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Plate glass university

2025-09-07T14:32:43Z

2A02:8012:227B:0:C012:9DE9:F786:88F0: - Category:Universities and colleges in the United Kingdom + Category:Universities in the United Kingdom

{{Short description|Group of 1960s universities in England}}
{{EngvarB|date=October 2015}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2015}}

[[File:Central Hall University of York.jpg|thumb|The [[University of York]]'s [[Central Hall, University of York|Central Hall.]]]]

A '''plate glass university''' (or '''plateglass university''') is one of a group of universities in the [[United Kingdom]] established or promoted to university status in the 1960s.<ref name=Definition>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iQQzDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA234|pages=234–235|title=The Routledge Student Guide to English Usage: A Guide to Academic Writing for Students|author=Stewart Clark, Graham Pointon|publisher=[[Routledge]]|date=20 May 2016|isbn=9781317391173}}</ref> The original plate glass universities were established following decisions by the [[University Grants Committee (UK)|University Grants Committee]] (UGC) in the late 1950s and early 1960s, prior to the [[Robbins Report]] in 1963.<ref name=Robbins>{{cite book|url=http://www.educationengland.org.uk/documents/robbins/robbins1963.html#04|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131030011903/http://www.educationengland.org.uk/documents/robbins/robbins1963.html#04|url-status=dead|archive-date=30 October 2013|page=24|date=1963|quote=Despite the expansion that had been achieved in the existing universities it became evident by 1958 that more universities were going to be needed. In that year the government, on the advice of the University Grants Committee, approved the establishment of the University of Sussex and, in the following years, of six more universities at Norwich, York, Canterbury, Colchester, Coventry and Lancaster.|title=Higher Education – Report of the Committee appointed by the Prime Minister under the Chairmanship of Lord Robbins|access-date=29 December 2015}}</ref> However, the term has since expanded to encompass the institutions that became universities as a result of Robbins' recommendations.<ref name=Definition/>

==Origin of terminology==
The term ''plateglass'' was coined by [[Michael Beloff]] for a book he wrote about these universities,<ref name=Beloff>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YeS2BCfN3AYC&pg=PA11|title=The Plateglass Universities |publisher=Secker & Warburg |date=31 December 1968 |access-date=30 June 2017|page=11|isbn=9780838675502 }}</ref> to reflect their [[Modern architecture|modern]] architectural design which often contains wide expanses of [[plate glass]] in steel or concrete frames. This contrasted with the (largely [[Victorian architecture|Victorian]]) [[redbrick university|redbrick universities]] and the very much older [[ancient university|ancient universities]].

{{quote|I had at the start to decide upon a generic term for the new universities – they will not be new for ever. None of the various caps so far tried have fitted. "Greenfields" describes only a transient phase. "Whitebrick", "Whitestone", and "Pinktile" hardly conjure up the grey or biscuit concrete massiveness of most of their buildings, and certainly not the black towers of Essex. "Newbridge" is fine as far as the novelty goes, but where on earth are the bridges? Sir Edward Boyle more felicitously suggested "Shakespeare". But I have chosen to call them the Plateglass Universities. It is architecturally evocative; but more important, it is metaphorically accurate.<ref name=Beloff/>}}

Beloff applied the term specifically to the new creations of the 1960s, not including the institutions promoted from [[university college]]s or [[college of advanced technology (United Kingdom)|colleges of advanced technology]], or created by division of existing universities "as Durham shed Newcastle". All of the original plateglass universities were created ''de novo'' as universities.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YeS2BCfN3AYC&pg=PA25|title=The Plateglass Universities |publisher=Secker & Warburg |date=31 December 1968 |access-date=30 June 2017|page=25|isbn=9780838675502 }}</ref>

== Beloff's plateglass universities ==
Beloff listed seven universities in his book.<ref>{{cite book |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=YeS2BCfN3AYC&pg=PA7 |title = The Plateglass Universities |publisher=Secker & Warburg |date = 31 December 1968 |access-date=30 June 2017 |page = 7 |isbn = 9780838675502 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url = https://yumagazine.co.uk/made-in-the-1960s/ |title = Made in the 1960s: What does it mean to be a plate glass university? |first = Katy |last = Sandals |work=YU Magazine |publisher=University of York |date=7 November 2016 |access-date = 30 June 2017 }}</ref> These were the seven universities approved by the UGC prior to the Robbins Report.<ref name=Robbins/>
[[File:University of Sussex.JPG|thumb|The [[University of Sussex]], the first of the plateglass generation]]
*[[University of East Anglia]] (1963)
*[[University of Essex]] (1964/5)
*[[University of Kent|University of Kent at Canterbury]] (now known as the University of Kent) (1965)
*[[Lancaster University|University of Lancaster]] (now known as Lancaster University) (1964)
*[[University of Sussex]] (1961)
*[[University of Warwick]] (1965)
*[[University of York]] (1963)

