University of Westminster
The University of Westminster is a public university based in London, United Kingdom. Founded in 1838 as the Royal Polytechnic Institution, it was the first polytechnic to open in London. The Polytechnic formally received a Royal charter in August 1839, and became the University of Westminster in 1992.
Westminster has its main campus in Regent Street in central London, with additional campuses in Fitzrovia, Marylebone and Harrow. It also operates the Westminster International University in Tashkent in Uzbekistan. The university is organised into three colleges and 12 schools, within which there are around 65 departments and centres, including the Communication and Media Research Institute and the Centre for the Study of Democracy. It also has its Policy Studies Institute, Business School and Law School. The annual income of the institution for 2021-22 was £240.9 million of which £4.25 million was from research grants and contracts, with an expenditure of £223.7 million. The university is a member of the Association of Commonwealth Universities, the Association of MBAs, EFMD, EQUIS, and the European University Association.
Westminster's alumni include a Nobel laureate in Medicine, the inventor of cordite, heads of state, politicians and mayors, Olympians, scientists, BAFTA- and Oscar-winning filmmakers, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees, Grammy Award-winning musicians, journalists, and poets. Graduates of the university are styled with the post-nominal letters Westmin, to indicate the institution.
History
1837–1881: Royal Polytechnic Institution
The Royal Polytechnic Institution was built by William Mountford Nurse in 1837 and opened at 309 Regent Street on 6 August 1838 to provide "an institution where the Public, at little expense, may acquire practical knowledge of the various arts and branches of science connected with manufacturers, mining operations and rural economy".Sir George Cayley, the "father of aeronautical engineering", was the first chairman and the Polytechnic formally received a Royal charter in August 1839. The Polytechnic housed a large exhibition hall, lecture theatre and laboratories, and public attractions included working machines and models, scientific lectures and demonstrations, rides in a diving bell and, from 1839, demonstrations of photography. Prince Albert visited the institution in 1840, when he descended in the diving bell, and became a patron in 1841. The first public photographic portrait studio in Europe opened on the roof of the Polytechnic in March 1841.
In 1847, John Henry Pepper joined the Polytechnic and oversaw the introduction of evening lectures in engineering, applied science and technical subjects for young working Londoners. Pepper wrote several important science education book - one of which is regarded as a significant step towards the understanding of continental drift.
In 1848, a theatre was added to the building, purpose-built to accommodate the growing audiences for the Polytechnic's optical shows. These combined magic lantern images with live performances, music, ghosts and spectres, spreading the fame of what was arguably the world's first permanent projection theatre.
In 1862, inventor Henry Dircks developed the Dircksian Phantasmagoria, where it was seen by Pepper in a booth set up by Dircks at the Polytechnic. Pepper first showed the effect during a scene of Charles Dickens's novella The Haunted Man at the Regent Street theatre to great success. However, Pepper's implementation of the effect tied his name to it permanently. Though he tried many times to give credit to Dircks, the title "Pepper's ghost" has endured.
Under the chairmanship of Joseph Butterworth Owen, the Royal Polytechnic Institution increased its presence in formal classes for young men traditionally denied the opportunity of higher education in the United Kingdom during the nineteenth century. Expansion gradually gave way to financial difficulty, reflecting a long-standing tension between education and the need to run a successful business. A fatal accident on the premises in 1859 caused the first institution to be wound up and a new one formed. Various regeneration schemes were considered, but in 1879 a fire damaged the roof, precipitating the final crisis.
1881–1970: Polytechnic Regent Street
In September 1881, the Royal Polytechnic Institution closed, marking a transition to new ownership and a new era of educational development. Christian philanthropist Quintin Hogg acquired the lease to the building in December 1881 for £15,000, and the premises re-opened on 25 September 1882. About 6,000 members and students – three times the anticipated number – attended during the first 1882/3 session. The institute gradually adopted the name the Polytechnic Young Men's Christian Institute, or simply, the Polytechnic, for short.From 1882 an expanded programme of classes began, including science, engineering and art classes held in conjunction with the Science and Art Department, and a scheme of technical and trade education, related to the City and Guilds of London Institute of Technical Instruction and to the London Trades Council. The building housed classrooms, a swimming bath, gymnasium, and a refreshment room. Activities included daily chapels, Parliamentary debating, a Reading Circle, music and drama societies and several sports clubs.
