Cranfield University

Cranfield University

Former names	Cranfield Institute of Technology College of Aeronautics
Motto	Latin: Post Nubes Lux; "After clouds light"[1]
Type	Public
Established	1946, incorporated by Royal Charter and university status in 1969[2]
Chancellor	Baroness Young of Old Scone
Vice-Chancellor	Sir Peter Gregson [3]
Administrative staff	1,800
Students	3,935 (2016/17)[4] (all postgraduates)
Location	Cranfield, Bedfordshire Shrivenham, Oxfordshire England
Campus	Rural (both)
Colours
Affiliations	ACU, PEGASUS
Website	http://www.cranfield.ac.uk/

Cranfield University is a British postgraduate and research-based public university specialising in science, engineering, technology and management. Cranfield was founded as the College of Aeronautics in 1946. Through the 1950s and 1960s, the development of many aspects of aircraft research and design led to considerable growth and diversification into other areas such as manufacturing and management. In 1967, the Cranfield School of Management was founded. In 1969, the College of Aeronautics became The Cranfield Institute of Technology incorporated by Royal Charter and gained degree awarding powers and became a university in its own right. In 1993, it adopted its current name.^[5][2][6]

Cranfield University has two campuses: the main campus is at Cranfield, Bedfordshire, and the second is at the Defence Academy of the United Kingdom at Shrivenham, southwest Oxfordshire.^[7] The main campus is unique in the United Kingdom and Europe for having a semi-operational airport (Cranfield Airport) on campus. Cranfield University owns and operates the airport. The airport facilities are used by Cranfield University's own aircraft in the course of aerospace teaching and research.

Cranfield University's motto, 'post nubes lux', means 'after clouds light'. It is depicted on the Cranfield University coat of arms which was introduced when the University was awarded its Royal Charter.^[8]

History[edit]

College of Aeronautics (1946-1969)[edit]

Cranfield University was formed in 1946 as the College of Aeronautics, on the then Royal Air Force base of RAF Cranfield. A major role was played in the development of the college by Roxbee Cox, later Lord Kings Norton, who was appointed to be the first governor of the college in 1945 and then served as vice-chair and (from 1962) chair of the board. He led the drive for the college to diversify, with the Cranfield University School of Management being established in 1967, and petitioned successfully for a royal charter and degree awarding powers. When these were granted in 1969, he became the first chancellor of the Cranfield Institute of Technology, serving until 1997.^[9][10]

Cranfield Institute of Technology (1969-1993)[edit]

The Cranfield Institute of Technology was incorporated by Royal Charter in 1969, giving the institution its own degree-awarding powers and making it a full university in its own right.^[5][2][6]

In 1975 the National College of Agricultural Engineering, founded in 1963 at Silsoe, Bedfordshire, was merged with Cranfield and run as Silsoe College.^[11]

An academic partnership with the Royal Military College of Science (RMCS) at Shrivenham was formed in 1984. RMCS, whose roots can be traced back to 1772, is now a part of the Defence Academy of the United Kingdom and now forms the Defence College of Management and Technology, known as 'DCMT' and from 2009 as "Cranfield Defence and Security". RMCS became wholly postgraduate in c.2007 with undergraduate courses moved elsewhere.

Cranfield University (1993-present)[edit]

In 1993 the institution's Royal Charter was amended changing its name to Cranfield University.^[5][2][6] A decade later in 2003, Cranfield became wholly postgraduate and the Shrivenham site admitted its last undergraduates.^[12] In 2009 Silsoe College was closed and its activities were relocated to the main campus at Cranfield.^[11]

Location and campus[edit]

Cranfield campus is approximately 50 miles (80 km) north of central London and adjacent to the village of Cranfield,^[13] Bedfordshire. The nearest large towns are Milton Keynes and Bedford, the centres of which are both about 8 miles (13 km) away. Cambridge is about 30 miles (48 km) east.

Shrivenham is about 73 miles (117 km) west of London, adjacent to Shrivenham village, 7 miles (11 km) from the centre of the nearest town, Swindon, and around 23 miles (37 km) from Oxford.

Bedford, Milton Keynes, Oxford and Swindon all have fast rail services to central London terminuses, good access to the main motorway network and London Heathrow airport.

