University of Warwick

The University of Warwick (informally Warwick University or Warwick) is a public research university located in Coventry, United Kingdom. The university was founded in 1965 as part of a government initiative to expand access to higher education and Warwick Medical School was opened in 2000.

Warwick describes itself as a "research-led institution" and in the last Research Assessment Exercise was ranked seventh in the UK. Warwick is the second most-targeted university in the UK by top employers and has a "strong reputation in the UK for research and excellent links with industry". It had a total income of £408.5 million in 2009/10, of which £79.8 million came from research grants and contracts.

Warwick is a member of AACSB, the Association of Commonwealth Universities, the Association of MBAs, EQUIS, the European University Association, the Russell Group and Universities UK.

20th century
The idea for a university in Warwickshire was first mooted shortly after the Second World War, but it was a bold and imaginative partnership of the city and the county which brought the university into being on a 400 acre site jointly granted by the two authorities. There was some discussion between local sponsors from both the city and county over whether it should be named after Coventry or Warwickshire. The name "University of Warwick" was adopted, even though the County Town of Warwick itself lies some 8 mi to its southwest and Coventry's city centre is only 3.5 mi northeast of the campus. The establishment of the University of Warwick was given approval by the government in 1961 and received its Royal Charter of Incorporation in 1965. Since then, the university has incorporated the former Coventry College of Education in 1979 and has extended its land holdings by the continuing purchase of adjoining farm land. The university also benefited from a substantial donation from the family of Jack Martin, which enabled the construction of the Warwick Arts Centre.

The university initially admitted a small intake of graduate students in 1964 and took its first 450 undergraduates in October 1965. Since its establishment Warwick has expanded its grounds to 721 acre with many modern buildings and academic facilities, lakes and woodlands. In the 1960s and 1970s, Warwick had a reputation as a politically radical institution. More recently, the University was seen as a favoured institution of the Labour government which was in power from 1997 to 2010. It was academic partner for a number of flagship Government schemes including the National Academy for Gifted and Talented Youth and the NHS University (now defunct). Tony Blair described Warwick as "a beacon among British universities for its dynamism, quality and entrepreneurial zeal".

Warwick was one of the first UK universities to develop close links with the business community, and has been successful in the commercialisation of research. This commercial approach has resulted in its being nicknamed "Warwick University Limited" (or, more recently, "Warwick University PLC").

On the recommendation of Tony Blair, Bill Clinton chose Warwick as the venue for his last major foreign policy address as US President in December 2000. Sandy Berger, Clinton’s National Security Advisor, explaining the decision in his Press Briefing on 7 December 2000, said that: "Warwick is one of Britain's newest and finest research universities, singled out by Prime Minister Blair as a model both of academic excellence and independence from the government." In his speech Clinton covered a number of issues, including Third World debt relief, fighting infectious diseases such as AIDS, basic education rights, and the "digital divide", which he summarized as the new development agenda for the 21st century. Clinton was accompanied by his wife Hillary Clinton and daughter Chelsea Clinton. During his visit, he planted a Pin Oak (Quercus palustris) sapling outside Senate House, the (then) university administration block.

21st century
In July 2004 Warwick was the location for an important agreement between the Labour Party and the Trade Unions on Labour policy and trade union law, which has subsequently become known as the Warwick Agreement. According to The Guardian newspaper the agreement "made peace between discontented elements in the unions and the government. It thereby averted the threat of mass disaffiliation from the party by the unions and helped to secure union support for Labour in the 2005 election."

Warwick is one of the few universities to reach its target for the proportion of state-school students admitted (86%). This may be due to the university's distinctive community policy and commitment to increasing access to higher education.

Campus
Warwick is located on the outskirts of Coventry, 5.5 km southwest of the city centre, and not in Warwick as its name suggests. The university's main Coventry campus comprises three contiguous campuses, all within walking distance of each other. It also owns a site in Wellesbourne, acquired by the university in 2004 when it merged with Horticulture Research International.

According to an Opinionpanel survey and the BBC, 80% of British students want a "friendly campus". The "best campus", according to the survey, belonged to Warwick University.

