Mechanics' Institutes

Mechanics' institutes are educational establishments, originally formed to provide adult education, particularly in technical subjects, to working men. Similar organisation are sometimes simply called "institutes". As such, they were often funded by local industrialists on the grounds that they would ultimately benefit from having more knowledgeable and skilled employees (such philanthropy was shown by, among others, Robert Stephenson, James Nasmyth, John Davis Barnett and Joseph Whitworth). The mechanics' institutes were used as "libraries" for the adult working class, and provided them with an alternative pastime to gambling and drinking in pubs.

The world's first mechanics' institute was established in Edinburgh, Scotland, in October 1821 as the School of Arts of Edinburgh (later Heriot-Watt University), with the provision of technical education for working people and professionals. Its purpose was to "address societal needs by incorporating fundamental scientific thinking and research into engineering solutions". The school revolutionised access to education in science and technology for ordinary people.

The second institute in Scotland was incorporated in Glasgow in November 1823, built on the foundations of a group started at the turn of the previous century by George Birkbeck. Under the auspices of the Andersonian University (est. 1796), Birkbeck had first instituted free lectures on arts, science and technical subjects in 1800. This mechanics' class continued to meet after he moved to London in 1804, and in 1823 they decided to formalise their organisation by incorporating themselves as the Mechanics' Institute.

The first mechanics' institute in England was opened at Liverpool in July 1823. The London Mechanics' Institute (later Birkbeck College) followed in December 1823, and the mechanics' institutes in Ipswich and Manchester (later to become UMIST) in 1824. 

In 1823, Sir George Birkbeck, a physician and graduate of the University of Edinburgh and an early pioneer of adult education, founded the then "London Mechanics' Institute" at a meeting at the Crown and Anchor Tavern on the Strand. More than two thousand people attended. However the idea was not universally popular and some accused Birkbeck of "scattering the seeds of evil."

In 1825, two years later, the institute moved to the Southampton Buildings on Chancery Lane. In 1830, the first female students were admitted. In 1858, changes to the University of London's structure resulting in an opening up of access to the examinations for its degree. The Institute became the main provider of part-time university education.

• In 1866, the Institute changed its name to the Birkbeck Literary and Scientific Institution.
• In 1876, the London Society for the Extension of University Education was founded, boosting the aims of encouraging working people to undertake higher education. 
• In 1885, Birkbeck moved to the Breams Building, on Fetter Lane, where it would remain for the next sixty-seven years.
• In 1903, the Department of Extra-Mural Studies of the University of London and it was integrated into Birkbeck (in 1988 as the School of Continuing Education). 
• In 1904, Birkbeck Students' Union was established.
• In 1907, Birkbeck's name was shortened to "Birkbeck College". 
• In 1913, a review of the University of London (which had been restructured in 1900) successfully recommended that Birkbeck become a constituent college, although the outbreak of the First World War delayed this until 1920. The Royal Charter was granted in 1926.
• In 1921, the college's first female professor, Dame Helen Gwynne-Vaughan, began teaching botany. Other distinguished faculty in the inter-war years included Nikolaus Pevsner, J. D. Bernal, and Cyril Joad.
• During WW2, Birkbeck was the only central University of London college not to relocate out of the capital. In 1941, the library suffered a direct hit during The Blitz but teaching continued. During the war the College organised lunch time extramural lectures for the public given by, among others, Joad, Pevsner and Harold Nicolson.

By the mid-19th century, there were over 700 institutes in towns and cities across the UK and overseas, some of which became the early roots of other colleges and universities. For example the University of Gloucestershire, which has the Cheltenham Mechanics' Institute (1834) and Gloucester Mechanics' Institute (1840) within its history timeline. It was as a result of delivering a lecture series at the Cheltenham Mechanics' Institute that the radical George Holyoake was arrested and then convicted on a charge of blasphemy.

The Industrial Revolution created a new class of reader in Britain by the end of the 18th century, "mechanics", who were civil and mechanical engineers in reality. The Birmingham Brotherly Society was founded in 1796 by local mechanics to fill this need, and was the forerunner of mechanics' institutes, which grew in England to over seven
hundred in number by 1850.

G. Jefferson explains that:

The first phase, the Mechanics Institute movement, grew in an atmosphere of interest by a greater proportion of the population in scientific matters revealed in the public lectures of famous scientists such as Faraday. More precisely, as a consequence of the introduction of machinery a class [of] workmen emerged to build, maintain and repair, the machines on which the blessing of progress depended, at a time when population shifts and the dissolving influences of industrialization in the new urban areas, where these were concentrated, destroyed the inadequate old apprentice system and threw into relief the connection between material advancement and the necessity of education to take part in its advantages.

