Red brick university

Red brick university (or redbrick university) is a term originally used to refer to six civic universities founded in the major industrial cities of England. The term is now used more broadly to refer to British universities founded in the late 19th and early 20th centuries in major cities. All of the six original redbrick institutions, or their predecessor institutes, gained university status before World War I and were initially established as civic science or engineering colleges.

Whilst the term was originally coined as these institutions were new and thus regarded by the ancient universities as arriviste, the description has since ceased to be derogatory with the 1960s proliferation of universities and the reclassification of polytechnics in 1992. The six institutions are members of the Russell Group (which receives two-thirds of all research grant funding in the United Kingdom).

Origins of the term and use

The term "red brick" or "redbrick" was first coined by Edgar Allison Peers, a professor of Spanish at the University of Liverpool, to describe the civic universities (under the pseudonym "Bruce Truscot" in his 1943 book Redbrick University). His reference was inspired by the fact that The Victoria Building at the University of Liverpool (designed by Alfred Waterhouse and completed in 1892 as the main building for University College, Liverpool) is built from a distinctive red pressed brick, with terracotta decorative dressings. On this basis the University of Liverpool claims be the original "red brick" institution, although the titular, fictional Redbrick University was a cipher for all the civic universities of the day.

Redbrick (newspaper)

Redbrick is the student newspaper of the University of Birmingham. Originally titled Guild News, the newspaper was renamed Redbrick in 1962. As with most student newspapers Redbrick is not fully independent due to funding arrangements, but is editorially independent as is set out in its charter.

Redbrick is written, photographed, edited and published entirely by University students, and is run not for profit, funded by both advertising revenue and the Guild of Students. It consists of News, Comment, Culture, Music, Life&Style, Television, Film, Food, Travel, Science&Technology and Sport sections. A sport supplement titled The Lion was published biannually up until 2014.

The newspaper is produced fortnightly during term time, with the exception of the summer semester as publication halts during exam season. The newspaper celebrated its 75th birthday in February 2011. The paper is distributed free around campus and the local area every Friday of publication week..

Redbrick's website - has grown significantly following a redesign in early 2011. Since then it has won the Guardian Student Media Award for 'Website of the Year' 2011 and it receives over 6,000 unique visitors every week, meaning it has now overtaken the print edition in terms of readership.

Redbrick (disambiguation)

A redbrick is one of the six civic British universities founded in England that achieved university status before World War I.

Redbrick may also refer to: