- 1860, School of Art established. We were the first university to offer an MA in Fine Art. Three of our graduates have been nominated for the Turner Prize, and we're fostering the next generation of artists in our modern teaching facility, which opened in 2023.
- 1868, Foxhill House is designed and built by Alfred Waterhouse, who also designed the Natural History Museum. In 2025, building started on the Natural History Museum's new research facility at our Thames Valley Science Park. This will create a new global and sustainable base for high-end natural sciences research.
1860s
1890s
- 1892, University College ºÚ¹Ï³ÔÁÏÍø is created. University College ºÚ¹Ï³ÔÁÏÍø was formed from the merging of the former Schools of Art and Science, to provide higher education for the people of the town.
- 1892, ºÚ¹Ï³ÔÁÏÍø University Boat Club is formed. The boat club is still thriving today, with current and former rowing students winning gold medals at the Olympics and Paralympics and regularly coming top of the leader board at national and international competitions. In 2025, a new landing stage was opened at Henley, giving our students the opportunity to train on one of the world's most famous rowing courses.
1900s
- 1902, Edith Mary Sutton establishes the first scholarship at ºÚ¹Ï³ÔÁÏÍø, worth £20 a year. In 2025, we launched the Global Sustainability Leadership scholarship, which focuses on creating the sustainability leaders of the future by offering up to 400 scholarships per year for high-achieving students from the UK and overseas. This contributed to us being named University of the Year for Scholarships and Bursaries.
- 1904, the first international student arrives at ºÚ¹Ï³ÔÁÏÍø. We now have more than 4,500 international students from over 160 countries, with global recruitment hubs in South Africa, Malaysia, India and China.
- 1904, leading local figures George W., Alfred Palmer and Lady Wantage donate £200,000 to the ºÚ¹Ï³ÔÁÏÍø Endowment Fund, laying the groundwork for the establishment of the London Road campus which later became a University after the First World War. Over 100 years ago, members of our community invested in us. Now we invest in our community, with the ºÚ¹Ï³ÔÁÏÍø contributing approximately £1bn a year to the UK economy. Around half of that figure is retained within the local area, equivalent to 2.9% of the economy of ºÚ¹Ï³ÔÁÏÍø.
- 1905, the Great Hall is built on the London Road campus. The building still stands today and plays host to our graduation ceremonies, regular public concerts, and high-profile events such as BBC Question Time in 2025.
- 1906, the Cole Museum of Zoology is founded by Professor Francis Cole. The Museum is now home to thousands of specimens of great zoological significance, including taxidermy, skeletons, histological preparations, fluid-preserved dissections, fossil material, casts, and some superb models of developmental stages and extinct animals. In 2020 the museum was relocated to a new purpose-built facility within the Health and Life Sciences building.
- 1908, Edith Morley is appointed as Professor of English Language, making her the first female professor in England.
1910s
- 1912, Wilfred Owen attends University College ºÚ¹Ï³ÔÁÏÍø to study botany. He went on to become an officer in the First World War but was killed in 1918. Owen is now considered one of the leading war poets and his name was added to the University’s official war memorial in 2018.
- 1912, the Research Institute in Dairying is established at University College ºÚ¹Ï³ÔÁÏÍø by the Board of Agriculture. In 1921, the institute changed its name to the National Institute for Research in Dairying (NIRD). ºÚ¹Ï³ÔÁÏÍø has established a strong reputation for the study of agriculture and food science in the UK and internationally. In 2025 we launched Agrifood Futures, an ambitious new research strategy with a vision to be a major driver of change in the way that we produce, consume and think about food.
1920s
- 1923, Gustav Holst, while teaching at ºÚ¹Ï³ÔÁÏÍø, falls from the stage in the Great Hall. Today ºÚ¹Ï³ÔÁÏÍø Music offers students the chance to take part in a range of bands and orchestras alongside their studies and is a fixture in the local music community.
- 1926, we receive our Royal Charter and the ºÚ¹Ï³ÔÁÏÍø is created, becoming one of a handful of universities in England offering higher education teaching. 100 years later, the ºÚ¹Ï³ÔÁÏÍø is among the top 30 UK universities in the world, and is home to over 27,000 students from over 160 countries, and a global community of over 300,000 alumni.
1930s
- 1934, The Shell student newspaper is launched. In 1988 the newspaper was rebranded and renamed The Spark.
1940s
- 1946, Henley Business School is established at Greenlands, making it one of the oldest business schools in the UK. The business school merged with the ºÚ¹Ï³ÔÁÏÍø in 2008 to offer a full portfolio of business education.
- 1946, The Soil Association is co-founded by ºÚ¹Ï³ÔÁÏÍø alumna Lady Eve Balfour, who was one of the first women to study agriculture at an English University. We have a long legacy of soil research here at ºÚ¹Ï³ÔÁÏÍø, with our Soil Research Centre (SRC), a cross-disciplinary Centre of Excellence, bringing together researchers to explore the challenges of this key resource.
