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The University of Bristol is a university in Bristol, England.One of the so-called "red brick" universities, it received its Royal Charter in 1909, although its predecessor institution, University College, Bristol, had been in existence since 1876. Bristol ranks as one of the top 10 universities in the United Kingdom according to most published league tables and receives the most applications per place for any British University.The University has an annual turnover of £260m and is the largest independent employer in Bristol. The University is a member of the Russell Group, European-wide Coimbra Group and the Worldwide Universities Network, of which the University's Vice-Chancellor Prof Eric Thomas is the current Chair.The University of Bristol has approximately 23,000 students. Bristol is the most popular multi-faculty university in Britain, judged in terms of applications per place 14 hopefuls vie for every degree slot. It has long been a natural alternative to Oxbridge[citation needed], favoured particularly by independent schools, whose pupils take more than a third of the places. In order to broaden the intake, departments are encouraged to make slightly lower offers to the most promising applicants from schools and colleges with poor records at A level. The earliest antecedent of the university was the engineering department of the Merchant Venturers Technical College (founded as a school as early as 1595) which became the Engineering faculty of Bristol University.The University was also preceded by Bristol Medical School (1833) and University College, Bristol, founded in 1876, where its first lecture was attended by only 99 students.The University was able to apply for a Royal Charter due to the financial support of the Wills and Fry families, who made their fortunes in tobacco plantations and chocolate, respectively. Although the Wills Family made huge sums of money from the slave using plantations, they later became abolitionists who gave their money to the city of Bristol.The Royal Charter was gained in May 1909, with 288 undergraduates and 400 other students entering the University in October 1909. Henry Overton Wills III became its first chancellor.The University College was the first such institution in the country to admit women on the same basis as men. However, women were forbidden to take examinations in medicine until 1906. Since the founding of the University itself in 1909, it has grown considerably and is now one of the largest employers in the local area, although it is smaller by student numbers than the nearby University of the West of England. Bristol does not have a campus but is spread over a considerable geographic area. Most of its activities, however, are concentrated in the area of the city centre, referred to as the "University Precinct". It is a member of the Russell Group of research-led UK universities, the Coimbra Group of leading European universities and the Worldwide Universities Network (WUN). University College, Bristol existed from 1876 to 1909 and was the precursor to the University of Bristol. Its history can be traced back to the efforts of John Percival, headmaster of Clifton College, to press for the establishment of such an institution. In 1872, Percival wrote to the Oxford colleges observing that the provinces lacked a university culture. The following year he produced a pamphlet called 'The Connection of the Universities and the Great Towns', which was well received by Benjamin Jowett, Master of Balliol College, Oxford. Jowett was to become a significant figure, both philosophically and financially, in the establishment of University College, Bristol. Alfred Marshall, a groundbreaking economist, served as Principal of the College until 1881. He taught evening classes while his wife, Mary Paley, the first woman lecturer, taught during the day. Her fee was deducted from her husband's salary. The second Principal was William Ramsay, discoverer of the so-called noble gases. He left in 1887 (and received the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1904), but remained influential in the College's efforts to become a university with its own Royal Charter. His successor was Conwy Lloyd Morgan, a geologist and zoologist who also became a pioneering experimental psychologist. He, too, was closely involved in the campaign for full university status, and would eventually become the University of Bristol's first Vice-Chancellor. University College, Bristol finally opened its doors at 9 am on Tuesday 10 October 1876 in rented premises at 32 Park Row. Initially there were two professors and five lecturers offering courses in 15 subjects. The College was open to men and women on the same basis (except in medicine). During the first session, 99 day students registered (30 men and 69 women) and 238 evening ones (143 men and 95 women). Early years

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