Formerly known as the Hatfield Technical College, the University of Hertfordshire is a British university that is located in Hatfield. As a technical college, the institute was built to help train engineers for the town’s aerospace industry. In 1958, it was renamed as the Hatfield College of Technology, giving emphasis to the field of new and emerging technology.
A decade and a year later, the Hatfield College of Technology transformed into the Hatfield Polytechnic, achieving corporate status in 1989. Three years later, the humble college was turned into a university, and was renamed as the University of Hertfordshire. The institute houses the Hertfordshire Sports Village, the Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire Postgraduate Medical School, as well as the School of Pharmacy.
Today, the University of Hertfordshire takes pride in its ten academic schools, including the Schools of Computer Science, Creative Arts, Education, Engineering & Technology, Health & Social Work, Hertfordshire Business School, Humanities, Law, Life & Medical Sciences, and the School of Physics, Astronomy and Mathematics.
Taking pride in being one of the country’s modern universities, the University of Hertfordshire has set up various research centers and facilities in order to satisfy the growing demand of research and development, especially in the field of robotics and technology.
The university’s Adaptive Systems Research Group was instrumental in the creation and development of a unique robot called KASPAR. Short for Kinesis and Synchronisation in Personal Assistant Robotics, KASPAR is a friendly robot developed to help children with autism. This robot helps autistic kids in reading emotions while teaching ways to engage with others in their surroundings.
