Talk:University of Reading/Archive 1

Suggested merger of Spark into here
It has been suggested that Spark (University of Reading newspaper) be merged into this article.


 * I don't think this would be particularly appropriate, unless the quantity of information on Spark was considerably reduced to say a single sentence or at most two. Spark is a pretty small element in the whole that is the University of Reading, and anything more would unbalance the current article. -- Chris j wood 18:44, 18 July 2006 (UTC)


 * Well there is clearly no consensus for this merger. Even the person who suggested it hasn't bothered to turn up here and justify it. Removing the merger templates. -- Chris j wood 18:01, 24 August 2006 (UTC)

University ratings
(I'm posting this to all articles on UK universities as so far discussion hasn't really taken off on WikiProject Universities.)

There needs to be a broader convention about which university rankings to include in articles. Currently it seems most pages are listing primarily those that show the institution at its best (or worst in a few cases). See Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Universities. Timrollpickering 23:20, 21 December 2006 (UTC)

Closed Departments
The following departments have benn closed and the article dose not mention them. Geology Mechanincal Enginerring Physics Music Sociology


 * Further to this, I'm going to add a mention of the considerable controversy department closures caused - I'm currently in the physics department as an undergrad. Sojourner001 15:18, 3 March 2007 (UTC)

University rankings - top 200, or top 50?
There seems to have been a small disagreement going on recently over the University's rankings in the UK/world, with statistics being changed backwards and forwards and the word 'leading' being added and removed. Neither figure were backed up with sources. I've found a source for both figures here, changed the wording to accurately reflect the source, and cited it. If you wish to change the figures or put in different ones, please cite a reliable source. I also agree with Logain2006 that the word 'leading' violates WP:NPOV and have removed it. Eve (talk) 13:51, 26 March 2008 (UTC)

In the most recent Times Higher Education edition, the university was ranked 180th, 10 positions up from last year. It seems reasonable to me to note it as top 200, not top 50. You can review the ranking for yourself here. Logain2006 16:57, 26 March 2008 (GMT+2) —Preceding unsigned comment added by Logain2006 (talk • contribs)

Lead/controversy
An edit to the lead a week and a half ago added a sentence regarding events in recent years related to the closure of departments and firing of staff. This sentence summarized the penultimate paragraph of the "history" section, which contains statements supported by a number of different sources/references. As such, the edit conforms to WP:LEAD with no difficulty. User:Elbartho has a problem of some sort, but this user's edit summaries are inaccurate and show a lack of understanding of WP:LEAD. Elbartho, please pose your concerns here (but note that I have now added/copied references for this sentence). Nomoskedasticity (talk) 18:31, 7 June 2009 (UTC)

The sentence is not supported by a number of different sources/references. There is thus no justification for this statement in the lead: First, the closure of the Music, Sociology, Geology, and Mechanical Engineering departments is not even mentioned in the sources. Thus, there is no source which confirms job losses or a controversy. For example, the closure of the sociology department has not led to any job losses, as all full-time academics are now a part of the department of politics. Second, the closure of the School of Health and Social Care is only a recommendation. It has not been decided yet and there no job losses so far. The sources mentioned in the article do not suggest that this recommendation has sparked a real controversy (student protests etc.). As I don’t study at Reading University, I don’t know whether there are any protests, but the sources do not indicate a real controversy that would justify the statement in the lead. Third, the statement is biased, as the closures are a part of a reorganization process of the university. The university has closed some departments and established new departments or strengthened existing departments. If the reorganization process has sparked a controversy, the sentence “In recent years it has been struck by controversy, with closing departments and job losses among staff” would be justified. The sources, however, don’t confirm such a statement. I think that it is very important to mention the closures in the article, but I don’t see any justification for mentioning it in the lead. Elbartho —Preceding undated comment added 22:13, 8 June 2009 (UTC).

Crest


The University went through a re-branding exercise in 2007/2008 and a new style of university crest was designed. It differs slightly from the one shown at the top of the article. I have a copy, in svg format, but I'm unsure about the copyright in regards to updating it. --Ice neo2k (talk) 15:04, 11 August 2009 (UTC)


 * The shield in the infobox here, File:Reading shield.png, is a free-licensed image which represents the university's arms, and is therefore not necessarily identical to the one the university uses. There's a field in the infobox for a logo, if you'd like that to be added? Our policy on non-free content means that we won't use an unlicensed rendering of the arms where a free one is available. — mholland (talk) 01:07, 12 August 2009 (UTC)

Closure of Bulmershe campus - is this true
On June 6, 2007, an anonymous editor at 134.225.11.189 wrote:


 * The University announced in May 2007 that it intends to close Bulmershe Campus over the next following five years and withdraw to Whiteknights. Some departments from Bulmershe & Whiteknights will also eventually be based on the London Road Campus, following the University winding down Witan Hall College.