===Naming===
Unlike earlier universities in the United Kingdom, which were typically named after the city in which they were located (e.g., the [[University of Cambridge]] in [[Cambridge]]), several newer universities were named after the counties or wider regions they served. For example, universities founded in [[Colchester]] and [[Brighton]] were named after the counties of Essex and Sussex, respectively. The university in [[Canterbury]] initially adopted the name ''University of Kent at Canterbury'', combining the county name ([[Kent]]) with the city name, although this was later simplified to the University of Kent. The university on the outskirts of [[Coventry]], [[Warwickshire]] was named after the [[county town]] of [[Warwick]].{{efn|In the case of Warwick the naming was related to the acquisition of adjacent land outside the border of Coventry{{cn|date=June 2024}}}} The university in [[Norwich]], which is in the county of [[Norfolk]], was instead named for the wider area of [[East Anglia]] which also includes [[Suffolk]] and [[Essex]]. The universities in [[Lancashire]] and [[Yorkshire]] were located in the county towns of [[Lancaster, Lancashire|Lancaster]] and [[York]] respectively. There were already universities within those counties ([[University of Manchester|Manchester]] and [[University of Liverpool|Liverpool]] in Lancashire; [[University of Sheffield|Sheffield]], [[University of Leeds|Leeds]] and [[University of Hull|Hull]] in Yorkshire).

Since the passage of the [[Further and Higher Education Act 1992]] several [[New university|new universities]] and [[University college|university colleges]] have been created within the same city as a plate-glass university and have been named after the city: [[University of Brighton|Brighton]], [[Canterbury Christ Church University|Canterbury Christ Church]], [[Coventry University|Coventry]], [[Norwich University of the Arts]], [[Writtle University College|Writtle]] and [[York St John University|York St John]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Kaufman |first=Paul |date=1967 |title=The Community Library: A Chapter in English Social History |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/1006043 |journal=Transactions of the American Philosophical Society |volume=57 |issue=7 |pages=1–67 |doi=10.2307/1006043 |jstor=1006043 |issn=0065-9746|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

===Common references===
Certain aspects of the design of these universities acknowledges the formation of the group; for example, at Sussex the first batches of student residences to be built were named after some of the other new universities, i.e. "Essex House", "Kent House", "Lancaster House", "Norwich House" (for UEA), and "York House".

==Other universities, sometimes referred to as plate glass universities==

Research at the [[Department for Education]] in 2016 categorised universities into four age groups: [[Ancient university|ancient]] (pre-1800), [[Red brick university|red brick]] (1800–1960), plate glass (1960–1992), and [[New university|post-1992]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/557107/Teaching-Excellence-Framework-highly-skilled-employment..pdf|publisher=Department for Education|title=Teaching Excellence Framework: analysis of highly skilled employment outcomes |author=Peter Blyth and Arran Cleminson| date=September 2016|access-date=30 June 2017|page=18}}</ref>

The institutions that gained university status in the 1960–1992 plate glass period are listed below. Almost all of these were promoted to university status, rather than created as universities like the institutions in Beloff's original list; ten were previously [[college of advanced technology (United Kingdom)|colleges of advanced technology]] (CATs).

(Dates refer to the granting of university status, not to founding of the institution.)

