Goldsmiths, University of London, officially the Goldsmiths' College, is a constituent

research university A research university or a research-intensive university is a university that is committed to research as a central part of its mission. They are the most important sites at which knowledge production occurs, along with "intergenerational kn ...

of the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...

in England. It was originally founded in 1891 as The Goldsmiths' Technical and Recreative Institute by the

Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths The Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths, commonly known as the Goldsmiths' Company and formally titled The Wardens and Commonalty of the Mystery of Goldsmiths of the City of London, is one of the Great Twelve Livery Companies of the City of Lond ...

New Cross New Cross is an area in south east London, England, south-east of Charing Cross in the London Borough of Lewisham and the SE14 postcode district. New Cross is near St Johns, Telegraph Hill, Nunhead, Peckham, Brockley, Deptford and Greenwic ...

, London. It was renamed Goldsmiths' College after being acquired by the University of London in 1904 and specialises in the arts, design, humanities and social sciences. The main building on campus, known as the Richard Hoggart Building, was originally opened in 1792 and is the site of the former Royal Naval School. According to

Quacquarelli Symonds Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) is a British company specialising in the analysis of higher education institutions around the world. The company was founded in 1990 by Nunzio Quacquarelli. History On 5 October 2017, QS Quacquarelli Symonds acquired Ho ...

(2021), Goldsmiths ranks 12th in Communication and Media Studies, 15th in Art & Design and is ranked in the top 50 in the areas of Anthropology, Sociology and the Performing Arts. In 2020, the university enrolled over 10,000 students at undergraduate and postgraduate levels. 37% of students come from outside the United Kingdom and 52% of all undergraduates are mature students (aged 21 or over at the start of their studies). Additionally, around a third of students at Goldsmiths are postgraduate students.

History

In 1891, the

, one of the Livery Companies of the

City of London The City of London is a city, ceremonial county and local government district that contains the historic centre and constitutes, alongside Canary Wharf, the primary central business district (CBD) of London. It constituted most of London f ...

, founded ''The Goldsmiths' Technical and Recreative Institute'' (more commonly referred to simply as the "Goldsmiths' Institute"). The Goldsmiths' Company was established in the 12th century as a medieval guild for goldsmiths, silversmiths, and jewelers. The Livery Company dedicated the foundation of its new Institute to "the promotion of technical skill, knowledge, health and general well-being among men and women of the industrial, working and artisan classes". The original Institute was based in

at the site of the former Royal Naval School; the building, now known as the ''Richard Hoggart Building'', remains the main building of the campus today. From the Services To Schoolmastering- Re-training at Goldsmith's College, London University, Nottingham, England, 1944 D22754

From the Services To Schoolmastering- Re-training at Goldsmith's College, London University, Nottingham, England, 1944 D22754

In 1904, the institute was merged with the University of London and was re-established as Goldsmiths' College (the apostrophe was removed in 1993, and the word 'College' dropped in a rebranding in 2006). At this point Goldsmiths was the largest teacher training institution in the country. Training functions were later expanded to include refresher courses for teachers, the University Postgraduate Certificate in Education and an Art teacher's Certificate course. The college also ran its own Nursery School. Shortly after the merger, in 1907, Goldsmiths added a new Arts building, designed by Sir

Reginald Blomfield Sir Reginald Theodore Blomfield (20 December 1856 – 27 December 1942) was a prolific British architect, garden designer and author of the Victorian and Edwardian period. Early life and career Blomfield was born at Bow rectory in Devon, w ...

