Home > About the university > History & origins of Birmingham City University

History & origins of the University

The University was established by statute in March 1992. This page shows how the University has been formed by combining smaller institutions in Birmingham to create the major educational force we have today.

The First Polytechnic 1843-1853

In 1843, a Polytechnic Institute was founded in Birmingham as a result of the collapse of the Mechanics' Institute. It was supported by leading members of the Liberal elite who dominated the city, including George Dawson. Dawson, after whom one of the buildings on our City North campus is named, was a powerful non-conformist preacher and the main inspiration behind the 'Civic Gospel' which transformed Birmingham in the 1870s.

The Polytechnic Library had about 4,000 volumes and originally taught classes in languages, chemistry and advanced mathematics. Charles Dickens delivered a speech at the Polytechnic, which in 1845 had 496 members and in 1848, 664 – of whom 108 were women. Regrettably, however, support dwindled and the Polytechnic Institute was forced to close in 1853 to be succeeded almost immediately by the Birmingham and Midland Institute, which is still in existence.

The Second Polytechnic 1971-1974

Towards the middle of the 1960s, the then Secretary of State for Education, Tony Crosland, created a new sector of higher education - the polytechnics. They were intended to complement the more academically orientated universities and focus on professional and vocational programmes of study, offered on both a full-time and part-time basis.

Birmingham Polytechnic was designated in 1971 and was initially formed out of five colleges, the Birmingham College of Art, the Birmingham School of Music, the Birmingham College of Commerce, South Birmingham Technical College and North Birmingham Technical College. Each of these institutions has a distinctive and complex history, which is summarised briefly below.

Birmingham College Of Art

In October 1843, the Birmingham Society of Artists accepted the regulations of the Government to open the Birmingham Government School of Design. Some ten years later the School was renamed the 'Birmingham Government School of Ornamental Art'.

A new Headmaster, E R Taylor, was appointed in 1877, and his persistence, coupled with growing student numbers, helped convince the Birmingham Council to sponsor a new art school. The building was designed by John Chamberline and erected in Margaret Street in the town centre. It is a beautiful Venetian Gothic edifice, whose internal and external decoration reflects Ruskinian ideas on the variety of nature as the fount of all art. Opened in 1884, the School became the first municipal school in the country one year later and is now a Grade I Listed Building.

'Margaret Street', as the building is lovingly known, still houses our Department of Art and underwent costly restoration and refurbishment in the 1990s to restore it to its former glory. The quality of the restoration was recognised by the grant of a RIBA Architecture Award.

In due course, the College of Art expanded into further areas of work and outgrew its Margaret Street premises. As a result, the labyrinth of buildings currently used at Gosta Green (or more properly, 'The Aston Triangle') was inhabited in the early 60s. On merger with Bournville College of Art (see later), the title 'Birmingham Institute of Art and Design' was adopted. It is a little invidious to select any of the constituent parts of our Institute or its predecessors for special mention, but two demand further attention, the School of Jewellery and the School of Architecture.

Birmingham School of Jewellery was originally founded by the Birmingham Jewellers' and Silversmiths' Association. In 1888, the School was designated a branch school of the College of Art and was based in Ellen Street. Two years later a new building was opened in Vittoria Street which has now been the School's home for more than a century. In 1992, work commenced on the superb new building which was opened formally in March 1995 by Lord Tombs of Brailes, the Prime Warden of the Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths. The building is the largest School of Jewellery in Europe and its listed facade houses a wonderful complex of workshops, teaching and exhibition accommodation. The building has gained both a RIBA Architecture Award and a Civic Trust Award.

School of Architecture was established in the College of Art in 1909 and won RIBA recognition in 1923 and 1930 to become of the major Schools of Architecture in the UK. Success led to affiliation with the University of Aston for a decade, although remaining part of the College of Art. On entry into the Polytechnic, the School became a leading department of the new Faculty of the Built Environment.

Birmingham Conservatoire developed a department of the Birmingham and Midland Institute around 1859. In 1886 it as formally constituted as the Birmingham School of Music and in 1900 Sir Granville Bantock was appointed as its first Principal, a post he held for 34 years.

The first phase of the present building in Paradise Circus was opened in 1973 by HM The Queen Mother and a second phase, including the magnificent Adrian Boult Hall, was commissioned twelve years later. A third phase was opened early in 1995 by HRH The Prince Edward CVO and comprises a lecture theatre, a series of practice rooms and a new library.