*[[Aston University]] (1966) – formerly Birmingham CAT<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.aston.ac.uk/about/history/|title=History and Traditions|publisher=Aston University|access-date=30 June 2017}}</ref>
*[[University of Bath]] (1966) – formerly Bristol College of Science and Technology<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bath.ac.uk/corporate-information/the-story-of-the-university/|title=The story of the University|publisher=University of Bath|access-date=30 June 2017}}</ref>
*[[University of Bradford]] (1966) – formerly Bradford Institute of Technology<ref>{{cite web|url=http://bradford.ac.uk/about/heritage/|title=Heritage|publisher=University of Bradford|access-date=30 June 2017}}</ref>
*[[Brunel University]] (1966) – formerly Brunel CAT; became a member institution of the [[University of London]] in 2024 and now operates as "[[Brunel University of London]]"
*[[University of Buckingham]] (1983) – formerly University College at Buckingham (from 1973)
*[[City University, London]] (1966) – formerly Northampton CAT; became a college of the [[University of London]] and renamed "[[City, University of London]]" in 2016
*[[Heriot-Watt University]] (1966) – formerly School of Arts of Edinburgh
*[[Keele University]] (1962) – formerly North Staffordshire University College
*[[Loughborough University]] (1966) – formerly Loughborough CAT
*[[Newcastle University]] (1963) – formerly King's College, [[University of Durham]]
*[[Open University]] (1969) – ''de novo'' creation as a distance-learning university
*[[University of Salford]] (1967) – formerly Salford CAT
*[[University of Dundee]] (1969) – formerly Queen's College Dundee, part of the [[University of St Andrews]]<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/library/specialcollections/collections/archives/themunimentcollection/collegiaterecords/universitycollegedundeequeenscollege/|title=University College, Dundee and Queen's College|publisher=University of St Andrews|access-date=1 July 2017}}</ref>
*[[University of Stirling]] (1967) – ''de novo'' creation as a university
*[[University of Strathclyde]] (1964) – formerly the [[Royal College of Science and Technology]]
*[[University of Surrey]] (1966) – formerly Battersea CAT
*[[New University of Ulster]] (1968) – ''de novo'' creation as a university; merged with the older [[Magee College|Magee University College]] in 1969; merged with [[Ulster Polytechnic]] and renamed "[[Ulster University|University of Ulster]]" in 1984<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.arts.ulster.ac.uk/eurocall/about_us/university.html|title=University|publisher=Ulster University|access-date=30 June 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://library.ulster.ac.uk/magee/history.htm|title=A History of Magee College|date=10 August 1999|publisher=Ulster University|access-date=30 June 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170626003541/http://library.ulster.ac.uk/magee/history.htm|archive-date=26 June 2017|url-status=dead|df=dmy-all}}</ref>

The DfE study classified higher education institutions (HEIs) according to "the length of time an HEI had been established", without a detailed definition of how this was determined Keele might thus be considered "Red Brick" under this classification as it entered the university sector (as a university college) prior to 1960), as might Newcastle and Dundee, which were colleges of the universities of [[Durham University|Durham]] and [[University of St Andrews|St Andrews]] respectively. The definition might also include institutions and colleges of the [[University of London]] that became part of the university sector in that period but did not receive university status:
*[[Cranfield Institute of Technology]] (1969)<ref name="stewart">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aoWlnnio7ToC&pg=PA108|page=108|title=Rediscovering identity in higher education|work=Higher Education: Patterns of Change in the 1970s| volume =15|author=W.A.C. Stewart|editor=John Lawlor|publisher=[[Routledge]]|date=8 December 2011|isbn=9780415689205}}</ref> – formerly the College of Aeronautics; granted university status and renamed "[[Cranfield University]]" in 1993<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/0/cranfield-university-guide/|title=Cranfield University guide|work=[[Daily Telegraph]]|date=29 July 2016|access-date=1 July 2017}}</ref>
* [[London Business School]] (1965) – established 1964, joined University of London 1965<ref>{{cite web|url=https://london.ac.uk/london-business-school|title=London Business School|publisher=University of London|access-date=29 September 2018}}</ref>
* [[Royal College of Art]] (1967)<ref name="stewart">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aoWlnnio7ToC&pg=PA108|page=108|title=Rediscovering identity in higher education|work=Higher Education: Patterns of Change in the 1970s| volume =15|author=W.A.C. Stewart|editor=John Lawlor|publisher=[[Routledge]]|date=8 December 2011|isbn=9780415689205}}</ref>

The Scottish universities from the 1960s (Heriot-Watt, Stirling, Strathclyde, Dundee and the Open University in Scotland) are also known as "chartered universities" as they were established, and are governed, by their royal charters.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.gov.scot/Publications/2014/11/2389/8|title=Higher Education in Scotland: In Context|work=Consultation Paper on a Higher Education Governance Bill|publisher=The Scottish Government|access-date=30 June 2017}}</ref>

==Popular culture==
[[Malcolm Bradbury]]'s 1975 [[campus novel]] ''[[The History Man]]'' is set in the fictional plate glass University of Watermouth.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6jicAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA150|page=150|title=The Oxford Companion to English Literature|author=Dinah Birch|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]|date=24 September 2009|isbn=9780192806871}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=d9xaDOHuzgQC&pg=PA49|page=49|title=Who's Who of Twentieth Century Novelists|author=Tim Woods|publisher=[[Routledge]]|date=13 May 2013|isbn=978-1134709915}}</ref> External scenes of the [[The History Man (TV series)|television series]] were filmed at Lancaster University.<ref>{{cite web|url= http://www.screenonline.org.uk/tv/id/803414/index.html|title= History Man, The (1981)|website=[[British Film Institute]]|first= Sergio|last=Angelini|accessdate=15 August 2022}}</ref>

== See also ==
* [[Ancient universities]]
* [[Ancient universities of Scotland]]
* [[Armorial of UK universities]]
* [[List of universities in the UK]]
* [[Post-1992 university]]
* [[Red brick university]]

