Editing University of Warwick (section)

===Twentieth century===
[[File:Library Under Construction 1965.png|thumb|Library under construction in the 1960s]]
The idea for a university in Warwickshire was first mooted shortly after [[World War II]], although it was not founded for a further two decades. A partnership of the city and county councils ultimately provided the impetus for the university to be established on a {{convert|400|acre|km2|adj=on}} site jointly granted by the two authorities.<ref name="rees">Rees, H., ''A University is Born'', Avalon Books, Coventry (1989)</ref> There was some discussion between local sponsors from both the city and county over whether it should be named after Coventry or Warwickshire.<ref name="rees" /> The name "University of Warwick" was adopted, even though [[Warwick]], the county town, lies some {{convert|8|mi|km}} to its southwest and [[Coventry]]'s city centre is only {{convert|3.5|mi|km}} northeast of the campus.<ref>A compromise was proposed by [[Geoffrey Templeman]], Deputy Chairman of the university's planning committee, who later became the first [[Vice-Chancellor]] of Kent University on the border between the City of [[Canterbury]] and the county of [[Kent]] which faced a similar naming issue, and adopted the name [[University of Kent|University of Kent at Canterbury]]. However, the name the 'University of Warwick at Coventry' was not adopted.</ref><ref>[[Graham Martin]], ''From Vision to Reality: the Making of the University of Kent at Canterbury'' (1990) page 29 {{ISBN|0-904938-03-4}}</ref><ref>Its creation was supported by [[University of Birmingham]] Vice-Chancellor [[Sir Robert Aitken]] who acted as 'Godfather to the University of Warwick'.  The initial plan was for a university college at Coventry attached to Birmingham but Aitken advised an independent initiative to the University Grants Committee.</ref><ref>Ives, E. (2000). The First Civic University: Birmingham, 1880–1980 – An Introductory History. Birmingham: University of Birmingham Press</ref> The establishment of the University of Warwick was given approval by the government in 1961 and it 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 John Martin, a Coventry businessman who had made a fortune from investment in [[Smirnoff]] vodka, and which enabled the construction of the [[Warwick Arts Centre]].

The university admitted its first, 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 {{convert|721|acre|km2|1}}, with many modern buildings and academic facilities, lakes, and woodlands. In the 1960s and 1970s, Warwick had a reputation as a politically radical institution.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.sunion.warwick.ac.uk/30year/protests_and_campaigns.htm |title=University of Warwick Student Union |access-date=30 July 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071102174507/http://www.sunion.warwick.ac.uk/30year/protests_and_campaigns.htm |archive-date=2 November 2007 |url-status=live }}</ref> Under Vice-Chancellor [[Lord Butterworth]], Warwick was the first UK university to adopt a business approach to higher education, develop close links with the business community and exploit the commercial value of its research. These tendencies were discussed by British historian and then-Warwick lecturer, [[E. P. Thompson]], in his 1970 edited book ''Warwick University Ltd.''.<ref>{{cite book|title=Warwick University Ltd.|last=Thompson|first=E. P.|publisher=Spokesman Press|year=2013|location=Nottingham}}</ref> The Leicester Warwick Medical School, a new medical school based jointly at Warwick and Leicester University, opened in September 2000.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/948126.stm|title=Medical school's open doors|access-date=10 November 2011|work=BBC News|date=29 September 2000|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030918030718/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/948126.stm|archive-date=18 September 2003|url-status=live}}</ref>

On the recommendation of then-Prime Minister [[Tony Blair]], [[Bill Clinton]] chose Warwick as the venue for his last major foreign policy address as [[President of the United States|US President]] in December 2000. [[Sandy Berger]], Clinton's [[National Security Advisor (United States)|National Security Advisor]], explaining the decision in a 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."<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |title=Special White House Briefing by NSC Advisor Berger on President Clinton's Trip to Ireland and the United Kingdom |url=https://warwick.ac.uk/services/communications/corporate/clinton/whitehousebrief/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050505084252/http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/services/communications/corporate/clinton/whitehousebrief/ |archive-date=5 May 2005 |access-date=19 February 2024 |website=warwick.ac.uk}}</ref>