We are celebrating the 90th anniversary of our Royal Charter this year. The focus of the celebrations took place on Thursday 17 March 2016, which marked exactly 90 years since the Royal Charter was granted in 1926.

Read more about the University of Reading and the last 90 years.

The University of Reading was established in 1892, and is now ranked in the top 1% of universities worldwide (QS University World Rankings 2016/17), with a world-class reputation for the quality of our teaching, research and links to business.

Our ground breaking research tackles the planet's most pressing challenges, and we have a strong reputation in multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary collaborations which deliver real life impact.

Home to 17,000 students, our award-winning campuses house contemporary study facilities, halls of residence, support services, cafés and bars.

We have a global presence – with our Whiteknights and London Road campuses in Reading, Henley Business School at our Greenlands campus in Henley-upon-Thames, Henley Business School (South Africa) in Johannesburg, and the University of Reading Malaysia in Iskandar.

Whiteknights Campus

Our main campus is set in 130 hectares of beautiful parkland, so you’ll find plenty of places to relax during the day. In 2015, the site was voted number seven out of almost 1,500 green spaces eligible to be included in the 2015 Green Flag People's Choice Award. Whiteknights is the only university campus to appear in the top 10, and has been voted among the best and most popular green spaces in the UK for five consecutive years.

The campus is a thriving community and features the Students' Union, library, places to eat and one the UK’s best student clubs. You’ll have everything you need right on your doorstep.

London Road Campus
The London Road campus has recently undergone a £30 million transformation. This historic site, one of the University’s original campuses, is home to the Institute of Education. It also features the Great Hall, which is used for concerts and graduation ceremonies, and a bar/café that serves hot and cold food.

Greenlands Campus
Home to one of Europe’s top business schools, our stunning Greenlands campus is situated on the banks of the River Thames near Henley. It features a fully equipped fitness centre, business facilities, a conference centre, accommodation and dining room. Greenlands is used by the University's Henley Business School as the base for its MBA and corporate learning.

We were delighted to welcome Her Majesty the Queen to Greenlands' beautiful lawns during the summer of 2012, as the campus was chosen as a venue for one of the region's Diamond Jubilee Celebrations.

Find out more about our campuses and facilities.

One of our key ambitions as a university is to continuously invest in providing first-class facilities for our students. By our centenary year, 2026, we want to significantly build on the successes we have already accomplished so far.

Many of the reasons behind these projects stem directly from student feedback, such as the need for more study space and better technical resources. Other key factors address sustainability, such as improving energy efficiency and reducing our carbon emissions.

While these projects focus on our long-term ambitions, we will be taking great care to minimise the risk of disruption for students currently studying at the University.

See full information about our capital investments and campus improvement programme.

People often comment on the friendly atmosphere here at Reading. 

It’s a place to meet new people from around the world and to build lifelong friendships. 

Student satisfaction is above the national average according to the National Student Survey 2016. 

The key findings include:

• 87% overall satisfaction for the University.
• 83% satisfaction with the students' union achieved - above the sector at 69%, and resulting in Reading being ranked in 10th position out of 157 higher education institutions.
• 91% of students would recommend the University of Reading to others.
• The University is above the sector average for overall satisfaction for teaching (88% compared to 87%). 91% of students say staff are good at explaining their subject and 85% that they make their subject interesting; 89% say that staff are that enthusiastic about what they are teaching; and 89% that the course is intellectually stimulating.

Reading University Students' Union (RUSU) is an independent body run by students, for students, and provides facilities, entertainment and opportunities to help you make the most of your time at University.

It was a top 10 ranked Students' Union in the UK in the National Students Survey 2016*

There are currently over 150 societies and sports clubs, which all students are welcome to join.

Read more about RUSU.

*This ranking is derived from the NSS question 23 score for all HE Students' Unions Unions are ranked by 'percentage agree' from 'registered' students and then by 'mean score' where tied. Responses from 'taught' students are also shown. "Cut scores" are the scores required in any given year to be placed within the relevant quartile.

