A polytechnic was a

tertiary education Tertiary education, also referred to as third-level, third-stage or post-secondary education, is the educational level following the completion of secondary education. The World Bank, for example, defines tertiary education as including univers ...

teaching institution in

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...

() and

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label=Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is #Descriptions, variously described as ...

offering higher diplomas, undergraduate degree and post graduate education (masters and PhDs) that was governed and administered at the national level by the Council for National Academic Awards. At the outset, the focus of polytechnics was on STEM subjects with a special emphasis on

engineering Engineering is the use of scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad range of more speciali ...

. After the passage of the

Further and Higher Education Act 1992 The Further and Higher Education Act 1992 made changes in the funding and administration of further education and higher education within England and Wales, with consequential effects on associated matters in Scotland which had previously been ...

they became independent

universities A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United State ...

which meant they could award their own degrees. The comparable institutions in

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to ...

were collectively referred to as Central Institutions.

History

19th century

The

London Polytechnic The University of Westminster is a public university based in London, United Kingdom. Founded in 1838 as the Royal Polytechnic Institution, it was the first polytechnic to open in London. The Polytechnic formally received a Royal charter in Aug ...

(now the University of Westminster) emerged from the Royal Polytechnic Institution which was founded at Regent Street, London in 1838. The establishment of the polytechnic was a reaction to the rise of industrial power and technical education in France, Germany and the US.Brosan, "The Development of Polytechnics in the UK", ''Paedagogica Europaea'', Vol 7, 1972 Degrees at the London Polytechnic were validated by 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 degr ...

1960s–1992

Most polytechnics were formed in the expansion of higher education in the 1960s.

Academic degree An academic degree is a qualification awarded to students upon successful completion of a course of study in higher education, usually at a college or university. These institutions commonly offer degrees at various levels, usually including und ...

s in polytechnics were validated by the UK Council for National Academic Awards (CNAA) from 1965 to 1992. The division between universities and polytechnics was known as the binary divide in UK higher education.Pratt, J. ''The Polytechnic Experiment 1965-1992'', Society for Research into Higher Education/Open University Press, The CNAA was chartered by the British government to validate and award degrees, and maintain national quality assurance standards. The CNAA subject boards from their inception were from the universities; a CNAA degree was formally recognised as equivalent to a university degree, and the courses were under strict scrutiny by assessors external to the polytechnics. Sub-degree courses at these institutions were validated by the Business & Technology Education Council ( BTEC). Some polytechnics were often seen as ranking below universities in the provision of higher education, because they lacked degree-awarding powers, concentrated on applied science and engineering education, produced less research than the universities, and because the qualifications necessary to gain a place in one were sometimes lower than for a university (the failure rate in the first year of undergraduate courses was high, due to a rigorous filtering process). However, in terms of an undergraduate education, this was a misconception, since many polytechnics offered academic degrees validated by the CNAA, from bachelor's and master's degrees to PhD research degrees. In addition, professional degrees in subjects such as engineering, town planning, law, and architecture were rigorously validated by various professional institutions. Many polytechnics argued that a CNAA degree was superior to many university degrees, especially in engineering, due to the external independent validation process employed by the CNAA, the oversight of the engineering institutions, and innovations such as sandwich degrees. Such innovations made a polytechnic education more relevant for professional work in applying science and advanced technology in industry.

Post-1992

Under the

they became fully fledged universities. After 1992, the former polytechnics (" new universities") awarded their own degrees.

List of former polytechnics

In England, there are: * Anglia Ruskin University, formerly Anglia Polytechnic (located in Cambridge and Chelmsford) * Birmingham City University, formerly

Birmingham Polytechnic , mottoeng = "Do what you are doing; attend to your business" , established = 1992—gained university status1971—City of Birmingham Polytechnic1843— Birmingham College of Art , type = Public , affiliation = ...

* University of Brighton, formerly Brighton Polytechnic *

Bournemouth University Bournemouth University is a public university in Bournemouth, England, with its main campus situated in neighbouring Poole. The university was founded in 1992; however, the origins of its predecessor date back to the early 1900s. The univer ...

