Ravensbourne University London is a

public university A public university, state university, or public college is a university or college that is State ownership, owned by the state or receives significant funding from a government. Whether a national university is considered public varies from o ...

on the

Greenwich Peninsula The Greenwich Peninsula is an area of Greenwich in South London, South East London, England. It is bounded on three sides by a loop of the River Thames, Thames, between the Isle of Dogs to the west and Silvertown to the east. To the south is the ...

London, England London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. It is classified as a digital media and design university, with vocational courses in fashion, television and broadcasting, interactive product design, architecture and environment design, graphic design, animation, and music production for media and sound design. Ravensbourne University London was established in 1962 by the amalgamation of Bromley School of Art, Sidcup School of Art and Beckenham School of Art. It was originally at

Bromley Common Bromley Common is an unincorporated village in Greater London, within the London Borough of Bromley. Prior to 1965 it was within the historic county of Kent. It is south of Bromley town centre and Bickley, west of Southborough and Petts Woo ...

and later at

Chislehurst Chislehurst () is a suburban district of south-east London, England, in the London Borough of Bromley. It lies east of Bromley, south-west of Sidcup and north-west of Orpington, south-east of Charing Cross. Before the creation of Greater ...

and on the

Inner London Inner London is the group of London boroughs that form the interior part of Greater London and are surrounded by Outer London. With its origins in the bills of mortality, it became fixed as an area for statistics in 1847 and was used as an area ...

, where it opened a new campus in autumn 2010. The college is named after the River Ravensbourne, which flows from Bromley Common to

Greenwich Greenwich ( , , ) is an List of areas of London, area in south-east London, England, within the Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county of Greater London, east-south-east of Charing Cross. Greenwich is notable for its maritime hi ...

. Initially established as a institution providing higher-level courses in art and design, it was given university status in 2018.

History

Bromley School of Art opened in 1878 in a new building in Tweedy Road, Bromley that later became Bromley Library; after the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

it became Bromley College of Art. In 1959 it became Bromley Technical College after a merger with the Department of Furniture Design of Beckenham School of Art, which dated to the turn of the century as a technical school, had become an art school in purpose-built accommodation in 1908, and had expanded after the war with crafts trades. In July 1962, the remainder of Beckenham School of Art merged with Bromley College of Art and Sidcup School of Art (founded in 1898 and by then also known as Sidcup Art College) to form Ravensbourne College of Art and Design. In 1965 the college moved to Rookery Lane,

. That site had originally housed the Rookery, an 18th-century house that had been burnt out while in military occupation in 1946. As the college expanded it was unable to develop that site any further, as it was in the

Metropolitan Green Belt The Metropolitan Green Belt is a statutory green belt around London, England. It comprises parts of Greater London, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Essex, Hertfordshire, Kent and Surrey, parts of two of the three districts of Bedfordshire and a s ...

. In 1975 the college moved most of its operations to a purpose-built building designed after lengthy consultation on of private parkland on Walden Road,

(). The Rookery Lane site was redeveloped for the Bromley College of Further & Higher Education. In 1983 the National Advisory Body for Local Authority Higher Education was set up by the Secretary of State for Education and Science, and demanded a 10 per cent cut in higher education spending across the sector. At Ravensbourne this was interpreted as requiring the closure of a department, with the communications and television broadcasting course at the College initially earmarked to be discontinued as it was on a separate campus and the closure would have allowed the College to consolidate its properties. This was later changed to a decision to cut the Fine Art course at the College on the grounds that there was a large number of similar courses offered elsewhere in the region, and this closure occurred later that year. As a result, the college was renamed to Ravensbourne College of Design and Communication. In 1991 the communications and television broadcasting course department was moved to the main Chislehurst campus from its Wharton Road, Bromley site, now occupied by St Timothy's Mews housing development. Ravensbourne has offered higher-level courses in design since the 1960s. It was amongst the earliest of institutions to be approved by the then

CNAA The Council for National Academic Awards (CNAA) was the national degree-awarding authority in the United Kingdom from 1965 until its dissolution on 20 April 1993. Background The establishment followed the recommendation of the UK government Com ...

to convert the traditional Diploma programmes in Art and Design into honours degrees during the 1970s. In April 1989 it became a Higher Education Corporation. Following the demise of the CNAA in 1992, Ravensbourne entered into a validating partnership with the

Royal College of Art The Royal College of Art (RCA) is a public university, public research university in London, United Kingdom, with campuses in South Kensington, Battersea and White City, London, White City. It is the only entirely postgraduate art and design uni ...

