The University of Surrey is a public research university located within the county town of Guildford, Surrey, in the South East of England, United Kingdom. The university specializes in science, engineering, medicine and business. It received its charter on 9 September 1966, and was previously situated near Battersea Park in south-west London. The institution was known as Battersea College of Technology before gaining university status. Its roots, however, go back to the Battersea Polytechnic Institute, founded in 1891 to provide further and higher education for London's poorer inhabitants.
The university conducts research on small satellites[clarification needed] and has a high number of staff who are members of learned societies. The university has recently expanded into China by launching the Surrey International Institute with Dongbei University of Finance and Economics
The university's main campus is located on Stag Hill close to the centre of Guildford and adjacent to Guildford Cathedral. A second campus, at Manor Park, is located a short distance away and has been developed to expand upon existing accommodation, academic buildings and sporting facilities.
The university is a major centre for satellite and mobile communications research. In March 2014, the British Prime Minister David Cameron announced a partnership between the University of Surrey, King's College London and the University of Dresden for the development of 5G technology.
The university is a member of the Association of MBAs, the European University Association and Association of Commonwealth Universities. The University is ranked high consistently by The Times, the Guardian and the Sunday Times. According to the figures revealed by the Higher Education Statistics Agency in 2014, the University of Surrey has the highest graduate employment rates recorded at 96.9%, higher than the University of Oxford (92.6%), the University of Cambridge (95.2%) and King's College London (94.6%).
The university has 10 Fellows of the Royal Society, 21 Fellows of the Royal Academy of Engineering, one Fellow of the British Academy and 6 Fellows of the Academy of Social Sciences.
