Reading University, UK

A mere 25 minutes from London by rail, Reading’s five faculties offer over 200 study programmes to 17,040 students from 141 countries SUMMIYA YASMEEN

Conferred a royal charter in 1926 — the only British varsity to be chartered between the two World Wars — the 89-year-old University of Reading is ranked among Britain’s Top 35 varsities. The Guardian University Guide 2015 ranks Reading #30 while the Times and Sunday Times University Guide 2015 ranks it #33 nationally. Internationally, the university is ranked 201-225 in the Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2014. Moreover, 98 percent of the university’s research is rated as being of international standard by the UK’s Research Excellence Framework 2014.

Sited in Reading, a mere 25 minutes from London by rail, the eponymous university’s five faculties — life sciences; science; arts, humanities and social sciences; Henley Business School and Graduate School — offer over 200 study programmes to 17,040 students from 141 countries mentored by 4,000 faculty and staff. The Henley B-school is highly-reputed and consistently ranked among the world’s Top 50 business schools by the Financial Times and The Economist.

“Reading is a global university with a world-class reputation for teaching, research and enterprise. We offer three scenic campuses, which have recently benefited from an ambitious multi-million pound UK-government investment programme to deliver 21st century facilities,” says Sir David Bell, vice chancellor of the university which traces its origins to the Schools of Art and Science established in 1860 and 1870, which were affiliated with Oxford University.

Reading. Sited in the county of Berkshire, Reading (pop.235,000) is a prosperous town ranked in the top two towns/cities of the UK for high economic growth and well-being by the 2012 Good Growth for Cities report. It offers students side streets and arcades with quirky small shops and cafes, shopping centres, a host of coffee shops, traditional pubs, bars and nightclubs and a ten-screen cinema. It also hosts the world-famous three-day Reading Festival, which attracts over 87,000 music aficionados every year.

Reading’s centre is a short walk/bus ride from the university’s Whiteknights and London Road campuses. Students also have easy access to London’s Heathrow airport (35 minutes by road) and the rolling downs of southern England. Like the rest of the United Kingdom, Reading has a maritime climate with cold winters and warm summers, and moderate rainfall through the year.

The coldest month is February when the mercury could drop to near freezing point, while summer temperatures range from 10.8-22.4°C.

Campus facilities. The university’s main Whiteknights campus is set amidst 130 hectares of rolling parklands with green spaces, a lake, rare trees and wildlife. Indoors, Reading offers cutting-edge teaching and learning facilities, including 24-hour IT resources and a library housing over 1 million books, manuscripts and electronic resources, catered and self-catered student accommodation, and three specialist museums — the Cole (zoology), Ure Museum (Greek archaeology) and Museum of English Rural Life.

Sports options include athletics facilities of the University Sports Park featuring a state-of-the-art fitness studio, squash courts and a large multipurpose sports hall; tennis and netball courts; multipurpose courts for badminton, basketball and volleyball; dance and yoga studios, and football, rugby, lacrosse, hockey and cricket grounds. The university also offers a world-class boathouse facility on the River Thames. The Reading Students Union operates several bars and shops as well as a nightclub on campus.

The university’s two other campuses are Greenland and London Road. The Greenland campus on the banks of the Thames at Henley dates back to the early 19th century and houses the Henley Business School. The newly refurbished £30 million London Road campus hosts the university’s Institute of Education — one of the UK’s leading providers of teacher education.

Moreover, there are over 100 clubs and societies on campus which organise a variety of social and cultural activities through the year.

Admission. All undergraduate applications to Reading U must be made online through the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (www.ucas.com). The UCAS code for the university is READG R12. The minimum eligibility criteria for admission into undergrad study programmes are “high overall scores” in class XII (CBSE/CISCE boards) and English language proficiency — an IELTS score of 6.5 or TOEFL score of 570 is acceptable. The deadline for submitting admission applications is January 15 for the term beginning September.

For postgraduate courses, the requirements are a first class bachelor’s degree from a recognised university and English language proficiency. Applications must be made online at www.reading.ac.uk.

For further information, contact the Admissions Office on +44 118 378 8372 or e-mail: ugadmissions@reading.ac.uk. Website: www.reading.ac.uk.

Accommodation. Reading University offers a wide range of on-campus housing options — ten self-catered and four catered halls of residence. The options include en suite rooms arranged into flats of six or eight bedrooms, each with a shared kitchen/diner; townhouse rooms with a modern shared kitchen/dining and lounge area on the ground floor, and traditional corridor style halls with shared bathrooms and kitchens.

Private accommodation is also available on rent in the vicinity of the university. The Students’ Union runs its own lettings agency which advertises properties on behalf of local landlords.

Degree programmes.  The university offers over 200 study programmes in arts, humanities, science, business, social science, and life sciences (see box).