The University of Reading: 100 years of Purpose – Behind Us AND Ahead
Yesterday marked a moment of real significance for the University of Reading. One hundred years ago to the day, a bright but cloudy day in 1926, King George V granted Reading its Royal Charter, giving it university status and the power to award its own degrees.
Last night, in the Great Hall, we gathered for our annual Court meeting. But this was no ordinary occasion. It was the formal marking of that centenary, a moment to reflect not just on a date in history, but on what that moment set in motion.
For me, this centenary carries a very personal significance. I have the privilege of serving as the ninth Chancellor of the University of Reading across its first one hundred years. To hold that role at a moment like this - a moment of reflection, re-evaluation and optimism - is both an honour and a responsibility. It is an opportunity to reflect on the journey that has brought us here, re-evaluate the role universities must now play, and harness our enduring sense of hope for what’s next.
Standing in the Great Hall last night, looking out across a community that continues to give so much to our university, there was a strong sense that this is not simply a celebration of history. It is a moment to look with purpose to the century ahead. What struck me most was the spirit of the University’s community that believed in their power to create change together.
For example, Edith Morley, the UK’s first female professor, helped redefine leadership in academia. Sir John Wolfenden, Vice-Chancellor in the mid-20th century, chaired the committee whose report led to the decriminalisation of homosexuality. And, more recently, Professor Ed Hawkins’ climate stripes have become a global symbol of climate change.
Indeed, across disciplines - from agriculture and food to typography, archaeology and climate science - Reading has consistently translated knowledge into impact over all of those first 100 years. This is a university engaged with the world, not separate from it.
That idea of hope and purpose was a recurring theme of the speeches we heard last night.
Professor Robert Van de Noort, our Vice-Chancellor, spoke about the scale of today’s challenges and the need to respond with clarity and ambition. Helen Gordon, President of Council, reflected on resilience and shared purpose, and the role of people in shaping the University’s future.
I found myself returning to a simpler but no less important theme: that everything this university has achieved - and everything it can become - is built on people giving their time, their belief and their support to something bigger than themselves.
And at the heart of it all sits a principle set out in 1926: that the University exists for public benefit. That responsibility has not diminished. It has intensified. Reading today is a global university, with students from over 160 countries and partnerships around the world, while remaining deeply rooted in its local community.
The most powerful moments of the evening came not in looking back, but in looking ahead. There was the Centenary Pledge, offered by many attending, which captured this clearly. A commitment to honour the past by serving the future. But also, like universities across the world, Reading is navigating a moment of profound change. Climate pressures, technological disruption, shifting expectations and global competition prompt a powerful question: ‘What do we need universities to be, as we enter our second century?’
We believe that they should be:
Places that open up opportunity.
Places that create and share knowledge.
Places rooted in community.
That has been our mission since our Charter was first granted. And it is the spirit with which we continue to face the challenges of the century ahead. Because if the first hundred years have shown anything, it is that when a university is rooted in community, driven by purpose and connected to the wider world, it can shape lives far beyond its campus.
That is the standard we inherit and the responsibility we carry into the next century.
This 90 second film was premiered yesterday (HERE). It’s a fabulous articulation of what the University of Reading believes in, and will contribute to, as it embraces its second century. Being that “change doesn’t come to those that wait. It comes to those that act…. Progress doesn’t happen by waiting to be asked, one hundred years on our biggest question remains the same… What’s Next?.”