The University of Reading began life in the 19th century as an extension College of the University of Oxford, before being awarded university status in 1926.

Reading is now a leading UK university and home to 17,000 students from over 150 countries. It offers a wide range of degree programmes encompassing the pure and applied sciences, social sciences, languages, arts, humanities and business.

With a reputation for multidisciplinary research and collaborations, the university comprises over 50 research centres, which are recognised centres of excellence, in areas that include agriculture, meteorology, the physical sciences, and European history and culture.

In the 2014 Research Excellence Framework, 98% of Reading’s research was rated as being of international standing

It operates across three campuses. Its main Whiteknights campus has won awards for its 130 hectares of beautiful parkland, while the historic London Road campus has recently undergone a £30 million transformation. The Greenlands Campus, situated on the banks of the River Thames, houses one of Europe’s top business schools, along with a fitness centre, business facilities and conference centre,

The university has a strong global presence, with a business school located in Johannesburg, an overseas campus in Malaysia and a newly established joint Academy with Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology in China. It is also runs the Thames Valley Science Park, a cluster of 70 high-tech companies located on its Whiteknights campus.

Reading’s various campuses also feature a sports park, a film theatre, four museums, 300,000 plant specimens, lakes, meadows and a cherry tree orchard.

Its Henley Business School holds triple-accredited status, while The Financial Times and The Economist both consistently rank it as being in the world’s top 50 business schools.

Reading is a lively city famed for hosting one of the biggest annual music festivals in the UK. Over 87,000 music fans attend Reading Festival each summer to see some of the biggest names in music. The Berkshire town is also home to an abundance of parks, shopping and sports facilities.