Red Brick universities - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Red brick university is an informal term used to refer to six particular universities founded in the major industrial cities of England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

. Five of the six red brick institutions gained university status before World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

and were initially established as civic science

Science

Science is a systematic enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe...

and/or engineering

Engineering

Engineering is the discipline, art, skill and profession of acquiring and applying scientific, mathematical, economic, social, and practical knowledge, in order to design and build structures, machines, devices, systems, materials and processes that safely realize improvements to the lives of...

colleges. In the case of the University of Manchester

University of Manchester

The University of Manchester is a public research university located in Manchester, United Kingdom. It is a "red brick" university and a member of the Russell Group of research-intensive British universities and the N8 Group...

which merged in 2004, its predecessor, the Victoria University of Manchester

Victoria University of Manchester

The Victoria University of Manchester was a university in Manchester, England. On 1 October 2004 it merged with the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology to form a new entity, "The University of Manchester".-1851 - 1951:The University was founded in 1851 as Owens College,...

, gained a royal charter and red brick status in 1903.

Whilst the term was originally coined as these institutions were new and thus regarded by the ancient universities as arriviste, the description has since ceased to be derogatory with the 1960s proliferation of universities

Plate glass university

The term plate glass university has come into use by some to refer to one of the several universities founded in the United Kingdom in the 1960s in the era of the Robbins Report on higher education. In some cases these were older schools with new Royal Charters, now making them universities...

and the reclassification of polytechnics

New Universities

The term new universities has been used informally to refer to several different waves of new universities created or renamed as such in the United Kingdom. As early as 1928, the term was used to describe the then-new civic universities, such as Bristol University and the other "red brick...

in 1992. The six institutions are members of the Russell Group

Russell Group

The Russell Group is a collaboration of twenty UK universities that together receive two-thirds of research grant and contract funding in the United Kingdom. It was established in 1994 to represent their interests to the government, parliament and other similar bodies...

(which receives two-thirds of all research grant funding in the United Kingdom).

The civic university movement

Name	Red brick ascension	Predecessor institutions	Notes
Victoria University Victoria University (UK) Victoria University was an English federal university established by Royal Charter, 20 April 1880 at Manchester: a university for the North of England open to affiliation by colleges such as Owens College which immediately did so. University College Liverpool joined the University in 1884, followed...	1880	Owens College, Manchester (1851) University College Liverpool (1882)	Led by the Victoria University of Manchester Victoria University of Manchester The Victoria University of Manchester was a university in Manchester, England. On 1 October 2004 it merged with the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology to form a new entity, "The University of Manchester".-1851 - 1951:The University was founded in 1851 as Owens College,... and included Leeds and Liverpool colleges. Defunct by 1904 as Leeds and Liverpool sought separate university status.
University of Birmingham University of Birmingham The University of Birmingham is a British Redbrick university located in the city of Birmingham, England. It received its royal charter in 1900 as a successor to Birmingham Medical School and Mason Science College . Birmingham was the first Redbrick university to gain a charter and thus...	1900	Birmingham Medical School (1825) Mason Science College Mason Science College Mason Science College was founded by Josiah Mason in 1875, the buildings of which were opened in Edmund Street, Birmingham, England on 1 October 1880 by Thomas Henry Huxley... (1875)
University of Liverpool University of Liverpool The University of Liverpool is a teaching and research university in the city of Liverpool, England. It is a member of the Russell Group of large research-intensive universities and the N8 Group for research collaboration. Founded in 1881 , it is also one of the six original "red brick" civic...	1903	University College, Liverpool (1882)
University of Leeds University of Leeds The University of Leeds is a British Redbrick university located in the city of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England...	1904	Leeds School of Medicine Leeds School of Medicine Leeds School of Medicine is the medical school of the University of Leeds, Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. The School of Medicine was founded in 1831, before the Yorkshire College which became the university, and now forms part of the university's Faculty of Medicine and Health... (1831)
University of Sheffield University of Sheffield The University of Sheffield is a research university based in the city of Sheffield in South Yorkshire, England. It is one of the original 'red brick' universities and is a member of the Russell Group of leading research intensive universities...	1905	University College of Sheffield (1897)
University of Bristol University of Bristol The University of Bristol is a public research university located in Bristol, United Kingdom. One of the so-called "red brick" universities, it received its Royal Charter in 1909, although its predecessor institution, University College, Bristol, had been in existence since 1876.The University is...	1909	University College Bristol (1876)
University of Hull University of Hull The University of Hull, known informally as Hull University, is an English university, founded in 1927, located in Hull, a city in the East Riding of Yorkshire...	1927	University College Hull	Foundation stone laid by the Duke of York (King George VI of England). The 3rd in Yorkshire and 14th University in England to gain a Royal Charter (1954) whereby the Monarchy decreed it was able to award degrees of its own.
University of Manchester University of Manchester The University of Manchester is a public research university located in Manchester, United Kingdom. It is a "red brick" university and a member of the Russell Group of research-intensive British universities and the N8 Group...	2004	Victoria University of Manchester Victoria University of Manchester The Victoria University of Manchester was a university in Manchester, England. On 1 October 2004 it merged with the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology to form a new entity, "The University of Manchester".-1851 - 1951:The University was founded in 1851 as Owens College,... (1880) UMIST UMIST The University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology was a university based in the centre of the city of Manchester in England. It specialised in technical and scientific subjects and was a major centre for research... (1956)	Victoria University of Manchester gained royal charter as a red brick in 1903.