- 1947, Whiteknights Park, the former estate belonging to the Marquis of Blandford, is purchased. Whiteknights is now our main campus with more than 320 acres and boasting 15 Green Flag awards for our stunning parkland campus.
1950s
- 1950, Professor Harold Hopkins invents the fibroscope, the technical innovation which contributed to the invention of keyhole surgery. We opened the new Hopkins Building in 2009 and it's now home to the Institute of Cardiovascular and Metabolic Research, a leading centre for the study of heart disease and strokes.
- 1951, after being devastated by the atomic bomb, Hiroshima University made a plea for books to help rebuild its library. Mary Kirkus, a librarian from the ºÚ¹Ï³ÔÁÏÍø, was one of the first to respond with books and seeds from our own collection. In 2011, rare tiles found in the Motoyasu River, which came from buildings destroyed in the blast, were sent to ºÚ¹Ï³ÔÁÏÍø in recognition of our help, and the relationship between the two universities continues today.
- 1951, the Museum of English Rural Life is established in the Department of Agriculture to capture and record the rapidly changing countryside following the Second World War.
- 1957, the Wolfenden Report is published which played a pivotal role in the decriminalisation of homosexuality in England and Wales. The report took its name from the then ºÚ¹Ï³ÔÁÏÍø Vice-Chancellor Sir John Wolfenden, who chaired the Report of the Departmental Committee on Homosexual Offences and Prostitution. In 2017, the University held its first annual Wolfenden Lecture, with funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund. Each year the lecture is led by national or international figures from the LGBTQIA+ community.
- 1957, Her Majesty The Queen, Elizabeth II paid her first visit to the University to open the Faculty of Letters (now known as the Edith Morley building). The Queen went on to visit the University on two further occasions: in 1992, to visit to the Museum of English Rural Life, and in 2012 she attended a summer garden party at the University's Greenlands campus to celebrate her Diamond Jubilee.
1960s
- 1960, the University’s Special Collections archive was established, drawing together various rare and valuable collections for research and teaching purposes. We are now the custodians of literary and culturally important archives, including the world's largest Samuel Beckett collection, the archives of publisher Mills & Boon and Virginia and Leonard Woolf's Hogarth Press, and a newly acquired collection of letters and personal items belonging to James Joyce.
- 1965, the University merged with the National College of Food Technology. The merger saw the creation of the Department of Food and Nutritional Sciences – now one of the world’s leading centres for the study of food nutrition and health.
- 1965, the Department of Meteorology was established. Six lead authors of the most recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) assessment of climate science, which is relied upon by policy makers around the world, are from ºÚ¹Ï³ÔÁÏÍø and the department is leading the way in understanding and tackling the world’s environmental challenges.
1970s
- 1971, a significant exhibition on Samuel Beckett is held at ºÚ¹Ï³ÔÁÏÍø, led by Professor James Knowlson, Beckett’s friend and official biographer. The exhibition led to the establishment of the Beckett Collection here at the University, which is now the world's largest collection of items relating to the Nobel Prize-winning playwright.
- 1975, the Department of Typography is opened. The department is internationally renowned both for its research and teaching excellence. Our graduates have gone on to design the masthead of the Guardian newspaper, the iconic Penguin Clothbound Classics covers, and created the Comic Sans font.
- 1975, the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) is founded at Shinfield Park, ºÚ¹Ï³ÔÁÏÍø. ECMWF’s purpose – then as now – was to pool Europe's meteorological resources to produce accurate climate data and medium-range forecasts. In 2025, work began on a new headquarters on the University’s Whiteknights campus, to create a home for the largest cluster of weather and climate scientists in the world.
- 1976, Sex Pistols play a gig in the Art department. Music has always been at the heart of student life at ºÚ¹Ï³ÔÁÏÍø, with bands such as Blur, The Smiths, Motorhead, The Who and U2 all taking to the stage at the Students’ Union. Alumni include Jamie Cullum, ‘The Crazy World of’ Arthur Brown, and members of the bands British Sea Power and Roxy Music .
1980s
- 1985, our first Chevening Scholar Qinfang Lu arrives to study at ºÚ¹Ï³ÔÁÏÍø.
- 1985, the International Cocoa Quarantine is founded at ºÚ¹Ï³ÔÁÏÍø, beginning our journey as the protectors of chocolate. 30% of global cocoa production is lost due to pests and diseases. It is vital for new varieties of cocoa plants to be quarantined. This is what we do here at ºÚ¹Ï³ÔÁÏÍø before sending the plants around the globe to continue growing before being turned into chocolate.