Main campus


The main Warwick campus originally consisted of contemporary 1960s architecture, the style chosen in deliberate contrast to the medieval, classical, or "red brick" character of older British universities. The main campus occupies a 2.8 km2 site straddling the boundary between the City of Coventry and the County of Warwickshire. The main campus contains all of the main student amenities, all but four of the student halls of residence, and the Students' Union. Other amenities included a Costcutter supermarket, pharmacy, three bank branches (Natwest, Barclays and Santander), a hair salon, a post office, a copy shop, and an STA Travel agency. A Tesco superstore is located at the nearby Cannon Park shopping centre. A recent survey by The Times resulted in the campus being voted the best in the UK by a national poll of university students.

Facilities
The main campus hosts a large leisure centre, comprising 25 m swimming pool, two sports halls, gymnasium, squash courts and rock-climbing facility. Elsewhere on campus are a number of other sports halls, outside tennis courts, 400 m athletics track, multi-purpose outdoor surfaces and cricket grounds. Sports facilities are being constantly expanded, following the commencement of Warwick Sport, a 2005 joint venture between the university and the Students' Union. Indoor tennis courts have recently been opened on the Westwood Campus sports venue and an Olympic-size swimming pool has been rumoured in the long-term, depending on Coventry City Council's priorities. Most of the university's sports facilities are open to the general public.

Olympics
The university will play a vital role in the 2012 Summer Olympics when the city of Coventry plays host to the Games Football matches.

The London 2012 Organising Committee has announced that The Ricoh Arena, home of Coventry City Football Club, will be the new Midlands venue to host the Olympic football matches and the university will provide training and residential facilities for the Olympic teams.

University House


In 2003 Warwick acquired the former headquarters of National Grid plc, which it converted into its an administration building renamed University House. The building includes a student learning centre called the "Learning Grid".

Warwick Arts Centre


Situated at the centre of Warwick's main campus, the Warwick Arts Centre is the largest Arts Centre in the UK outside London. The centre is a multi-venue arts complex and attracts around 300,000 visitors a year to over 3,000 individual events embracing contemporary and classical music, drama, dance, comedy, films and visual art. The centre comprises six spaces on the same site, including a concert hall, two theatres, a cinema, gallery, and conference room as well as hospitality suites, a restaurant, cafe, shops, and two bars. The site also includes the university bookshop.

The Arts Centre also houses the University of Warwick Music Centre with practice rooms, and an ensemble rehearsal room where music societies and groups such as the Brass Band rehearse.

The centre comprises:
 * The Butterworth Hall, a 1500-seat capacity concert hall
 * A 550-seat theatre
 * A 180-seat theatre studio
 * A 220-seat cinema
 * The Mead Gallery, an art gallery
 * The Music Centre

White Koan


The White Koan, situated directly outside the main entrance of Warwick arts centre, is a modern art sculpture designed by the artist, Lilian Lijn. The Koan is 6 m high, white in colour and decorated with elliptical of fluorescent lights. It is rotated by an electric motor whilst illuminated. The Koan is intended to represent the Buddhist quest for questions without answers (see koan).

The Koan was originally made in 1971 as part of the Peter Stuyvesant Foundation City Sculpture Project and was first sited in Plymouth and then in London at the Hayward Gallery. It was purchased by the university in 1972.

Other sites

 * The Gibbet Hill Campus – home to Life Sciences and Warwick Medical School
 * The Westwood Campus – home to the Institute of Education, Arden House conference centre, an indoor tennis centre, a running track, some postgraduate facilities and residences
 * University of Warwick Science Park
 * Clinical Sciences Building at University Hospital Coventry – part of the Warwick Medical School
 * Warwick Horticulture Research International (HRI) Research & Conference Centre, Wellesbourne, Warwickshire

Future developments
In November 2005, Warwick made public its vision for the year 2020 and outlined proposals for how it would like to develop its campus over the next 15 years. These proposals built upon recent construction activity which included a new Mathematics and Statistics Building, a new Computer Science Building, new Business School buildings, the new Heronbank Residences and an expanded Sports Centre. The proposals would see a shift in the "centre of gravity" on campus away from the Students' Union towards the new University House and a proposed "Academic Square", located around the new maths and computer science buildings.

