Reading is a modern, global university. So it is fitting that its origins lie in the first international celebration of technology, the Great Exhibition of 1851. This produced enough of a surplus to set up ‘Schools of Science and Art’ around the country. Reading got an Art School in 1860 and a Science School in 1870; in 1882 they merged, moved to Valpy Street in the town centre, and formed a miniature technical college for the men and women of the town.
Edith Morley was England’s first female professor.
University Education came to Reading in 1885 with an Oxford University ‘extension unit’, and in 1892 this merged with the Schools of Science and Art to form Reading College, with the geographer Halford Mackinder as its first Principal. This institution subsequently became University College Reading in 1902. The College expanded its range of subjects and the demand for space prompted a new campus on London Road, funded by generous benefactors such as the Palmer family and Lord and Lady Wantage. From this moment the drive towards separate University status began to gather pace.
The First World War was a crisis for the University. Its survival – though 144 of its members gave their lives – gave it a proud but sad history, and spurred a new drive towards the Charter.
First suggested in 1906, the road to becoming a separate University was a long one, interrupted by the First World War and achieved, uniquely, in the period before the Second. The senior academics, led by W.M. Childs, and the College’s local benefactors did not give up and in 1926 the University was incorporated ‘for the public benefit to advance education, learning and research’. In its early days, the University was small and compact, but while it has grown, its aims have not changed.
Francis Joseph Cole joined the University College as a Zoology lecturer in 1906 and the following year was appointed the first professor of Zoology.
After the Second World War, the University had the chance to purchase Whiteknights Park, an historic parkland, landscaped in the eighteenth century. This became the new heart of the University and enabled massive growth in numbers.
Student life has always centred around the halls, from the formal grandeur of Wantage Hall to the modern amenities of today.
The Henley Business School brings together two fine traditions. On the one hand the University had its own business school which grew from the work of economists such as John Dunning on international business, and the UK’s first centre for real estate and planning.
Whether in the lab, in the field or in the library, the University’s academic staff have always broken barriers and led the way.
Student life at Reading has always been both enjoyable and rich in culture and in sporting success.
Agriculture came to be Reading’s main technical subject in 1893–94 because the town’s leading industries – biscuits and seeds – depended on farming.
A founding School, Art was always a bit different – seemingly more relaxed than other departments.
After the Second World War, the UK’s Meteorological Office was reorganised and moved to Bracknell, so a collaboration with the University made sense.
We are in the process of finalising our postgraduate taught courses for 2026/27 entry. In the meantime, you can view our 2025/26 courses.
