Talk:Red Brick universities

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Contents

[edit] Heriot-Watt?

Is Heriot-Watt in Scotland a red brick university or not? MacRusgail 23:00, 10 July 2005 (UTC)

No, Heriot-Watt is a Glass plate university (I think), as it gained university status in 1966. And it is mostly 70s architecture, with not much in the way of the victorian "Red brick". Vclaw 22:55, 23 July 2005 (UTC)

[edit] First Red Brick University

There seems to be a bit of a dispute within Wikipedia pages as to which city had the first Red Brick university. The Birmingham page states that "The city built its own university in 1900, The University of Birmingham, which became the first of Britain's Redbrick universities." (does this mean first in time or first in excellence? and where does this idea come from if the second is the case?). But on this page it is stated that "The civic university movement started in 1851 with Owens College, Manchester (now the University of Manchester), which became the founding college of the federal Victoria University in 1880 and attained university status when the federal university was dissolved in 1903." Does this mean that the college alone is given the status of first Red Brick University despite only being a small section of what is now Manchester University? Whatever happens there is a need for clarification of exactly what is meant by both statements. Ammi 13:36, 24 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Etymology

"The term 'red brick' was coined by a professor of music at the University of Liverpool to describe these civic universities" - do we know who or when? The OED gives the term as coined by "Bruce Truscott" in a 1943 book, though that was a pseudonym - this page says Truscott was the Professor of Hispanic Studies at Liverpool. Hmm hmm hmm. Any ideas? Shimgray | talk | 17:40, 7 December 2005 (UTC)

Also, is there a specific term other than "redbrick" for the architectural style which is being referenced? Shimgray | talk | 18:02, 7 December 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Proto-red brick

Of these, only UCL and Southampton were founded on principles similar to those of the civic universities and for this reason they may be considered proto-red brick. The other two did not, until much later in their existence, grant the freedom of education to the poor and non-Anglican that was the basis of the movement.

"Proto-red brick" would mean the first or earliest, or a predecessor. This would only apply to UCL (founded 1826), which pre-dates the red-bricks by half a century. The paragraph which preceded this mentions UCL, Exeter, Newcastle, Leicester, Southampton, Dundee and Wales. This sentence then says UCL and Southampton were founded on the same lines as the proper red-bricks and "the other two" were not (Leicester certainly was, its early history is very similar to Southampton's and it had an early emphasis on providing an education for returned servicemen after the first world war). --ajn (talk) 23:57, 4 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Hull University

Hull University is a Red Brick university having degree style similar to the Universities of Leicester and Southampton.

The University of Hull developed from University College Hull, which was opened in 1928. The university received its Royal Charter in 1954; i.e. before the Robbins Report.

Hull had a very large role to play in in World War II too. Being a port, and also the plane designed by Robert Blackburn which played a significant role in air force of UK.


Its architecture for old buildings is in victorian style, however its new buildings are in glass-plate form.

[edit] Reading the only one in the inter-war years

The University of Reading, founded in the late 19th century as an extension college of Oxford, was the UK's only academic establishment to be granted university status during the inter-war period,

This was removed because of Queen Mary College's 1934 charter - however QMC has never had university status. And QMC dates back from 1885. Timrollpickering 23:56, 13 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Correct Grammar?

The article says:

"The modern term roughly equates to those members of the so-called Russell Group of universities founded between 1850 and 1960, although the terms are by no means mutually exclusive."

Surely this sentence isn't logical. Should it not be something like: "although the terms are by no means equivalent" or "the terms are by no means mutually exclusive" without the "although". I'm taking the 'terms' to mean "Red Brick university" and "Russell Group". To say they are by no means mutually exclusive after stating that they are roughly the same makes little sense to me.

[edit] Misleading statement on Reading University

The article contains the following statement:

The University of Reading, founded in the late 19th century as an extension college of Oxford, received its charter in 1926. Despite being the first university to be based on a self-contained campus, Reading is often classed as one of the civic universities and is therefore "Red Brick", ...

This may well be true, but it is somewhat misleading in the context of this article. The original London Road site of the university hardly qualifies as a 'self-contained campus', and is much more akin to the sort of 'edge of the city centre' sites of the other red brick 'civic' universities quoted. I suspect that the author of the above statement is actually referring to the much larger, 'edge of town', Whiteknights campus. This does qualify as a self-contained campus but wasn't acquired by the University until 1947. -- Chris j wood 13:38, 24 July 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Russell Group

Is this a prerequisite in the term's use? I'm sure I remember Queen's being called a Red Brick before it joined the RG and Exeter, Hull, Leicester, Reading, Aberystwyth, Bangor, Swansea and Lampeter all aren't in the RG. Timrollpickering 22:36, 24 July 2007 (UTC)

[edit] 6 civic unis

Everyone knows the term applies to the six 'civic' unis which are listed at the start of the article but can anyone actually find a citation? I can't seem to find one using google... 172.141.153.180 19:27, 11 August 2007 (UTC)