Organisation and administration
Warwick is governed by three formal bodies: the Court, Council and the Senate. In addition to these, a Steering Committee provide strategic leadership in between meetings of the formal bodies. Faculties are overseen by Faculty Boards which report to the Senate. The Principal Officers of the university have responsibility for day-to-day operations of the University.

Finances
In the financial year ended 31 July 2010, Warwick had a total income (including share of joint ventures) of £408.48 million (2008/09 - £375.66 million) and total expenditure of £388.91 million (2008/09 - £374.38 million). Key sources of income included £133.27 million from academic fees and support grants (2008/09 - £115.86 million), £89.75 million from Funding Council grants (2008/09 - £86.82 million), £79.80 million from research grants and contracts (2008/09 - £72.98 million) and £0.76 million from endowment and investment income (2008/09 - £1.75 million). During the 2009/10 financial year Warwick had a capital expenditure of £46.78 million (2008/09 - £51.90 million).

At year end Warwick had reserves and endowments of £123.01 million (2008/09 - £111.35 million) and total net assets of £259.86 million (2008/09 - £236.76 million).

Chancellors



 * William Rootes, 1st Baron Rootes, Chancellor-designate (died in December 1964 before taking office)
 * Cyril Radcliffe, 1st Viscount Radcliffe (1965–1977)
 * Leslie Scarman, Baron Scarman (1977–1989)
 * Sir Shridath "Sonny" Ramphal (1989–2002)
 * Sir Nicholas Scheele (2003–2008)
 * Sir Richard Lambert (2008–)

Vice-Chancellors

 * Lord Butterworth (1965–1985)
 * Dr Clark L. Brundin (1985–1992)
 * Professor Sir Brian K. Follett (1993–2001)
 * Professor David VandeLinde (2001–2006)
 * Professor Nigel Thrift (2006–present)

Coat of arms
Warwick University's coat of arms depicts atoms of two isotopes of lithium, a DNA helix to represent science and also the Bear and Ragged Staff, historically associated with Warwickshire (and previously the Earls of Warwick) and the Elephant and Castle of Coventry. The bear is not chained in the current depiction of the university's coat of arms, although it had been in its original grant of Letters Patent by the College of Arms.

Academics
As of April 2008 the student population of Warwick was 21,598, with around a third being postgraduates. 25% of the student body comes from overseas and over 114 countries are represented on the campus. The university has 29 academic departments and over 40 research centres and institutes, in four faculties: arts, medicine, science and social sciences. There are 1,607 academic staff and 844 research staff (as of April 2008).

International partnerships
Warwick students can study abroad for a semester or a double degree (degrees awarded by both partners). International partners include Columbia University, Queen's University, McGill University, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, SDA Bocconi, Sciences Po Paris and University of Pennsylvania Wharton School.

Research
In the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise (RAE) Warwick was ranked 7th overall amongst multi-faculty institutions and was the top-ranked university in the Midlands. Over 65% of the University's academic staff were rated as being in "world-leading" or "internationally excellent" departments with top research ratings of 4* or 3*. Warwick achieved a 35% increase in the number of staff it submitted in RAE2008 compared to RAE2001, the third largest increase in the Russell Group, and submitted almost 90% of its staff to RAE2008.

Warwick ranked in the top five in Environmental Science, History, Mathematics, Statistics, Economics, Engineering, Business School, French, Italian, Classics, Business and Management, Film Studies and Theatre Studies. Warwick departments which were ranked in the top 10 in the UK in the assessment were:


 * Film Studies - 1st
 * Warwick HRI - 1st
 * History - 2nd
 * Mathematics (Pure) - 2nd
 * French - 2nd
 * Economics - 3rd
 * Italian - 3rd
 * Classics - 4th
 * Statistics - 4th
 * Engineering - 5th
 * Theatre, Performance and Cultural Policy Studies - 5th
 * Warwick Business School - 5th
 * Mathematics (applied) - 7th
 * Chemistry - 8th
 * English - 8th
 * Education - 8th
 * Politics - 7th
 * Sociology - 8th
 * Warwick Medical School (Health Services Research) - 10th

Rankings
Warwick is consistently ranked amongst the top 10 universities in the UK according to league tables of British universities.

