University of Hertfordshire

The University of Hertfordshire (UOH) is a public university in Hertfordshire, United Kingdom. The university is based largely in Hatfield, Hertfordshire. Its antecedent institution, Hatfield Technical College was founded in 1948 and was identified as one of 25 Colleges of Technology in the United Kingdom in 1959. In 1992, Hatfield Polytechnic was granted university status by the British government and subsequently renamed the University of Hertfordshire. The University of Hertfordshire was established as an independent Higher Education Corporation in 1989 under the terms of the Education Reform Act (1989). The institution is an exempt charity. The board of governors has responsibility for running the university, while the academic board is responsible for academic quality and standards, academic policies, research, and scholarship.The University of Hertfordshire brings the transformational impact of higher education to all. Our staff, students, and businesses we support, consistently reach their full potential. Through TEF Gold-rated expert teaching, cutting-edge research projects, and powerful business partnerships, they think bigger, stand out and positively impact local, national, and international communities. Recognition and articulation agreements have been put in place with a number of colleges and universities, both locally and internationally, that facilitate student progression to University of Hertfordshire programs after completion of qualifications at a range of partner institutions. We work closely with a number of key and long-standing partners that help the University of Hertfordshire fulfill its strategic aims and its commitment to creating a global college for the next generation of graduates.In 2000, Olivia de Havilland, cousin of Sir Geoffrey de Havilland, visited the university to mark the inauguration of a project to build a new campus named after her cousin. The university's 50th anniversary was celebrated in 2002, by which time it had 21,695 students. In 2003 Tim Wilson succeeded Neil Buxton as vice-chancellor and the de Havilland campus opened. Hertfordshire Sports Village also opened in 2003. In 2005 the university launched the Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire Postgraduate Medical School and School of Pharmacy to enhance medical education, training and research in the region. In 2006 the university opened its School of Film, Music and Media. The university opened the MacLaurin building in 2007, named in honour of its former chancellor Lord MacLaurin followed by a new law building in 2011. During this period, Hertfordshire became a lead academic sponsor of Elstree University Technical College, a university technical college which opened in September 2013. Hertfordshire is also the academic sponsor of Watford University Technical College.In 2010, Tim Wilson announced his intention to retire as vice-chancellor after more than 19 years at the university. In 2011, Quintin McKellar replaced Tim Wilson as vice-chancellor of the university. Also on the same year, the Hatfield Beacon is restored and repositioned at the new Law School site. Meanwhile, in the following year, the Kaspar project received a £180,000 donation from an international grant making foundation, which was used to further the university's research into the use of robotics to support the social development of children with autism. In 2015, Hertfordshire has adopted a policy of naming its buildings after people or organisations with a significant local or regional impact. These include Kate Bellingham, British engineer and television presenter and Alistair Spalding, chief executive and artistic director of Sadler's Wells Theatre. All of the halls are being named after influential alumni who the university feels represent the attributes of Hertfordshire graduates. In these two cases, the halls were named in recognition of Bellingham and Spalding's attributes of, intellectual depth and adaptability and professionalism, employability and enterprise. On the same year, University of Hertfordshire has been announced as one of the first recipients of the Race Equality Charter which is an initiative that recognises excellence in advancing racial equality in higher education. The charter was launched by the Equality Challenge Unit at the start of the 2015 academic year.In 2020, the University of Hertfordshire Observatory celebrated its 50th anniversary, and revealed an eight-year-long exposure photograph, breaking the record of longest exposure. The artist, Regina Valkenborgh, was a Master's student in August 2012, when she set the pinhole camera attached to one of the telescope domes in the Observatory. The camera was then forgotten, and rediscovered in September 2020 by the Observatory’s Principal Technical officer. The photograph registered the path of the sun over the sky during the 2,953 days it was exposed to it.VisionOur vision is to transform lives. This means whatever your background, wherever you are from, we will drive your potential, powering you to succeed. We are committed to having a positive transformational impact on every member of our university community, and to sharing our successes with the community around us.We support a diverse range of students, staff, businesses, researchers and members of the community. What they all share is the desire to make the most of the opportunities in front of them. Our strategy will enable us to power their potential and achieve their goals.Students, businesses and the local community are all motivated by the same thing. Finding ways to make the most of the opportunities in front of them, by tapping into their individual or collective potential. Powering Potential is embedded in our philosophy. This means – to transform lives, we not only find potential, we harness it and drive it.Students, businesses and the local community are all motivated by the same thing. Finding ways to make the most of the opportunities in front of them, by tapping into their individual or collective potential. Powering Potential is embedded in our philosophy. This means – to transform lives, we not only find potential, we harness it and drive it.We offer every student the opportunity to succeed, with varied and well-signposted routes into university and clear pathways through study. We support students to achieve to the best of their ability, and will support them in preparing for global opportunities after graduation. We will use our links in business, our research expertise, and our global outlook, to transform lives.We are a diverse and welcoming community with a global reach and a common purpose, to transform lives, which we will work together to achieve. Through communities of learning, exploration and knowledge, we celebrate diversity and share our passions. We want all our students and staff to find their communities here. We are engaged as a Civic University in our region, supporting schools, colleges and students. We will share our knowledge, culture, research and resources with businesses, the professions and the wider community.We will respond flexibly to the challenges and opportunities ahead. Flexible modes of study will support our students to succeed and allow them to engage with a greater range of opportunities in education, extra-curricular activities and work experience. We want our students to follow their interests and passions to transform their lives, and to be empowered by a choice of pathways that take them to the next stage and open doors to the future.These are the key areas in which the University operates and our strategy will be embedded in each enabling us to achieve our vision.

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