The University initially admitted a small intake of graduate students in 1964 and took its first 450 undergraduates in October 1965. In October 2003, the student population was over 15,500 of which a third are postgraduates. 20% of the student body comes from overseas and over 114 countries are represented on the campus. The University has 29 academic departments and over 40 research centres and institutes, in four Faculties: Arts, Medicine, Science and Social Studies. The new Medical School, a collaborative venture with the University of Leicester took its first students on an innovative 4-year accelerated postgraduate programme in September 2000. In summer 2004 the first 64 students graduated from the school. In October 2004 the combined intake of the joint Leicester Warwick Medical School was 403, making it one of the largest in the country.

From its beginnings, the University has sought to be excellent in both teaching and research. It has now secured its place as one of the UK's leading research universities, confirmed by the results of the government's Research Assessment Exercises of 1986, 1989, 1992, 1996 and 2001. In all of these, Warwick has been placed in the top half dozen or so of universities for the quality of its research. Most recently, in the results of the 2001 exercise announced in December 2001, Warwick was placed fifth with over 90% of its staff working in departments rated 5 or 5*, the top two grades.

Warwick has always taken the view that good research informs and strengthens the quality of education that it is able to offer its students. The original conception for the academic structure of the University was not to impose overall academic prescription but to make early appointments to the first professorships, selecting candidates with fresh and constructive ideas on how studies in their areas should be organised and developed. The planning of courses developed organically with a marked emphasis on inter-disciplinary cooperation. Business Studies and Engineering - both looking firmly towards the manufacturing heartlands of the West Midlands - were early developments. Warwick was a pioneer in seeking industrial-academic links, a key component of its strategy today just as it was in the original vision of the first Vice-Chancellor, Mr J B Butterworth (Lord Butterworth) and the Chairman of the Promotion Committee for the University, Lord Rootes. Since the early 1990s, when there has been external assessment of the quality of individual subjects in higher education in the UK, Warwick has done consistently well. The first subject was assessed in 1993 and the last, in the current round, in December 2001. The results show that the University has scored a rating of >21 points out of the maximum 24 (or the earlier equivalent of an "excellent" grade) on 22 occasions out of the 24 subjects assessed. These include 7 maximum scores of 24 and 5 "excellents".

While the University has become increasingly popular with students (there are now 9 applications for every available place) and the average A level score on entry is AAB, it has been a mark of Warwick's strategy to encourage and facilitate admission from those less well-advantaged and from poorer backgrounds. From its beginnings, it has welcomed applications from mature students (who often have no formal qualifications but can show the potential necessary for higher education). Warwick offered extra-mural courses from its inception but in 1985, was given responsible body status in the Coventry, Solihull and Warwickshire sub-region which had previously been held by Birmingham University. Today, there are over 8000 registrations on the extra-mural Open Studies programme each year. In 1986, Warwick launched what has been a highly successful part-time degrees programme. In 1991 the University initiated an innovative shared 2+2 degree programme with a group of local FE Colleges which was specifically aimed at individuals with few if any formal qualifications and who were often in situations of considerable social and economic disadvantage. Warwick is also the only research-intensive university that has involved itself in the new Foundation Degrees that were piloted by the government from 2001.

Warwick marked its strategy with a wish to be enterprising and outward-looking from its foundation. It sought to match academic excellence with relevance, a policy which was not always popular in the late 1960s and early 1970s but which has become one of its hallmarks and recently led Prime Minister Blair to say that "Warwick is a beacon among British Universities for its dynamism, quality and entrepreneurial zeal" and President Clinton to give his last major policy address on the campus in December 2000. When government decided to fund universities on a more differential basis in the 1980s which led to sharp downward changes in centrally-provided grants, the University seized the opportunity to look at ways in which it could augment public monies with income generated through its own activities. Many of these ventures are located in departments - thus exemplifying the point about combining academic excellence with enterprise - but they also include three thriving post-experience residential training centres (Arden House [founded in1982], Radcliffe House [1986] and Scarman House [1991]), retail outlets and an award-winning vacation conference business. The money generated in these ways has been a significant factor in the development of the University both academically and physically.

In 1984, the University of Warwick Science Park was opened on a site adjacent to the University, a joint venture between the University and the local authorities of Coventry City, Warwickshire and West Midlands Enterprise. This has developed to become one of the UK's most successful Science Parks with satellites in Coventry and Warwick and managed space in Solihull. The Park is now home to 85 high technology companies and manages 424,000 square feet of space with a turnover of £4.4m. More recently the University has invested in and successfully won government support for a series of initiatives to develop a culture in which academic inventions can be exploited either through licensing or in spin-off companies. Warwick Ventures was founded in 1999 jointly with the University of Warwick Science Park. This was followed by a joint venture principally with the University of Birmingham to establish a seed fund for new ideas and the location of the Mercia Institute of Enterprise on the campus, again jointly with Birmingham but with a role for all West Midlands universities.