According to the Times Higher Education, Warwick is ranked 6th in the UK for salary.

Entry to Warwick is competitive and according to The Sunday Times' University Guide 2006, Warwick has around ten applicants for every place. Warwick students also average top A-Level grades (often equivalent to more than A*AAa at A-level).

The results of the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise (RAE) reiterate Warwick’s status as one of the UK’s leading research universities, with Warwick being ranked 7th overall in the UK (based on multi-faculty institutions). 65% of Warwick's research is 'world-leading' or 'internationally excellent' (quality level of either 3* or 4*).

In the world MBA rankings published by The Economist, Warwick Business School ranked 34th. In the Financial Times, Warwick ranked 42nd in the world for its Full-time MBA and 35th for its Executive MBA. The Economist Intelligence Unit's Which MBA? Guide, published annually, ranked Warwick's Full-Time MBA program 22nd in the world and top 10 in Europe. The Academic Ranking of World Universities, ARWU released in 2011, placed the University of Warwick 36th worldwide for the subject of economics/business, ahead of INSEAD, London Business School, Vanderbilt University, and University of Southern California, and 41st worldwide in the field of mathematics. The important Economics Department Ranking by IDEAS/RePEc places the University of Warwick on 22nd worldwide (5th in Europe). This means that the department is placed ahead of Cambridge, and Dartmouth College. According to the Financial Times, Warwick's master in finance is ranked 5th in the world.

Also, ARWU placed the Warwick in the position 49th worldwide in the field of social sciences ahead of some leading names such as University of California, Santa Barbara, and Georgetown University.

In 2008 the Sunday Times released averages of all its tables over 10 years, ranking Warwick as 7th in the country from 1998–2007.

Internationally, Warwick is ranked very inconsistently by major global university rankings providers. While it was placed 50th overall by QS World University Rankings and 151–200th by Academic Ranking of World Universities, it was not included among top 200 universities by recent Times Higher World University Rankings and came in at 220th (based on the full THE World University Rankings in their iPhone application). The university claims the inconsistency is due to its relative youth in comparison to other universities.

The French ranking SMBG-Eduniversal ranked Warwick Business School 5th in the UK, 40th in the world and described it as a "universal business school with major international influence".

According to a 2011 High Fliers Research survey, Warwick is the "second most targeted university in the UK by top employers."

Library
Warwick University Library is located in the middle of the main campus. It houses approximately 1,242,000 books and over 13 km of archives and manuscripts. It has recently been remodelled and now houses new services to support Research and Teaching practice and collaboration between departments. The Wolfson Research Exchange opened in October 2008 and provides collaboration spaces (both physical and virtual), seminar rooms, conference facilities and study areas for Postgraduate Research students. The Teaching Grid, which opened in 2008, is a flexible space which allows teaching staff to try out new technologies and techniques. The library also runs the Learning Grid based in University House, which is a technology rich space for all members of the university to use and provides access to video conferencing facilities, smart boards, networked PCs and a collection of core text books.

Awards
In 2008 the university launched a new prize, the Warwick Prize for Writing, worth £50,000. It is defined as "an international cross-disciplinary award which will be given biennially for an excellent and substantial piece of writing in the English language, in any genre or form, on a theme that will change with every award". The inaugural winner of the award was Naomi Klein for her critically acclaimed book Shock Doctrine.

Student life
Undergraduate student life at Warwick is divided into two phases. In the first year, student life revolves around campus and, in particular, the Students' Union (with its sports clubs, societies and entertainment facilities). In subsequent years students live off-campus, many live in Leamington Spa, Kenilworth or either Earlsdon or Canley in Coventry.

