Home Work & Study
If you need urgent support, call 999 or go to your nearest A&E. To contact our Crisis Messenger (open 24/7) text THEMIX to 85258.

'Red Brick' Universities

Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
edited March 27 in Work & Study
1) Can anybody name some 'Red Brick' universities.

2) What defines a Red Brick uni?
Post edited by JustV on

Comments

  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    1) Liverpool is i think, and possibly manchester, but that one i'm much more uncirtain about!
    2) They're built out of red bricks? or atleast part of them is, the original bit? Thats what i always assumed but im sure there is a proper reason behind the name!

    Begs the question why? :confused:
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Some Red Brick Universities:
    Bristol, Liverpool, Nottingham, Manchester, Brimingham, Sheffield, Leeds etc etc

    Red Brick unis are basically the original, traditional ones with nice old buildings and stuff, and they generally have a better reputation as being the academic universities.

    :)
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Another 'Red Brick' Uni is Aston.

    They're generally universities that started/were converted from institutions like technical colleges or polytechnics in the 1960s or later half of the twentieth century.

    And, as faerielights has pointed out, they're often made from red bricks. :)
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Originally posted by Brantree
    Another 'Red Brick' Uni is Aston.

    They're generally universities that started/were converted from institutions like technical colleges or polytechnics in the 1960s or later half of the twentieth century.

    And, as faerielights has pointed out, they're often made from red bricks. :)

    That's not right. The redbricks are precisely the opposite of this definition.

    Rebrick universities are those which have been long established. They usually are founded before 1930 or so, and have traditionally been associated with higher academic achievement.

    They are known as redbrick, partly to differentiate them from the recent ex-polys which Brantree describes.

    Aston, therefore, is not a redbrick.

    Birmingham, Sheffield, some London ones, Oxbridge, Durham, Leeds, Manchester, for example.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Ones which are poncy and full of public school kids who play rugby.

    Ok, I'll go hide now.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Ones which are poncy and full of public school kids who play rugby.
    OOhhhhh scathing........

    Don't you go to Brum Uni or do you fit the description :p
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Re: 'Red Brick' Universities
    Originally posted by Gandalf
    1) Can anybody name some 'Red Brick' universities.

    2) What defines a Red Brick uni?

    are they not just the so called 'ancient' unis? we only have five in Scotland i think

    Glasgow (the best of course, since i go there!!), Edinburgh, Aberdeen, Dundee and St Andrews

    i think that's right. please feel free to correct me if i am wrong
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Originally posted by DJP


    That's not right. The redbricks are precisely the opposite of this definition.

    Rebrick universities are those which have been long established. They usually are founded before 1930 or so, and have traditionally been associated with higher academic achievement.

    They are known as redbrick, partly to differentiate them from the recent ex-polys which Brantree describes.

    Aston, therefore, is not a redbrick.

    Birmingham, Sheffield, some London ones, Oxbridge, Durham, Leeds, Manchester, for example.

    True Aston is not a red brick. Red bricks are the original universities rather than the polys which are college turned to universities also know as new unis.

    This includes Sheffield UNI (ME), birmingham, liverpool, durham, oxbridge, bristol, leeds etc. the ones which say The university of or
    uni. So hallam (sheffield and Nottingham trent) are polys. Unis generally expect higher grades (ummmm this is possibly because they're stuck up rather than being better)-just go to the best you can for your course!!!
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Originally posted by Kat
    the ones which say The university of or
    uni. So hallam (sheffield and Nottingham trent) are polys.

    What about The University of Kent. Redbrick?
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Re: Re: 'Red Brick' Universities
    Originally posted by emmex


    are they not just the so called 'ancient' unis? we only have five in Scotland i think

    Glasgow (the best of course, since i go there!!), Edinburgh, Aberdeen, Dundee and St Andrews

    i think that's right. please feel free to correct me if i am wrong
    nah i'm sure the only ones in scotland are glasgow, edinburgh and st andrews. i'm not convinced aberdeen is, but i know that dundee definitely isn't one.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Originally posted by nealn



    Don't think so... Only founded in 1965 and full name is:

    University of Kent at Canterbury...

    I think the "at" bit is crucial. :confused:

    But of course I could be totally wrong and you should definatly not take that as gospel.:)

    I agree. I spoke to someone and they said they were at birmingham uni, what they actually meant to say was central birmingham. sad really!
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Not really. The full title of my faculty is the institute of art and design at the university of central england. A bit of a mouthful as you can see so when I can't be arsed I just say Birmingham as it's easier.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Well yes because they deliberately made me think it was birm uni, i actually said is it the proper uni??? they said YES!
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Re: Re: Re: 'Red Brick' Universities
    Originally posted by rushin

    nah i'm sure the only ones in scotland are glasgow, edinburgh and st andrews. i'm not convinced aberdeen is, but i know that dundee definitely isn't one.

    pretty sure dundee and aberdeen still classed as ancient unis, if not red brick unis.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    .
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Originally posted by PussyKatty
    Ones which are poncy and full of public school kids who play rugby.

    Ok, I'll go hide now.