, at the back of the main building. During the Second World War it was decided to evacuate the faculty and students of the college to University College, Nottingham, a decision which proved wise both at the time and in hindsight, since the main building was struck by an

incendiary bomb Incendiary weapons, incendiary devices, incendiary munitions, or incendiary bombs are weapons designed to start fires or destroy sensitive equipment using fire (and sometimes used as anti-personnel weaponry), that use materials such as napalm, t ...

and gutted in 1940 (and not finally repaired until 1947). During the 1960s, Goldsmiths experienced a rapid expansion in student numbers. It is during this period that Goldsmiths began to establish its reputation in the arts and

social science Social science is one of the branches of science, devoted to the study of societies and the relationships among individuals within those societies. The term was formerly used to refer to the field of sociology, the original "science of so ...

fields, as well as offering a number of new teacher training qualifications. The original main building was expanded, and the Lockwood Building, Whitehead Building, Education Building, Warmington Tower and St James's Hall were all built to accommodate the influx of new students. The university also acquired a number of historic buildings in the surrounding area, including the splendid former

Deptford Town Hall Deptford Town Hall is a municipal building in New Cross Road, Deptford, London. It is a Grade II listed building. History The building was commissioned to replace the aging vestry hall of St Paul's. The site selected had previously been occupi ...

and Laurie Grove Baths buildings. The Richard Hoggart Building, Deptford Town Hall and the Laurie Grove Baths all retain Grade II listed building status. In 1988, Goldsmiths became a full College of the University of London and in 1990 received its

Royal Charter A royal charter is a formal grant issued by a monarch under royal prerogative as letters patent. Historically, they have been used to promulgate public laws, the most famous example being the English Magna Carta (great charter) of 1215, but s ...

. Among its wardens have been

Richard Hoggart Herbert Richard Hoggart (24 September 1918 – 10 April 2014) was a British academic whose career covered the fields of sociology, English literature and cultural studies, with emphasis on British popular culture. Early life Hoggart was bor ...

, Andrew Rutherford and

Ben Pimlott Benjamin John Pimlott FBA (4 July 1945 – 10 April 2004), known as Ben Pimlott, was a British historian of the post-war period in Britain. He made a substantial contribution to the literary genre of political biography. Early life Pimlott was ...

. The current, and first woman, Warden is Frances Corner. In 2018, the former boiler house and public laundry of Laurie Grove Baths was refurbished and opened as Goldsmiths CCA. In August 2019, Goldsmiths announced that it would be removing all beef products from sale and would be charging a 10p levy on bottled water and single-use plastic cups. The changes were introduced as part of the university's efforts to become carbon neutral by 2025.

Campus and location

Goldsmiths is situated in

, a highly populated area of south-east

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

with a considerable art and music scene. The main building, the ''Richard Hoggart Building'', was originally designed as a school (opened in 1844) by the architect John Shaw, Jr (1803–1870). The former Deptford Town Hall building, designed by

Henry Vaughan Lanchester Henry Vaughan Lanchester (9 August 1863 – 16 January 1953) was a British architect working in London. He served as editor of '' The Builder'', was a co-founder of the Town Planning Institute and a recipient of the Royal Gold Medal. Biography ...

and Edwin Alfred Rickards, acquired in 1998, is used for academic seminars and conferences. In addition to this Goldsmiths has built several more modern buildings to develop the campus, including the

RIBA The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) is a professional body for architects primarily in the United Kingdom, but also internationally, founded for the advancement of architecture under its royal charter granted in 1837, three supp ...

award-winning Rutherford Building completed in 1997, the ''Ben Pimlott Building'' designed by

Will Alsop William Allen Alsop (12 December 1947 – 12 May 2018) was a British architect and Professor of Architecture at University for the Creative Arts's Canterbury School of Architecture. He was responsible for several distinctive and controversia ...

and completed in 2005, and the ''Professor Stuart Hall Building'' (formerly the ''New Academic Building)'' which was completed in 2010. The library, or the ''Rutherford Building'', has three floors and gives students access to an extensive range of printed and electronic resources. The third-floor library is believed to house the largest collection of audio-visual material in the UK. Goldsmiths' students, like all other students in the University of London, have full access to the collections at Senate House Library at Bloomsbury in central London. Goldsmiths Pimlott Building

The seven-storey ''Ben Pimlott Building'' on New Cross Road, complete with its distinctive "scribble in the sky" (made from 229 separate pieces of metal) has become a signature of modern Goldsmiths. It contains studio and teaching space for the Department of Art, as well as housing the Goldsmiths Digital Studios and the Centre for Cognition, Computation and Culture. The ''Professor Stuart Hall Building'' (formerly the ''New Academic Building)'', situated next to the green, is home to the Media and Communications Department and the Institute for Creative and Cultural Entrepreneurship (ICCE). Facilities include a 250-seat lecture theatre, seminar and teaching rooms, as well as a cafe with outdoor seating.

