Brunel University of London
Brunel University of London is a public research university located in the Uxbridge area of London, England. It is named after Isambard Kingdom Brunel, a Victorian engineer and pioneer of the Industrial Revolution. It became a university in June 1966, when Brunel College of Advanced Technology was awarded a royal charter and became Brunel University; it is sometimes considered a plate glass university.
In 2014 the university formally adopted the name Brunel University London, and in 2024 became the University of London's 17th member, adopting the trading name Brunel University of London. Since 2014 the university has been organised into three colleges: the College of Business, Arts and Social Sciences; the College of Engineering, Design and Physical Sciences; and the College of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences.
Brunel has over 16,000 students and 2,200 staff, and an annual income of £271.3 million, of which £22.4 million was from research grants and contracts, with an expenditure of £311.9 million. The university won the Queen's Anniversary Prize in 2011. BUL is a member of the Association of Commonwealth Universities, the European University Association, and Universities UK.
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, 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 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.
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, 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 over 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.
In 2014, the university underwent an internal reorganisation and its name was changed to Brunel University London 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 as its trading name.
Campus
In the late 1990s Brunel devised a 10-year, £250 million masterplan for the campus. This involved selling off campus sites at Runnymede, Osterley and Twickenham and using the proceeds of the sales to renovate and update the buildings and facilities on the Uxbridge campus. Works carried out included a library extension, a state-of-the-art sports complex, renovated students' union facilities, a new Health Sciences teaching centre, and the construction of more halls of residence.The original Uxbridge campus was designed by Sheppard, Robson and Partners, with many buildings retaining the 1960s brutalist architectural style to this day. It has appeared in several films, most famously in Stanley Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange, large parts of which were filmed on campus, particularly in the Grade II listed lecture centre and the John Crank Building. The campus has also featured in several UK television series including Spooks, Silent Witness, The Sweeney and Inspector Morse.
Organisation and governance
Colleges
Brunel has three constituent Academic Colleges:Research institutes
Research at Brunel has been organised into five institutes- Institute of Communities and Society
- Institute of Digital Futures
- Institute of Energy Futures
- Institute of Health, Medicine and Environments
- Institute of Materials and Manufacturing
Governance
The governing body of BUL is the council, which comprises university staff and students and independent members. The Council appoints the Vice-Chancellor and other senior officers. The council has established a number of Committees which support its work.
The current Chancellor of the university is Sir Richard Sykes, a biochemist and former Rector of Imperial College London. The Vice-Chancellor since 2022 is Professor Andrew Jones, formerly Deputy President at City, University of London.
Brunel's academic governing body is the Senate, which is chaired by the Vice-Chancellor. The Senate's powers, duties and functions are set out in its Ordinances, and it has a number of Committees which support its work.
Finances
In the financial year ended 31 July 2020, Brunel had a total income of £237.1 million and total expenditure of £235.7 million.Total income for 2019–20 was £237.1 million, £7.3 million higher than in 2018–19. Tuition fees overall increased by £10.1 million, reflecting the increase in the number of students enrolled, while funding body grants were flat at £30.6 million. Research grant income for 2019/ 20 was £3.1 million higher than in 2018–19 on a recognised income basis. Research income reflects the timing of work undertaken on research grants, as income is recognised in the financial statements over a period typically averaging three years. Other income reduced by £6.0 million, or 12.4%. This consists of student residences income, conference, hotel, retail and also income from summer school activity for foreign language students on the campus. All categories were significantly impacted by the pandemic, including the decision by the university not to charge rent for accommodation for the final term.
Excluding the Universities Superannuation Scheme pension revaluation, expenditure was £9.8 million higher than in 2018–19. Excluding pension adjustments, staff costs of £135.0 million were £15.5 million higher than in 2018–19. The university invested resources in its academic provision as its tuition fee income and student numbers have increased and has also targeted staff cost investment in its information technology provision and other support services. Other operating expenses of £76.9 million were £5.6 million lower than in 2018–19.
Coat of arms
The Brunel coat of arms was granted to the university on 12 June 1970, and incorporates various images representative of the university's heritage and principles.The masonry arch symbolises Isambard Kingdom Brunel, after whom the university is named; the compass and cogwheel symbolise technology, on which the university initially focused, and the institution's former status as a College of Advanced Technology; the ermine lozenge is an allusion to the arms of Lord Halsbury, the first Chancellor of the university. The full coat of arms has a swan as the crest, which symbolises Uxbridge, where the main campus is located.
The heraldic description is given as ‘Azure a Pair of Dividers chevronwise proper in base on a Pile reversed Or a Lozenge Ermine a Chief enarched in the form of a bridge of masonry proper AND for the Crest On a Wreath of the Colours A swan wings addorsed proper about the neck a Mural Crown Or resting the dexter foot on a Cogwheel proper’.
In 2024, with Brunel joining the federation of the University of London, it adopted a new logo, which included redrawn artwork of the coat of arms with slightly reconfigured elements. Most prominently, the cogwheel was moved from under the swan's foot to a central position in the shield, replacing the ermine lozenge.