We have already invested over £400 million into our teaching, student accommodation and research facilities:

• £100m to date invested in creating new top-class student accommodation.
• £32m in our award-winning Henley Business School and ICMA – which includes the biggest business school dealing room training facility in Europe
• £30m in refurbishing our Institute of Education and London Road campus.
• £17m invested in the Hopkins building for life sciences.
• £11m invested in the Minghella building for the Department of Film Theatre & Television.
• £3m for the cutting-edge Centre for Integrative Neuroscience & Neurodynamics (CINN).

After successfully educating international students for more than a century, the University of Reading has now established its first overseas campus in Malaysia. 

This is an important milestone in our ongoing expansion and is a natural extension of the particularly close ties we have enjoyed with Malaysia over the years.

Find out more about the University of Reading Malaysia.

Our Library is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week during term time, and gives you access to:

• more than 1 million books
• a fully equipped IT suite
• group discussion spaces
• quiet and silent areas.

The Library goes beyond Google and give our students free 24/7 online access to academic resources including around 35,000 ejournals, 300,000 ebooks and 200 databases.

The Prizes are the most prestigious form of national recognition open to a UK academic or vocational institution, recognising and celebrating the outstanding work and impact of higher and further education institutions.

• In 1998 Reading received a prize for its work on the dynamics of theatre performance in Shakespeare's time, done collaboratively with the Globe Theatre in London. 
• In 2005, the Department of Meteorology was awarded the Queen's Anniversary Prize for its training and research in weather, climate and physical oceanography.
• In 2009 the Department of Archaeology was awarded the Prize for uniquely combining ground-breaking research, enterprise and teaching in the field
• In 2012 Her Majesty the Queen presented the University's Department of Typography & Graphic Communication with the distinguished Queen's Anniversary Prize for Higher and Further Education at Buckingham Palace.

Closure Dates 2015/16

• Thursday 24 December 2015 (closure day) 
• Friday 25 December 2015 (public holiday) 
• Monday 28 December 2015 (public holiday) 
• Tuesday 29 December 2015 (closure day) 
• Wednesday 30 December 2015 (closure day) 
• Thursday 31 December 2015 (closure day) 
• Friday 1 January 2016 (public holiday) 
• Friday 25 March 2016 (public holiday) 
• Monday 28 March 2016 (public holiday) 
• Tuesday 29 March 2016 (closure day) (not Greenlands) 
• Wednesday 30 March 2016 (closure day) (not Greenlands) 
• Monday 2 May 2016 (public holiday)
• Monday 30 May 2016 (public holiday) 
• Friday 26 August 2016 (closure day for Reading University's 90th anniversary) 
• Monday 29 August 2016 (public holiday)

Session 2016/17

Autumn Term

Monday 26 September (Monday 19 September for new students) - Friday 9 December 2016

Spring Term

Monday 9 January - Friday 24 March 2017

Summer Term

Monday 17 April - Friday 9 June 2017

Session 2017/18

Autumn Term

Monday 25 September (Monday 18 September for new students) - Friday 8 December 2017

Spring Term

Monday 8 January - Friday 23 March 2018

Summer Term

Monday 16 April - Friday 8 June 2018

There's great shopping at the Oracle, plenty of green spaces to relax in and a huge range of cuisine from around the world. 

Reading is packed with a range of pubs, bars and clubs, so you can have a drink with your friends, watch an open mic night or hit the dance floor.

Reading Festival is one of the best known music festivals in the UK, with over 87,000 fans flocking to see some of the biggest names in music.

You can also experience the thrill of a live football or rugby match at the Madejski Stadium​, which is close to the town centre. The venue, which seats over 24,000 people, is home to Reading FC and London Irish Rugby Club.

Travel links

As well as all the benefits of a beautiful campus location, Reading is also within easy reach of one of the world's most iconic capital cities. There are excellent transport links to London so getting there is easy and simple. 

Direct links by train:

London Paddington – 30 minutes
Oxford – 30 minutes
Bristol – 1 hour 15 minutes
Birmingham – 1 hour 40 minutes
Cardiff –1 hour 40 minutes

International airports are just a short journey away

It takes only 40 minutes by direct Railair bus service to get from Reading train station to London Heathrow, and London Gatwick is just over an hour away by train.

Download the University of Reading's Financial Statements for the year ended 31 July 2015 (PDF).   

View previous financial statements.