Red Brick University - Other Institutions

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, 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 (later Royal University of Ireland). Many of the original constituent institutions of the University of Wales bear the Red Brick hallmarks: Aberystwyth; Bangor; Swansea; Cardiff. Certain constituent colleges of the University of London, such as Royal Holloway, Queen Mary and Goldsmiths College 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 (originally an independent university college, before becoming a constituent college of the University of St Andrews), University of Exeter and University of Hull, (both originally extension colleges of the University of London), University of Leicester, Newcastle University (originally two extension colleges of the University of Durham), University of Nottingham, and University of Southampton.

In 1963, the Robbins Report recommended expansion of the British university system. The universities established after this report are often known as the 'Plate Glass' universities.