Academic profile

Faculties and departments

Art

* The Head of Department is Richard Noble. Notable alumni include

Damien Hirst Damien Steven Hirst (; né Brennan; born 7 June 1965) is an English artist, entrepreneur, and art collector. He is one of the Young British Artists (YBAs) who dominated the art scene in the UK during the 1990s. He is reportedly the United Kingd ...

Sarah Lucas Sarah Lucas (born 1962) is an English artist. She is part of the generation of Young British Artists who emerged during the 1990s. Her works frequently employ visual puns and bawdy humour by incorporating photography, collage and found objects. ...

, Steve McQueen,

Gillian Wearing Gillian Wearing CBE, RA (born 10 December 1963) is an English conceptual artist, one of the Young British Artists, and winner of the 1997 Turner Prize. In 2007 Wearing was elected as lifetime member of the Royal Academy of Arts in London. He ...

Fiona Banner Fiona Banner (born 1966), also known as The Vanity Press is a British artist. Her work encompasses sculpture, drawing, installation and text, and demonstrates a long-standing fascination with the emblem of fighter aircraft and their role within cul ...

Angela Bulloch Angela Bulloch (born 1966 in Rainy River, Ontario, Canada), is an artist who often works with sound and installation; she is recognised as one of the Young British Artists. Bulloch lives and works in Berlin. Life and career Bulloch studied at G ...

and

Graham Coxon Graham Leslie Coxon (born 12 March 1969) is an English musician, singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and painter who came to prominence as a founding member of the rock band Blur. As the group's lead guitarist and secondary vocalist, Cox ...

. * The university is also a member of the Screen Studies Group, London.

Design

The Department of Design's approach to design practice grew from a concern for ethical and environmentalist design. This developed alongside research by John Wood, Julia Lockheart, and others, which informs their research into metadesign. TERU, the Technology Education Research Unit, has been instrumental in understanding how design and technology work in schools, how to encourage learners towards creative interventions that improve the made world, and how to help teachers to support that process. The Writing Purposefully in Art and Design Network (Writing-PAD) has its main Centre at Goldsmiths. The Network now spans some 70 institutions across the art and design sector with 6 national and 2 International Writing PAD Centres.

Sociology

The

Sociology Sociology is a social science that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. It uses various methods of empirical investigation an ...

Department include

Nirmal Puwar Nirmal Puwar is a senior lecturer at the department of Sociology at Goldsmiths University and Co-Director of Methods Lab. She is a member of the Feminist Review editorial collective since 2000. Puwar has co-edited 17 Collections, including: Post- ...

, Les Back, Yasmin Gunaratnam, Vikki Bell and Paul Stoneman.

Cultural studies

The Media and Communications Department, as well as the Centre for Cultural Studies, include Matthew Fuller, David Morley, Scott Lash, Angela McRobbie,

and (formerly)

Sara Ahmed Sara Ahmed (30 August 1969) is a British-Australian writer and scholar whose area of study includes the intersection of feminist theory, lesbian feminism, queer theory, affect theory, critical race theory and postcolonialism. Her seminal work ...

Institute for Creative and Cultural Entrepreneurship

The Institute for Creative and Cultural Entrepreneurship delivers entrepreneurship, cultural management and policy education to the creative and cultural sectors.