Students' Union


The University of Warwick Students' Union is one of the largest students' unions in the UK, and currently has over 260 societies and 76 sports clubs. Sports clubs include everything from basketball to rowing. There are new societies every year, including Jailbreak and more recently the HOMMOUS Society. It has an annual turnover of approximately £6 million, the profit from which is used to provide services to students and to employ its staff and Sabbatical officers. The Union is divided into two buildings: Union North (mainly societies and administration) and Union South (entertainment facilities). Union South contains four club venues, seven bars and a cafe over four floors, with some "full Union (building)" events such as Top Banana and Skool Dayz. Drinks prices are not considered to be particularly cheap but have recently been reduced for some events.

The union has a enviable tradition of hosting cult and up-and-coming bands; recently it has seen bands such as Ash, Sugababes, Amerie, The Kooks, Reel Big Fish, The Departure, The Subways, Idlewild, The Rory McKenna Variety Show, Hell is for Heroes, The Automatic, The Dave Wright Experience, Boy Kill Boy, Amy Winehouse, The Killers, The Streets, Feeder and Scouting for Girls. The Union South building underwent an £11 million refurbishment in Spring 2008, which was completed in January 2010. The new facilities included a club and gig venue, a pub, various food outlets, spaces for societies and a pool room.

The union is a member of the National Union of Students (NUS) and National Postgraduate Committee (NPC).

Student events
Warwick hosts many major student-run events including One World Week, Warwick Economics Summit, People & Planet's Go Green Week, Warwick International Development Summit, Tedx Warwick, RAG Week and Warwick Student Arts Festival.

The Warwick Economics Summit is a yearly international forum. It gathers selected students from England (LSE, Oxford, Cambridge...) and from all over the world - United States (Princeton, MIT), Italy (Bocconi), Russia (Kazan State University),...- to listen world-class renowned speakers.

The university is also home to the largest student-run Real Ale Festival in Great Britain, which takes place annually, always in the eighth week of second academic term. The festival is organised and staffed by the Warwick University Real Ale Society. A charity skydiving weekend, The Great Warwick Jump, was set up by the Skydiving Club in 2008 and is now the largest charity event at the University, raising £20,274.00 for charities worldwide in its first year. The second year saw a new British record for the most tandem jumps in 24 hours with 137 and a total of £57,374 raised for various charities.

Student media

 * Radio Warwick, also known as RaW, one of the most successful student radio stations in the UK
 * The Boar, an award-winning newspaper distributed free across campus every second Tuesday
 * Warwick Student Cinema, the university's student cinema housed in a large lecture theatre on campus, showing films on two 35 mm projectors most nights of the week.
 * Warwick TV, the student television station.

University Challenge
Warwick won BBC television's University Challenge competition in 2007, beating the title holders University of Manchester in the final.

Commercial activities
Under the leadership of its first Vice-Chancellor, Lord Butterworth, Warwick was one of the first UK universities to adopt a business approach to higher education, develop close links with the business community and exploit the commercial value of its research.

Research
Warwick has established a number of stand-alone units to manage and extract commercial value from its research activities. The four most prominent examples of these units are:
 * Warwick Ventures Ltd (the technology transfer arm of the University)
 * Warwick Manufacturing Group
 * University of Warwick Science Park
 * Warwick HRI

As a result of these activities, Warwick is the only UK University to generate more income through commercial activities than it receives from Government grants, which has allowed it to invest generously in facilities and undergo rapid growth. Research is the greatest source of income for the university, followed by overseas students and Warwick Accommodation.

Warwick Accommodation
Warwick Accommodation provides on-campus accommodation for first-year undergraduates, final-year undergraduates (depending on availability) and postgraduate students. Off-campus accommodation is also provided and consists of privately owned houses which are University managed upon a commission charge. The location of such houses is usually within the catchment area of Coventry and Leamington Spa for student convenience.

Many of the 5,700 on-campus rooms are used by conference guests outside of term-time. En suite rooms which include Arthur Vick, Jack Martin and Benefactors residences, as well as the standard single Rootes residence, are usually the primary allocation blocks for conference delegates.

Warwick Conferences
Warwick Conferences offers three dedicated, year-round conference centres: Scarman House, Radcliffe and Arden. Every year, on average 65,000 conference delegates are catered for, with services ranging from banqueting to access to sport facilities. Warwick Conferences has won several awards, including 4 Gold M&IT, Godiva, MIMA and CCE Chefs challenge awards.

