York
Founded in 1963
The University of York was founded in 1963 and is one of the universities established during the post-war expansion of higher education in the UK. Universities founded during this period shared three main features: they had independent campuses, were research-oriented, and followed an education model similar to that of the United States, adopting a collegiate system.
York is one of the new "plate glass" universities in the UK, initially enrolling only 200 students in 1963. At the time, the university consisted of three buildings: King's Manor (originally the residence of Thomas Winterbottom, and once the headquarters of the Northern Committee) and Heslington Hall (formerly the residence of Thomas Eynns, secretary of the Northern Committee and keeper of the seal). The university expanded the Heslington campus the following year, forming the main part of the campus today.
The university has seven colleges, with more than 30 departments and research centers. While maintaining high academic standards, York has reformed many subjects to make them more flexible and practical. The Department of Computer Science has been consistently ranked among the top computer science departments in the UK for the past decade and has achieved excellent research results, receiving a five-star rating in the UK Research Assessment.
York nominally consists of eight colleges that offer student accommodation and academic units. However, the colleges are more like residential halls rather than being strongly collegiate in the way that Oxford or Cambridge colleges are.