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The Queen's University of Belfast (QUB) is a university in Belfast, Northern Ireland; the university is often called Queen's University Belfast. The university was originally part of Queen's University of Ireland, created in 1845 to encourage higher education for Catholics and Presbyterians as a counterpart to the Trinity College, Dublin, then an Anglican institution. The university offers academic degrees at various levels and across a broad subject range. It is particularly strong in the professions: pharmacy, medicine, dentistry, law, accountancy, architecture, engineering as well as pure and applied sciences, the arts and humanities and social sciences. The university's current President and Vice-Chancellor is Professor Peter Gregson, and its Chancellor is the former United States Senator, George Mitchell. On June 20, 2006 the university announced a £259 million investment programme focusing on facilities, recruitment and research.
(Queen's invests £259 million in 'world-class future', 20 June 2006, accessed 16 September 2006 )
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History
Queen's is the third oldest university in Ireland and the ninth oldest university in the United Kingdom. The university has its roots in the Belfast Academical Institution, which was founded in 1810 and remains as the Royal Belfast Academical Institution. Whilst the university was established as a college in 1845 as "Queen's College, Belfast" when it was associated with what was then Queen's College, Cork and Queen's College, Galway as part of the Queen's University of Ireland (1850) and later the Royal University of Ireland (1880). The Irish Universities Act, 1908 dissolved the Royal University of Ireland and created two separate universities - the current National University of Ireland and the Queen's University of Belfast. At its opening in 1849 as a Queen's College, it had 23 professors and 343 students.
Queen's has been led by a distinguished line of Vice-Chancellors (presidents), including Sir David Keir, Lord Ashby of Brandon, Dr Michael Grant, Sir Arthur Vick, Sir Peter Froggatt served a 10-year term, Sir Gordon Beveridge, and Sir George Bain.
A more detailed history: A History (Queen's Website)
Parliamentary representation
Template:Main The university was one of only eight United Kingdom universities to hold a parliamentary seat in the Parliament of the United Kingdom at Westminster until such representation was abolished in 1950. The university was also represented in the now defunct Parliament of Northern Ireland from 1920-1968 where it held four seats. The last Member of Parliament for the university's Westminster seat was Professor Douglas Lloyd Savory and the last Member of Parliament for the university's Northern Irish parliamentary seat was Dr. H.I. McClure. Both representatives belonged to the Ulster Unionist Party.
Academic
In addition to the main campus in the centre of Belfast, the university has two associated university colleges, these being St Mary's and Stranmillis both also located in Belfast. Although offering a range of degree courses, these colleges primarily provide training for those wishing to enter the teaching profession.
The university has formal agreements with other colleges in Northern Ireland and operates several outreach schemes to rural areas.
Institutes
Several institutes are also associated with Queen's. Located close to the main campus is the Institute of Professional Legal Studies at Queen's which offers training to law graduates to enable them to practice as solicitors or barristers in Northern Ireland, England & Wales and the Republic of Ireland. Admission to the Institute is highly competitive and depends on the graduate's overall academic standing and their performance in an unseen written exam.
The Institute of Theology consists of several colleges with a Christian emphasis, including St Mary's (Catholic), Union Theological College (Presbyterian) as well as Baptist and Methodist colleges in Belfast. In all five colleges teach any programmes with a theological emphasis on behalf of the university; the university may confer theology degrees but cannot teach the subject itself. The Institute of Theology was known as the Faculty of Theology until 1998, being created as a faculty in 1926.
Reputation
Independent league tables published by The Guardian newspaper in 2005 placed the university at number 33 out of 132 institutes of higher education within the United Kingdom, commenting "Queen's has a well-deserved reputation for the quality of its teaching and research, particularly in medicine and engineering".
(Catharine Freeman Queen's University, Belfast, The Guardian, 2 May 2006, accessed 16 September 2006 ) The Times placed the university at 32 out of 109 ranked universities in its 2007 Good University Guide.
(Good University Guide, The Times, accessed 16 September 2006)
Its sister paper, The Sunday Times placed Queen's at number 37 of 119 in its University Guide 2006 League Table, up two places from the previous year.
(The Sunday Times University Guide 2006; accessed September 29th 2006)
The university also hosts the annual Belfast Festival at Queen's and the Belfast Film Festival. It runs Northern Ireland's only arthouse cinema - Queen's Film Theatre - and an art gallery, the Naughton Gallery at Queen's, which is a registered museum. The university's student's union is located opposite the main campus and has recently had a complete refurbishment. The main hall is named for Nelson Mandela and hosts concerts and Shine, a weekly nightclub.
See also
- Education in Northern Ireland
- List of universities in Northern Ireland
- List of Queen's University of Belfast people
External links
This text has been derived from the equivelent article on Wikipedia.org, and is licenced under the GNU Free Documentation License.