Warwick University

University of Warwick

Motto

Mens agitat molem (Latin)

Motto in English

Mind over matter

Established

1965

Type

Public

Endowment

£6.7 million (as at 31 July 2011)

Chancellor

Sir Richard Lambert

Vice-Chancellor

Prof Nigel Thrift

Admin. staff

4,375 inc. 1,703 academic staff (full-time equivalent 2010/11)

Students

18,900 (full-time equivalent 2010/11)

Undergraduates

12,359 (full-time equivalent 2010/11)

Postgraduates

5,270 (full-time equivalent 2010/11)

Location

Coventry, England, United Kingdom
Coordinates: 52°22′48.29″N 1°33′42.95″W / 52.3800806°N 1.5619306°W

Colours

Affiliations

AACSB
Association of Commonwealth Universities
Association of MBAs
EQUIS
European University Association
Russell Group
Universities UK

Website

www.warwick.ac.uk

The University of Warwick is a public research university located in Coventry,

United Kingdom. It 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 is primarily based at a 290 hectare campus located on the outskirts of Coventry,

with an additional site in Wellesbourne. It is organised into four faculties - Arts, Medicine,

Science and Social Sciences - within which there are around 30 departments.

Warwick has around 18,900 full-time students and 1,700 academic and research staff and had a total income of £419.1 million in 2010/11, of which £86.3 million came from research grants and contracts.

Warwick describes itself as a "research-led institution" and in the last Research Assessment Exercise was ranked seventh in the UK amongst multi-faculty institutions. Warwick regularly

ranks in the top ten in rankings of British universities and entrance is highly competitive, with around nine applicants per place. Warwick is the second most-targeted university in the UK by top employers.

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.

History

20th century

Warwick banner on University Road

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 (1.6 km²) 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 miles (13 km) to its southwest and Coventry's city centre is only 3.5 miles (5.6 km) 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 acres (2.9 km²) 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".

The Leicester Warwick Medical School, a new medical school based jointly at Warwick and Leicester University, opened in September 2000.

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

University Hospital Coventry, which opened in 2006 and is home to the clinical services activities of Warwick Medical School.

In February 2001, IBM donated a new S/390 computer and software worth £2 million to Warwick, to form part of a "Grid" enabling users to remotely share computing power. In April 2004 Warwick merged with the Wellesbourne and Kirton sites of Horticulture Research International. 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".

The close relationship between Warwick and the Labour Party has continued under Ed Miliband's leadership. In November 2011, Labour held their regional conference at the University, and in March 2012 Labour hosted its Youth Conference on Jobs at the International Digital Laboratory. Ed Miliband addressed the conference, and convened a meeting of the Shadow Cabinet on campus.

In June 2006 the new University Hospital Coventry opened, including a 102,000 sq ft university clinical sciences building. Warwick Medical School was granted independent degree-awarding status in 2007, and the School's partnership with the University of Leicester was dissolved in the same year. In February 2010, Lord Bhattacharyya, director and founder of the WMG unit at Warwick, made a £1 million donation to the university to support science grants and awards.

In February 2012 Warwick and Melbourne-based Monash University announced the formation of a major strategic partnership, including the creation of 10 joint senior academic posts, new dual master's and joint doctoral degrees, and co-ordination of research programmes.

Campus

Warwick is located on the outskirts of Coventry, 5.5 km (3.4 mi) southwest of the city centre (and not in the town of Warwick as its name suggests). The university's main site comprises three contiguous campuses, all within walking distance of each other. The university also owns a site in Wellesbourne, acquired in 2004 when it merged with Horticulture Research International.

In a 2005 survey of UK university students by Opinionpanel, Warwick was voted as having the best campus of any British university.

Main campus

Recently constructed buildings on the main Warwick campus;

(left to right) the International Manufacturing Centre (IMC),

the Department of Computer Science (DCS), and the Zeeman Building (Maths and Statistics).

The main Warwick campus occupies a 2.8 km² site straddling the boundary between the City of Coventry and the County of Warwickshire. The original buildings of the campus are in contemporary 1960s architecture, a style chosen in deliberate contrast to the medieval, classical, or "red brick" character of older British universities. The campus contains all of the main student amenities, all but four of the student halls of residence, and the Students' Union. Other amenities include 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, which is open 24 hours, is located at the nearby Cannon Park shopping centre.

Sports 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.

