Royal Holloway, University of London Information

Royal Holloway, University of London (RHUL), formally incorporated as Royal Holloway and Bedford New College, is a public research university and a constituent college of the federal University of London. It has three faculties, 20 academic departments and c. 9,200 undergraduate and postgraduate students from over 100 countries. The campus is located west of Egham, Surrey, 19 miles (31 km) from central London.

The Egham campus was founded in 1879 by the Victorian entrepreneur and philanthropist Thomas Holloway. Royal Holloway College was officially opened in 1886 by Queen Victoria as an all-women college. It became a member of the University of London in 1900. In 1945, the college admitted male postgraduate students, and in 1965, around 100 of the first male undergraduates. In 1985, Royal Holloway merged with Bedford College (another former all-womens college in London). The merged college was named Royal Holloway and Bedford New College (RHBNC), this remaining the official registered name of the college by Act of Parliament. The campus is dominated by the Founders Building, a Grade I listed red-brick building modelled on the Château de Chambord of the Loire Valley, France. The annual income of the institution for 2017–18 was £173.6 million of which £13.9 million was from research grants and contracts, with an expenditure of £169.4 million.

Royal Holloway is ranked 23rd (out of 131) in the UK by The Complete University Guide 2020, and 24th (out of 132) in the UK according to The Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide 2019, as well as ranked in the top 300 universities in the world as published by Times Higher Education World University Rankings for 2019. In the category of ‘International Outlook’, Royal Holloway is ranked 20th in the UK as of 2019.

There are strong links and exchange programmes with institutions in the United States, Canada, Australia, and Hong Kong, notably Yale University, the University of Toronto, the University of Melbourne and the University of Hong Kong. Royal Holloway was a member of the 1994 Group until 2013, when the group dissolved.

Royal Holloway College, originally a women-only college, was founded by the Victorian entrepreneur Thomas Holloway in 1879 on the Mount Lee Estate in Egham. The founding of the college was brought about after Holloway, seeking to fulfil a philanthropic gesture, began a public debate through The Builder regarding How best to spend a quarter of a million or more, at which point his wife proposed to build a college especially for women. Holloway later increased his original sum of money to half a million, and today, the campus is still best known for its original 600-bed building, known as the Founders Building, designed by William Henry Crossland and inspired by the Château de Chambord in the Loire Valley, France.

Sir Nikolaus Pevsner called the original college building "the most ebullient Victorian building in the Home Counties", and noted that together with its sister building the Holloway Sanatorium, it represents "the summit of High Victorian design".The Founders Building, which is now Grade I listed, was officially opened in 1886 by Queen Victoria, who allowed the use of "Royal" in the colleges name. Founders has been described by The Times as "one of Britain’s most remarkable university buildings", largely for its elaborate architecture, and according to The Sunday Times it "makes the college instantly recognisable". The college also has a Chapel, completed in 1886 as one of the last parts of the university to be finished. October 1887 saw the arrival of the first 28 students at Royal Holloway College. It later became a constituent of the University of London in 1900, as did Bedford College, which eventually merged with Royal Holloway College.

Bedford College was founded by Elizabeth Jesser Reid in 1849 as a higher education college for the education of women. Reid leased a house at 47 Bedford Square in the Bloomsbury area of London, and opened the Ladies College in Bedford Square. The intention was to provide a liberal and non-sectarian education for women, something no other institution in the United Kingdom provided at the time. The college moved to 8 and 9 York Place (off Baker Street) in 1874, and then to Regents Park in 1908. In 1900, the college became a constituent school of the University of London. Like RHC, following its membership of the University of London, in 1965, it allowed male undergraduates to study on its premises for the first time.

RHC and Bedford merged in 1985. The pressure for the merger was due to a lack of government funding for higher education, and the college was named Royal Holloway and Bedford New College (RHBNC), with an inauguration being held at the College Chapel in 1986 by Elizabeth II. The newest title remains the official registered name of the college, though this was changed for day-to-day use to "Royal Holloway, University of London" by the College Council in 1992.

Since the merger with Bedford College, Royal Holloway has entered into collaborative discussions with Brunel University and St Georges, University of London. The latter project was cancelled in September 2009. Royal Holloway, St Georges and Kingston University continue to work together in the field of health and social care teaching and research.