== Notes ==
{{Notelist}}

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*Toynbee, Polly (2002-06-05) [https://www.theguardian.com/comment/story/0,3604,727427,00.html After the jubilation must come the reckoning], ''[[The Guardian]]''
*[https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2003/jul/04/politicalcolumnists.comment Anti-ageism Laws Will Be Good for All], ''The Guardian'' (2003)
*Collini, Stefan (2003-11-06) [http://www.lrb.co.uk/v25/n21/stefan-collini/hiedbiz HiEdBiz], ''[[London Review of Books]]'', Vol. 25 No. 21, pp 3–9
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20110514071411/http://www.shef.ac.uk/library/special/libmem.html Sheffield University Library Collection]

{{University associations and groupings in the United Kingdom}}
[[Category:Universities in the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:History of higher education in the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Colloquial terms for groups of universities and colleges]]
[[Category:1950s in the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:1960s in the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:1970s in the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Glass architecture]]
[[Category:Modernist architecture in England]]
[[Category:Modernist architecture in the United Kingdom]]

Redbrick university

2025-09-07T14:31:08Z

2A02:8012:227B:0:C012:9DE9:F786:88F0: Already in Category:Universities in the United Kingdom

{{short description|Term for British universities founded in the late 19th and early 20th centuries}}
{{Redirect|Redbrick}}
{{redirect-distinguish|Civic university|municipal university}}
{{Use British English|date=May 2013}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2022}}

[[File:Victoria Building, University of Liverpool 2019.jpg|thumb|250px|The [[Victoria Building, University of Liverpool|Victoria Building]] of the [[University of Liverpool]] was the inspiration for the term "red brick university" which was coined by Professor [[Edgar Allison Peers]].]]
[[File:Aston_Webb_Hall,_Birmingham_University.jpg|thumb|250px|The [[Aston Webb]] building, [[University of Birmingham]]]]
[[File:UMIST Sackville Street Building.jpg|thumb|250px|[[University of Manchester]]]]

A '''redbrick university''' (or '''red-brick university''') normally refers to one of the nine civic universities originally founded as university colleges in the major industrial cities of England in the second half of the 19th century.{{refn|The term was coined by Bruce Truscot (Edgar Allison Peers) in ''Red Brick University'', which states: "It is primarily with eight of the twelve English universities that this book is concerned: Birmingham, Bristol, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Nottingham, Reading and Sheffield" (p. 25) and, with respect to Durham, that "its Newcastle college, perhaps, can properly find a place in this survey" (p. 24).<ref name=Truscot1951>{{cite book|title=Red Brick University|publisher=Pelican|date=1951|author= Bruce Truscot|edition=2nd|pages=24–25}}</ref>}}<ref>{{cite web |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070526225331/http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/staff/ppd/Newstaffinduction/AhistoryoftheHEenvironment/ |archive-date=26 May 2007 |url=http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/staff/ppd/Newstaffinduction/AhistoryoftheHEenvironment/ |title=A history of the HE environment |publisher=University of St Andrews }}</ref>

However, with the 1960s proliferation of [[plate glass university|plate glass universities]] and the reclassification of polytechnics in the [[Further and Higher Education Act 1992]] as [[Post-1992 university|post-1992 universities]], all British universities founded in the late 19th and early 20th centuries in major cities are now sometimes referred to as "redbrick".<ref name=OED>{{cite web|url=https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/red-brick|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170101161540/https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/red-brick|url-status=dead|archive-date=1 January 2017|title=red-brick|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]|work=Oxford Living Dictionaries|access-date=31 December 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/redbrick-university|title=redbrick university|website=Collins Dictionary|access-date=3 April 2025}}</ref>

Six of the original redbrick institutions, or their predecessor institutes, gained university status before [[World War I]] and were initially established as civic science or engineering colleges. Eight of the nine original institutions are members of the [[Russell Group]].<ref>[http://www.russellgroup.ac.uk/ Russell Group: Home]</ref>

==Origins of the term and use==
The term ''red brick'' or ''redbrick'' was coined by [[Edgar Allison Peers]], a professor of Spanish at the [[University of Liverpool]], to describe the civic universities, while using the pseudonym "Bruce Truscot" in his 1943 book ''Redbrick University''.<ref>{{cite book | last = Mackenzie & Allan | title = Redbrick University Revisited | publisher = Liverpool University Press | year = 1996 | isbn = 978-0-85323-259-9 | url-access = registration | url = https://archive.org/details/redbrickuniversi00peer }}</ref> Although Peers used ''red brick'' in the title of the original book, he used ''redbrick'' adjectivally in the text and in the title of the 1945 sequel. He is said to have later regretted his use of ''red brick'' in the title.<ref>{{cite journal|title=The universities' speaking conscience: "Bruce Truscot" and Redbrick University|date=1999|author=Harold Silver|page=173|journal=Journal of the History of Education Society|volume=28|issue=2|doi=10.1080/004676099284726}}</ref> The term red brick for this category of universities is used as a contrast to the older more established universities that were all stone masonry constructions. The use of bricks was seen as a cheaper and less traditional alternative and therefore not as highly regarded, reflected in the general view of these new universities compared to the established ones.