The title 'Birmingham Conservatoire' was formally adopted in 1989, with Sir Simon Rattle as the Conservatoire's first President. The title recognises the Conservatoire's parity of standing and mission with the other British conservatoires as a centre of excellence for the training of performance musicians.

Birmingham College of Commerce was established sometime in the early part of this century and became a branch school of the Birmingham Central Technical College (CTC) with its main teaching centre in Edmund Street. In 1941 it was affiliated to the University Of Birmingham's Faculty of Commerce, and in 1953 it occupied a new building next to the Municipal Bank in Broad Street. Planning for a new CTC at Gosta Green began as early as 1933 but was halted by the Second World War. However, the CTC was formally opened by HM The Queen in 1955 and The College of Commerce moved to the site in the early 1960s. In 1961, the technology divisions of the CTC were designated as the first College of Advanced Technology in the country which, in 1966, became Aston University. The College Of Commerce remained separate, however, becoming part of the Polytechnic in 1971.

South Birmingham Technical College was opened in 1961 on a site which is now occupied by Bournville College of Further Education. The site was vacated in the early 1970s, when the departments moved to new buildings at the City North campus.

North Birmingham Technical College - In 1966 Aston Technical College was moved to new premises at Perry Barr and renamed North Birmingham Technical College. The buildings still form a major part of our accommodation on that campus and are now known as 'Attwood' and 'Baker' buildings.

The Second Polytechnic (1975-1987)

In 1975 Birmingham City Council introduced a further three colleges into the Polytechnic. This decision was prompted by the national reorganisation of teacher education and involved the Anstey College of Physical Education, the Bordesley College of Education and the City of Birmingham College of Education.

Anstey College of Physical Education was founded as a pioneering private college for women in 1897 at The Leasowes. From 1907 it was sited at Erdington.

Bordesley College of Education was founded a Local Education Authority (LEA) Day Training College for women teachers in 1963. It was sited in a converted Grammar School at Bordesley.

City of Birmingham College of Education was founded as an LEA Emergency Teacher Training College in 1948 in temporary accommodation in the Bristol Road. Permanent buildings were erected in 1950 and the College moved to Edgbaston in 1957. The Anstey and Bordesley sites are no longer used and the Faculty of Education moved to the City North campus in September 2001.

The Second Birmingham Polytechnic: Stage 3

In 1988 Bournville College of Art merged with the Faculty of Art and Design to create the Birmingham Institute of Art and Design. Bournville College was founded in the first decade of the 20th century and was housed in Ruskin Hall, which was originally opened in 1903 as an education centre for working men. This venture failed, but created the opportunity for the establishment of the art college which is still an important campus of the University, housing the Bournville Centre for Visual Arts of the Birmingham Institute of Art and Design.

Incorporation and Independence

From its designation in 1971, Birmingham Polytechnic formed the apex of Birmingham Local Education Authority's provision. However, the Polytechnic ceased to be part of this system on the 1st of April 1989 when the Education Reform Act made all polytechnics independent corporations with charitable status. Close links, however, have been maintained with Birmingham City Council, which are epitomised by the annual inauguration of the Lord Mayor of Birmingham as the University's Chancellor.

University Status

On the 6th of March 1992, Royal Assent was given to the Further and Higher Education Act which empowered all polytechnics to adopt the title of 'university' if they so chose. This permission was given on the understanding that the polytechnics would retain their distinctive missions and, in particular, maintain their commitment to widening access to higher education. The new title of the 'University of Central England in Birmingham' was approved by the Privy Council on the 16th of June 1992.

The University Expands Again

During the summer of 1995 the University expanded further, when it merged with two more colleges, the Birmingham and Solihull College of Nursing and Midwifery and the West Midlands School of Radiography. For an interim period students from the former College were taught on three sites at Good Hope Hospital, the Queen Elizabeth Hospital and Edgbaston campus . New accommodation was opened at Bevan House on the Edgbaston campus in the summer of 1998, enabling all teaching of Nursing and Midwifery to be concentrated at Edgbaston campus .

The Technology Innovation Centre

In 2000 the Technology Innovation Centre (tic) was created from the former Faculty of Engineering and Computer Technology. The next year the faculty moved to the new Millennium Point campus.

The Faculty of Education took up tic's old premises at Perry Barr leaving Westbourne Road. In 2001 The Defence School of Health Care Studies joined the Faculty of Health.