Anthropology

The Department of Anthropology teaching staff include Keith Hart and (formerly) David Graeber. The department is known for its focus on visual anthropology. The realm of continental philosophy is represented with academics such as Saul Newman, Alberto Toscano and Jean Paul Martinon as well as Visiting Professors

Andrew Benjamin Andrew Benjamin (born 1952, Australia) is an Australian philosopher. He holds a post as Distinguished Professor at the University of Technology, Sydney. Benjamin first came to critical attention with his writings in continental philosophy, writ ...

and

Bernard Stiegler Bernard Stiegler (; 1 April 1952 – 5 August 2020) was a French philosopher. He was head of the Institut de recherche et d'innovation (IRI), which he founded in 2006 at the Centre Georges-Pompidou. He was also the founder in 2005 of the polit ...

. In the area of Psychology there is

Chris French Christopher Charles French (born 1956) is a British psychologist specialising in the psychology of paranormal beliefs and experiences, cognition and emotion. He is the head of the University of London's anomalistic Psychology Research Unit and ...

who specialises in the psychology of

paranormal Paranormal events are purported phenomena described in popular culture, folk, and other non-scientific bodies of knowledge, whose existence within these contexts is described as being beyond the scope of normal scientific understanding. Not ...

beliefs and experiences, cognition and emotion. Saul Newman – notable for developing the concept of post-anarchism – is currently leading the department of politics.

English and comparative literature

The English & Comparative Literature Department covers English, comparative literature, American literature, creative writing and linguistics. Current academics include Blake Morrison, Chris Baldick, Uttara Natarajan and Peter Dunwoodie. Its work in comparative literature developed after a merger with the Department of European Languages, later joined by its Creative Writing section.

Music

The Research Centre for Russian Music, convened by

Alexander Ivashkin Alexander Ivashkin (russian: link=no, Александр Васильевич Ивашкин), (17 August 1948 – 31 January 2014) was a Russian cellist, writer, academic and conductor. Ivashkin studied at the Gnessin Institute, where his teache ...

until his death in 2014, is internationally renowned for its archives devoted to Prokofiev and Schnittke, and unique collections including of music by Stravinsky, and Russian Piano Music first editions.

Educational studies

The Department of Educational Studies teaches undergraduate, masters and doctoral courses, and is home to a large programme of initial teacher education (primary and secondary), based on partnership arrangements with over 1500 schools and colleges.

Additional academic programs

Goldsmiths paired with

Tungsten Network Tungsten Network is a global electronic invoicing firm that provides supply chain financing services from international offices in the United Kingdom, United States, Bulgaria, Germany, and Malaysia. As a small- to medium-sized IT company, the ...

in 2015 to develop a research program that explores advanced artificial intelligence techniques for Big Data and business practices. Known as Tungsten Centre for Intelligent Data Analytics, the program is based in the company's London office.

Rankings

In 2017, Goldsmiths' Media and Communications department was named the second best in the UK and eighth worldwide, although by 2020 this department's ranking had fallen to 18th in the UK. Goldsmiths' overall national rankings are about 70th, and in the TEF Goldsmiths achieved a Bronze rating, the lowest possible ranking.

Open access to research by Goldsmiths academics

Goldsmiths Research Online (GRO) is a repository of research publications and other research outputs conducted by academics at Goldsmiths. The repository also holds Goldsmiths' collection of doctoral theses. GRO is part of Goldsmiths Online Research Collections (ORC) which also includes Goldsmiths Journals Online (GOJO), a hosting platform for open access journals and conference proceedings.

Student life

Sports, clubs and traditions

Sports teams and societies are organised by the

Goldsmiths Students' Union Goldsmiths Students' Union (GSU) is the students' union for Goldsmiths, University of London. It offers services to students including advice, sports clubs and activities as well as a list of entertainments and events and a 1000 capacity live mu ...

. The Union runs 18 sports clubs, 11 of which compete in either

University of London Union Student Central was a students' facility of the University of London. It was previously the students' union of the federal University of London, known as the University of London Union (commonly referred to as ULU, pron. 'yoo-loo'), which was clo ...

