Sheffield Hallam University (SHU) is a publicresearch university inSheffield,South Yorkshire, England. The university is based on two sites; the City Campus is located in the city centre nearSheffield railway station, while the Collegiate Crescent Campus is about two miles away in the Broomhall Estate offEcclesall Road in south-west Sheffield. A third campus at Brent Cross Town in theLondon Borough of Barnet is expected to open for the 2025–26 academic year.
The university is the14th largest university in the UK (out of 169) with 32,235 students (of whom 4,400 are international students),[3] 4,494 staff and 708 courses.
In 1843, as theindustrial revolution gathered pace and Sheffield was on the verge of becoming the steel, tool and cutlery making capital of the world, the Sheffield School of Design was founded following lobbying by artistBenjamin Haydon. The day-to-day running was controlled by the local council, whilst the Board of Trade in London appointed the head. Tuition began in a 60x40ft rented room off Glossop Road.[4] In 1850, the School of Design was renamed Sheffield School of Art.[5]
In 1905, the City of Sheffield Training College (later renamed Sheffield City College of Education) on Collegiate Crescent admitted its first 90 students.[6] During theFirst World War, the Collegiate Hall was requisitioned by theWar Office to create the 3rd Northern General Hospital, a facility for theRoyal Army Medical Corps to treat military casualties.[7]
A new city centre campus was constructed during the 1960s. During construction, in February 1962, atower crane on site collapsed during theGreat Sheffield Gale. It crashed into the side of what would become the Owen Building, causing serious damage and setting back construction.[8] In 1967, the Owen Building was completed.[9] Built in a functional 1960s design, it has since been modernised and comprehensively renovated with an atrium linking it to four adjacent buildings.[10] In 1969 the Sheffield School of Design merged with the city's College of Technology to form Sheffield Polytechnic. In 1976, Sheffield Polytechnic merged with the city's two teacher training colleges (Sheffield City College and Totley Hall College) and was renamed Sheffield City Polytechnic.From 1979 to 1988 students from Sheffield City Polytechnic were based at Wentworth Woodhouse,[11] near Rotherham. Two departments, Physical Education and Geography and Environmental Studies, were based on site. In 1987 Sheffield City Polytechnic became a founding member of theNorthern Consortium.[12]
In 1992, Sheffield City Polytechnic became Sheffield Hallam University (SHU), with the right to award its own degrees.
Sheffield Hallam University
In 2005, SHU was reorganised into four faculties. The new Faculty of Development and Society, with an emphasis on 'people, places and spaces', brought together education, geography, humanities, law, and social sciences. At the same time, with the intention of further developing research and teaching in the new Faculty of Health and Wellbeing, a new Clinical Academic Group was launched. The building that had been designed and constructed to house theNational Centre for Popular Music became the university's students' union building (the HUBS). The Nelson Mandela Building, the former students' union building (when opened in 1978 was known as the Phoenix building[13]), was sold and has since been demolished.
In 2007, SHU took over the teaching of nursing and midwifery from theUniversity of Sheffield. These activities are now based at the Collegiate Crescent Campus. The following year thePsalter Lane campus (formerly the Sheffield College of Art) was closed, and the activities transferred to the City Campus. The £26 million energy-efficient Furnival Building opened in September (renamed Cantor Building in 2011 in recognition of a major donor to the university). The building, which includes teaching spaces and anart gallery has been described as "the impressive new entry point to the campus".[14] For the 2025–26 academic year, the University expects to open its London campus at the Brent Cross Town development in theLondon Borough of Barnet. The campus will accommodate up to 5,000 students by 2030.[15]
Charles Street buildingSHU's Owen Building (left) and Stoddart Building (right), part of the City Campus on Arundel GateCollegiate Campus, Sheffield Hallam UniversitySheffield Hallam Students' Union
In 2020, the university relaunched its structure moving away from four faculties and re-organising academic departments into colleges.[16]
College of Business, Technology and Engineering (BTE)
Formerly known as the Sheffield Business School and prior to that the Faculty of Organisation and Management (OM). The new college incorporated parts of the old Faculty Science, Technology and Arts (STA) previously known as the Faculty of Arts, Computing, Engineering and Sciences (ACES)
Sheffield Business School
School of Computing and Digital Technologies
School of Engineering and Built Environment
College of Social Sciences and Arts (SSA)
Formerly known as the Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities (SSH). The new college incorporated parts of the old Faculty Science, Technology and Arts (STA) previously known as the Faculty of Arts, Computing, Engineering and Sciences (ACES)
Sheffield Creative Industries Institute
Sheffield Institute of Social Sciences
Sheffield Institute of Law and Justice
Sheffield Institute of Education
College of Health, Wellbeing and Life Sciences (HWLS)
Formerly the Faculty of Health and Wellbeing (HWB)
The position is currently vacant following the death ofUriah Rennie on 8 June 2025, who had been installed as Chancellor in a ceremony at the university on Thursday 8 May 2025.[17]
In the National Student Survey, several subject areas at SHU have performed very well in terms of overall student satisfaction with their courses: for example, architecture and geography have both been placed first, and planning has been placed second.
Hallam received a First Class award and was ranked 15th out of 151 universities in the People & Planet University League 2015 which assesses universities on their environmental credentials. In 2020, the university was awardedThe Times and Sunday Times University of the Year award for teaching quality.[26]
In 2022, the university'svice-chancellor taken some pride inLaura Murphy's research into Uyghurforced labour in China, even though this might reduce the number of Chinese students at the university.[27] In 2025, the university apologised to Murphy, after she had been told that she could not continue her research into human rights abuses in China.[28] The instruction for Laura Murphy to halt her research came six months after the Sheffield Hallam university decided to abandon the planned report on the risk of Uyghur forced labour in the critical minerals supply chain, and return the funding associated with that research to the original grantor, Global Rights Compliance.[27] UK counter-terrorism police subsequently commenced an investigation into the matter.[29] On November 2025, it was announced that the foreign affairs select committee’s inquiry into review of UK-China relations was to be broadened after Sheffield Hallam University disclosures.[30]
Alison Adam, professor of science, technology and society.
Geoff Cartwright, senior lecturer in Environmental Conservation 1995–2012: joint winner of the 2011 Individual award in the Environment Awards of theSheffield Telegraph for his work on the development of a nature reserve at Blackburn Meadows on the site of the former Tinsley sewage farm.[31]
I. M. Dharmadasa, applied physicist and researcher of low cost solar cells
HywelJones, materials scientist and inventor in advanced ceramics and metals, Principal Research Fellow
^Basford, John A School of Art is Beginning, From Sheffield Government School of Design to Sheffield Hallam University, Part 1 1843–1963, Sheffield, Sheffield Hallam University, p. 3
^"Our heritage". Sheffield Institute of Arts. Retrieved21 July 2019.