Peers's reference was inspired by the fact that the [[Victoria Building, University of Liverpool|Victoria Building]] at the University of Liverpool (designed by [[Alfred Waterhouse]] and completed in 1892 as the main building for University College, Liverpool) is built from a distinctive red pressed brick, with [[architectural terracotta|terracotta]] decorative dressings.<ref name=feing>{{cite book | last = Feingold | first = Mordechai | title = History of Universities, Vol. XXI/1 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=anGQ4QTBCX0C&q=peers+redbrick&pg=PA152 | publisher = Oxford University Press | year = 2006 | isbn =9780199297382}}</ref> On this basis the [[University of Liverpool]] claims to be the original "red brick" institution, although the titular, fictional ''Redbrick University'' was a cipher for all the civic universities of the day.<ref name=rburv>{{cite book | last = Allison Peers (under the pseudonym 'Bruce Truscot') | first = Edgar | title = Redbrick University | publisher = Faber & Faber Ltd. | year = 1943 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | title=University of Liverpool | url=http://www.russellgroup.ac.uk/our-universities/3779-university-of-liverpool/ | publisher=Russell Group website | access-date=19 July 2013 | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130801202347/http://www.russellgroup.ac.uk/our-universities/3779-university-of-liverpool | archive-date=1 August 2013 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news | title=University of Liverpool guide| url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/universityeducation/universities-and-colleges/9922325/University-of-Liverpool-guide.html | newspaper=The Daily Telegraph|location=London | access-date=19 July 2013}}</ref>

While the University of Liverpool was an inspiration for the "red brick" university alluded to in Peers' book, receiving university status in 1903, the [[University of Birmingham]] was the first of the civic universities to gain independent university status in 1900 and the university has stated that the popularity of the term "red brick" owes much to its own Chancellor's Court, constructed from [[Accrington brick|Accrington red brick]].<ref>{{cite web|title=University of Birmingham Professorial Announcement |url=http://www.download.bham.ac.uk/vacancies/jd/38224.pdf |access-date=20 June 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140506204937/http://www.download.bham.ac.uk/vacancies/jd/38224.pdf |archive-date=6 May 2014 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title= Complete University Guide, University of Birmingham|url=http://www.thecompleteuniversityguide.co.uk/birmingham |access-date=20 June 2013}}</ref> The University of Birmingham grew from the [[Mason Science College]] (opened two years before University College Liverpool in 1880), an elaborate red brick and terracotta building in central Birmingham which was demolished in 1962.<ref>{{cite book | title= In Churchill's Shadow: Confronting the Past in Modern Britain | publisher= Oxford University Press | url=https://archive.org/details/inchurchillsshad0000cann | url-access= registration | page= [https://archive.org/details/inchurchillsshad0000cann/page/121 121] | access-date=11 July 2013| isbn=9780195171563 | last1=Cannadine | first1=David | date=May 2004 }}</ref>

== Civic university movement ==
The civic university movement started with the foundation of Owens College in Manchester in 1851 and of other university colleges in major provincial cities in the later 19th century, where there was strong demand for a scientifically and technically educated workforce. Their focus on science and engineering is conventionally contrasted with the liberal arts focus of the ancient universities of [[University of Oxford|Oxford]] and [[University of Cambridge|Cambridge]] and the pre-Victorian [[University of Durham]] (although Durham did establish Britain's first engineering school in 1837), owing their heritage more to [[University College London]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Egiins |first=Heather|year=2010 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WX0fEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA11|title=Access and Equity, Comparative Perspectives |location=Rotterdam, Netherlands |publisher=Sense |pages=11–12 |isbn=978-94-6091-184-2}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=F8pHAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA54|page=54|title=Durham University: Earlier Foundations and Present Colleges|author=Joseph Thomas Fowler|publisher=F. E. Robinson|date= 1904}}</ref><ref name="Norwich">{{cite book |last=Sanderson |first=Michael |year=2002 |title=The History of the University of East Anglia, Norwich |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=50HjSi5o8J0C&pg=PA3 |location=London |publisher=Hambledon & London |page=3 |isbn=978-1852853365 |access-date=6 May 2014 }}</ref> However, some modern scholarship has challenged this, pointing out the influence of civic pride and the aim of combatting materialism on the founders of the civic colleges. Liverpool and Manchester, in particular, had strong humanities traditions dating to their early days as civic colleges.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Jones |first1=Stuart |title=Manchester Minds: A University History of Ideas |date=2024 |publisher=Manchester University Press |location=Manchester |pages=19-22}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Collinii |first1=Stefan |title=Literature and Learning: A History of English Studies in Britain |date=2025 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford |isbn=9780198800187 |pages=143-4}}</ref> The redbrick universities developed out of these 19th-century [[University college#United Kingdom|university colleges]], providing degrees initially through the [[University of London Worldwide|external examinations of the University of London]], through membership of the federal [[Victoria University (United Kingdom)|Victoria University]], or through association with the University of Durham. From 1889, the government supported the eight redbrick colleges then in existence with grants; Reading was added to the grant in 1901.<ref name=Grants>{{cite web|url=https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1889/aug/16/class-iv#S3V0339P0_18890816_HOC_256|title= CLASS IV. |website=[[Hansard]]|date=16 August 1889}}</ref><ref name=Reading/>

