Sheffield Hallam University (SHU) is a public research university in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The university is based on two sites; the City Campus is located in the city centre near Sheffield railway station, while the Collegiate Crescent Campus is about two miles away in the Broomhall Estate off Ecclesall Road in south-west Sheffield.
The university is the 14th largest university in the UK (out of 169) with 30,960 students (of whom 4,400 are international students), 4,494 staff and 708 courses.
History
Foundation and growth
In 1843, as the industrial revolution gathered pace and Sheffield was on the verge of becoming the steel, tool and cutlery making capital of the world, the Sheffield School of Design was founded following lobbying by artist Benjamin Haydon. The day-to-day running was controlled by the local council, whilst the Board of Trade in London appointed the head. Tuition began in a 60x40ft rented room off Glossop Road.[4] In 1850, the School of Design was renamed Sheffield School of Art.[5]
In 1905, the City of Sheffield Training College (later renamed Sheffield City College of Education) on Collegiate Crescent admitted its first 90 students.[6] During the First World War, the Collegiate Hall was requisitioned by the War Office to create the 3rd Northern General Hospital, a facility for the Royal Army Medical Corps to treat military casualties.[7]
A new city centre campus was constructed during the 1960s. During construction, in February 1962, a tower crane on site collapsed during the Great Sheffield Gale. It crashed into the side of what would become the Owen Building, causing serious damage and setting back construction.[8] In 1967, the Owen Building was completed.[9] Built in a functional 1960s design, it has since been modernised and comprehensively renovated with an atrium linking it to four adjacent buildings.[10] In 1969 the Sheffield School of Design merged with the city’s College of Technology to form Sheffield Polytechnic. In 1976, Sheffield Polytechnic merged with the city’s two teacher training colleges (Sheffield City College and Totley Hall College) and was renamed Sheffield City Polytechnic. In 1987 Sheffield City Polytechnic became a founding member of the Northern Consortium.[11]
University status to present day
In 1992, Sheffield City Polytechnic became Sheffield Hallam University (SHU), with the right to award its own degrees.
In 2005, SHU was reorganised into four faculties. The new Faculty of Development and Society, with an emphasis on ‘people, places and spaces’, brought together education, geography, humanities, law, and social sciences. At the same time, with the intention of further developing research and teaching in the new Faculty of Health and Wellbeing, a new Clinical Academic Group was launched. The building that had been designed and constructed to house the National Centre for Popular Music became the university’s students’ union building (the HUBS). The Nelson Mandela Building, the former students’ union building (when opened in 1978 was known as the Phoenix building), was sold and has since been demolished.
In 2007, SHU took over the teaching of nursing and midwifery from the University of Sheffield. These activities are now based at the Collegiate Crescent Campus. The following year the Psalter Lane campus (formerly the Sheffield College of Art) was closed, and the activities transferred to the City Campus. The £26 million energy-efficient Furnival Building opened in September (renamed Cantor Building in 2011 in recognition of a major donor to the university). The building, which includes teaching spaces and an art gallery has been described as “the impressive new entry point to the campus”.