A movement began in 1902 in Liverpool for the foundation of a separate university for that city, and thereupon the Owens College pre sented a petition for the reconstitution of the Victoria University as an independent univer sity for Manchester. Both petitions met with favor by the Privy Council and the new char ter of the Victoria University of Manchester was granted on 15 July 1903, and on 24 June 1904, an act for the incorporation of the Owens College with the university received the royal assent. Leeds obtained its own university charter on 25 April 1904.
Under the present constitution the authori ties of the university are (1) the chancellor; (2) the vice-chancellor; (3) two pro-vice chancellors ; (4) the court of governors, which consists of 89 members; (5) the council, which is an executive body and consists of 24 mem bers, including four representatives of the sen ate; (6) the senate, 50 members; (7) the board of faculties; (8) convocation, which now con sists of 1,530 members.
The following are the various faculties: Arts (degrees B.A., M.A., Litt.D.); science,
with a special department of education (de grees B.Sc., M.Sc., D.Sc.) ; law (degrees LL.B. and LL.D) ; music (degrees Mus.B. and Mus.D.) ; commerce (degrees B.Com. and M.Com.) ; theology (degrees B.D. and D.D.) ; technology (degrees B.Sc.Tech. and M.Sc. Tech.) ; medicine (degrees M.B., Ch.B.—i.e. bachelor of surgery — M.D. and Ch.M.). In the dental department there are degrees of B.D.S. and M.D.S., and in the department of public health diplomas are granted (D.P.H.) as well as D.V.S.M., ie., Diploma in Veterinary State Medicine.
There were 1,415 students in the several faculties of the university in 1914-15, marking a decrease from the previous year, owing to war conditions, of 25 per cent.
The capital of the university amounts to about 11,060,000, including .1416,000 value of buildings, etc., and the annual income to over 160,000, derived from endowments, government grants, grants from the city of Manchester and other municipal bodies, and from fees.