Six of the civic colleges became universities prior to the first world war. Owens College assimilated the Royal School of Medicine and Surgery in 1872 and acquired university standing as the seat and founding college of the Victoria University in 1880. Following the break-up of the federal Victoria University in 1903 it and was renamed the [[Victoria University of Manchester]] in 1903; it merged with the [[University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology]] (itself an autonomous part of the Victoria University of Manchester until 1994) to form the current [[University of Manchester]] in 2004.<ref name="University of Manchester: History">{{cite web|url=https://www.manchester.ac.uk/about/history-heritage/history/victoria/|access-date=3 April 2025|title=History of the Victoria University of Manchester}}</ref> Mason Science College in Birmingham was established in 1875, becoming Mason University College in 1898 and then the [[University of Birmingham]] in 1900.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/university/history-and-heritage/our-heritage|title=Our Heritage|website=University of Birmingham|access-date=3 April 2025}}</ref> The Yorkshire College of Science was founded in Leeds in 1874. In 1884 this merged with the [[Leeds School of Medicine]] (founded in 1831) and in 1886 joined the Victoria University before becoming an independent university in 1904.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.leeds.ac.uk/about/doc/about-history|title= Our history|website=University of Leeds|access-date=3 April 2025}}</ref> [[University College, Bristol]] was established in 1876 as the first university-level institution in Britain to admit both women and men. It merged with Bristol Medical School (founded 1833) in 1893 and became a university in 1909.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bristol.ac.uk/university/history/|title=History of the University|website=University of Bristol|access-date=3 April 2025}}</ref> University College, Liverpool was established in 1881 and became part of the Victoria University in 1884 and then an independent university in 1903.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.liverpool.ac.uk/about/our-history/|title=Our history|website=University of Liverpool|access-date=3 April 2025}}</ref> Firth College, Sheffield, was established in 1879. In 1897 this merged with Sheffield Medical School (founded 1828) and Sheffield Technical School (founded 1884), becoming University College, Sheffield. This became the University of Sheffield in 1905.<ref name="SheffFacts">{{cite web|url=http://www.sheffield.ac.uk/about/facts|title=Facts and figures|date=7 September 2021 |publisher=University of Sheffield|access-date=3 April 2025}}</ref>

Of the redbricks that gained independent university status later, the science college in Newcastle was established in associated with Durham University in 1871, later being renamed Armstrong College, and became, with the medical college in Newcastle (established in 1834 and associated with Durham from 1852) the Newcastle division of the federal University of Durham in 1909. Armstrong College and the medical college merged in 1937 to form King's College, which became the independent University of Newcastle upon Tyne in 1963.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ncl.ac.uk/about/history/|title=History of the University|publisher=Newcastle University|access-date=28 February 2017|archive-date=2 October 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071002232323/http://www.ncl.ac.uk/about/history/|url-status=dead}}</ref> Reading was established as an extension college by the [[University of Oxford]] in 1892, incorporating pre-existing schools of art and science; it became a university in 1926.<ref name=Reading>{{cite web|url=http://www.reading.ac.uk/internal/staffportal/news/articles/spsn-357935.aspx|title=The University of Reading is 85 years old|date=16 March 2011|access-date=28 February 2017}}</ref> Nottingham was established as a civic college in 1881 and students took external degrees of the University of London until it received its royal charter as a university in 1948.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://nottingham.ac.uk/about/history/abriefhistoryoftheuniversity.aspx|title=A brief history of the University|publisher=University of Nottingham|access-date=28 February 2017}}</ref>