The Cranfield campus sits within the Cambridge – Milton Keynes – Oxford corridor which plans to link the cities and stimulate economic growth. The proposed corridor includes plans for more than one million new houses by 2050, including up to five new garden towns to be approved;^[14] the reestablishment of a strategic railway connecting East Anglia with Central, Southern and Western England, In particular, it plans to build (or rebuild) a new line linking Oxford and Cambridge via Bicester, Milton Keynes (at Bletchley) and Bedford called East West Rail; and plans for a Oxford to Cambridge Expressway which is a proposed grade-separated dual carriageway between Oxford and Cambridge, via (or near) Milton Keynes. There are also plans for a tram system between Milton Keynes and Cranfield University, although this is still at an early planning stage.^[15]

Technology Park[edit]

There are a number of companies located on the Cranfield University Technology Park ranging from large international companies to small start-ups. Major companies on the park include:

• The Nissan Technical Centre^[16] Europe, which designs and develops cars for the European market. The NTC Europe facility occupies 19,700 square metres (0.0076 square miles) of the Technology Park, representing an investment of £46m by Nissan.
• Innovation Centre: the Technology Park is also the location for a large number of smaller companies.

Prior to 2016:

• Trafficmaster plc^[17] occupied a 10-acre (40,000 m²) site for its European Headquarters. A leading company in telematics, Trafficmaster's advanced technology enables cars and roads to be used more efficiently.

An extension to the Technology Park was completed in 2008. A new Aerospace Park on the north-eastern part of the campus is planned.

Organisation and governance[edit]

Schools[edit]

The academic schools are:

• School of Aerospace, Transport and Manufacturing, known as SATM, incorporating the original College of Aeronautics, has a wide range of experimental research facilities for masters and doctoral students and commercial clients;
• School of Water, Energy and Environment, known as SWEE;
• School of Management, known as SoM;
• Cranfield Defence and Security, known as CDS, at the Defence Academy of the United Kingdom's Shrivenham site (formerly the Defence College of Management and Technology/Royal Military College of Science).

Chancellors[edit]

• 1969–1997: Harold Roxbee Cox, Lord Kings Norton
• 1998–2010: Richard Vincent, Lord Vincent of Coleshill
• 2010–present: Baroness Young of Old Scone

Vice-Chancellors[edit]

• 1970–1989: Henry Chilver, Lord Chilver
• 1989–2006: Frank Robinson Hartley
• 2006–2013: Sir John (James) O'Reilly^[18][19]
• 2013–present: Sir Peter Gregson^[20]

Academic disciplines[edit]

Cranfield University’s specialist areas of focus, or Cranfield themes, aims to bring a range of academic disciplines together in order to tackle the grand challenges facing the world within a range of industrial and commercial sectors. These are Water, Agrifood, Energy and Power, Aerospace, Manufacturing, Transport Systems, Defence and Security and Business/Management.

Within Cranfield University’s postgraduate environment, the academic disciplines work closely together, blending as they do in the commercial world and industry to deliver real world solutions.^[21]

Academic profile[edit]

Reputation and rankings[edit]

Rankings

Global rankings
CWTS Leiden (2018)[22]	337

Business (MBA) Rankings

Global MBA rankings
THE[23] (2018, world)	7
Financial Times[24] (2018, world)	61
Bloomberg Businessweek[25] (2017, world)	20
Forbes[26] (2017, world)	10
The Economist[27] (2018, world)	74
QS[28] (2019, world)	44
Poets&Quants[29] (2017, world)	13
National UK MBA rankings
THE[30] (2018, National)	1
Financial Times[31] (2018, national)	8
Bloomberg Businessweek[25] (2017, national)	6
Forbes[26] (2017, national)	3
The Economist[32] (2018, national)	8

Cranfield University consistently performs well in the major school and programme specific rankings, reinforcing its position as a top global university.

As an exclusively postgraduate university, Cranfield University is excluded from the Times Higher Education World Rankings, The Times World Rankings, The Complete University Guide and The Guardian, which focuses on helping prospective undergraduate students to compare universities. As the university is postgraduate, direct comparison with undergraduate institutions is difficult. Some key facts and figures are:

• Cranfield’s staff:student ratio is second among UK universities.^[33]
• Cranfield University are in the top 1% of institutions in the world for alumni who hold CEO positions at the world's top companies according to the Centre for World University Rankings, 2017.^[34]
• Cranfield School of Management was ranked 3rd best European Business School within the UK and 13th within Europe in 2008.^[35] Cranfield’s full-time one-year MBA programme was named 7th in the world and 1st in the UK and its MSc in Finance and Management was named 6th in the world and 2nd in the UK by the Times Higher Education/Wall Street Journal.^[36]
• Cranfield University was ranked 27th in the world for mechanical, aeronautical and manufacturing engineering by the QS World University Rankings in 2015.^[37]
• 54% of all aerospace engineering postgraduates and 25% of all agricultural and environmental sciences postgraduates in the UK graduate at Cranfield.^[33]
• Over 10% of the UK’s engineering and sciences PhDs are awarded by Cranfield.^[33]
• Cranfield has received the Queen's Anniversary Prize five times: in 2005 for Further and Higher Education for the Fellowship in Manufacturing Management (FMM) programme; in 2007 for its role in humanitarian demining;^[38] in 2011 for contribution to aviation safety through research and training in accident investigation;^[39] in 2015 for its work in water and sanitation;^[40] and in 2017 for its research and education in large-scale soil and environmental data for the sustainable use of natural resources.^[41]
• Students on Cranfield's Global Security programme were awarded the Imbert Prize in 2006,^[42] 2008^[43] and 2009^[44] for the development of ideas for the advancement of risk and security management in the UK.

