Newcastle University (officially, the University of Newcastle upon Tyne) is a public research university in Newcastle upon Tyne in the North-East of England. The university can trace its origins to a School of Medicine and Surgery (later the College of Medicine), established in 1834, and to the College of Physical Science (later renamed Armstrong College), founded in 1871. These two colleges came to form one division of the federal University of Durham, with the Durham Colleges forming the other. The Newcastle colleges merged to form King's College in 1937. In 1963, following an Act of Parliament, King's College became the University of Newcastle upon Tyne.
Newcastle University is a red brick university and is a member of the Russell Group, an association of prestigious research-intensive UK universities. The university has one of the largest EU research portfolios in the UK. Newcastle attracts over 20,000 students from more than 120 different countries.