Cardiff University (Welsh: Prifysgol Caerdydd) is a leading research university located in the Cathays Park area of Cardiff, Wales, United Kingdom. It received its Royal charter in 1883 and is a member of the Russell Group of Universities. The university is consistently recognised as providing the best university education in Wales. In the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise, almost 60 per cent of all research at Cardiff University was assessed as world-leading or internationally excellent – 4* and 3* the top two categories of assessment. Ranked number 122 of the world's top universities, Cardiff University celebrated its 125th anniversary in 2008. Before August 2004, the university was officially known as University of Wales, Cardiff (Welsh: Prifysgol Cymru, Caerdydd), although it used the name Cardiff University publicly. ‎The Aberdare Report of 1881 recommended the foundation of university colleges in North Wales and South Wales to complement the already established University College, Wales (now the University of Wales, Aberystwyth), in Aberystwyth. There was considerable debate about whether the southern college should be located in Cardiff or Swansea.