In the early 1880s the Institute attracted much favourable attention from the technical education lobby. Following the City of London Parochial Charities Act in 1883, it became clear that funds would be available to endow the Polytechnic and to found and support institutions on the same model across London. A public appeal was launched in 1888 to raise the required matching funding. The Scheme was finalised under the auspices of the Charity Commissioners in 1891, when the Institute was reconstituted as The Polytechnic-Regent Street, managed by a newly created governing body.
On 21 February 1896, the first performance of a moving film to a paying UK audience was delivered by the Lumière brothers at the Regent Street Cinema. For this reason the cinema has been described as "the birthplace of British cinema".
The building at 309 Regent Street was rebuilt in 1910–1912 to reflect the needs of a growing institution whose student members exceeded 15,000. Pioneering work in emerging professional and commercial disciplines, alongside general interest subjects, was the hallmark of the institution. When Hogg died in 1903, he was succeeded as president by Sir Kynaston Studd, who remained in office until his death in 1944, and did much to continue the traditions of the founder. Two major appeals were launched to support expansion, the first for the rebuilding of 309 Regent Street in 1910–1912, and the second to build the Polytechnic Extension building for the Women's Institute in Little Titchfield Street, which was formally opened in 1929. Both buildings continued to provide sporting and social facilities for members of the Institute as well as workshops and classrooms for students of the Education Department.
File:Royal visit to the University of Westminster's rebuilt Polytechnic.png|thumb|King George V, Queen Mary, and their son Edward, Prince of Wales visited the Polytechnic after it was rebuilt in 1912.
The Education Department provided a wide range of courses, with a rapid expansion of commercial subjects alongside the original trade and technical classes. Courses ranged from post-elementary school entry for craft and technical training at 13 to degrees accredited by the University of London external degrees programme. Most teaching was in the evening and part-time, though day classes increased throughout the period. Following World War Two there was a rapid growth in the demand for further education and training, which was reorganised following the White Paper on Technical Education in 1956.
The variety of levels of work at Regent Street meant that it was designated a regional college rather than a college of advanced technology, after which the governors decided to reduce the proportion of lower level work. Following the establishment of the Council for National Academic Awards in 1964, a number of degree courses were approved and became operational; including Engineering, Architecture, Photography, Arts Administration, Life Sciences and Media Studies.
1970–1992: Polytechnic of Central London
In 1960 the London County Council announced a plan to turn Regent Street into a tri-partite federal college by adding a new College of Architecture and Advanced Building Technology and also a College of Engineering and Science. The existing commercial subjects would remain centred on no 309 Regent Street.CAABT was allocated the Luxborough Lodge site in Marylebone Road and CES a site in New Cavendish Street. Both schemes suffered prolonged delays and the new buildings were not finished until 1970. Holborn College of Law, Languages and Commerce was merged with Regent Street Polytechnic to form the Polytechnic of Central London.
At a ceremony on 21 May 1971, the Lord Chancellor Lord Hailsham, grandson and namesake of Hogg, opened the new buildings and designated the new institution. In 1990, Harrow College of Higher Education became part of the PCL.
1992–present: University of Westminster
The PCL was re-designated as the University of Westminster following the Further and Higher Education Act 1992, which created a single funding council, the Higher Education Funding Council, for England and abolished the remaining distinctions between polytechnics and universities. The newly established university was re-dedicated at Westminster Abbey on 1 December 1992. As a university, Westminster gained the power to grant its own degrees.Dame Mary Hogg was awarded an honorary doctorate of law by the University of Westminster in 1995. Hogg also became part of the court of governors at the university, thus continuing the university's close association with the Hogg family.
Westminster's efforts in overseas expansion resulted in the university being awarded the Queen's Award for Enterprise in 2000, and again in 2005.
In recent years, the university has established the Africa, Arab and China Media Centres; the Centre for the Study of Democracy, the institute for Modern and Contemporary Culture, and absorbed the 90-year-old Policy Studies Institute. In 2002 Westminster established the Westminster International University in Tashkent at the invitation of the government of Uzbekistan.
In 2013, the university celebrated 175 years of research, teaching, and providing education for all, regardless of background or financial status. Special events were organised both at campuses in the UK, and with their teams around the world. Celebrations included an interfaith service at Westminster Abbey on 30 January 2013.