Royal Holloways campus is set in 135 acres (55 ha) of woodland, between Windsor and Heathrow. Around 200 species of shrubs, 150 different types of tree and numerous wild flowering plants can be found in RHCs parkland. The nearest station is Egham. The campus is about 40–50 minutes from Waterloo station in central London about 19 miles (31 km) away, and Windsor is 5 miles (8 km). The campus is 2 miles (3.2 km) from M25 junction 13 and close to the M3, M4 and M40 and London Heathrow Airport. RHCs worst feature is considered to be that "Egham is not known for its social scene", but it has been noted that the campuss environment "offers the best of both worlds – friendly and relaxed on the one hand, dynamic and busy on the other."

The Founders Building, which dominates the campus, has striking north and south towers and two large quadrangles and contains a chapel, kitchen and dining hall, lecture theatre and the arts library along with student rooms and offices. Founders has often been the centre of media attention and is a popular filming location for TV and film as a grandiose university or public school.

Between 2002 and 2008, the college underwent a £100 million investment programme and a re-development of its campus, as a result of the merger with Bedford College and the sale of Bedfords site in Regents Park. A number of recent projects undertaken by Royal Holloway have included an extension to the School of Management (2005 and 2011) and the library (which holds half a million books). The biological sciences laboratories have also been renovated and the Windsor Building (opened in 2007) houses seminar rooms and a 400-seat auditorium. In 2013, the Student Services Centre, which is a single point of contact for all non-academic enquiries, was opened in the Windsor Building. The Drama Department expanded its performance space with the opening of the Caryl Churchill Theatre, which seats almost 200 audience members across two levels and has a third floor for technical operation, in 2013. The department also uses the onsite 19th-century boilerhouse, which was converted into a performance space with a sprung dance floor in 2014.

The International Building, opened in 2000 by The Princess Royal, houses the Language Centre along with the English, French, German, Italian and Hispanic Studies Departments. The new developments have also been followed by the establishment of formal links with New York University, the University of Sydney, and Yale University, and connections with the Royal College of Music means that music students at Royal Holloway have the opportunity to take lessons there.

The size of the campus has allowed the college to develop some of the best sports facilities of any university institution in the London area, and helped build the colleges reputation as a sporting institution of excellence. An aerobics studio, fitness suite, sports Hall, sports fields and tennis courts account for some of the sporting facilities that Royal Holloway offers. The Sports Centre was refurbished in 2013 while a bequest by Margaret Young in 2014 enabled the college to further develop its sports facilities. New for the 2014/15 sporting season were floodlit outdoor pitches and courts, which provide all-weather playing surfaces for a wide range of sports.

Situated on the campus are restaurants and cafès, a college shop, a bank, a health centre, a Chapel, a careers centre, teaching and social spaces and sports facilities. As a result of an evaluation by People and Planet in 2007, Royal Holloway was ranked 60th out of 120 universities for environmental performance. The university has put into place initiatives to enhance environmental performance, such as the improvement of woodland management to develop nature conservation and more recycling banks have been introduced to halls of residence.

Starting in 2015, work on constructing a new Library and Student Services Centre began. In January 2017 it was announced that the building would be named after alumna Emily Wilding Davison. It was opened by The Princess Royal on 18 October 2017.

The College Council is the governing body of the college with responsibility for "financial integrity and setting the overall strategic direction of Royal Holloway." There are 25 members of the council, many of which are lay members from outside Royal Holloway who are initially appointed for five years. A total of 16 lay members are appointed; two from local authorities; one selected by the Privy Council; another by the University of London; two more are appointed as alumni from Royal Holloway, Bedford College or Royal Holloway College; and the rest are chosen to offer a range of skills and experience. The Councils Chairman, who is appointed for five years, is also a lay member. One of The Chairmans duties is to chair a number of committees including the Remuneration Committee, which handles the pay and benefits of the senior staff. The Principal is answerable to the Chairman.

The remaining members of the Council comprise three elected by non-academic members of staff, two elected by academics and one member of academic staff elected by the Academic Board. There is also one student member elected by the students.

Royal Holloways coat of arms consists of the Royal Holloway shield and its surrounding elements. There are three crescents shown on the coat of arms, which are taken from Thomas Holloways own coat of arms. Taken from the Bedford coat of arms, the field is coloured black and gold in a chequered design, with the addition of ermine spots (feather-like symbols representing ermine tails) from the Royal Holloway coat. Placed between two black lozenges, there is a lamp of learning. Traditionally, the lozenge is worn on the arm of unmarried women or widows, which places significance on the coat of arms lozenges as it acts as a reminder that the colleges were founded for women. Below, the motto is displayed which is taken from the arms of Bedford College, and reads esse quam videri.

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