The University was preceded by University College, Bristol, founded in 1876, where its first lecture was attended by only 99 students. The University was able to apply for a Royal Charter due to the financial support of the Wills and Fry families, who made their fortunes in tobacco plantations and chocolate, respectively. Although the Wills Family made huge sums of money from the slave-produced plantations, they later became abolitionists who gave their money to the city of Bristol. The Royal Charter was gained in May 1909, with 288 undergraduates and 400 other students entering the University in October 1909. Henry Overton Wills III became its first chancellor.The University College was the first such institution in the country to admit women on the same basis as men. However, women were forbidden to take examinations in medicine until 1906.
League tables generally place Bristol within the top ten universities in the United Kingdom. The 2008 University League Table published by The Times placed Bristol 8th, The Sunday Times placed Bristol 10th and The Good University Guide placed Bristol 7th.Internationally, The Times Higher Education Supplement placed Bristol 64th in the world in 2006 and 37th in 2007. Another international ranking, the Shanghai Jiao Tong University Academic Ranking of World Universities, placed Bristol 62nd globally in 2007. According to data published in The Telegraph Bristol has the third-highest percentage of 'good honours' of any UK university, behind Oxford and Cambridge.
In addition, the following courses offered by University of Bristol, managed to reach top 5 in the Times ranking (2008): Computer Science(3-rd), Electrical and Electronic Engineering(3-rd), Civil Engineering(5-th), Biological Sciences(3-rd), Mathematics (3-rd), Psychology (4-th).
In addition, Bristol is particularly strong in the field of social sciences, particularly in Economics, Finance and Management, and was recently rated 4th in the 2008 Guardian University Guide for Business and Management Studies.
Bristol is also known for its research strength, having 15 departments gaining the top grade of 5* in the 2001 Research Assessment Exercise. Overall, 36 out of 46 departments rated gained the top two ratings of 5 or 5*, and 76% of all the academic staff working in departments scored these top two levels. In terms of teaching strength, Bristol had an average Teaching Quality Assessment score of 22.05/24 before the TQA was abolished. For admission in October 2005, Bristol reported an average of 10.8 applications per place with the average A-level score on admission being 436.4. That year, Bristol's drop-out rate was 2.2% compared to the benchmark set by HEFCE of no more than 3.1%
The University is a member of the Russell Group, European-wide Coimbra Group and the Worldwide Universities Network, of which the University's Vice-Chancellor Prof Eric Thomas is the current Chair.The most recent Research Assessment Exercise gave 15 departments a 5* rating.Bristol has around 23,000 students and is one of two universities in Bristol, the other being the more recently established University of the West of England. The University has gained press attention for its high private school intake and the 2003 dispute over its admissions system.
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