    Problem with that definition is it doesn't just apply to Red Bricks. I'm at Aberystwyth at the moment and it's not poncy but it seems to be full of public school kids who play rugby (the rugby bit could be down to the Welsh element though.) I don't think Aber is a Red Brick uni though. Basically, Red Bricks are the ones that the "gentlemen" went to throughout the last few hundred years. Oxford, Cambridge and Durham are the main ones. I could be wrong though.

    :heart: saucepot :heart:
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    many of the country's top universities were estabhlished in cities around the country, in the 19th century. they provided secular education and opened doors to women, who had previously been 3excluded from university education. these included the federal universities of london and wales. some others started life as uniuversity colleges of other universities (eg newcastle university, exeter ubniversity of londond university-

    belfast
    biringham
    bristol
    courtauld
    durham
    exeter
    hull
    leeds
    leicester
    liverpool
    london- merger of kings and ucl
    manchester
    newcastle
    nottingham
    reading
    sheffield
    southampton
    wales-merger of aberystwyth, bangor and cardiff

    are all 'red brick' universites

    cambridge
    oxford
    glasgow
    aberdeen
    edinburgh
    st. andrews

    all ancient universities
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Just to say that among all the speculation I think the post immediately above (by MOSSY) gets is almost spot on! (in my humble opinion!!) ... except that the University of London isn't *really* a merger between Kings and UCL and that the University of Wales isn't really a merger between the three main Welsh universities ... more *collaborations* I think! (This UCL graduate is sure that his 'fellow' Kings graduates would be equally horrified at the idea that we both went to the same uni!)

    I would classify all the University Of London unis (so include Royal Holloway, Queen Mary, Heythrop, Royal Veterinary College...) as Red Brick (but not other London unis like Westminster, Brunel etc).

    I think the PC term for such institutions is 'new universities'.

    To ask another question: is there a name to distinguish universities like Keele and Warwick from the ex-polys like Oxford Brookes and University of Central England? There should be - although Warwick (and, in my opinion, Brookes) suggests that the old classifications are less useful now - Warwick is surely one of the finest universities in the UK and better than, e.g. Birmingham in some regards.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Originally posted by pedr

    To ask another question: is there a name to distinguish universities like Keele and Warwick from the ex-polys like Oxford Brookes and University of Central England? There should be

    No but employers know which Universities are red-brick and greatly favour them in many instances - they're usually more oversubscribed and have a better academic reputation overall.

    If you're looking to do something vocational however, such as nursing, graphic design etc. you're gonna probably end up at an ex-poly since redbricks tend to favour the traditional academic subjects and either don't offer these sort of courses or suck at them. One exception is Computer Science or Sports Science.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Originally posted by Kat
    Unis generally expect higher grades (ummmm this is possibly because they're stuck up rather than being better)
    It's because of the number of applicants they have. If they have few applicants per place they have to give low offers but if there are too many, they have to put the offers up.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Liverpool was the original red brick uni; our central building is what inspired the name ;)
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    the 1960s universities, many established as among the countrys best. some are greenfield campus unis and provided a very sixties challenge to the estabhlished pattern-


    east anglia
    essex
    kent
    lancaster
    sussex
    stirling
    warwick
    york

    others, often tech universities were established colleges (usually in cities) which were granted status in sixites

    aston
    bath
    bradford
    brunel
    city
    cranfield
    dundee
    heriot-watt
    loughborough
    salford
    strathclyde
    surrey

    new universities- estabhlished poly techs and college of he.given uni status in the 90s. most recent in 2001.orginally set up to provide more vocational courses.most still tend to offer more practical courses.

    likes of brighton
    luton
    middlesex

    and all the rest
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I can see this as another "Original Unis are better than ex-polys" kinda thing.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    No, we're discussing the difference between redbricks, ex polys and newer unis. Though it could turn into it, you're right :p

    I think the benefit of going to a redbrick depends on the course you're doing, if it's very academic, it's probably worth it. However, as MOSSY pointed out above, the newer 1960's universities which always had uni status (they were just not as old) are just as good and in some cases better than other redbricks - of the list above, east anglia, essex, lancaster, sussex, warwick and york are all top 30 unis, with warwick at least (the only one i know for definite) being in the top 10 according to the league tables.

    Ex-polys tend to be better at vocational subjects, such as nursing etc, and are rated much higher than most redbricks for a lot of subjects like that. Having said that, there are some which have embraced the change to university status and are storming their way up the league tables - Oxford Brooks for example!
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Sorry, I meant turning into one :o

    And yes about Oxford Brookes. Their History department is apparently top 5 in the country.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    You have to balance out repuatation against actual quality of the relevant department, however.

    Durham's politics department is not as good as Northumbria's, but I know which degree is looked at more favourably.

    Warwick and Lancaster are probably the only two modern universities to break into respected academic circles.

    Sorry, but that's the way it is. If you want to do arts or vocational subjects then the new universities are far more respected, but if you want academic prestige then you have to go to a new university.

    Though university prestiage only takes you so far- many large corporate employers don't actually care where you studied, so long as you have a good degree and high UCAS points.
Sign In or Register to comment.