布里斯托大学英文校史

　　布里斯托大学（University of Bristol）,简称布大，始建于1876年，是位于英格兰西南部第一大城市布里斯托市的一所世界50强顶尖名校，历年最高世界排名为全球第27名，布里斯托大学是全英大学十强之一。1909年，布里斯托大学被英国国王爱德华七世授予皇家宪章，正式成为真正意义上的大学。立思辰留学360介绍说，学校建校至今共计培养了12位诺贝尔奖得主。布里斯托大学是素有英国常春藤盟校之称的“罗素大学集团（The Russell Group）”创始成员，也是英国历史上著名的六所“红砖大学”之一、科英布拉集团（The Coimbra Group）创始成员、世界大学联盟（Worldwide Universities Network）成员、欧洲大学协会（European University Association）成员。

　　英国前首相丘吉尔曾长期担任其校监，1929年至1965年临终，连续36年担任英国布里斯托大学校监.《星期日泰晤士报》评价其为9所构成英格兰地区“常春藤联盟”的大学之一。英国罗素大学集团官网这样介绍布里斯托大学——“The University of Bristol is internationally distinguished and one of the very best in the UK”。

　　布里斯托大学在2015/16QS世界大学排名中，位居全英第9名、全球第37名；在2015-16泰晤士高等教育世界大学排名中，位居全英第9名、全球第69名；在2015上海交大世界大学学术排名中，位居全英第8名、全球第66名; 在2014英国政府官方REF( The Research Excellence Framework) 评估中，83%的研究成果达到世界领先水平，科研实力位居全英第9位。

　　英文校史介绍

　　Early years

　　After the founding of the University College in 1876, Government support began in 1889. After mergers with the Bristol Medical School in 1893 and the Merchant Venturers‘ Technical College in 1909, this funding allowed the opening of a new Medical School and an Engineering School—two subjects that remain among the University’s greatest strengths. In 1908, gifts from the Fry and Wills families, particularly ￡100,000 from Henry Overton Wills III(￡6m in today‘s money), were provided to endow a University for Bristol and the West of England, provided that a Royal Charter could be obtained within two years. In December 1909, the King granted such a Charter and erected the University of Bristol. Henry Wills became its first Chancellor and Conwy Lloyd Morgan the first Vice-Chancellor. Wills died in 1911 and in tribute his sons Georgeand Harry built the Wills Memorial Building, starting in 1913 and finally finishing in 1925. Today, it houses parts of the academic provision for earth sciences and law, and graduation ceremonies are held in its Great Hall. The Wills Memorial Building is a Grade II* listed building.

　　In 1920, George Wills bought the Victoria Rooms and endowed them to the University as a Students’ Union. The building now houses the Department of Music and is a Grade II* listed building.

　　At the point of foundation, the University was required to provide for the local community. This mission was behind the creation of the Department of Extra-Mural Adult Education in 1924 to provide courses to the local community. This mission continues today; a new admissions policy specifically caters to the ‘BS’ postcode area of Bristol.

　　Among the famous names associated with Bristol in this early period is Paul Dirac, who graduated in 1921 with a degree in engineering, before obtaining a second degree in mathematics in1923 from Cambridge. For his subsequent pioneering work on quantum mechanics, he was awarded the 1933 Nobel Prize for Physics. Later in the 1920s, the H.H. Wills Physics Laboratory was opened by Ernest Rutherford. It hassince housed several Nobel Prize winners: Cecil Frank Powell (1950); Hans Albrecht Bethe (1967); and Sir Nevill Francis Mott (1977).The Laboratory stands on the same site today, close to the Bristol Grammar School and the city museum.

　　Sir Winston Churchill became the University‘s third Chancellor in 1929, serving the University in that capacity until 1965. He succeeded Richard Haldane who had held the office from 1912 following the death of Henry Wills.

　　During World War II, the Wills Memorial was bombed, destroying the Great Hall and the organ it housed. It has since been restored to its former glory, complete with oak panelled walls and a new organ.