BUCS British Universities & Colleges Sport (BUCS) is the governing body for higher education sport in the United Kingdom. BUCS was formed in June 2008 following a merger of British Universities Sports Association (BUSA) and University College Sport ...

leagues. The Students' Union runs 35 societies, ranging from political societies and identity-based societies (for example the Jewish society and the

LGBT ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term ...

society) to interest-based societies (the Drama Society and the on-campus radio station Wired) and more.

Student media

Goldsmiths has a long history of student-led media platforms, including ''Smiths Magazine'', ''The Leopard'' newspaper, and Wired radio. The student media is run independently by students at the college.

Student housing

The university owns seven halls of residence: * Chesterman House * Dean House * Loring Hall * Surrey House * Surrey House Annexe * Raymont Hall * Ewen Henderson Court Several of the halls include electricity bills and gas bills as part of rent. Free internet is also offered in some of the halls. Visiting international students are generally assigned accommodation in Loring Hall, Dean House or Chesterman House. Loring Hall currently holds around 400 students.

Students' Union

The union provides, among other things, catering facilities, a

chaplaincy A chaplain is, traditionally, a cleric (such as a minister, priest, pastor, rabbi, purohit, or imam), or a lay representative of a religious tradition, attached to a secular institution (such as a hospital, prison, military unit, intel ...

, a

medical clinic Medicine is the science and practice of caring for a patient, managing the diagnosis, prognosis, prevention, treatment, palliation of their injury or disease, and promoting their health. Medicine encompasses a variety of health care practic ...

, an advice service on academic and welfare issues and a state of the art

gym A gymnasium, also known as a gym, is an indoor location for athletics. The word is derived from the ancient Greek term " gymnasium". They are commonly found in athletic and fitness centres, and as activity and learning spaces in educational i ...

for students' use. In October 2014, the union faced critical coverage, from student newspaper

The Tab ''The Tab'' is a tabloid-style youth news site, published by Tab Media Ltd. It was launched at the University of Cambridge and has since expanded to over 80 universities in the United Kingdom and United States. The name originates from both an ...

after voting down a proposal to commemorate Holocaust Memorial Day, with Education Officer Sarah El-alfy describing it as "Eurocentric" and "colonialist." El-alfy offered to help put forward a redrafted version of the motion for the following Student Assembly meeting. The Union issued a statement claiming "Redrafting motions and re-entering them at a later date isn’t unusual in Students' Unions and shouldn't be misinterpreted as opposition." In 2015 the student union Welfare and Diversity Officer, Bahar Mustafa, caused a public controversy by banning white people and men from a student union event. Bahar Mustafa caused more public controversy through her justification of the ban, and through her use of the hash tag #KillAllWhiteMen. A group of students petitioned for a vote of no confidence in her, but the petition was signed by less than 3% of the student body and therefore failed to trigger a referendum.

Notable alumni

Goldsmiths' alumni have been influential in the fields of art, design, visual arts, film, journalism, literature, theatre, comedy, music, politics, history, and sport. Alumni of the Department of Art include

Mark Wallinger Mark Wallinger (born 25 May 1959) is a British artist. Having previously been nominated for the Turner Prize in 1995, he won in 2007 for his installation ''State Britain''. His work ''Ecce Homo'' (1999–2000) was the first piece to occupy the ...

, Antony Gormley,

Sam Taylor-Johnson Samantha Louise Taylor-Johnson OBE (née Taylor-Wood; 4 March 1967) is a British filmmaker and photographer. Her directorial feature film debut was 2009's ''Nowhere Boy'', a film based on the childhood experiences of The Beatles songwriter an ...

Lucian Freud Lucian Michael Freud (; 8 December 1922 – 20 July 2011) was a British painter and draughtsman, specialising in figurative art, and is known as one of the foremost 20th-century English portraitists. He was born in Berlin, the son of Jewis ...

Mary Quant Dame Barbara Mary Quant, Mrs Plunket Greene, (born 11 February 1930)The Mary Quant exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum in 2019-20 stated her year of birth as 1930, and that she became a student at Goldsmiths College around 1950. is a ...

