Birkbeck, University of London

Birkbeck College, University of London (operating under trade name of Birkbeck, University of London) is a public research university based in London, England, and is part and parcel of the University of London.

Joseph Clinton Robertson, George Birkbeck, Jeremy Bentham, J. C. Hobhouse and Henry Brougham established this university in 1823, which became one of the few universities in the United Kingdom to specialize in evening higher ed.

Birkbeck's main building is in Bloomsbury, in the London Borough of Camden in Central London. Birkbeck offers more than 200 undergraduate and postgraduate programmes. Birkbeck's academic activities are organised into five constituent faculties, which are subdivided into nineteen departments. The university is a member of academic organisations such as the Association of Commonwealth Universities and the European University Association. The university is also a member of the Screen Studies Group, London. The university's Centre for Brain Function and Development was awarded The Queen's Anniversary Prize for its brain research in 2005.

5 Nobel laureates, numerous politicians, members of the United Kingdom's Parliament and a Prime Minister of the Great Britain, Mr. R. MacDonald earned their degrees from this university.

History

Founding

In the 11 October 1823 issue of Mechanic's Magazine, a new weekly serial by JC Robertson and Thomas Hodgskin, the editors with influence from Francis Place proposed a London Mechanics' Institute. Their proposal referenced the work of Dr. George Birkbeck, a graduate of the University of Edinburgh and pioneer of adult education. Birkbeck soon became central to the project and, on 11 November 1823, chaired its founding meeting at the Crown and Anchor Tavern in the Strand before a crowd of two thousand people.

The Institute faced huge amounts of backlash, with some accusing Birkbeck of "scattering the seeds of evil", yet Birkbeck fully devoted his efforts to the college as its founder and first president.

The Institute moved into the Southampton Buildings on Chancery Lane in 1825. In 1830, it became one of the earliest colleges to admit female students. Changes to the University of London's structure in 1858 allowed the Institute's students to sit examinations for its degrees. The Institute became the main provider for part-time university education.^[1]

In 1866 the Institute changed its name to the Birkbeck Literary and Scientific Institution.

In 1885 Birkbeck moved to the Breams Building on Fetter Lane, where it remained for the next 67 years.^[1]

Organisation

Faculties and schools

The college was previously organised into five schools comprising 19 departments, but was reorganised into three faculties comprising nine schools in 2023:

Faculty of Business and Law
- Birkbeck Business School
- Birkbeck Law School
Faculty of Humanities and Social Science
- School of Creative Arts, Culture and Communication
- School of Historical Studies
- School of Social Sciences
- Birkbeck Centre for Counselling
Faculty of Science
- School of Computing and Mathematical Sciences
- School of Natural Sciences
- School of Psychological Sciences

References

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