, theologian (Department of Theology and Religious Studies, 2001–2007) * Anthony Thiselton, theologian (Department of Theology and Religious Studies, 2001–2006) * Gordon Turnbull, psychiatrist (Centre for Research and Education in Psychological Trauma) * Alan Wall, novelist (Department of English, 2004–present) * Howard Williams, archaeologist (Department of History and Archaeology, 2008–present)

Alumni

Alan Bleasdale Alan George Bleasdale (born 23 March 1946) is an English screenwriter, best known for social realist drama serials based on the lives of ordinary people. A former teacher, he has written for radio, stage and screen, and has also written novels ...

, screenwriter ( Cert Ed, 1964–1967) *

Jim Bowen James Brown Whittaker (born Peter Williams; 20 August 1937 – 14 March 2018), known professionally as Jim Bowen, was an English stand-up comedian, actor and television personality. He was the long-time host of the ITV game show '' Bullseye'', ...

, ''

Bullseye Bullseye or Bull's Eye may refer to: Symbols * ◎ (Unicode U+25CE BULLSEYE), in the Geometric Shapes Unicode block * (Unicode U+0298 LATIN LETTER BILABIAL CLICK), the phonetic symbol for bilabial click Animals and plants * Bull's Eye, '' Eury ...

'' presenter ( Cert Ed Physical Education, 1957–1959) * Sir Dave Brailsford CBE, Performance Director of

British Cycling British Cycling (formerly the British Cycling Federation) is the main national sport governing body, governing body for cycle sport in United Kingdom, Great Britain. It administers most competitive cycling in Great Britain, the Channel Islands a ...

and General Manager of

Team Sky Ineos Grenadiers () (stylised as INEOS Grenadiers) (formerly Team Sky from 2010 to 2019, and Team Ineos from 2019 to 2020) is a British professional cycling team that competes at the UCI WorldTeam level. The team is based at the National Cyclin ...

, ( BSc (Hons), Sports Science and Psychology, 1987–1990) * Duffy, singer and actress * John Carleton, international rugby union player * Jon Clarke, international rugby league player ( BSc (Hons) Sport and Exercise Sciences, 2006–2010) * George Courtney MBE, international football referee ( Cert Ed Geography, 1959–1961) * Alan Emery, geneticist (CertEd, 1945–1947) *

Jo Fletcher Josephine Julia Fletcher (born 31 December 1980) is an English footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Watford. She played at full international level for England. She hails from Malpas, Cheshire and attended Bishop Heber High School. Club ca ...

, international footballer ( MSc Exercise and Nutrition Science, 2003–2005) *

Matt Greenhalgh Matthew Greenhalgh is an English screenwriter from Manchester. He is best known for writing the screenplays of several biopic films, including '' Control'' (2007), ''Nowhere Boy'' (2009), '' Film Stars Don't Die in Liverpool'' (2017), and ''Ba ...

, film director and screenwriter ( BA(Hons) Media Studies with Business Management and Information Technology, 1992–1995) * Dick Howard, international footballer ( HND Physical Education, 1963–1965) * Roderick Hunt MBE, children's author ( Cert Ed Divinity and English, 1957–1959) * Helen Jones MP, politician ( PGCE) *

Lucy Letby Lucy Letby (born 4 January 1990) is a British former neonatal nurse who was convicted of the murders of seven infants and the attempted murders of seven others between June 2015 and June 2016. Letby came under investigation following a high ...

, neonatal nurse, serial killer (studied nursing) * Eddie Lever, footballer and manager ( Cert Ed, 1931–1933) * J. Thomas Looney, deviser of the Oxfordian theory regarding

William Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

( Cert Ed, 1890–1891)''The Cestrian'', 2009 *

Tracey Neville Tracey Anne Neville (born 21 January 1977) is a former England netball international and a former England head coach. She is the current head coach of Melbourne Mavericks. As a player, she was a member of the England teams that won bronze me ...

, international netball player ( BSc(Hons) Nutrition and Exercise Science, 2004–2007) * Jon Sleightholme, international rugby union player (1991–1994) * David 'Comedy Dave' Vitty, radio presenter ( BA(Hons) Media Studies and Business Management, 1992–1995) * Nicola Wilson, equestrian rider BSc(Hons) Sport and Business Management, graduated 1999) * Sir Walter Winterbottom, footballer and first manager of the

England football team The England national football team have represented England in international football since the first international match in 1872. It is controlled by the Football Association (FA), the governing body for football in England, which is affilia ...

( Cert Ed, 1931–1933) *

Rob Wotton Rob Wotton is a British television sports presenter. For 27 years, Wotton presented football topics for Sky Sports and on Sky Sports News. He was previously the sports editor at Capital Radio in London. A fan of Chelsea FC, his commentary has a ...

, television and radio presenter ( BA(Hons) Health and Community Studies, 1987–1990; Union President, 1990–1991)''The Collegian'', 1999

References

External links

*
Chester Students' Union
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chester, University of Universities and colleges established in 1839 1839 establishments in England Universities UK