The story
History
Origins
Brunel University of London is one of several British universities that were founded in the 1960s in response to the Robbins Report on expanding higher education. It is sometimes described as a "plate glass university". The university's origins lie in Acton Technical College (now part of West London College), established in 1928, which split off its advanced teaching in 1956. In 1957, this new institution was named Brunel College, after the British engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel.
In 1962, Brunel College of Technology was awarded the status of College of Advanced Technology, and it was decided that a new campus should be built for the college. Uxbridge was chosen to house the new buildings and construction began in 1965. The campus buildings, including the lecture centre, were designed in the brutalist style of architecture by Richard Sheppard, Robson & Partners, Architects.
The Uxbridge (Vine Street) railway branch line was closed in 1964, and the college purchased the land adjacent to its site where the railway had run for £65,000 from the local council.
The university's history can be traced back further to the eighteenth century through several predecessor institutions, including Borough Road College (established 1798; later the West London Institute of Higher Education), Maria Grey College (established 1878), and the Shoreditch Training College (established 1902; later the Shoreditch College of Education, housed at the former site of the Royal Indian Engineering College) which through a series of mergers became different campuses (Runnymede, Twickenham, and Isleworth) and eventually schools and departments of modern-day Brunel University based at the main campus in Uxbridge.
1966 to present
A royal charter granting university status and the power to award degrees was awarded on 9 June 1966, and the institution became Brunel University.
The university continued to use both campuses until 1971, when it left the Acton site. In 1980, the university merged with Shoreditch College of Education (Shoreditch Training College), located at Cooper's Hill, Runnymede, which became Brunel's second campus.
In 1995, the university expanded again, integrating the West London Institute of Higher Education, and adding campuses in Osterley and Twickenham, and increasing the number of courses that the university was able to offer. Traditionally the university's strengths were in engineering, science, and technology, but with the addition of the West London Institute, new departments such as arts, humanities, geography and earth science, health and sports science were added, and the size of the student body increased to more than 12,000.
Brunel has been the subject of controversy as its approach to higher education has been both market-driven and politically conservative. The decision to award an honorary degree to Margaret Thatcher in 1996, following the University of Oxford's refusal to do so, provoked an outcry by staff and students and, as a result, the ceremony had to be held in the House of Lords instead of on campus. In the late 1990s, the departments of physics, chemistry and materials engineering were all closed and in 2004 the then vice-chancellor, Steven Schwartz, initiated the reorganisation of the university's faculties and departments into schools, and closed the Department of Geography and Earth Sciences. The succeeding vice-chancellor, the sociologist Christopher Jenks, took office in 2006. He was followed by Julia Buckingham, previously at Imperial College London, who took up the position of vice-chancellor at Brunel in 2012.
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In 2014, the university underwent an internal reorganisation and its name was changed to Brunel University London (BUL) by a supplemental charter dated 16 July 2014. In 2016, Brunel celebrated its 50th anniversary since being awarded its royal charter, and staged a 14-month programme of more than 40 celebratory events.
In December 2020, the university's chancellor, Sir Richard Sykes, led an independent review of the UK's Vaccine Taskforce strategy and goals, and in June 2021 he was appointed as the taskforce's new chair, leading work to find, procure and deliver vaccines and oversee preparations for vaccine booster programmes as part of UK's COVID-19 vaccination programme.
In April 2021, it was announced that Julia Buckingham would be stepping down as vice-chancellor and president after nearly 10 years in the role. She was succeeded by Andrew Jones, who took up the position in January 2022.
Brunel became part of the University of London in October 2024, and began using the name Brunel University of London (BUL) as its trading name.
Student recreational and general facilities
Brunel has a gym, spa, and running track with professional training and medical facilities. On campus there is also a pharmacy, a shop, one bar called Locos, a nightclub called Venue, and a café named "1966" after the year of the university's founding. Historically Brunel Student Hall and The Sports Barn were key venues for band tours in the 1970–1990s with some of the biggest names in rock music including, Fairport Convention, Fleetwood Mac, the Who, Deep Purple, Genesis, ELO, the Kinks, Thin Lizzy, Joy Division, the Pretenders, the Specials, the Stone Roses. The Sex Pistols played the first gig of their 'Never Mind the Bans Tour' at Brunel on 16 December 1977.
The Bannerman Centre at the heart of the campus contains a 4 floor library (opened in 1973 by Heinrich Böll) with c.400,000 books and 1,500 study spaces, usually open 24/7 during term-time. The Bannerman Annexe contains the Professional Development (Careers) Centre, PC labs, large teaching rooms with collaborative technology and various student service functions such as the Assistive Technology Centre.
From Wikipedia’s article on Brunel University of London, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.5