Bridget Riley Bridget Louise Riley (born 24 April 1931) is an English painter known for her op art paintings. She lives and works in London, Cornwall and the Vaucluse in France. Early life and education Riley was born on 24 April 1931 in Norwood, Londo ...

Gary Hume Gary Stewart Hume (born 9 May 1962) is an English artist. Hume's work is strongly identified with the YBA who came to prominence in the early 1990s. Hume lives and works in London and Accord, New York.

, Steve McQueen, Carl Hopgood, Ely Dagher, Michael Dean,

Brian Molko Brian Molko (born 10 December 1972) is a Belgian-born Scottish-American musician and songwriter. He is best known as the lead vocalist, guitarist, and lyricist of the band Placebo. He is known in particular for his distinctive nasal, high-pitche ...

and Benjamin Spiers. The Department of Music has a number of notable alumni, including Tunday Akintan, Martyn Brabbins,

Katy B Kathleen Anne Brien (born 8 May 1989), better known as Katy B, is an English singer and songwriter. She released her debut studio album, '' On a Mission'', in 2011, which spawned two top five hits, "Katy on a Mission" and " Lights On". In 2014 ...

, James Blake, John Cale, A. G. Cook, Peter Graham, Robin Haigh, Rosie Lowe, Malcolm McLaren, Benedict Taylor, Shirley Thompson,

Errollyn Wallen Errollyn Wallen (born April 10, 1958) is a Belize-born British composer. Life Errollyn Wallen moved to London with her family when she was two. While her parents moved to New York, she and her three siblings (one of whom is the trumpeter By ...

, Alastair White and Roger Williams. Other alumni include TV presenter

Dave Myers David or Dave Myers may refer to: * David Myers (Indiana judge) (1859–1955), Associate Justice of the Indiana Supreme Court * Dave Myers (American football) (1906–1997), American football player for Staten Island Stapletons and Brooklyn Dodges ...

, DJ and producer SHERELLE, Bollywood actor

Kalki Koechlin Kalki Koechlin (; born 10 January 1984) is a French actress and writer who works in Hindi films. Known for her unconventional body of work, she is the recipient of such accolades as a National Film Award, a Filmfare Award, and two Screen Awar ...

, artist and pioneer

Beatie Wolfe Beatie Wolfe is an Anglo-American award-winning, multimedia artist and musician described as a "musical weirdo and visionary" known for seeing music differently and creating new formats for music and art in the digital era. These projects inclu ...

, graphic novelist

Malik Sajad Malik Sajad is a graphic novelist based in Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir (union territory), Jammu and Kashmir. His debut graphic novel, ''Munnu - A Boy from Kashmir'' was released with critical acclaim and won the ''Verve Story Teller of The Year ...

, BBC weather presenter Wendy Hurrell, film director and editor in chief of Kurdish Question Mehmet Aksoy, lead singer of Placebo

(drama graduate), founding members of the British rock band Blur Alex James (French graduate) and

(fine arts graduate), Kathak dancer

Nighat Chaudhry Nighat Chaudhry (Urdu: نگہت چودھری) is born on 24 February, in Lahore, Pakistan and moved to London when she was one year old. She is a trained Kathak, Sufi & Mystique Kathak classical dancer. She started her journey from London and ...

, and politician and former deputy spokesperson for the

Taipei City Government The Taipei City Government (TCG) is the municipal government of Taipei. History The Taihoku City Government was founded on 10 October 1920 in Taihoku Prefecture during Japanese colonial rule. The original city hall was located at the site o ...

Huang Ching-yin.

References

External links

*
The official Goldsmiths Students' Union website

Goldsmiths, University of London lists of students

Goldsmiths, University of London military personnel,1914–1918
{{authority control Education in the London Borough of Lewisham Educational institutions established in 1891 Grade II listed educational buildings Grade II listed buildings in the London Borough of Lewisham 1891 establishments in England New Cross Organisations based in the London Borough of Lewisham 1891 in London Universities UK University of London