Small tradesmen and workers could not afford subscription libraries, so for their benefit, benevolent groups and individuals created mechanics' institutes that contained inspirational and vocational reading matter, for a small rental fee. Later popular non-fiction and fiction books were added to these collections. The first known library of this type was the Birmingham Artisans' Library, formed in 1823.

Some mechanics' libraries lasted only a decade or two, many eventually became public libraries or were given to local public libraries after the Public Libraries Act 1850 passed. Though use of the mechanics' library was limited, the majority of the users were favourable towards the idea of free library use and service, and were a ready to read public when the establishment of free libraries occurred.

Beyond a lending library, mechanics' institutes also provided lecture courses, laboratories, and in some cases contained a museum for the members' entertainment and education. The Glasgow Institute, founded in 1823, not only had all three, it was also provided free light on two evenings a week from the local gas light company. The London Mechanics' Institute installed gas illumination by 1825, revealing the demand and need for members to use the books.

Agricultural Colleges ..
BCTC - Birmingham Central Technical College ..
Birmingham Polytechnic ..
CAT - College of Advanced Technology
Croydon Polytechnic ..
Higher Education - UK ..
Mechanics' Institutes ..
Polytechnics ..
Technical Colleges ..

A Short History of Technical Education .

Chapter 1 – Introduction .
Chapter 2 – The Industrial Revolution and the Role of Science and Technology in the Development of Technical Education. .
Chapter 3 – The Guilds and Apprenticeships .
Chapter 4 – Promoting Public Interest and Awareness in Science and Technology – Early Groups, Societies and Movements .
Chapter 5 – The Dissenting Academies, the Mechanics’ Institutions and Working Men’s Colleges .
Chapter 6 – The Mid 19th Century .
Chapter 7 – After the Great Exhibition – A Growing Recognition for the Need for Technical Education? .
Chapter 8 – The Developments at the End of the 19th Century. .
Chapter 9 – The Beginning of the 20th Century 1900-1921 .
Chapter 10 – Developments between 1920 and 1940 .
Chapter 11 – Developments in the 1940s and 1950s .
Chapter 12 Developments in the 1950s and 1960s .
Chapter 13 – Developments in the 1960s and the 1970s .
Chapter 14 – Developments in the 1980s .
Chapter 15 – The Developments in the 1990s .
Chapter 16 – Developments in the Late 1990s and Early 2000. .
Chapter 17 – Concluding Remarks .
A Short History of Technical Education –Glossary .
A Short History of Technical Education –Book References/Other Publications .
A Short History of Technical Education – Chronology .

• Engineering education in the United Kingdom .
• Higher education in the United Kingdom .
• Higher education colleges in the United Kingdom .
• History of education in the United Kingdom .

PE - Physical Education

.Real Reason For Gym Class - Cheddar > .

Physical education classes are declared compulsory in 97% of the world’s countries. In the U.S, it employs over 20,000 people. It’s a standard part of schooling, but just over 100 years ago, gym class was a rarity. What changed?

Pluck vs Luck - Meritocracy vs Elitism

2014 As if teachers' jobs aren't hard enough, they're asked to fix poverty, too - Vox > .

23-11-7 Scientific Progress & War - [Counterproductive for Ruscia] (subs) - Katz > .

22-3-28 Uyghur Children Brainwashed in Xinjiang - Uncensored > .

Usurpation 

23-9-5 Desperation: Child Labor & Military Training at School (subs) - Katz > .

Poaching Brains post-WW2 

Operation Paperclip: Recruiting Nazi Brains for the USA - 1 - WW2 Doc > .

Education Industry - Debts, Benefits - Weighs >> .

Red Ed - enDürer >> .

Diminishing Educational Returns ..

Pluck versus luck: Meritocracy emphasises the power of the individual to overcome obstacles, but the real story is quite a different one.

Occupants of the American meritocracy are accustomed to telling stirring stories about their lives. The standard one is a comforting tale about grit in the face of adversity – overcoming obstacles, honing skills, working hard – which then inevitably affords entry to the Promised Land. Once you have established yourself in the upper reaches of the occupational pyramid, this story of virtue rewarded rolls easily off the tongue. It makes you feel good (I got what I deserved) and it reassures others (the system really works).

But you can also tell a different story, which is more about luck than pluck, and whose driving forces are less your own skill and motivation, and more the happy circumstances you emerged from and the accommodating structure you traversed.

[The article's author is American, but the problem he describes seems even more applicable to the Cambridge-Five Public School conveyor belt of WW2 Britain.]

