University of Newcastle upon Tyne

The University of Newcastle upon Tyne is located in Newcastle upon Tyne in the north of England. It has its origins in the College of Medicine established in association with Durham University in 1834, which formally became a college of Durham in 1851. In 1871 the scientists and engineers formed a separate college: the College of Physical Science, which subsequently became Armstrong College (named after William_George_Armstrong).

Armstrong College and the College of Medicine were merged in 1937 to form King's College of Durham University (the Durham Division remained predominantly dedicated to the teaching of theology and liberal arts).

Growth of the Newcastle Division of the federal Durham University led to extreme tensions in the structure and in 1963 an Act of Parliament separated the two divisions of the federal structure, leaving Durham as an 'Oxbridge'-style collegiate university and creating the University of Newcastle upon Tyne as a monolithic university similar to Birmingham, Leeds, and Manchester.

The University of Newcastle and Durham University came together again symbolically in 2001 - thirty-eight years after splitting apart - to form a partnership to deliver a new medical degree course in which the first two years would be taught by Durham, with the remaining three overseen by Newcastle.

The University has a core population of 16,350 students (2002-2003), including more than 2,000 overseas students from over 100 countries.

The current Chancellor of the university is Chris Patten, former Chairman of the Conservative Party and European Commissioner for External Affairs (1999-2004). He is also Chancellor of Oxford University.

The university won the Sunday Times University of the Year award in 2000. In December 2004 it sparked controversy when it announced the closure of its physics course because of declining interest and financial pressures. However, a month later the university noted that there had been a rise in applications to its chemistry course.