| London South Bank University | |
|---|---|
| Established | 30 September 1892 (Borough Polytechnic Institute)[1] |
| Type | Public |
| Chancellor | Justin Campbell |
| Vice-Chancellor | Martin John Earwicker |
| Admin. staff | 1,700 |
| Students | 24,748[2] |
| Undergraduates | 17,571[2] |
| Postgraduates | 5,692[2] |
| Other students | 1,484 FE[2] |
| Location | Southwark, London, England, UK |
| Campus | Urban |
| Website | http://www.lsbu.ac.uk/ |
London South Bank University (LSBU) is a university in south London. With over 25,000 students and 1,700 staff,[2] it is based in the London Borough of Southwark, near the South Bank of the River Thames, from which it takes its name. Founded from charitable donations in 1892 as the "Borough Polytechnic Institute", it absorbed several other local colleges in the 1970s and 1990s, and achieved university status in 1992.[1] LSBU is a post-1992 or new university and puts strong focus on their students' employability. The current Vice-Chancellor is Prof Martin Earwicker.
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LSBU was founded in 1892 as the Borough Polytechnic Institute. It has since undergone several name changes, becoming the Polytechnic of the South Bank in 1970, South Bank Polytechnic in 1987, South Bank University in 1992 and London South Bank University in 2003. The University has also merged with a number of other educational institutions.
In 1888, Edric Bayley, a local solicitor and member of the London School Board, set up the South London Polytechnics Committee whose members included the Lord Mayor of London, Archbishop of Canterbury, Lord Salisbury, Lord Rosebery and Sir Lyon Playfair. The Committee was successfully in persuading the Charity Commissioners to pledge to match whatever could be raised from the public, up to the sum of £200,000 to establish polytechnics in South London. A public meeting at Mansion House kick-started the public appeal and by 1891 enough money had been raised to establish polytechnics at Battersea and at Borough Road, Southwark, now LSBU.
During 1890, the former buildings of Joseph Lancaster's British and Foreign Schools Society were purchased for the Borough Polytechnic Institute. In May that year, the South London Polytechnics Institutes Act was passed, so that by June 1891 the governing structure and general aims of the new Institute had been created. These aims were "the promotion of the industrial skills, general knowledge, health, and well-being of young men and women" and also for "instruction suitable for persons intending to emigrate". W. M. Richardson was chosen to be clerk to the Governing Body, Mr C. T. Millis was appointed as Headmaster, Miss Helen Smith was appointed Lady Superintendent and Mr Edric Bayley was appointed the first Chair of Governors.[3]
On 30 September 1892, the Borough Polytechnic Institute was officially opened by Lord Rosebery, with a remit to educate the local community in a range of practical skills. The Polytechnic was given a seal based on the Bridge House emblem of the City of London and a motto taken from Ecclesiastes — "Do it with thy Might". A gala event was held to mark the occasion which was widely reported in the press because of Lord Rosebery's speech on the banning of smoking in the new Institute. One of the speeches made included the hope that "the Polytechnic would do its share towards perfecting many a valuable gem found in the slums of London".[4]
The Polytechnic specialised in courses that reflected local trades including leather tanning, typography, metalwork, electrical engineering, laundry, baking, and boot & shoe manufacture. Instruction was also given in art, science, elocution, literature and general knowledge and the Polytechnic held public lectures by the likes of George Bernard Shaw, J. A. Hobson, Henry M. Stanley, and Ralph Vaughan Williams.[4]
On 10 October 1894, the National School of Bakery and Confectionery (later the National Bakery School) was opened with 78 pupils. In 1897, the Polytechnic was let to sightseers who wished to see the Diamond Jubilee parade for Queen Victoria and in 1902 the Borough Road building was once again let to sightseers who wished to see the Coronation parade of King Edward VII. Through a donation from Mr Edric Bayley, the Edric Hall was built in 1908, along with the Lancaster Street extension buildings which gave the Polytechnic new bakery rooms, gymnasium, workshops and its triangular campus site.
In 1911, the Governors commissioned Roger Fry to create a set of seven murals to decorate the student dining room with the theme of "London on Holiday". These comprised:
In 1931, they were sold to the Tate Gallery
During the First World War, the Polytechnic manufactured munitions and gas masks for the war effort and ran courses for the army. After the War, the National Certificate system was taken up, engineering courses were offered to women in the 1920s and printing classes were dropped and run at Morley College. J. W. Bispham was elected the new Principal in 1922 when C. T. Millis retired and a rebuilding scheme was undertaken including a new facade for the Borough Road building. Class numbers increased to 8,682 students by 1927 and on 20 February 1930 the Duke of York officially opened the Polytechnic's new buildings. In 1933, Dr D.H. Ingall took over as Principal and a sports ground at Turney Road Dulwich was obtained for the Polytechnic. In 1933, farriery was dropped as it was too difficult to bring horses into the building.