Warwick Retail
Warwick Retail is a commercial retail and publishing operation owned by the university. Its operations include:
 * a Costcutter Supermarket
 * University Bookshop
 * Warwick Print (in-house publishing).

The university also created and owns the temporary employment agency Unitemps and the higher education recruitment website www.jobs.ac.uk.

Criticism
There has been some criticism that Warwick has become too commercially minded at the expense of academic creativity and diversity. The most famous proponent of this critique was the noted historian E.P. Thompson, who wrote Warwick University Ltd in 1971.

Nevertheless, with the appointment of Sir Nicholas Scheele as Chancellor in 2002, the university signalled that it intended to continue and expand its commercial activities. In an interview for the BBC, Scheele said: "I think in the future, education and industry need to become even more closely linked than they have been historically. As government funding changes, the replacement could well come through private funding from companies, individuals and grant-giving agencies."

Notable people
Warwick has over 150,000 alumni.

Academia

 * H.A. Hellyer Policy Consultant and currently Senior Research Fellow for Muslims in Europe
 * Maris Martinsons – Professor of Management, and International Business Consultant
 * Moeletsi Mbeki - Deputy Chairman of the South African Institute of International Affairs, brother of former South African President Thabo Mbeki
 * Patricia McFadden, Swazi author, Professor of Sociology, and African radical feminist
 * Ian Stewart FRS – popular science author and currently Professor of Mathematics

Business

 * Ratan Tata, Chairman of Tata Group
 * Ness Wadia – Indian entrepreneur
 * Mahmoud Mohieldin (PhD Financial Economics, 1995), former Investment Minister of Egypt and the current Managing Director of the World Bank.

Cinema and theatre

 * Paul W. S. Anderson (Film and Literature) – film director
 * Adam Buxton (dropped out after two terms) – comedian and actor, best known as one part of Adam and Joe.
 * Dominic Cooke – artistic director of the Royal Court Theatre
 * Vadim Jean (History) – film director
 * Alex Jennings (English and Theatre Studies, grad. 1978) – actor who has performed in many lead roles at the RSC
 * Ruth Jones (Theatre Studies and Dramatic Arts, grad. 1988) – actress best known for her role as Myfanwy in Little Britain and Nessa in Gavin and Stacey.
 * Lloyd Langford – comedian (film and television)
 * Stephen Merchant (Film and Literature, grad. 1996) – wrote, directed and acted in the British television series The Office and Extras, in such roles as the 'Oggmonster' and 'Darren Lamb' respectively.
 * Rufus Wright - Actor friends with Stephen Merchant who was casted part of Hannay in the award-winning comedy stage play The 39 Steps,
 * Frank Skinner, then Chris Collins (MA in English Literature, grad. 1981) – comedian/actor/writer
 * Julian Rhind-Tutt (English) – actor best known from the award-winning comedy series Green Wing
 * Hannah Waterman – actress

