In the 19th Century, Britain was undergoing enormous changes as a result of the

Industrial Revolution. In the large industrial cities, there was an urgent need for a
workforce with technical and scientific skills to meet the demands of the new
economy.
This led to the creation of specialised schools and private education institutes, often
dedicated to fields such as medicine or engineering. For example, the Manchester
Mechanics Institute was established in 1824, and Birmingham Medical School  in
1825.

These institutions were incredibly successful, and became centres of knowledge and
research during the Victorian era. Eventually, some were granted independent
university status; for instance, Birmingham Medical School became the University of
Birmingham.

Many of these new civic universities featured buildings built in the Gothic style with
red bricks – a popular trend in the Victorian times. This led to institutions of this type
being nick-named ‘red brick’ universities.

There are 6 original red brick universities, each of which received official university
status before the First World War. These institutions all evolved from specialised
schools, and are dotted around England’s traditional industrial cities. The 6 are:
University of Birmingham

University of Bristol

University of Leeds

University of Liverpool

University of Manchester

University of Sheffield
However, after the end of the First World War, a number of other institutions from the
Victorian era began to be made fully fledged universities. For example, the
University of Reading received its Royal Charter (official recognition as a university)
in 1926, and the University of Nottingham in 1948.

Despite differences in architecture styles, these universities are all considered ‘red
brick’. Because it is only an informal category rather than an official title, there is no
definitive number of universities that are considered red brick;

Red brick universities today

Red brick institutions were actually mocked at first by Britain’s existing universities.
The university establishment, particularly ‘ancient’ universities such as Oxford
and Glasgow, saw them as inferior. This led to the term ‘red brick’ being used in a
derogatory way (in other words, as an insult).

However, this quickly changed. Today, England’s red brick universities are among the
most highly ranked in the world. Out of the 6 original red brick universities, 5 are in
the global top 100 (QS World University Rankings 2020). Nearly all of the red brick
universities are members of the prestigious Russell Group (which includes
Cambridge, Oxford, Glasgow and Imperial), and many employers request graduates
with a red brick degree.

The University of Liverpool

The University of Birmingham
The University of Manchester
Plate Glass Universities
The term plate glass university (or plateglass university) has come into use by some
to refer to one of the several universities founded in the United Kingdom in the 1960s
in the era of the Robbins Report** on higher education. The term “plateglass” reflects
their modern architectural design, which often contains wide expanses of plate glass
in steel or concrete frames. This contrasts with the (largely Victorian) Red Brick
universities and the older Ancient universities.
The phrase New University formerly appeared as a synonym for
the Plateglass institutions, however since 1992 this term has tended to be applied to
the post-1992 universities (consisting mostly of former polytechnics) instead.

University of Essex
the University of Kent

The Open University

The Open University is the UK’s distance learning government-
supported university notable for having an open entry policy, i.e. students’ previous
academic achievements are not taken into account for entry to most undergraduate
courses. It was established in 1969 and the first students enrolled in January 1971.
The majority of students are based in the UK, but its courses can be studied anywhere
in the world. The administration is based at Walton Hall, Milton Keynes in
Buckinghamshire, but has regional centres in each of its thirteen regions around the
UK. It also has offices in other European countries. The University awards
undergraduate and postgraduate degrees, as well as non-degree qualifications such as
diplomas and certificates, or continuing education units.
With more than 180,000 students enrolled, including more than 25,000 students
studying overseas, it is the largest academic institution in the UK by student
number, and qualifies as one of the world’s largest universities. Since it was
founded, more than 3 million students have studied its courses.