- 1989, we were the first university to win the Queen's Award for Export Achievement. We’ve also won five Queen’s Anniversary prizes for: Connecting Communities with Climate Change (2021), Teaching and design applications in typography, through print and new technologies (2011), World-leading archaeology: making the past work for the present (2009), Weather and climate science: research, training and informing environmental policymaking (2005), and Shakespearean research: internet and the Globe Theatre (1998).
1990s
- 1991, our Students in Schools programme is launched, placing student volunteers in local schools to help raise children's aspirations and encourage them to continue into higher education The scheme is still going strong today, with our students providing over 3,000 hours of student support in schools last year.
- 1996, we installed our first solar panels on a university building. Since then, solar panels have been rolled out across campus and now contribute 5% of our electricity. We’re on track to reach carbon neutrality on campus by 2030, having cut building emissions by 63% since 2008, and saved £51.4 million on energy bills.
- 1998, we’re at the forefront of future technology with the creation of the world's first human cyborg.
- 1999, lead is finally removed from petrol, decades after the pioneering work of ºÚ¹Ï³ÔÁÏÍø’s Professor Derek Bryce-Smith in the 1960s highlighted its dangers.
2000s
- 2007, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) – which includes ºÚ¹Ï³ÔÁÏÍø scientists – is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. The first IPCC was in 1990 and featured contributions from ºÚ¹Ï³ÔÁÏÍø scientists such as Professor Keith Shine.
- 2007, ºÚ¹Ï³ÔÁÏÍø alumnus Michael Rosen is made Children's Laureate.
- 2008, The Charlie Waller Institute is launched. The institute trains psychological practice, in particular those recommended by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE). Since 2011, the Institute has successfully trained over 2,700 practitioners.
2010s
- 2012, Fine Art alumnus David Watkins designs medals for the 2012 Olympic Games.
- 2012, the Minghella Building was opened and became home to a £11m centre for film, theatre and media students. In 2024, the UK’s largest new film studio opened at the University’s Thames Valley Business Park. The University, along with the studios, is a key partner of Screen Berkshire, a BFI-funded training programme helping to develop the next generation of filmmakers.
- 2013, a sketch owned by the ºÚ¹Ï³ÔÁÏÍø is confirmed as a work by seventeenth-century artist Sir Peter Paul Rubens and valued at £75k. This is one of the many exciting finds from our archives, which also includes a 500-year-old William Caxton print worth £100,000.
- 2013, Professor Keith Shine becomes Regius Professor of Meteorology and Climate Science as part of the expansion of Regius Chairs to mark the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee, making us one of only 20 UK universities to have had Regius Professorships at the time.
- 2015, the ºÚ¹Ï³ÔÁÏÍø Art Collection is established and now comprises around 1,500 works of painting, drawing, sculpture and graphic art, and includes many pieces of national and international significance. Much of the collection can now be viewed from anywhere in the world as it is now featured on the Bloomberg Connects app.
- 2016, official launch of the ºÚ¹Ï³ÔÁÏÍø Malaysia.
- 2018, Professor Ed Hawkins creates the Climate Stripes. The Climate Stripes have been projected onto iconic landmarks worldwide and used as the cover image of Greta Thunberg's Climate Book. They have appeared on the stages of countless music festivals and even been to space. These displays inspire and spark important conversations about climate change across the globe.
- 2019, £40m refurbishment of the ºÚ¹Ï³ÔÁÏÍø Library is completed.
2020s
- 2021, Henley Africa launched.
- 2023, ºÚ¹Ï³ÔÁÏÍø achieves University of Sanctuary status. 12 Sanctuary Scholarships are now available each year for sanctuary seekers in recognition of the disruption to education that displaced people experience.
- 2023, it is announced that Kew Gardens' herbarium collection will be moved to the University’s Thames Valley Science Park (TVSP). This will create a world-leading collections research hub at TVSP that will also include new research facilities for the Natural History Museum and British Museum.
- 2024, EarthCARE satellite is launched. Conceived in 1993 by ºÚ¹Ï³ÔÁÏÍø’s own Professor Anthony Illingworth, the EarthCARE satellite was created to revolutionise our understanding of the role that clouds and aerosol particles play in climate change. 30 years after its inception, the satellite was launched on one of Elon Musk’s SpaceX rockets in May 2024.
- 2025, ºÚ¹Ï³ÔÁÏÍø named Sustainable University of the Year by The Times and The Sunday Times Good University Guide 2025.
- 2025, Bill and Ted come to ºÚ¹Ï³ÔÁÏÍø. Hollywood stars Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter visit the Beckett Collection at ºÚ¹Ï³ÔÁÏÍø ahead of their Broadway production of Waiting for Godot.
- 2025, our alumni community spans the globe. Over 300,000 students have graduated from the ºÚ¹Ï³ÔÁÏÍø over the last 100 years.