The University of Salford is a public university in Salford, Greater Manchester, England, 1 mile (1.6 kilometres) west of Manchester city centre. The Royal Technical Institute, Salford, which opened in 1896, became a College of Advanced Technology in 1956 and gained university status in 1967, following the Robbins Report into higher education.
It has 21,500 students and is in 160 acres (65 hectares) of parkland on the banks of the River Irwell.
The university was organised into seven schools:
- School of Arts and Media
- Salford Business School
- School of Health Sciences
- School of Health and Society
NB — The University’s Schools of Health Sciences and Nursing, Midwifery, Social Work and Social Sciences have strong links with teaching NHS hospitals in the north-west of England and maintain a presence at the Salford Royal Hospital. - School of Computing, Science and Engineering
- School of Environment and Life Sciences
- School of the Built Environment
After a series of mergers, in 2018 and 2019, the university is now organised into four schools:
- School of Arts, Media and Creative Technology
- School of Science, Engineering and Environment
- School of Health and Society
- Salford Business School
International students come from China, India, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Cyprus, Greece, Nigeria, the Republic of Ireland, Romania, Malaysia and Bulgaria. Previously, with its three colleges, 12 schools, nearly 20,000 students, and over 2,500 staff, Salford had a turnover of some £156m in 2006/07. A report from social and economic impact report published in 2019, sets the turnover to £180.5m in 2019.
The university is a founding member of the Northern Consortium of universities.
In October 2008 it was announced that compulsory redundancies were likely at the university, as part of a plan to save £12.5 million over three years. A notice by the university registrar said that Salford needed to invest £300 million in university estate and £40 million in moving the arts and media faculty to the “MediaCityUK” site at Salford Quays, where the BBC is to establish its northern headquarters. The notice went on to say that these additional costs came in the context of a number of pressures: salary bills that had “exceeded the university’s expectations”; a “serious problem” with student retention; the “credit crunch”; and three “seriously underperforming” schools. Affected schools include the School of Nursing, Salford Business School and the School of Community Health Sciences and Social Care.