The English civic university movement developed out of various 19th century private research

Research

Research can be defined as the scientific search for knowledge, or as any systematic investigation, to establish novel facts, solve new or existing problems, prove new ideas, or develop new theories, usually using a scientific method...

and education

Education

Education in its broadest, general sense is the means through which the aims and habits of a group of people lives on from one generation to the next. Generally, it occurs through any experience that has a formative effect on the way one thinks, feels, or acts...

institutes in industrial

Industry

Industry refers to the production of an economic good or service within an economy.-Industrial sectors:There are four key industrial economic sectors: the primary sector, largely raw material extraction industries such as mining and farming; the secondary sector, involving refining, construction,...

cities. The 1824 Manchester Mechanics' Institute formed the basis of the Manchester Institute of Science and Technology (UMIST), and thus led towards the University of Manchester proper. The University of Birmingham has origins dating back to the 1825 Birmingham Medical School. The University of Leeds also owes its foundations to a medical school: the 1831 Leeds School of Medicine

Leeds School of Medicine

Leeds School of Medicine is the medical school of the University of Leeds, Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. The School of Medicine was founded in 1831, before the Yorkshire College which became the university, and now forms part of the university's Faculty of Medicine and Health...

. The University of Bristol began with the 1876 University College, Bristol

University College, Bristol

University College, Bristol was an educational institution which existed from 1876 to 1909. It was the predecessor institution to the University of Bristol, which gained a Royal Charter in 1909...

, the University of Liverpool with a University College in 1881, and the University of Sheffield with a university college in 1897.

These universities were distinguished by being non-collegiate institutions that admitted men without reference to religion or background and concentrated on imparting to their students "real-world" skills, often linked to engineering. In this sense they owed their structural heritage to the Humboldt University of Berlin

Humboldt University of Berlin

The Humboldt University of Berlin is Berlin's oldest university, founded in 1810 as the University of Berlin by the liberal Prussian educational reformer and linguist Wilhelm von Humboldt, whose university model has strongly influenced other European and Western universities...

, which emphasised practical knowledge over the academic sort. This focus on the practical also distinguished the red brick universities from the ancient English universities of Oxford

University of Oxford

The University of Oxford is a university located in Oxford, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest surviving university in the world and the oldest in the English-speaking world. Although its exact date of foundation is unclear, there is evidence of teaching as far back as 1096...

and Cambridge

University of Cambridge

The University of Cambridge is a public research university located in Cambridge, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest university in both the United Kingdom and the English-speaking world , and the seventh-oldest globally...

and from the newer (although still pre-Victorian) University of Durham

Durham University

The University of Durham, commonly known as Durham University, is a university in Durham, England. It was founded by Act of Parliament in 1832 and granted a Royal Charter in 1837...

, collegiate institutions which concentrated on divinity, the liberal arts and imposed religious tests (e.g. assent to the Thirty-Nine Articles

Thirty-Nine Articles

The Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion are the historically defining statements of doctrines of the Anglican church with respect to the controversies of the English Reformation. First established in 1563, the articles served to define the doctrine of the nascent Church of England as it related to...