Admissions[edit]

In 2015/16, 49% of Cranfield University's students were from the United Kingdom, 25% from Europe and 26% from the rest of the world. Cranfield University's student to staff ratio is 5:1, second among all UK universities.^[34]

More than half of Cranfield University's students are over 30 years of age.^[34]

Partnerships[edit]

Cranfield University has strong links with business, industry and governments. Cranfield University has mutually beneficial relationships with nearly 1,500 organisations around the world including small owner-managed SMEs to large multinational conglomerates; British and international universities, non-government organisations and governments. Some of Cranfield's close partnerships include Airbus, Rolls-Royce Group, Grant Thornton, BAE Systems, Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Ford, BP, British Airways, PWC, Jacobs, Metro Bank, L'Oréal, Royal Dutch Shell, Jaguar Land Rover, Oracle Corporation, PepsiCo, Unilever, to name just a few.^[45]

Cranfield University has close links with more than 130 universities in the Americas, Asia and Oceania, Europe, Middle East and Africa.^[46] The University collaborates with the Singapore University of Social Sciences (SUSS) on SUSS’s BEng Aerospace Systems^[47].

The IMRC - Innovative Manufacturing Research Centre at Cranfield University is a project funded by the EPSRC (Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council) undertaking research that addresses issues identified in the UK government’s High Value Manufacturing strategy.^[48]

Student life[edit]

Facilities at the Cranfield University campus include a sports centre, which incorporates a fitness centre and aerobics studio, playing fields, sports pitches and several tennis courts. There are wide range of shops, restaurants, cafes and bars available for students and staff.

Students' union[edit]

Cranfield Students Association (CSA) is the students' union and runs the main student bar, cafe and shop on the Cranfield campus. It is based in building 114 close to the centre of the campus.

The CSA is run by a team of elected students and supported by a small team of staff. The aim of the CSA is to support and represent Cranfield University students, promote student welfare and organise social, cultural and sporting activities.

The student newspaper is called Entropy.

Student accommodation[edit]

At the Cranfield University campus there are a wide range of accommodation options for full time students, from halls of residence to shared houses, apartments for couples and houses for families.

For part time students, there are two options available - the 186 room Cranfield Management Development Centre and the 114 room Mitchell Hall, both of which are situated on campus.

Notable alumni[edit]

Cranfield University has a number of notable academic staff and alumni, including politicians, business people, entrepreneurs, engineers, authors, and TV personalities.

Cranfield University is in the top 1% of institutions in the world for alumni who hold CEO positions at the world's top companies according to the Centre for World University Rankings, 2017.^[34]

• 

  Antony Jenkins – Former Group Chief Executive, Barclays

• 

  Warren East – CEO, Rolls-Royce Holdings

• 

  Winnie Byanyima - Executive director of Oxfam International

• 

  Andy Bond – Former CEO, Asda

• 

  Andy Palmer - CEO, Aston Martin

• 

  Sarah Willingham – Entrepreneur and former "dragon" on the BBC Two business series Dragons' Den

Gallery[edit]

• 

  Cranfield University Birdseye view

• 

  Cranfield University CMRI

• 

  Cranfield University IMEC

• 

  Cranfield University Sports Hall

• 

  C4D Building, the Centre for Creative Competitive Design, opened 2010

• 

  Army helicopter display team, graduation 2004

• 

  RAF Red Arrows display team, Shrivenham graduation, July 2003

• 

  The new Vincent Building's interior, June 2008

• 

  Lanchester Hall

• 

  Kent House

• 

  Cranfield Library

• 

  Boeing 737 G-DOCB arrives at Cranfield University

• 

  Cranfield University C4D Centre for Design

• 

  Cranfield University

• 

  Cranfield University Library

See also[edit]

• Academics of Cranfield University
• Facility for Airborne Atmospheric Measurements
• Royal School of Military Survey
• Cranfield Institute
• Cranfield experiments

References[edit]

Further reading[edit]

• Barker, Revel (1996). Field of Vision; Cranfield University: the first fifty years. Cranfield University Press. ISBN 1-871315-60-3.

External links[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Cranfield University.

• Cranfield University website
• Cranfield Technology Park
• Cranfield Students Association

Coordinates: 52°04′24″N 00°37′40″W / 52.07333°N 0.62778°W / 52.07333; -0.62778