During the 2012 Summer Olympics, some football matches will be played at the nearby Ricoh Arena, home of Coventry City Football Club, and Warwick will provide training and residential facilities for the Olympic teams.

University House

University House, the main administration building

In 2003 Warwick acquired the former headquarters of National Grid plc, which it converted into an administration building renamed University House. There is a student-run facility called the "Learning Grid" in the building, which includes two floors of PC clusters, scanners, photocopiers, a reference library, interactive whiteboards and plasma screens for use by individuals and for group work.

Warwick Arts Centre

Warwick Arts Centre

Situated at the centre of Warwick's main campus, the Warwick Arts 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 1,500-seat concert hall;
a 550-seat theatre;
a 180-seat theatre studio;
a 220-seat cinema;
the Mead Gallery, an art gallery; and
the Music Centre.

White Koan

The White Koan with the Warwick Arts Centre behind.

The White Koan is a modern art sculpture by Lilian Lijn which is on display outside the main entrance of the Warwick Arts Centre The Koan was made in 1971 as part of the Peter Stuyvesant Foundation City Sculpture Project and was originally sited in Plymouth. It then moved to the Hayward Gallery in London before being purchased by Warwick in 1972.

The Koan is 6 metres (20 ft) 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 Kōan).

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

Planned 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.

Faculties and departments

Warwick's academic activities are organised into the following faculties and departments:

Faculty of Arts
- Classics and Ancient History
- Comparative American Studies
- English and Comparative Literary Studies
- Film and Television Studies
- French Studies
- German Studies
- History
- History of Art
- Italian
- Theatre Studies

Faculty of Medicine
- Warwick Medical School
- Education and Development Unit

Faculty of Science
- Chemistry
- Computer Science
- Engineering
- Life Sciences
- Mathematics
- Physics
- Psychology
- Statistics
- WMG

Faculty of Social Sciences

Applied Linguistics
Economics
Education
Health and Social Studies
Law
Philosophy
Politics and International Studies
Sociology
Warwick Business School
Women and Gender
Research Centre in Psychology

Finances

In the financial year ended 31 July 2011, Warwick had a total income (including share of joint ventures) of £419.1 million (2009/10 - £408.5 million) and total expenditure of £399.7 million (2009/10 - £388.9 million). Key sources of income included £147.5 million from academic fees and support grants (2009/10 - £133.2 million), £88.2 million from Funding Council grants (2009/10 - £89.8 million), £86.3 million from research grants and contracts (2009/10 - £79.8 million) and £1.1 million from endowment and investment income (2009/10 - £0.8 million). During the 2010/11 financial year Warwick had a capital expenditure of £51.3 million (2009/10 - £46.8 million).

At year end Warwick had reserves and endowments of £153 million (2009/10 - £123.1 million) and total net assets of £287 million (2009/10 - £259.9 million).

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

The foyer of the Department of Mathematics in the Zeeman building. On the left is one of over 800 university-owned artworks.

As of March 2011 the student population of Warwick was 22,648, with around two fifths being postgraduates. About 27% 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 979 academic staff and 692 research staff (as of March 2011).

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

Admissions

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

Warwick minimum fees will be £9,000 for undergraduate students in 2012.

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, Fudan Business School, McGill University, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, SDA Bocconi, Sciences Po Paris, Duke University, Chulalongkorn University and University of Pennsylvania Wharton School.

Library

Warwick University Library is located in the middle of the main campus. It houses approximately 1,265,000 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.

Rankings

Rankings
ARWU (2011/12, national)	16-19
ARWU (2011/12, world)	151-200
QS (2011/12, national)	9
QS (2011/12, world)	50
THE (2011/12, national)	28
THE (2011/12, world)	157

Complete/The Independent (2012, national)	8
The Guardian (2012, national)	6
The Sunday Times (2012, national)	8
The Times (2012, national)	8

Warwick is consistently ranked amongst the top ten in league tables of British universities. In 2008 the Sunday Times released averages of its rankings for the period 1998 to 2007, in which Warwick ranked 7th overall.

Warwick is ranked inconsistently by major global university rankings providers. While it is ranked 50th overall by QS World University Rankings, it is ranked 151–200th by Academic Ranking of World Universities, and 157th in the Times Higher Education World University Rankings. In the ARWU Warwick is ranked 49th worldwide in the field of social sciences. Warwick has claimed that this inconsistency is due to its relative youth, having been founded in 1965.