During the Second World War, a third of the Polytechnic's campus was destroyed or damaged from the Blitz. Southwark was bombed seven times and its population halved by the end of the War. At the start of the War the boys and girls from the Polytechnic's Trade Schools were evacuated to Exeter. From 1940 to 1941, the Polytechnic was bombed five times but continued to provide hundred of meals a day to the homeless of Southwark during this period.
From 1945 to 1954, British painter David Bomberg taught art at the Polytechnic forming the 'Borough Group' of artists with his pupils. In 1956, the Polytechnic was designated a Regional College of Technology and Dr J. E. Garside was installed as the new Principal until 1965, when Mr Vivian Pereira-Mendoza took over. Further extensions to the buildings were made during the 1960s with the opening of the National College Wing in 1961 and the extension buildings and Tower Block in 1969, which were officially opened by Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh.
In 1970, the Brixton School of Building (founded in 1904), the City of Westminster College (founded in 1918) and the National College of Heating, Ventilating, Refrigeration and Fan Engineering (founded in 1947) merged with the Polytechnic to become the Polytechnic of the South Bank. The new institution adopted a coat of arms designed to include two Thames barges set above a pentagon surrounded by five other pentagons. An official designation service took place the following year, at which Margaret Thatcher was the guest speaker. In 1972 the purpose-built Wandsworth Road site opened, providing space for the Polytechnic's Faculty of the Built Environment, which at the time was the biggest and most comprehensive faculty in Europe for teaching built environment subjects such as surveying, town planning, architecture and other property related professional disciplines. In 1975, the extensive London Road building was opened, providing space for expanding business courses and the library. In 1976, part of Rachel MacMillan College of Education merged with the Polytechnic along with the Battersea College of Education bringing with them sites at Manresa House, Roehampton and Manor House, Clapham Common.
In 1978, Mrs Pauline Perry, later Baroness Perry of Southwark was appointed Director, who after 1992 became the University's first Vice-Chancellor. In 1985, South Bank Technopark opened on London Road and in 1987 the Polytechnic changed its name again to become South Bank Polytechnic. In the same year, the British Youth Opera (BYO) was founded and made a home at the Polytechnic's Southwark campus. In 1990, the Polytechnic was accredited for Research Degrees and in 1991 the Central Catering College at Waterloo and South West London College merged with it.
In 1992, the Polytechnic was granted university status and accordingly changed its name to South Bank University. That year also saw the new University celebrate its centenary and adopted the marketing slogan, "the University without Ivory Towers". In 1993, Prof Gerald Bernbaum was appointed Vice-Chancellor and the Centenary Library was renamed the Perry Library. Redwood College of Health Studies and Great Ormond Street School of Nursing merged with the University in 1995 leading to the establishment of two satellite campuses teaching Health at Havering and Whipps Cross (which closed in 2011). In 2001, Prof Deian Hopkin became Vice-Chancellor and the Wandsworth Road site was sold. On 1 September 2003, the University underwent its most recent name change to become London South Bank University (LSBU)[1] and in that year officially opened the Keyworth Centre, a modern teaching facility. Professor Martin Earwicker was appointed Vice-Chancellor in 2009, the year in which another major building on their Southwark campus, the Grimshaw-designed K2, was opened to house the Faculty of Health & Social Care and the Centre for Efficient and Renewable Energy in Buildings (CEREB).
The main campus populates a triangular section of roads in the Borough of Southwark, immediately north of the Elephant and Castle. London's South Bank is a walk away at Waterloo. To the north of the campus is Borough Road, where the main entrance is situated and the original building of the Borough Polytechnic Institute. To the west is London Road and to the east is Southwark Bridge Road. At the northwest corner is St George's Circus.
Schiller International University had a campus in the Technopark Building on the London South Bank University property.[5][6] In August 2011 Schiller stated that it was closing its London campus and will not start the Autumn 2011 semester there, due to stricter student visa requirements in the United Kingdom.[7]
There is a smaller satellite campus in east London: at Havering (LSBU at Havering), diagonally opposite the Harold Wood railway station.
The university has four faculties covering Health & Social Care;[8] Business;[9] Arts & Human Sciences,[10] and Engineering, Science & the Built Environment.[11]
At the end of 2009 it opened K2, a new sustainable teaching building which houses the training and demonstrating Centre for Efficient and Renewable Energy in Buildings (CEREB).[12]
The British painter David Bomberg taught Art at the Borough Polytechnic between 1945 and 1954.[13] One of the university's halls of residence, David Bomberg House, carries his name and a handful of his works are on display at the University. Major paintings by Bomberg were acquired by the Tate Gallery after his death.