Polytechnics

A polytechnic was a tertiary education teaching institution in England, Wales (Welsh: coleg polytechnig) and Northern Ireland. Comparable institutions in Scotland were collectively referred to as Central Institutions.

Polytechnics offered higher diplomas, undergraduate degree and post graduate education (masters and PhDs) that was governed and administered at the national level by the Council for National Academic Awards. At the outset, the focus of polytechnics was on STEM subjects with a special emphasis on engineering. After the passage of the Further and Higher Education Act 1992 they became independent universities which meant they could award their own degrees. 

Some polytechnics trace their history back to the early 19th century. The London Polytechnic (now the University of Westminster) emerged from the Royal Polytechnic Institution which was founded at Regent Street, London in 1838. The establishment of the polytechnic was a reaction to the rise of industrial power and technical education in France, Germany and the USA. Degrees at the London Polytechnic were validated by the University of London.

Woolwich Polytechnic (later Thames Polytechnic, now The University of Greenwich) in south-east London, emerged in the 1890s and is considered the second-oldest polytechnic in the UK.

The first British institution to use the name "polytechnic" was the Royal Cornwall Polytechnic Society, which it still retains, together with the affectionate nickname "The Poly".

Most polytechnics were formed in the expansion of higher education in the 1960s, Academic degrees in polytechnics were validated by the UK Council for National Academic Awards (CNAA) from 1965 to 1992. The division between universities and polytechnics was known as the binary divide in UK higher education. The CNAA was chartered by the British government to validate and award degrees, and maintain national quality assurance standards. The CNAA subject boards from their inception were from the universities; a CNAA degree was formally recognised as equivalent to a university degree, and the courses were under strict scrutiny by assessors external to the polytechnics. Sub-degree courses at these institutions were validated by the Business & Technology Education Council (BTEC).

Some polytechnics were viewed as ranking below universities in the provision of higher education, because they lacked degree-awarding powers, concentrated on applied science and engineering education, produced less research than the universities, and because the qualifications necessary to gain a place in one were sometimes lower than for a university (the failure rate in the first year of undergraduate courses was high, due to a rigorous filtering process). However, in terms of an undergraduate education, this was a misconception, since many polytechnics offered academic degrees validated by the CNAA, from bachelor's and master's degrees to PhD research degrees. In addition, professional degrees in subjects such as engineering, town planning, law, and architecture were rigorously validated by various professional institutions. Many polytechnics argued that a CNAA degree was superior to many university degrees, especially in engineering, due to the external independent validation process employed by the CNAA, the oversight of the engineering institutions, and innovations such as sandwich degrees. Such innovations made a polytechnic education more relevant for professional work in applying science and advanced technology in industry.

In UK culture, an engineering, applied science and technological education tended to be looked down upon socially. Industries and activities such as "manufacturing" and "engineering" were perceived to be things of the past, boring, and "dirty". The connection to polytechnics did not help their cause in terms of achieving status in the public eye. This attitude and influence led to an expansion of the more popular subjects in the "creative" industries, such as fashion, arts and design, media studies, journalism, film studies, and sports management. The social influence caused many polytechnics to change their faculty of "Engineering" into a faculty of "Design and Technology".

The creation of polytechnics is generally regarded as a controversial experiment, with no clear consensus as to its overall effectiveness. The original focus of the polytechnic institutions was STEM subjects, especially degrees in engineering, applied science, and life sciences, but soon after they formed, they developed faculties in humanities, law, architecture, journalism and other professional practice occupations. With the Further and Higher Education Act 1992, this era ended when polytechnics became "new universities", broadening their educational scope and conferring degrees in their own right. 

The University of Ulster was formed in 1984 from a merger between the New University of Ulster and the Ulster Polytechnic - the only such "trans binary merger" that crossed the divide.

For many years, a central admissions system for polytechnics was not seen as necessary. However, a large increase in applications resulted from funding cuts to universities in the early 1980s. The Polytechnics Central Admissions System was introduced, and handled the years of entry from 1986 to 1992.

Under the Further and Higher Education Act 1992 they became fully fledged universities. After 1992, the former polytechnics ("new universities") awarded their own degrees. Most sub-degree BTEC qualifications have been phased out of the new universities, and transferred to colleges of further education.

The polytechnics changed their names when they gained university status. Some simply dropped "polytechnic" and added "university" to their titles. For example, the Huddersfield Polytechnic became the University of Huddersfield. However, this was often not possible as there was another university with the name. One alternative title was "Metropolitan University", because the institution was situated in a city or other large metropolitan area. Such examples are the Manchester Metropolitan University and London Metropolitan University. These titles are often shortened to "Met" (Man Met, London Met) or an acronym (MMU, LMU). Others adopted a name which reflects the local area, such as Nottingham Trent University (named after the River Trent which flows through Nottingham) and Sheffield Hallam University ("Hallam" refers to the area of South Yorkshire in which much of Sheffield is situated). Ulster Polytechnic remains the only polytechnic to unite with a university; this occurred in 1984.