In MBA rankings published by The Economist, Warwick Business School ranked 34th in the world. 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. However, it is ranked 2nd in the UK by SSRN and the French ranking SMBG-Eduniversal ranked Warwick Business School 4th in the UK, 18th in the world and described it as a "universal business school with major international influence". It is ranked 25th by the CNN-Expansion ranking.

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.

According to the survey by Times Higher Education, Warwick is ranked 6th amongst UK universities for graduate starting salaries. According to a 2011 High Fliers Research survey, Warwick is the "second most targeted university in the UK by top employers."

Student life

Rootes Social Building

Undergraduate student life at Warwick can be broadly 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 typically live off-campus, with many based in Leamington Spa, Kenilworth or either Earlsdon or Canley in Coventry.

Students' Union

University of Warwick Students' Union

The students' union building – SU South

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, a bar, 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, Warwick Model United Nations, RAG Week and Warwick Student Arts Festival.

The Warwick Economics Summit is a yearly international forum. It gathers selected students from universities in the UK (for example the LSE, Oxford and Cambridge) and internationally (for example Princeton, MIT, Bocconi and Kazan State University), to listen world-class renowned speakers.

Warwick 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

Student media at Warwick includes:

Radio Warwick, also known as RaW, a student radio station;
The Boar, an award-winning newspaper distributed free across campus every second Tuesday;
Warwick Student Cinema, a student cinema which shows films on two 35 mm projectors, and a 2K Digital Cinema projector most nights of the week; and
Warwick TV, a student television station.

University Challenge

A team from Warwick won BBC television's University Challenge competition for the first time in 2007, beating the title-holders University of Manchester in the final.

Student housing

University of Warwick Halls of Residence

The Warwick campus currently has around 6,300 student bedrooms across a range of undergraduate and postgraduate residences. All of the residences are self-catered, and each has residential tutors and a warden.

Arthur Vick
Claycroft
Heronbank
"Old" Rootes Blocks D-H
Westwood

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

Margaret Thatcher opening the University of Warwick Science Park in 1984.

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:

University of Warwick Science Park;
Warwick HRI;
Warwick Ventures (the technology transfer arm of the University); and
WMG.

As a result of these activities, Warwick is the only university in the UK which generates more of its income through commercial activities than it receives in 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, Benefactors and the new Bluebell residences, as well as the standard single Rootes residence, are usually the primary allocation blocks for conference delegates.

Warwick Conferences

Scarman House

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; and
Warwick Print (an in-house publishing company).

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

Criticism

Warwick has at times received criticism for being too commercially focused, 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.

Notable alummi

Alumni of the University of Warwick

Academia

H.A. Hellyer Policy consultant and 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 Professor of Mathematics

Business

Mahmoud Mohieldin, the Managing Director of the World Bank

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.
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

Baroness Amos

David Davis

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
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
Andrew Dismore (LLB), 1975 – Member of Parliament for Hendon
Yakubu Gowon (PhD in Political Science) – former Nigerian President and Chief of Army Staff
Chan Yuen Han SBS, JP, one of the active female unionists in Hong Kong
Kim Howells (PhD) – former Foreign Office Minister
Owain James (Maths and Economics) – former President of the National Union of Students.
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
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
Seema Malhotra - MP for Feltham & Heston
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
Brian Paddick – former Commissioner Metropolitan Police and 2008 London Mayoral candidate for the Liberal Democrats
José Fernando Franco González Salas – Ministry of the Supreme Court of Justice of Mexico.
George Saitoti – mathematician, politician, and former Vice-President of Kenya
Dan Stoenescu (Globalisation and Development) – Romanian diplomat, political scientist and journalist
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
Ahmed Thasmeen Ali (Economics) – Electer Leader of the Opposition DRP in Maldives.

Literature

Tony Wheeler and his wife Maureen

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
Mal Peet - author, writer of popular young adult literature, "KEEPER,""TAMAR", others...
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
Giles Fletcher (Computer Science 1987) glam rock artist
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

Sting

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)

Chemistry

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

English

Germaine Greer

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

Engineering and Computer Science

Lord Bhattacharyya

Lord Bhattacharyya, founder and Director of the Warwick Manufacturing Group
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
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 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

Christopher Zeeman

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
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 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
Avinash Dixit, Economist
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

Chancellors

Current Chancellor Richard Lambert

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–)