West London Institute of Higher Education
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The West London Institute of Higher Education was located in Isleworth, West London, UK from 1976 until 1995 when it was merged with Brunel University.
West London Institute was created in 1976 from the merger of Borough Road and Maria Grey teacher training colleges and Chiswick Polytechnic. Borough Road College, on the Osterley campus, dated back 1889 in that location, and to 1804 in its previous home on Borough Road in Southwark. As a College of Higher Education, West London awarded its own degrees. Operating over two campuses, one in East Twickenham, Middlesex and the other in Osterley on the Great West Road in Isleworth it had a strong reputation for sport, and trained star athletes, particularly in track and field and rugby. The Borough Road name persisted on the rugby field and on the sports strip.
By the 1980s WLIHE operating standard degree and diploma programmes in a variety of disciplines. Osterley campus was more 'sporty' and business oriented, while the arts and humanities were clustered a mile away at the old Maria Grey College site at East Twickenham. The Institute's offerings included Geography, Geology, History, Sports Studies, Business Studies, Physiotherapy, American Studies, English, and Social Work. The British and Foreign Schools Society operated a National Religious Education Centre on the Osterley site. A few Masters programmes were offered, for example an MSc in Environmental Change developed by the geographers, and a small number of PhDs were awarded across the disciplines. For its size and status (Higher Education colleges in the UK were not really expected to be high research performers), the Institute performed relatively well, with several Departments achieving national recognition in the British Research Assessment Exercises of the 1980s and 1990s, and a few staff held national research awards from the ESRC and other bodies.
For this reason, a merger approach by the Vice Chancellor of Brunel University, Michael Sterling, went amicably - WLIHE had expertize and subjects that Brunel did not. In 1995 WLIHE ceased to exist - for the next two years, the WLIHE campuses and departments became Brunel University College, under the stewardship of a Provost, Prof. Eric Billett, and then simply Brunel University. Since the elaboration of a strategic plan five years ago, Brunel decided to centralise its operations on its Uxbridge campus, 8 miles away. By this time, many staff had already moved to Uxbridge. The old WLIHE East Twickenham campus - which contains several older buildings and has a riverfront location - was sold off in 2005. Osterley campus suffered the same fate in 2006.
The merger with Brunel was generally seen as a positive development by staff, given the attraction of a University name for student recruitment and prestige. Almost all staff continued in their jobs, eventually moving up to Uxbridge, although the greater expectation of research output at a 'proper' university forced a few into early retirement. The merger ended most teacher training activity. The subsequent sale of the two campuses is mourned.
The college's luminaries include
- Ian Taylor (1976) GB Hockey goalkeeper and Olympic gold medalist
- Kevin Browring (1978) Wales National Ruby Union coach
- Kathy Smallwood-Cook (1981) 13 medals at the Olympics, World, European and Commonwealth Games in athletics
- Paul Stimpson (1981) GB and England Basketball Captain and most capped player of all time
- Paul Honeyford, a successful author and linguist,
- Richard Hill (flanker),
- Olympic athlete Iwan Thomas, double Silver medalist in 1996 Olympics and 1997 World Championships
- Dave Heaven, a musician.
