University College Bangor - History

History

The university was founded as the "University College of North Wales" (UCNW) on 18 October 1884 with an inaugural address by the Earl of Powis, the College's first President, in Penrhyn Hall. There was then a procession to the college with 3,000 quarryman (quarrymen from Penrhyn Quarry and other quarries had subscribed over £1200 to the university). The result of a campaign for better higher education provision in Wales and following some rivalry between North Wales towns as to which was to be the base of the new college, it was incorporated by charter a year later.

Its students received degrees from the University of London until 1893 when UCNW became a founding constituent institution of the federal University of Wales.

During the Second World War, paintings from national arts galleries were located at the Prichard-Jones Hall to protect them from enemy bombing; they were later moved to slate mines at Blaenau Ffestiniog. Students from University College, London were evacuated to continue their studies in a safer environment at Bangor.

During the 1960s, the university shared in the general expansion of higher education in the UK following the Robbins Report, with a number of new departments created and new buildings built. On 22 November 1965, during construction of the extension to the Department of Electronic Engineering in Dean Street, a crane collapsed on the building. The three-ton counterweight hit the second floor lecture theatre of the original building about thirty minutes before it would have been occupied by about 80 first year students. The counterweight went through to the ground floor.

In 1967, the Bangor Normal College, now part of the university, was the venue for the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi's lectures in Transcendental Meditation, at which The Beatles learnt of the death of their manager, Brian Epstein.

Student protest in the 1970s focused mainly on the role of the Welsh language at the university, with many calling for Welsh-medium teaching and a more thorough approach to bilingualism at the institution. Around this time, too, consideration began of mergers with two Bangor colleges of education – St. Mary's College, a college for women student-teachers and the larger and older Normal College/Coleg Normal. The merger of St. Mary's was concluded in 1977, but the Coleg Normal merger fell through. Ultimately, Coleg Normal merged with the university in 1996.

The change of name to Bangor University or Prifysgol Bangor was instigated by the university following the decision of the University of Wales to change from a federal university to a confederal, non-membership organisation, and the granting of degree awarding powers to Bangor University itself. The university has decided to take advantage of these powers, and every student starting 2009 will have a degree from Bangor University, whereas any student who started before 2009 has the option to choose Bangor University or University of Wales Bangor to have on their final graduation certificate.