The last degree-awarding institution to hold on to the name "polytechnic" after 1992 was Anglia Polytechnic University (which had only attained polytechnic status the previous year). The word was soon identified as being off-putting to potential students, and the university became known as Anglia Ruskin University from 2005. The named "polytechnics" (École Polytechnique) in continental Europe (ETHZ, EPFL, TU/e, TUM, DTU) and the USA (MIT, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Virginia Tech) are viewed and styled as globally elite universities specializing in STEM education, where science and engineering are premier, forward-looking, strategic professions. This is in stark contrast to the culture and social identity of engineers in the UK.

At their peak there were over thirty polytechnics in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, the English ones being primarily located in urban areas large enough to support industry or commerce, from which they usually took the city name. These are now universities.

Polytechnics that became universities in England:

• Anglia Ruskin University, formerly Anglia Polytechnic (located in Cambridge and Chelmsford)
• Birmingham City University, formerly Birmingham Polytechnic (Birmingham Polytechnic w)
• University of Brighton, formerly Brighton Polytechnic
• Bournemouth University, formerly Bournemouth Polytechnic
• University of Central Lancashire, formerly Lancashire Polytechnic and before that Preston Polytechnic (until 1984)
• City, University of London, formerly Northampton Polytechnic Institute
• Coventry University, formerly Coventry Polytechnic and Lanchester Polytechnic (until 1987)
• De Montfort University Leicester, formerly Leicester Polytechnic
• University of East London, formerly North East London Polytechnic and Polytechnic of East London
• University of Greenwich, formerly Woolwich Polytechnic (later Thames Polytechnic)
• University of Hertfordshire, formerly Hatfield Polytechnic
• University of Huddersfield, formerly Huddersfield Polytechnic
• Kingston University, formerly Kingston Polytechnic
• Leeds Beckett University, formerly Leeds Polytechnic and as Leeds Metropolitan University from 1998 to 2013
• Lincoln University was formed in part from Humberside Polytechnic which was briefly Humberside University
• Liverpool John Moores University, formerly Liverpool Polytechnic
• London Metropolitan University, formerly City of London Polytechnic and Polytechnic of North London
• Manchester Metropolitan University, formerly Manchester Polytechnic
• Middlesex University, formerly Middlesex Polytechnic
• University of Northumbria at Newcastle, formerly Newcastle Polytechnic
• Nottingham Trent University, formerly Trent Polytechnic (later Nottingham Polytechnic)
• Oxford Brookes University, formerly Oxford Polytechnic
• University of Plymouth, Plymouth Polytechnic (until 1989), then Polytechnic South West
• University of Portsmouth, formerly Portsmouth Polytechnic
• Sheffield Hallam University, formerly Sheffield Polytechnic
• South Bank University, formerly South Bank Polytechnic (in London)
• Staffordshire University, formerly Staffordshire Polytechnic
• University of Sunderland, formerly Sunderland Polytechnic
• Teesside University, formerly Teesside Polytechnic
• University of the West of England, formerly Bristol Polytechnic
• University of West London, formerly Polytechnic of West London
• University of Westminster, formerly Polytechnic of Central London and the Royal Polytechnic Institution – Regent Street
• University of Wolverhampton, formerly Wolverhampton Polytechnic

A college of advanced technology (CAT) was a type of higher education institution established in 1956 in England and Wales following the publication of a government white paper on technical education which listed 24 technical colleges in receipt of 75% grant for parts of their advanced work.

The government confirmed that the proportion of advanced work at these colleges should be increased so that they could develop as quickly as possible into colleges of advanced technology. Eventually ten of the 24 were confirmed as CATs. Birmingham College of Advanced Technology was the first to be so designated, in 1956.

Originally under the control of local education authorities, on 1 April 1962 the CATs were removed from local authority control and became autonomous national institutions funded directly by the Ministry of Education. Following the Robbins Report of 1963, the colleges of advanced technology were expanded and awarded university status in 1966, sometimes grouped together with other 1960s "plate glass universities".