Government and politics



 * Wendy Alexander MSP (MA, Industrial Relations) – former Labour Leader in the Scottish Parliament
 * Baroness Amos (Sociology, grad. 1976) – Britain's first female black Cabinet Minister, Privy Counsellor and formerly Leader of the House of Lords, Lord President of the Council and British High Commissioner to Australia; now the European Union Special Representative to the African Union
 * Yakubu Gowon (PhD in Political Science) – former Nigerian President and Chief of Army Staff
 * Vernon Coaker (BA (Hons) Politics and Economics) – Member of Parliament for Gedling and Government Minister until 2010
 * Jon Cruddas (PhD in Philosophy, 1990) – Member of Parliament for Dagenham and formerly a candidate for deputy leadership of the Labour Party
 * David Davis (Molecular Science/Computer Science, 1968–1971) – Conservative former Shadow Home Secretary
 * Kim Howells (PhD) – former Foreign Office Minister
 * Chan Yuen Han SBS, JP, one of the active female unionists in Hong Kong
 * Andrew Dismore (LLB), 1975 – Member of Parliament for Hendon
 * David Li GBM, GBS, OBE, JP, Chairman and Chief Executive of the Bank of East Asia, member of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong and former member of the Executive Council of Hong Kong
 * Baroness Morris – Privy Counsellor and former Labour Secretary of State for Education
 * Sir Gus O'Donnell (Economics, grad. 1973) – Cabinet Secretary, head of the British Civil Service
 * George Saitoti – mathematician, politician, and former Vice-President of Kenya
 * Brian Paddick – former Commissioner Metropolitan Police and 2008 London Mayoral candidate for the Liberal Democrats
 * Valentine Strasser – former head of state of Sierra Leone- did not complete his studies at Warwick
 * Hon Kevin Taft – Leader of the Opposition in Alberta, Canada
 * George W. Kanyeihamba – Member of the Supreme Court of Uganda and African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights, also Legal Advisor to the President of Uganda on Human Rights and International Affairs
 * Sir Richard Leese – Leader of Manchester City Council
 * Dan Stoenescu (Globalisation and Development) – Romanian diplomat, political scientist and journalist
 * Ahmed Thasmeen Ali (Economics) – Electer Leader of the Opposition DRP in Maldives.
 * Owain James (Maths and Economics) – former President of the National Union of Students.

Literature



 * Nicholas Blincoe – author
 * Simon Calder (Mathematics) – travel writer for The Independent
 * Anne Fine (History, grad. 1968) FRSL – children's author
 * James Franklin (Mathematics) – historian of ideas and philosopher
 * Sam Gillespie (1970 – 2003) - a philosopher and early translator and commentator of Alain Badiou, crucial to Badiou's initial reception in the English-speaking world
 * Mal Lewis Jones (Children's author grad. 1970 English and American literature)
 * A. L. Kennedy (Theatre and Performance Studies) – author
 * Peter Linebaugh (History, grad. 1975) – author of The Magna Carta Manifesto
 * Justin Somper – author, writer of popular children's book Vampirates
 * Chip Tsao (pen name: To Kit) (English Literature) – Hong Kong cultural and political commentator
 * Tony Wheeler (Engineering, grad. 1968) – co-founder of Lonely Planet (LP) travel guides

Media

 * Jennie Bond (French and European Literature, grad. 1968) – former BBC Royal Correspondent
 * Brian Deer (Philosophy) – The Sunday Times; Channel 4
 * Tom Dunmore (Film & Literature); Editor In Chief, Stuff Magazine
 * Leona Graham (Drama grad) radio presenter and voiceover artist
 * Merfyn Jones – Governor BBC and former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Wales, Bangor
 * James King (Film and Literature) – BBC Radio 1 film critic
 * Timmy Mallett (History, grad. 1977) – 1980s children's television presenter
 * Simon Mayo (History and Politics, grad. 1981) – broadcaster
 * Peter Salmon (European Literature, grad. 1977) – BBC television executive
 * Christian Wolmar Graduated in 1971; writer on transport and social issues

Music



 * Adem Ilhan – solo artist, and member of Fridge (studied Mathematics)
 * Sting – lead singer of The Police and solo artist (left after one term)
 * DJ Yoda – (English and American Literature grad. 1998) Hip hop turntablist
 * Fuzz - Singer-songwriter of Inferno and solo artist.
 * Kode9 – dubstep producer, DJ and owner of the Hyperdub record label (PhD in Philosophy)
 * Very Rev Robert Willis – Dean of Canterbury, and composer of hymns

Sport

 * Kevin Blackwell (Certificate in Applied Management in Football) – Football Manager
 * Aidy Boothroyd (Certificate in Applied Management in Football) – Football Manager
 * Steve Heighway (Economics) – Liverpool FC footballer
 * Mark Hughes (Certificate in Applied Management in Football) – Football Manager
 * Stuart Pearce MBE (Certificate in Applied Management in Football) – Football Manager

Notable faculty and staff
Notable current and former faculty and staff at Warwick include:


 * Biological Sciences
 * Sir Brian Follett, also formerly Warwick University's Vice-Chancellor (1993 to 2001)