　　Post-war development

　　In 1946, the University established the first drama department in the country. In the same year, Bristol began offering special entrance exams and grants to aid the resettlement of servicemen returning home. Student numbers continued to increase, and the Faculty of Engineering eventually needed the new premises that were to become Queen’s Building in 1955. This substantial building housed all of theUniversity‘s engineers until 1996, when Electrical Engineering and Computer Science moved over the road into the new Merchant Venturers’ Building to make space for these rapidly expanding fields. Today, Queen‘s Building caters for most of the teaching needs of the Faculty and provides academic space for the “heavy” engineering subjects (civil, mechanical, and aeronautical).With unprecedented growth in the 1960s, particularly in undergraduate numbers, the Student’s Union eventually acquired larger premises in a new building in the Clifton area of the city, in 1965. This building was more spacious than the Victoria Rooms, which were now given over to the Department of Music. The new Union provides many practice and performance rooms, some specialist rooms, as well as three bars: Bar 100; the Mandela (also known as AR2) and the Avon Gorge. Whilst spacious, the Union building is thought by many to be ugly and out of character compared to the architecture of the rest of the Clifton area, having been mentioned in a BBC poll to find the worst architectural eyesores in Britain. The University has proposed relocating the Union to a morecentral location as part of its development ‘masterplan’. More recently, plans for redevelopment of the current building have been proposed.

　　The 1960s were a time of considerable student activism in the United Kingdom, and Bristol was no exception. In 1968, many students marched in support of the Anderson Report, which called for higher student grants. This discontent culminated in an 11-day sit-in at the Senate House (the administrative headquarters of the University). A series of Chancellors and Vice-Chancellors led the University through these decades, with Henry Somerset, 10th Duke of Beaufort taking over from Churchill as Chancellor in 1965 before being succeeded by Dorothy Hodgkin in 1970 who spent the next 18 years in the office.

　　As the age of mass higher education dawned, Bristol continued to build its student numbers. The various undergraduate residences were repeatedly expanded and, more recently, some postgraduate residences have been constructed. These more recent ventures have been funded (and are run) by external companies in agreement with the University.

　　Since 1988, there have been only two further Chancellors: Sir Jeremy Morse, then chairman of Lloyds Bank who handed over in 2003 to Brenda Hale, the first female Law Lord.

　　One of the few Centres for Deaf Studies in the United Kingdom was established in Bristol in 1981, followed in 1988 by the Norah Fry Centre for research into learning difficulties. Also in 1988, and again in 2004, the Students‘ Union AGM voted to disaffiliate from the National Union of Students (NUS). On both occasions, however, the subsequent referendum of all students reversed that decision and Bristol remains affiliated to the NUS.

　　In 2002, the University was involved in argument over press intrusion after details of the son of then-Prime Minister Tony Blair’s application to university were published in national newspapers.

　　As the number of postgraduate students has grown (particularly the numbers pursuing taught Master‘s Degrees), there eventually became a need for separate representation on University bodies and the Postgraduate Union (PGU) was established in 2000. Universities are increasingly expected to exploit the intellectual property generated by their research activities and, in 2000, Bristol established the Research and Enterprise Division (RED) to further this cause (particularly for technology-based businesses). In 2001, the university signed a 25-year research funding deal with IP2IPO, an intellectual property commercialisation company. In 2007, research activities were expanded further with the opening of the Advanced Composites Centre for Innovation and Science (ACCIS) and The Bristol Institute for Public Affairs (BIPA).

　　In 2002, the University opened a new Centre for Sports, Exercise and Health in the heart of the University precinct. At a cost, local residents are also able to use the facilities.

　　Expansion of teaching and research activities continues. In 2004, the Faculty of Engineering completed work on the Bristol Laboratory for Advanced Dynamics Engineering (BLADE). This ￡18.5m project provides cutting-edge technology to further the study of dynamics and is the most advanced such facility in Europe. It was built as an extension to the Queen’s Building and was officially opened by Queen Elizabeth II in March 2005.

　　In January 2005, The School of Chemistry was awarded ￡4.5m by the Higher Education Funding Council for England to create Bristol ChemLabS: a Centre for Excellence in Teaching & Learning (CETL), with an additional ￡350k announced for the capital part of the project in February 2006. Bristol ChemLabS stands for Bristol Chemical Laboratory Sciences; it is the only Chemistry CETL in the UK.

　　September 2009 saw the opening of the University‘s Centre for Nanoscience and Quantum Information. This ￡11 million state of the art building is dubbed as the quietest building in the world and has other technologically sophisticated features such as self-cleaning glass. Advanced research into quantum computing, nanotechnology, materials and other disciplines are being undertaken in the building.

　　There is also a plan to significantly redevelop the centre of the University Precinct in the coming years. The first step began in September 2011, with the start of construction of a state-of-the-art Life Sciences building. In a time of heavy financial pressures on all Universities, this ￡50 million project is a clear statement that Bristol is committed to world class research and teaching facilities.