The University has sought through its activities to play a significant role in the economic and social life of its region. It has considerable linkages with local business and enterprise through the Warwick Manufacturing Group and Business School, works closely with local schools and FE Colleges and has attracted significant new investment to the Coventry area. In 2004 the University opened new offices in the heart of Birmingham and London, strengthening its regional and national profile. Its Arts Centre, the first phase of which was built in 1974 and was further extended twice in the 1980s, is home to a concert hall, two theatres, a film theatre, a music centre, the Mead Art Gallery, conference facilities, restaurants and a bookshop. It attracts 280,000 visitors every year to over 2000 events and has a significant national and international reputation. It was originally built from the considerable generosity of The Martin Trust (Helen Martin was a local woman who became the University's first significant benefactor). The Trust which continued after her death continues to support the Arts Centre, the resident string quartet (the Coull Quartet) and has contributed significantly to other capital and educational projects over the years at Warwick to a value of £19m at today's prices.

The University's first Chancellor was Lord Radcliffe, who continued in office until his death in April 1977. He was succeeded by Lord Scarman, who retired from office in 1989. Warwick's third Chancellor was Sir Shridath Ramphal, who presided over the University from 1989 - 2002. The University's present Chancellor, Sir Nicholas Scheele, was appointed in March 2002.

The University's founding Vice-Chancellor was Mr J.B. Butterworth (Lord Butterworth), who guided the University through its formative years and provided much of the vision for the University's future growth and success. His achievement was to establish Warwick firmly on the national stage, to set a basic strategy and culture for the University which still obtains today and to oversee the building of a university on what was a greenfield site. He was succeeded in September 1985 by Dr C.L. Brundin. As Vice-Chancellor from 1985 until 1992, Dr. Brundin presided over a period of expansion and success: student numbers doubled, postgraduates increased by >250% and Warwick established itself firmly in the top tier of UK research universities. Dr Brundin was succeeded in 1993 by Professor Sir Brian Follett, formerly Biological Secretary and Vice-President of the Royal Society, and Agricultural and Food Research Council Research Professor in the School of Biological Sciences at the University of Bristol. In 1994, Sir Brian launched the Warwick Research Fellowships, a £10m scheme, entirely financed by the University, which brought to Warwick a cohort of some of the brightest young researchers in the UK and abroad. His successful academic leadership resulted in the excellent results for the University in the Research Assessment Exercises of 1996 and 2001, the successes in external teaching assessments referred to above and the considerable popularity of the University as a place to work and study. Sir Brian also presided over an ambitious building programme that resulted in >£100m of new capital projects during his leadership. Sir Brian retired in 2001 and has been succeeded by Professor David VandeLinde, formerly Dean of the Whiting School of Engineering at Johns Hopkins University and latterly Vice-Chancellor at the University of Bath. His period as Vice-Chancellor has already been marked by an emphasis on building links and partnerships with the local community, an enhanced international strategy and welcoming of HRI Wellesbourne and Kirton to the University as Warwick HRI. The Vice-Chancellor has played a key role in assisting Government to reduce the amount of bureaucracy faced by British universities.

The University is situated on land granted by Coventry City Council and Warwickshire County Council in the early 1960s as noted before. The first buildings were completed in 1965 (and now house Mathematics, Statistics and Biological Sciences); by 1970 the Library, Science and Arts Buildings and Rootes Residences had been built on central campus. During the 1970s, further academic and residential accommodation was built on campus, including the Social Studies building in 1977, the Senate House and the Arts Centre (1974) and the Students' Union Building (1975). In 1979, the former Coventry College of Education merged with the University to form what is now the Institute of Education on the Westwood site. The 1980s saw the further expansion of the Arts Centre, the construction of the Jack Martin Halls of Residence and of the purpose built post experience training centre, Radcliffe House (1986) referred to above. In 1989, in partnership with Rover and Rolls Royce plc, the University extended the new Advanced Technology Centre to provide extensive new research facilities. During the 1990s, and particularly under the Vice-Chancellorship of Sir Brian Follett, the built campus continued to develop. Between 1993 and 2000 over £100m of new buildings were erected notably the construction of the Arthur Vick, Claycroft and Lakeside Residences, the International Manufacturing Centre (1994 and recently extended), the Ramphal Building (1996), and the new Medical School Building and associated Biomedical Research facilities generously funded by the Wolfson Trust and through a successful appeal (2001). Other notable developments have been a joint Students Union and Retail building (1998), Sports Pavilion (1998), the first two phases of a new building for the Warwick Business School (1999 and 2001) and a new building for Computer Science (2000). Since 2000 plans for further building have amounted to a programme of c.£50m. A new Mathematics and Statistics building on the main site was opened in 2004 and a major investment in developing the Sports centre has provided high-class sports facilities, amongst the best of any British university.