I can find no confirmation of such an announcement. The Press Releases section of the University web site contains no such announcement, and searches on Google come up with nothing. I've therefore requested a citation, but I'm wondering if that is enough. It is possible that this a particularly subtle bit of vandalism, in which case it deserves immediate deletion rather than waiting a month for somebody not to come up with a cite before it gets purged. Thoughts?. -- Chris j wood 17:46, 7 June 2007 (UTC)


 * I've not seen anything about it either. I would be quite surprised, given all the new hall buildings up at Bulmershe. But I suppose they could keep the halls and lose the departments. It doesn't sound right, but on the other hand it's a really odd piece of vandalism. Hmmm. Eve 20:01, 7 June 2007 (UTC)


 * I agree that if it is vandalism, it is pretty subtle. On the other hand I can find no-one else who has heard this story. I've searched the University press releases, and there is no reference. Ok, it is not unheard of for institutions to try and bury this kind of info. But I've also searched the student's union web site, and the web sites of both local newspapers. Again nothing; and this would be a story they would cover if they knew about it.


 * The information is uncited, and by an anonymous editor. So there is no way of following up with the original editor. On reflection, I think the right thing to do is to remove the information until somebody can back it up. So I've done just that. -- Chris j wood 18:52, 8 June 2007 (UTC)


 * Yeah I think that's probably the best thing to do. There's no mention of it in the University's strategic plan either. Although there is a very interesting 'WHiteknights Campus zoning map', showing a proposed road link across the lake by Met. Eve 21:10, 8 June 2007 (UTC)


 * I've now heard a rumour from a reasonably trustworthy source on campus that this might be under consideration at least, if not decided. But I've still not seen it anywhere verifiable. Keep your eyes peeled. Eve 20:16, 24 July 2007 (UTC)

It is true that they are going to close the Bulmershe campus (first the departments and then finally the hall) and move all departments to Whiteknights/London Road. Hopefully there will now be some information about the closure on the website but I know it is true as I have read about the closure in newspapers etc —Preceding unsigned comment added by Rahrahsmile101 (talk • contribs) 20:24, 9 September 2009 (UTC)

Whiteknights a "Red Brick" campus?
I have removed the Red Brick part of the following sentence:


 * In 1947 the University purchased Whiteknights Park, which was to become its principal, Red Brick, campus.

The term Red Brick is normally applied to civic universities with charters granted in the years prior to WW-I. As the only university with a charter granted between the two world wars, Reading is an edge case and may perhaps be considered a Red Brick university. However the term isn't really about architecture, and is not normally associated with campuses as opposed to institutions. If it were to be so used, the term would better fit the original pre-WW-I London Road Campus than the post WW-II Whiteknights Park. On the whole, I think the use of the term in this context was just confusing.

Incidentally, there is no mention of Red Brick in the adjoining cite. -- Starbois (talk) 10:51, 30 April 2009 (UTC)

Reading is a red-brick University however I agree that to refer to Whiteknights as a 'red-brick campus' is incorrect as the term 'red-brick' should not be used for campuses (although there are a few red-brick buildings on the campus e.g. Foxhill House, Old Whiteknights House, Park House and the nearby Wantage Hall). But it should be stressed that Reading is a red-brick University (this is the official line used by the SRSLO staff). In fact I believe it was the last red-brick University in the UK. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Rahrahsmile101 (talk • contribs) 20:28, 9 September 2009 (UTC)

Recent edits by User:Funtimes101
For some reason my recent edit (here) was completed without my being able to put in an edit summary. My reasons are as follows: 1. the source for the sentence on the Business school was self-published; 2. in regard to the changes to the preceding sentence: this article is about Reading, not about other institutions; 3. the change in the "History" section amounted to a deletion of sourced material. Nomoskedasticity (talk) 19:31, 13 October 2009 (UTC)

Vice-chancellor(s) between 1978 and 1993
Currently we have a gap in our listing of vice-chancellors, between


 * Sir Harry Raymond Pitt (1964-1978)
 * Prof. Sir Roger Williams (1993–2002)

Can anybody help fill this gap with some sourced information. -- chris_j_wood (talk) 12:23, 7 April 2010 (UTC)

External links modified
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Endowments
A discrepancy has arisen on this. The figure for the current university endowment on this pages shows the endowment for the 'Group' (£127.7 million), as shown in the University's financial statements. The figure for the current university endowment shown on the page 'List of UK Universities by Endowment' formerly showed the group endowment, but when the page was restructured to show the various universities in broad 'bands' of endowment, the figure taken for Reading for this year and for preceding years was for the University itself (£13.9 million, for 2014-15). This obviously makes a great difference to the relative position of the University. Some consensus needs to be reached on which is the more appropriate figure to use. Most Universities seem not to make a distinction between 'University' and 'Group' endowments. The fact that the figures for the 'Group' appear throughout the consolidated statements suggest that they are likely to be the more appropriate, but it is not self-evident why the distinction is made. I shall place a similar post on the Talk section of 'List of UK Universities by Endowment'.Ntmr (talk) 18:49, 3 February 2016 (UTC)

External links modified
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External links modified
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I have just modified 11 external links on University of Reading. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20140915054145/http://www.reading.ac.uk/research/AboutourResearch/res-aboutfacts.aspx to http://www.reading.ac.uk/research/AboutourResearch/res-aboutfacts.aspx
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External links modified
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New info on current research?
I think it would be helpful to add a section on this page about research at the University and would like to add a short section Caroline Cross (talk) 11:48, 14 December 2017 (UTC)