) on staff and students. Scotland's ancient universities (St Andrews

University of St Andrews

The University of St Andrews, informally referred to as "St Andrews", is the oldest university in Scotland and the third oldest in the English-speaking world after Oxford and Cambridge. The university is situated in the town of St Andrews, Fife, on the east coast of Scotland. It was founded between...

, Glasgow

University of Glasgow

The University of Glasgow is the fourth-oldest university in the English-speaking world and one of Scotland's four ancient universities. Located in Glasgow, the university was founded in 1451 and is presently one of seventeen British higher education institutions ranked amongst the top 100 of the...

, Aberdeen

University of Aberdeen

The University of Aberdeen, an ancient university founded in 1495, in Aberdeen, Scotland, is a British university. It is the third oldest university in Scotland, and the fifth oldest in the United Kingdom and wider English-speaking world...

and Edinburgh

University of Edinburgh

The University of Edinburgh, founded in 1583, is a public research university located in Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland, and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The university is deeply embedded in the fabric of the city, with many of the buildings in the historic Old Town belonging to the university...

), usually grouped with Dundee

University of Dundee

The University of Dundee is a university based in the city and Royal burgh of Dundee on eastern coast of the central Lowlands of Scotland and with a small number of institutions elsewhere....

, were founded on a different basis.

Origins of the term

The term "red brick" or "redbrick" was first coined by a professor of Spanish (Edgar Allison Peers

Edgar Allison Peers

Edgar Allison Peers , also known by his pseudonym Bruce Truscot, was an English Hispanist and educationist. He was Professor in Hispanic Studies at the University of Liverpool and is notable for founding the Modern Humanities Research Association and the Bulletin of Hispanic Studies .As "Bruce...

) at the University of Liverpool

University of Liverpool

The University of Liverpool is a teaching and research university in the city of Liverpool, England. It is a member of the Russell Group of large research-intensive universities and the N8 Group for research collaboration. Founded in 1881 , it is also one of the six original "red brick" civic...

to describe these civic universities (under the pseudonym "Bruce Truscot" in his 1943 book Redbrick University). His reference was inspired by the fact that The Victoria Building

Victoria Building, University of Liverpool

The Victoria Building, University of Liverpool, is on the corner of Brownlow Hill and Ashton Street, Liverpool, Merseyside, England . It has been designated by English Heritage as a Grade II listed building. It was designed by Alfred Waterhouse and completed in 1892...

at the University of Liverpool (which was designed by Alfred Waterhouse

Alfred Waterhouse

Alfred Waterhouse was a British architect, particularly associated with the Victorian Gothic Revival architecture. He is perhaps best known for his design for the Natural History Museum in London, and Manchester Town Hall, although he also built a wide variety of other buildings throughout the...

and completed in 1892) is built from a distinctive red pressed brick

Brick

A brick is a block of ceramic material used in masonry construction, usually laid using various kinds of mortar. It has been regarded as one of the longest lasting and strongest building materials used throughout history.-History:...

, with terracotta

Architectural terracotta

Terracotta, in its unglazed form, became fashionable as an architectural ceramic construction material in England in the 1860s, and in the United States in the 1870s. It was generally used to supplement brick and tiles of similar colour in late Victorian buildings.It had been used before this in...

decorative dressings. Alfred Waterhouse

Alfred Waterhouse

also designed The Great Hall of the University of Leeds

Great Hall of the University of Leeds

The Great Hall is a grade II listed Gothic Revival building located at the University of Leeds in West Yorkshire, England. The building is primarily used for formal occasions such as graduation ceremonies and university students' examinations. Its undercroft was previously utilised to house the...

before the project at the University of Liverpool

University of Liverpool

, however this was completed two years after the Victoria Building.

On this basis the University of Liverpool considers itself to be the original Red Brick institution. The University of Birmingham states, however, that it was the first to gain official university status, and that the popularity of the term owes to its own domed Accrington brick buildings, despite the fact that Liverpool's Victoria Building was built 13 years prior to Birmingham's Aston Webb building.

