The University of Manchester

The University of Manchester (informally Manchester University or Manchester) is a public research university located in Manchester, United Kingdom. It was formed in October 2004 by the merger of the Victoria University of Manchester (established 1851) and the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology (established 1824).It is a member of the Russell Group of research-intensive British universities, the N8 Group and a "red brick" university, its Victoria University predecessor having gained a royal charter in 1903. As of 2012, the University of Manchester has around 39,000 students and 10,400 staff, making it the largest single-site university in the United Kingdom. More students try to gain entry to the University of Manchester than to any other university in the country, with more than 60,000 applications for undergraduate courses alone.<br><br>The University of Manchester had a total income of £808.6 million in 2010–11, of which £196.2 million was from research grants and contracts. The University of Manchester and its antecedent institutions have 25 Nobel Laureates among their past and present students and staff, the third-highest number of any single university in the United Kingdom (after Cambridge and Oxford). Four Nobel laureates are currently among its staff – Sir Andre Geim (Physics, 2010), SirKostya Novoselov (Physics, 2010), Sir John Sulston (Physiology and Medicine, 2002) and Joseph Stiglitz(Economics, 2001). In the first national assessment of higher education research since the university’s founding, the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise, the University of Manchester came third in terms of research power (after Cambridge and Oxford) and eighth for grade point average quality when including specialist institutions. It has been described as part of the English "Ivy League" by The Daily Telegraph, along with 11 other universities. According to the 2012 Highfliers Report, Manchester is the most targeted university by the Top 100 Graduate Employers. In the 2011 Academic Ranking of World Universities, Manchester is ranked 38th in the world, 6th in Europe and 5th in the UK. The university has also been ranked 29th in the world, 8th in Europe and 7th in the UK in the 2011 QS World University Rankings.