[[Combined English Universities (UK Parliament constituency)|Combined English Universities]] was a [[university constituency]] in the [[UK Parliament]] created by the [[Representation of the People Act 1918]] for graduates of [[Durham University]] (including Newcastle) and the six pre-World War One redbricks (Birmingham, Bristol, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, and Sheffield). Graduates of [[Oxford University (UK Parliament constituency)|Oxford]], [[Cambridge University (UK Parliament constituency)|Cambridge]], and [[London University (UK Parliament constituency)|London]] (including graduates from redbricks that had taken London degrees) had already been enfranchised and graduates of the [[University of Wales (UK Parliament constituency)|University of Wales]] were enfranchised at the same time. [[Reading University]] was added to the Combined English Universities constituency in 1928 (prior to this its graduates, taking London degrees, would have joined the London constituency). The constituency was abolished in 1950.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Pugh, Martin|title=Electoral Reform in War and Peace 1906-18|date=1978|publisher=Routledge & Kegan Paul|author1-link=Martin Pugh (author)}}</ref>

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Name
! University charter awarded
! Predecessor institutions
! Image
! Notes
|-
| [[Victoria University (UK)|Victoria University]]
| 1880 (defunct 1903)
| Owens College, Manchester (1851)<ref name=VicManHist>{{cite web|url=http://www.manchester.ac.uk/discover/history-heritage/history/victoria/|title=History of the Victoria University of Manchester|publisher=University of Manchester|access-date=1 January 2017}}</ref> Royal School of Medicine and Surgery, Manchester (1824)<ref name=VicManHist/> [[Leeds School of Medicine]] (1831)<ref name=LeedsHeritage>{{cite web|url=https://www.leeds.ac.uk/info/5000/about/133/heritage|title=Heritage|publisher=University of Leeds|access-date=1 January 2017}}</ref> Yorkshire College of Science (1874)<ref name=LeedsHeritage/> University College Liverpool (1881) 
| [[File:Former County Court, Quay Street, Manchester 3.JPG|200px]]
| The Victoria University was a federal university based in Manchester with colleges in Manchester, Leeds and Liverpool. It was defunct by 1903 as the colleges sought independent university status, leading to the formation of the [[Victoria University of Manchester]] from the merger of the Victoria University with Owens College, Manchester, in 1903. This new institution later merged with [[UMIST]] to form the [[University of Manchester]] in 2004.
|-
| [[University of Birmingham]]
| 1900
| [[Birmingham Medical School]] (1825) [[Mason Science College]] (1875) Mason University College (1898)
| [[File:Birmingham University of Birmingham - panoramio (1).jpg|200px]]
| The first independent civic university to be awarded full university status by Royal Charter.
|-
| [[University of Liverpool]]
| 1903
| University College, Liverpool (1881)
| [[File:Victoria Clock Tower, Liverpool University - geograph.org.uk - 374422.jpg|200px]]
| Part of the Victoria University from 1884. Gained independent university status in 1903.
|-
| [[University of Manchester]]
| 1903 (as Victoria University of Manchester) 2004 (as University of Manchester)
| Victoria University of Manchester (1903) (Royal School of Medicine and Surgery, Manchester (1824); Owens College, Manchester (1851); Victoria University (1880)); [[UMIST]] (1956) ([[Mechanics' Institute, Manchester]] (1824); Manchester Technical School (1883))<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.manchester.ac.uk/discover/history-heritage/history/umist/|title=History of UMIST|publisher=University of Manchester|access-date=1 January 2017}}</ref>
| [[File:Whitworth Hall Manchester.jpg|200px]]
| The federal Victoria University existed between 1880 and 1903. The Victoria University of Manchester was granted a royal charter as its successor institution in 1903 and merged with Owens College, which had previously merged with the Royal School of Medicine and Surgery in 1872. The Manchester Mechanics' Institute, formed in 1824, became the Manchester Technical School in 1884 and then UMIST in 1956; it merged with the Victoria University of Manchester in 2004 to form the current University of Manchester.
|-
| [[University of Leeds]]
| 1904
| [[Leeds School of Medicine]] (1831) Yorkshire College of Science (1874)
| [[Image:Great Hall Leeds.jpg|200px]]
| Yorkshire College of Science became Yorkshire College then merged with the School of Medicine in 1884. Part of the Victoria University from 1886 to 1903.<ref name=LeedsHeritage/>
|-
| [[University of Sheffield]]
| 1905
| [[Sheffield Medical School]] (1828); Firth College (1879); Sheffield Technical School (1884); University College of Sheffield (1897)
| [[Image:Firth Court from Octagon.jpg|200px]]
|
|-
| [[University of Bristol]]
| 1909
| University College Bristol (1876)
| [[Image:University of bristol tower after cleaning arp.jpg|200px]]
|
|-
| [[University of Reading]]
| 1926
| University College Reading (1892)
| [[Image:University of Reading War Memorial.jpg|200px]]
|
|-
| [[University of Nottingham]]
| 1948
| University College Nottingham (1881)
| [[Image:0130 - England, Nottingham, Trent Building HDR -HQ-.jpg|200px]]
|
|-
| [[Newcastle University]]
| 1963
| Newcastle upon Tyne College of Medicine (later Durham University College of Medicine) (1834); Durham College of Science (later Armstrong College) (1871); Merged to form King's College (1937)
| [[Image:Armstrong_Building,_Newcastle_University,_7_September_2013_(01).jpg|200px]]
| Truscot states in ''Red Brick'' that "[Durham's] Newcastle college, perhaps, can properly find a place in this survey"<ref name=Truscot1951/>
|}

