History of Durham University

In 1831 UCL had, like Cromwell's Durham College, had its attempt to gain University status blocked by Oxford and Cambridge, on the grounds that it wanted to offer degrees to people who were not members of the established church.

"[7] The university had three professors (all Anglican clergymen) at its opening: Hugh James Rose (Divinity and Ecclesiastical History), Henry Jenkyns (Greek and Classical Literature) and John Carr (Mathematics).

[7] In early 1834, Thorp wrote to the bishops of the Church of England asking if they would accept holders of Durham degrees for ordination alongside those from Oxford and Cambridge.

The funding for the university was not yet fully established – Van Mildert had been supporting it with £2,000 a year from his own income and had been working to get prebendal stalls attached to the professorships of divinity and classics and to the wardenship, but this was in the hands of the Ecclesiastical Commissioners and not yet decided.

On the legal advice of Sir Charles Wetherell, it contained no explicit mention of degree awarding powers, only incorporation and the right to hold property.

At the same congregation the charter was accepted and the original seal of the university adopted (a St Cuthbert's cross in a circle, the coat of arms not then having been granted).

The wardenship of the university was (after the term of the current Warden, Charles Thorp) to be held ex officio by the Dean of Durham, the revenues freed up to be used to establish a professorship in Hebrew.

[72] Melville was determined to create a brand new concept of student living and learning which would both meet the increasing demand for places and at the same time provide access to a university education for people of limited means.

Modern analysis has shown that much of this crisis was due to a stagnation in demand for higher education between the 1820s and the 1860s which, coupled with growth at Oxford and Cambridge, affected all of the newer institutions.

Melville, who had been dismissed as master of Hatfield in 1851, told the commission that: during the whole of my experience there, I should say the Dean and Chapter were simply managed, the Convocation was simply dictated to, and the Senate simply checkmated; that is the Constitution of the University of DurhamThe commission reported back in June 1862, recommending that the government of the university be removed from the dean and chapter and transferred to the senate, that a school of science be created, in which degrees in science would be awarded (the first science degrees in Britain having been awarded just two years earlier in 1860 by the University of London[85]), that the BA course be shortened to two years, and that arts degrees be opened to non-Anglicans.

[7][21] In 1871 the university and the North of England Institute of Mining and Mechanical Engineers, led by Nicholas Wood, established the College of Physical Sciences in Newcastle upon Tyne.

[97] In 1882, the university celebrated its golden jubilee with the award of forty honorary degrees, including a DD for John Cundill, the installation of a stained glass window designed by C E. Kempe in the great hall of the castle, a concert, and services in the cathedral, where Bishop Lightfoot preached.

The first BA followed in 1899, being awarded to a "Miss Thomas", a member of staff at St Hild's, who also went on to become the first woman MA in 1902, although women were not admitted to Convocation until 1913.

[21] After the new statues were approved, George William Kitchin, dean of Durham and formerly the warden, became the first chancellor of the university, and the sub-warden (Frank Byron Jevons, also principal of Hatfield) became the first vice-chancellor.

[122] Important appointments at this time included Arthur Holmes, pioneer of geochronology and plate tectonics, as professor of geology and climatologist Gordon Manley, who established the Durham temperature series (based on meteorological observations at Durham Observatory and other sources) back to 1801 and the Central England temperature series dating back to 1659, as head of Geography.

[132] The new University Court set about fundraising for an expansion of the Durham division, with plans for new buildings for St Mary's College, the student union and the science laboratories.

But 1941 saw RAF cadets sent to Durham to study science – primarily maths, physics and mechanics – raising student numbers back to healthier levels.

In April 1989 a formal announcement was made that Teesside Polytechnic and Durham University were working together "in planning a major development in Higher Education in Cleveland and its adjacent areas".

[164][165] The cuts formed part of a tend in UK higher education at the time for small departments to be closed or merged, linked by The Guardian to "a combination of market forces and a strict funding regime".

[188] In November 2015 it was announced that the university would not be renewing its option on development of the Northshore site and would be holding a "wide and robust consultation process" on the future of the Queen's Campus.

[199] As the Bede Professor serves as theological advisor to the Bishop of Hexham and Newcastle, the post is (following legal advice) restricted to practising Catholics, but the holder is not required to obtain the mandatum.

[219] This was overshadowed a few weeks later by the news that Durham had accepted £125,000 from British American Tobacco towards an appeal for scholarships for Afghan women from Kabul University.

[221] However, Cancer Research UK claimed that "The death and disease caused by BAT's products dwarf this small award" and accused Durham of breaching the World Health Organization's Framework Convention on Tobacco Control.

Halfon again attacked the university, which responded with a statement saying that students were admitted and awarded degrees solely on merit and denying "any formal or active links with the Syrian government".

Despite his being cleared of the allegations by a judicial tribunal in May 2012, this drew further protests from Halfon and links were drawn by the Daily Telegraph between this and the acceptance by the London School of Economics of donations from Saif al-Islam, son of Libyan leader Colonel Ghadaffi.

[225] In November 2012 it was revealed by the Times Higher Education that the university's senior management had overruled the Ethics Committee to accept the donation from British American Tobacco.

It was also revealed that the university and British American Tobacco had agreed not to publicise the donation for fear of attracting criticism and that the executive committee had been split over accepting the money.

[243] In November 2015 it was announced that the university would not be renewing its option on development of the site on the north bank of the Tees and would be holding a consultation on the future of the Queen's Campus.

[189] In February 2016 it was announced that the university's working group had recommended moving the colleges and academic activities currently at the Queen's Campus to Durham City from September 2017.

[251] In 2023, the university announced that the old county hospital, at the time home to Unite Student's Rushford Court, would, in the long term become Durham's 18th college.