 * Computer Science
 * Mike Cowlishaw, creator of the REXX programming language.
 * Hugh Darwen, creator of Tutorial D database language
 * Mike Paterson FRS, director of the Centre for Discrete Mathematics and its Applications


 * Chemistry
 * Keith Jennings, known for his work in Mass Spectrometry and Collision-induced dissociation


 * English
 * Jonathan Bate
 * Andrew Davies, television screenwriter
 * Maureen Freely, writer, author and translator of works by Orhan Pamuk
 * Michael Gardiner
 * Germaine Greer
 * A L Kennedy
 * Neil Lazarus
 * China Miéville
 * Susan Bassnett, translation theorist and scholar of comparative literature


 * Engineering
 * Lord Bhattacharyya, founder and Director of the Warwick Manufacturing Group
 * Kevin Warwick, Cyborg researcher


 * History
 * Sir J.R. Hale, Renaissance historian and first Professor of History at Warwick University
 * E.P. Thompson, Marxist historian and founding member of the CND
 * David Arnold (historian) FBA, Indian historian
 * Sir John Elliott FBA, Spanish historian


 * Law
 * Shaheen Sardar Ali, current Professor of Law
 * Patrick Atiyah, barrister and legal writer
 * Upendra Baxi, current Professor of Law
 * John McEldowney, Professor of Public Law
 * Paul Raffield, current lecturer in Law; actor in Joking Apart


 * Mathematics and Statistics
 * Brian Bowditch, mathematician known for his contributions to geometry and topology. He is also known for solving the angel problem.
 * Jack Cohen, developmental biologist and xenobiologist (honorary professor)
 * David Epstein FRS, mathematician known for his work in hyperbolic geometry and co-founder of the University of Warwick mathematics department
 * Martin Hairer, expert in stochastic partial differential equations and winner of the Philip Leverhulme Prize, the Royal Society Wolfson Award and the LMS Whitehead Prize
 * Robert MacKay FRS FInstP FIMA, mathematician specialised in dynamical systems and an ISI highly cited researcher
 * David Preiss FRS, winner of the 2008 Pólya Prize for his contributions to analysis and geometric measure theory
 * Miles Reid FRS, mathematician known for his work in algebraic geometry
 * Gareth Roberts (statistician), statistician known for his work on Markov chain Monte Carlo methodology, winner of the Royal Statistical Society Guy Medal in Silver and Bronze and an ISI highly cited researcher
 * Ian Stewart FRS, mathematician, popular science author and an ISI highly cited researcher
 * Andrew M. Stuart, mathematician known for his contributions to numerical analysis and computational mathematics, winner of the prestigious Leslie Fox Prize for Numerical Analysis.
 * Sir Christopher Zeeman FRS, topologist and exponent of Catastrophe theory, founding professor of mathematics and former President of the London Mathematical Society; the new Mathematics and Statistics building has been named in his honour, latterly Principal of Hertford College, Oxford


 * Philosophy
 * Angie Hobbs
 * David Miller


 * Social sciences
 * Margaret Archer, professor, theorist in critical realism, former President of International Sociological Association
 * James A. Beckford, Professor Emeritus
 * Robin Cohen, Honorary Professor
 * Nicholas Crafts
 * Robert Fine, Professor Emeritus, theorist of cosmopolitanism
 * Steve Fuller, professor, theorist in science and technology studies
 * Wyn Grant, former Chair of the British Political Studies Association (PSA) [2002-2005], President of the PSA [2005-2008]. Political scientist with interest in comparative public policy.
 * H. A. Hellyer, senior research Fellow, specialist on Muslims in Europe and West-Muslim world relations.
 * Richard Higgott, Director of the Warwick Commission to the World Bank.
 * Andrew Oswald
 * John Rex, Professor Emeritus
 * Leonard Seabrooke
 * Lord Skidelsky FBA FRSL FRHistS
 * Lord Stern, former Chief Economist of the World Bank


 * Other
 * The Coull String Quartet, quartet-in-residence since 1977.
 * Nigel Thrift, geographer, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Warwick