LSBU is a major provider of Knowledge Transfer Programmes (KTPs). In total, it is currently managing funds for its projects in excess of £6.2 million. The University is engaged in a 15-year development programme investing nearly £50m to enhance its campuses and to provide facilities for its students and employees.
The University's main campus is situated close to many of London's major landmarks and tourist attractions on the South Bank.
LSBU works in partnership with many institutions in the UK, Europe, Africa, the Americas and Asia. It currently works closely with a number of Chinese Higher Education Institutions, including Beijing Institute of Technology, Hunan University, Beijing University of Posts & Telecommunications, Northwestern Polytechnical University, National Academy of Education Administration etc. The collaborative educational programmes both at undergraduate and postgraduate levels have been running for over ten years with the Chinese partners.
LSBU is the first university sponsored by the Office of Chinese Language Council International (Hanban) to establish a Confucius Institute for Traditional Chinese Medicine in London.[14]
A third of LSBU's students are from the London Borough of Southwark, with almost two thirds coming from Greater London and the UK and around 12% of students from the EU and overseas, which equate to over 3,000 EU and other international students, from more than 130 different countries.[15] 56% of the student population are from ethnic minorities and a large proportion of the students are classified as mature (21 or over when they start their course).[16]
Graduates from the Faculty of Health and Social Care are celebrated in May at a day at the Royal Festival Hall. The majority of graduates meet in July at St George's Cathedral for its graduation ceremonies which are organised across a week. Each graduation is followed by a reception in the grounds of the Imperial War Museum.
The 2010 DLHE survey of destination of leavers in higher education concluded that London South Bank University has improved in many important areas.[2] These include: LSBU's ‘employment indicator’ for full-time undergraduate students has improved from 74.4% to 82.4%. Overall unemployment has fallen from 12.9% to 9.8%. All other measures except for ‘part-time other undergraduate’ (HND, HNC, Foundation Degree etc.) have also improved. The overall response rate has improved with 3303 respondents (82.6%) against 2881 (81%) the previous year.
London South Bank University has ranked as 6th in the UK for graduate starting salaries.[17] The Guardian's league table of teaching excellence ranks the University 114th out of 118 British institutions. It also rates LSBU in the top 20 per cent of universities for added value.[18] The Sunday Times' league table, measuring a number of different factors including teaching quality, research quality and employment rates, ranks the University 115th out of 122.[19]
| 2011 | 2010 | 2009 | 2008 | 2007 | 2006 | 2005 | 2004 | 2003 | 2002 | 2001 | 2000 | 1999 | 1998 | 1997 | 1996 | 1995 | 1994 | 1993 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Guardian University Guide | 114[20] | 117 | 116[21] | 105 | - | 95[22] | 75 | 84[23] | 114 | ||||||||||
| Times Good University Guide | 113[24] | 113 | 113[25] | 103 | 101 | 95 | 97 | 93 | 95 | 94 | 92 | 92 | 79 | 80= | 93 | 80= | 79 | 70= | 81= |
| Sunday Times University Guide | 120 [26] | 115 [27] | 117 | 111 | 106 | 100 | 113 | 105 | 112 | 110= | 92 | 90 | 80= | ||||||
| The Complete University Guide | 114[28] | 113 | 113[29] | 112 | |||||||||||||||
| The Daily Telegraph | 111[30] | 93 | |||||||||||||||||
| FT | 95 | 79 | 76 | 71 |
David Adjaye (studied Architecture), Frank Auerbach (studied Art), Shaun Bailey (studied Computer-aided Technology), Sue Black, Paul Burstow, Simone Callender, Mel Calman (studied Illustration), Edd China, Sir Lawrence Wensley Chubb, June Clark, Ann Coffey, Dennis Creffield (studied Art), Dave Cross, Neil Gerrard, Graham Hawkes, Cliff Holden (studied Art), Jordan Kensington, Leon Kossoff (studied Art), Don Lawrence(studied Illustration), Nick Leslau (studied Surveying), Russel Lissack (studied Sociology), Norma Major (studied Teaching) Shahid Malik (studied Business Studies), Jimeoin, Zacarias Moussaoui, Sarah Mullally (studied Nursing), Richard Negri, Neil Nunes, Bill Pitt, Bridget Prentice (studied Law), Umer Rashid, Miles Richmond (studied Art), Joan Ryan (studied Sociology), Greg Searle, Enoch Showunmi (studied Business), Edward Skoyles, Phil Spencer (studied Estates Management), Colin Talbot, Kate Walsh (studied Sports Product Design), Mike Weatherley, Alison Williamson (studied Social Work). Louise Woodward[31] (studied Law).
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