==Other institutions==

Various other civic institutions with origins dating from the 19th and early to mid-20th centuries have also been described as "red brick". According to historian William Whyte of the University of Oxford, Truscot's original definition includes the [[University of Dundee]] (originally an independent university college before becoming a constituent college of the University of St Andrews, and also in receipt of the grant to university colleges in 1889), [[Newcastle University]] (previously a college of the University of Durham, and noted by Truscot as "perhaps" being included), and the Welsh university colleges (not named, but could include [[Aberystwyth University|Aberystwyth]] (1872), [[Cardiff University|Cardiff]] (1883), [[Bangor University|Bangor]] (1885) and [[Swansea University|Swansea]] (1920)). Whyte does not include Reading or Nottingham, which Truscot lists in his second edition.<ref name=Truscot1951/><ref name=Grants/><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/how-the-redbrick-universities-created-british-higher-education|title=How the redbrick universities created British higher education|date=12 November 2015|author=John Morgan|quote=Professor Whyte said that Truscot's term "describes the late 19th, early 20th-century foundations": including Liverpool, Manchester, Leeds, Birmingham, Bristol, Sheffield, Newcastle, as well as Dundee "and the Welsh universities" beyond England.}}</ref>

Many other institutions share similar characteristics to the original civic universities, particularly those in the [[List of UK universities by date of foundation#Second wave of civic universities|second wave of civic universities]] before the advent of the [[plate glass universities]] in 1961. These universities were similar to the redbricks that gained university status prior to the First World War in that they evolved from local [[university colleges]] and (with the exception of Keele) awarded external degrees of the [[University of London]] before being granted full university status; they differ in that they became universities later, after the Second World War (with the exception of Reading) rather than before the First World War. The [[Robbins Report]] lists [[University of Reading|Reading]], [[University of Nottingham|Nottingham]], [[University of Southampton|Southampton]], [[University of Hull|Hull]], [[University of Exeter|Exeter]], [[University of Leicester|Leicester]] and [[Keele University|Keele]] as being "younger civic universities".<ref>{{cite book|url=http://www.educationengland.org.uk/documents/robbins/robbins1963.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131030011903/http://www.educationengland.org.uk/documents/robbins/robbins1963.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=30 October 2013|title=Report of the Committee appointed by the Prime Minister under the Chairmanship of Lord Robbins|date=1963|access-date=31 December 2016|publisher=[[Her Majesty's Stationery Office]]}}</ref>

[[Queen's University Belfast]] gained university status in 1908 during the same period as the English redbrick universities, having previously been established in 1845 as a college of the [[Queen's University of Ireland]]. As a result, it meets the dictionary definition of a redbrick university,<ref name=OED/> and is sometimes named as such.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://ca.studyacrossthepond.com/queens-university-belfast|title=Queen's University Belfast|quote=Queen’s is a world-class, red-brick university situated in Belfast, the regional capital of Northern Ireland.|publisher=Study Across The Pond|access-date=31 December 2016}}</ref>

[[Department for Education]] research in 2016 split universities into four categories: [[Ancient university|ancient]] (pre-1800), red brick (1800–1960), [[plate glass university|plate glass]] (1960-1992), and [[New university|post-1992]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/557107/Teaching-Excellence-Framework-highly-skilled-employment..pdf|publisher=Department for Education|title=Teaching Excellence Framework: analysis of highly skilled employment outcomes |author=Peter Blyth and Arran Cleminson| date=September 2016|access-date=30 June 2017|page=18}}</ref>

== See also ==
* [[Ancient universities]]
* [[Ancient universities of Scotland]]
* [[Plate glass university]]
* [[Post-1992 university]]
* [[Campus university]]
* [[List of universities in the UK]]

== References ==
{{reflist}}

==Further reading==
* Whyte, William. ''Redbrick: A Social and Architectural History of Britain's Civic Universities'' (2015).

{{University associations and groupings in the United Kingdom}}
{{Universities in the United Kingdom}}

[[Category:Lists of universities and colleges in the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Universities in the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Brick buildings and structures in the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Colloquial terms for groups of universities and colleges]]
[[Category:History of higher education in the United Kingdom]]