Other institutions

The term 'Red Brick' has often found more liberal usage. Indeed, many institutions share similar characteristics to the original six civic universities. The University of Reading

University of Reading

The University of Reading is a university in the English town of Reading, Berkshire. The University was established in 1892 as University College, Reading and received its Royal Charter in 1926. It is based on several campuses in, and around, the town of Reading.The University has a long tradition...

, founded in the late 19th century as an extension college of Oxford, was the only university to receive its charter between the two world wars and is therefore often described as a Red Brick. So too is Queen's University Belfast, which became a civic university in 1908, having previously been established in 1845 as a college of the Queen's University of Ireland

Queen's University of Ireland

The Queen's University of Ireland was established formally by Royal Charter on 3 September 1850, as the degree-awarding university of the Queen's Colleges of Belfast, Cork, and Galway that were established in 1845 "to afford a university education to members of all religious denominations" in...

(later Royal University of Ireland

Royal University of Ireland

The Royal University of Ireland was founded in accordance with the University Education Act 1879 as an examining and degree-awarding university based on the model of the University of London. A Royal Charter was issued on April 27, 1880 and examinations were opened to candidates irrespective of...

). Many of the original constituent institutions of the University of Wales

University of Wales

The University of Wales was a confederal university founded in 1893. It had accredited institutions throughout Wales, and formerly accredited courses in Britain and abroad, with over 100,000 students, but in October 2011, after a number of scandals, it withdrew all accreditation, and it was...

bear the Red Brick hallmarks: Aberystwyth; Bangor

Bangor University

Bangor University is a university based in the city of Bangor in the county of Gwynedd in North Wales-United Kingdom.It was officially known for most of its history as the University College of North Wales...

; Swansea

Swansea University

Swansea University is a university located in Swansea, Wales, United Kingdom. Swansea University was chartered as University College of Swansea in 1920, as the fourth college of the University of Wales. In 1996, it changed its name to the University of Wales Swansea following structural changes...

; Cardiff

Cardiff University

Cardiff University 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 high quality research-based...

. Certain constituent colleges of the University of London

University of London

-20th century:Shortly after 6 Burlington Gardens was vacated, the University went through a period of rapid expansion. Bedford College, Royal Holloway and the London School of Economics all joined in 1900, Regent's Park College, which had affiliated in 1841 became an official divinity school of the...

, such as Royal Holloway, Queen Mary

Queen Mary, University of London

Queen Mary, University of London is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom and a constituent college of the federal University of London...

and Goldsmiths College

Goldsmiths College

Goldsmiths, University of London is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom which specialises in the arts, humanities and social sciences, and a constituent college of the federal University of London. It was founded in 1891 as Goldsmiths' Technical and Recreative Institute...

are also literally Victorian red brick in style.

Various other civic institutions with origins dating from the 19th and early 20th centuries have been described as Red Brick:
University of Dundee

University of Dundee

The University of Dundee is a university based in the city and Royal burgh of Dundee on eastern coast of the central Lowlands of Scotland and with a small number of institutions elsewhere....

(originally an independent university college, before becoming a constituent college of the University of St Andrews),
University of Exeter

University of Exeter

The University of Exeter is a public university in South West England. It belongs to the 1994 Group, an association of 19 of the United Kingdom's smaller research-intensive universities....

and University of Hull

University of Hull

The University of Hull, known informally as Hull University, is an English university, founded in 1927, located in Hull, a city in the East Riding of Yorkshire...

, (both originally extension colleges of the University of London),
University of Leicester

University of Leicester

The University of Leicester is a research-led university based in Leicester, England. The main campus is a mile south of the city centre, adjacent to Victoria Park and Wyggeston and Queen Elizabeth I College....

,
Newcastle University (originally two extension colleges of the University of Durham),
University of Nottingham

University of Nottingham

The University of Nottingham is a public research university based in Nottingham, United Kingdom, with further campuses in Ningbo, China and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia...

, and
University of Southampton

University of Southampton

The University of Southampton is a British public university located in the city of Southampton, England, a member of the Russell Group. The origins of the university can be dated back to the founding of the Hartley Institution in 1862 by Henry Robertson Hartley. In 1902, the Institution developed...

.

In 1963, the Robbins Report

Robbins Report

The Robbins Report was commissioned by the British government and published in 1963. The Committee met from 1961 to 1963...

recommended expansion of the British university system. The universities established after this report are often known as the 'Plate Glass' universities.

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