, formerly Bournemouth Polytechnic * University of Central Lancashire, formerly Lancashire Polytechnic and before that Preston Polytechnic (until 1984) * Coventry University, formerly Coventry Polytechnic and Lanchester Polytechnic (until 1987) * De Montfort University Leicester, formerly Leicester Polytechnic *

University of East London , mottoeng = Knowledge and the fulfilment of vows , established = 1898 – West Ham Technical Institute1952 – West Ham College of Technology1970 – North East London Polytechnic1989 – Polytechnic of East London ...

, formerly North East London Polytechnic and Polytechnic of East London *

University of Greenwich The University of Greenwich is a public university located in London and Kent, United Kingdom. Previous names include Woolwich Polytechnic and Thames Polytechnic. The university's main campus is at the Old Royal Naval College, which along with it ...

, formerly Woolwich Polytechnic (until 1970), then Thames Polytechnic * University of Hertfordshire, formerly Hatfield Polytechnic * University of Huddersfield, formerly Huddersfield Polytechnic * Kingston University, formerly Kingston Polytechnic * Leeds Beckett University, formerly Leeds Polytechnic and as Leeds Metropolitan University from 1998 to 2013 * Lincoln University was formed in part from Humberside Polytechnic which was briefly Humberside University * Liverpool John Moores University, formerly Liverpool Polytechnic * London Metropolitan University, formerly

City of London Polytechnic London Guildhall University was a university in the United Kingdom from 1992 to 2002, established when the City of London Polytechnic was awarded university status. On 1 August 2002, it merged with the University of North London to form Londo ...

and Polytechnic of North London * Manchester Metropolitan University, formerly Manchester Polytechnic * Middlesex University, formerly Middlesex Polytechnic * University of Northumbria at Newcastle, formerly Newcastle Polytechnic * Nottingham Trent University, formerly Trent Polytechnic (later Nottingham Polytechnic) * Oxford Brookes University, formerly Oxford Polytechnic * University of Plymouth, Plymouth Polytechnic (until 1989), then Polytechnic South West * University of Portsmouth, formerly Portsmouth Polytechnic * Sheffield Hallam University, formerly Sheffield Polytechnic * South Bank University, formerly South Bank Polytechnic (in London) * Staffordshire University, formerly Staffordshire Polytechnic and previously North Staffordshire Polytechnic * University of Sunderland, formerly Sunderland Polytechnic * Teesside University, formerly Teesside Polytechnic *

University of the West of England The University of the West of England (also known as UWE Bristol) is a public research university, located in and around Bristol, England. The institution was know as the Bristol Polytechnic in 1970; it received university status in 1992 and ...

, formerly Bristol Polytechnic * University of West London, formerly Polytechnic of West London * University of Westminster, formerly Polytechnic of Central London and the Royal Polytechnic Institution – Regent Street *

University of Wolverhampton The University of Wolverhampton is a public university located on four campuses across the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, Shropshire and Staffordshire in England. The roots of the university lie in the Wolverhampton Tradesmen's and Mech ...

, formerly Wolverhampton Polytechnic In addition, Wales has * University of South Wales, formerly Polytechnic of Wales and University of Glamorgan and Northern Ireland has: * New University of Ulster which was a plate glass university. It absorbed the former Ulster Polytechnic, afterwards it was known as the University of Ulster. It is now known as Ulster University In Scotland there were comparable Higher Education institutions called Central Institutions but these very rarely used the designation "Polytechnic" in their titles; these also converted into universities. * One institution that did briefly use the designation "Polytechnic" was

Edinburgh Napier University , mottoeng = Without knowledge, everything is in vain , established = 1992 – granted University status 1964 – Napier Technical College , type = Public , academic_staff = 802 , administrative_staff = 562 , chancellor = Will Whitehorn , ...

. Between 1988 and 1992 the institution was known as Napier Polytechnic.

References