CATs that became universities in England:

• Birmingham CAT became Aston University (the first designated college of advanced technology)
• Loughborough CAT became Loughborough University of Technology (afterwards Loughborough University)
• Northampton CAT (London) became City University London (now City, University of London)
• Chelsea CAT became Chelsea College of Science and Technology as part of the University of London then later was subsumed into King's College London
• Battersea CAT became the University of Surrey
• Brunel CAT became Brunel University
• Bristol CAT became the Bath University of Technology in 1966 (afterwards University of Bath)
• Welsh CAT (in Cardiff) became the University of Wales Institute of Science and technology (UWIST) before eventually merging with other institutions to become part of the University of Wales, then Cardiff University
• Salford CAT (the Royal College of Advanced Technology) became the University of Salford
• Bradford Institute of Technology became University of Bradford

Other polytechnics which became universities:

Wales:
University of South Wales, formerly Polytechnic of Wales and University of Glamorgan

Northern Ireland:
New University of Ulster which was a plate glass university. It absorbed the former Ulster Polytechnic, afterwards it was known as the University of Ulster. It is now known as Ulster University

In Scotland there were comparable Higher Education institutions called Central Institutions but these very rarely used the designation "Polytechnic" in their titles; these also converted into universities.

One institution that did briefly use the designation "Polytechnic" was Edinburgh Napier University. Between 1988 and 1992 the institution was known as Napier Polytechnic.

The polytechnic legacy was to advance and excel in undergraduate and post graduate degrees in engineering and technology (STEM) education that now form a core faculty at most universities in the UK. While many former polytechnics have advanced their research focus, many have stayed true to their original ethos by focusing on teaching for professional practice.

Like polytechnics or technological universities (institute of technology) in other countries, their aim was to teach both purely academic and professional vocational degrees (engineering, computer science, law, architecture, management, business, accounting, journalism, town planning, etc.). Their original focus was applied education for professional work and their original roots concentrated on advanced engineering and applied science (STEM subjects), though soon after being founded they also created departments concerned with the humanities. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polytechnic_%28United_Kingdom%29 .

Agricultural Colleges ..
BCTC - Birmingham Central Technical College ..
Birmingham Polytechnic ..
CAT - College of Advanced Technology
Croydon Polytechnic ..
Higher Education - UK ..
Mechanics' Institutes ..
Polytechnics ..
Technical Colleges ..

• Engineering education in the United Kingdom .
• Higher education in the United Kingdom .
• Higher education colleges in the United Kingdom .
• History of education in the United Kingdom .

RAFC - Royal Air Force College Cranwell

.

Cranwell (1937) - Pathé > .

The Sky Is Ours (Cranwell, 1955) - Pathé > .

23-3-19 Britain's Shrinking Military - Cold War to Cash-Strapped Shadow - mfp > .

Selection and training, British Army w

The Royal Air Force College (RAFC) is the Royal Air Force training and education academy which provides initial training to all RAF personnel who are preparing to be commissioned officers. The College also provides initial training to aircrew cadets and is responsible for all RAF recruiting along with officer and aircrew selection. Originally established as a naval aviation training centre during WW1, the College was established as the world's first air academy in 1919. During WW2, the College was closed and its facilities were used as a flying training school. Reopening after the War, the College absorbed the Royal Air Force Technical College in 1966.

The Royal Air Force College is based at RAF Cranwell near Sleaford in Lincolnshire, and is sometimes titled as the Royal Air Force College Cranwell.

..

Prior to the construction of the neo-classical College Hall, training took place in old naval huts. In the 1920s Sir Samuel Hoare battled for a substantial College building. Architect's plans were drawn up in 1929 for the present-day College. After some disagreement between Hoare and architect James West, the building plans incorporated design aspects of Christopher Wren's Royal Hospital at Chelsea. Lady Maud Hoare laid the foundation stone in 1929. 

In September 1933 the building was completed; it was built of rustic and moulded brick. Its frontage was 800 feet (240 m). In front of the Hall, orange gravel paths lead around a roughly circular grass area ("The Orange") toward the parade ground. The building, which has Grade II listed status, became the main location for RAF officer training when the Prince of Wales officially opened it in October 1934.

In 1936 the College was reduced from command to group status within Training Command and the commandant ceased to hold the title of Air Officer Commanding RAF Cranwell.

Just before the outbreak of the WW2, the Air Ministry closed the College as an initial officer training establishment. With the need to train aircrew in large numbers it was redesignated the RAF College Flying Training School and it did not return to its former function until 1947. It was also in 1947 that the Equipment and Secretarial Branch cadets were admitted to the College alongside the traditional flight cadets.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Air_Force_College_Cranwell .

Military Colleges, UK

BRNC - Britannia Royal Naval College, Dartmouth ..

RAFC - Royal Air Force College Cranwell ..

Sandhurst - Royal Military Academy ..