, which agreed exceptionally to take this responsibility. This validation ceased when the

withdrew from offering collaborative provision. Ravensbourne was recognised as an affiliate College of the

University of Sussex The University of Sussex is a public university, public research university, research university located in Falmer, East Sussex, England. It lies mostly within the city boundaries of Brighton and Hove. Its large campus site is surrounded by the ...

in 1996, and was re-recognised in 2002. Between 2009 and 2012 the institution's undergraduate and postgraduate provision was validated by City University, London. This relationship was maintained until May 2012. In June 2013

University of the Arts London The University of the Arts London is a public collegiate university in London, England, United Kingdom. It specialises in arts, design, fashion, and the performing arts. The university is a federation of six arts colleges: Camberwell College of ...

became the validating partner. In August 2017, Ravensbourne was granted the right to award its own degrees, and in May 2018 it gained university status, becoming Ravensbourne University London. In 2019 Ravensbourne began validating courses at the City and Guilds of London Art School located in Kennington in central London. Ravensbourne College - geograph

Rave on Air

In 1971 the Broadcasting Department instituted Rave on Air, an annual student-run broadcasting event.

Campus

The university moved its entire operations to its current campus on the Greenwich Peninsula, which opened in autumn 2010. The campus was designed by Farshid Moussavi and won a British Construction Industry Award and the

RIBA ''Riba'' (, or , ) is an Arabic word used in Islamic law and roughly translated as " usury": unjust, exploitative gains made in trade or business. ''Riba'' is mentioned and condemned in several different verses in the Qur'an3:130

education and community award.

Curriculum and reputation

Ravensbourne offers undergraduate, postgraduate and

further education Further education (often abbreviated FE) in the United Kingdom and Ireland is additional education to that received at secondary school that is distinct from the higher education (HE) offered in universities and other academic institutions. It ...

programmes taught in a single faculty with two main clusters of courses, the ''Design School'' and the ''Screen School''. At undergraduate level, there are

Foundation degree A foundation degree is a combined academic and vocational qualification in higher education in the United Kingdom, equivalent to two-thirds of an honours bachelor's degree. Foundation degrees were introduced by the Department for Education and ...

honours degree Honours degree has various meanings in the context of different degrees and education systems. Most commonly it refers to a variant of the undergraduate bachelor's degree containing a larger volume of material or a higher standard of study, ...

level top-up years (for those having completed foundation degrees or equivalent), and

Bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Medieval Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six years ...

s. The available postgraduate provision consists of

Master's A master's degree (from Latin ) is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional prac ...

level courses, each of which can be studied to MA, MDes or MSc (dependent on subject). A range of subject areas are offered within the main disciplines of fashion, design and broadcasting. Within the area of Further Education, Ravensbourne offers the Diploma in Foundation Studies for both Art & Design and Media, as well as the BTEC

National Certificate The National Certificate is a higher education professional certification, qualification in a technology discipline offered by higher institutions across the globe. Each country has its own specifications about the certificate. Ireland The Na ...

in Art and Design.

Notable alumni

* Ray Atkins, artist * Brian Barnes, artist * Deirdre Borlase, artist *

David Bowie David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer, songwriter and actor. Regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Bowie was acclaimed by critics and musicians, pa ...

, pop star * Joshua "Zerkaa" Bradley, YouTuber * Dinos Chapman, artist * Maria Cornejo, fashion designer * Beryl Dean, embroiderer * Mary Farmer (Beckenham School of Art), textile artist and former Tapestry Course Director,

* Rose Finn-Kelcey, artist * Nazaneen Ghaffar, weather presenter,

Sky News Sky News is a British free-to-air television news channel, live stream news network and news organisation. Sky News is distributed via an English-language radio news service, and through online channels. It is owned by Sky Group, a division of ...

* Will "Wilbur Soot" Gold, YouTuber and musician * Robert Hewison, literary scholar * Peter James, writer and film producer * Andrew Kötting, Artist film maker * John Leckie, record producer * Anthony McCall, artist * Stella McCartney, fashion designer * Jasper Morrison, product designer * Bruce Oldfield, fashion designer * Chris Orr, artist * Jay Osgerby, product and furniture designer * Andi Osho, comedian *

Tim Pope Timothy Michael Pope (born 12 February 1956) is a film director most known for his music videos, for having directed feature films, and for a brief pop career. Early life and career Pope grew up in the north London suburb of Enfield. Both his ...

, film director * Bruce Pennington, artist * Carol Tulloch, Professor of Dress, Diaspora and Transnationalism * Gareth Unwin, film producer * Alison Wilding, sculptor * Clare Waight Keller, fashion designer.

Notable faculty

* Jeremy Gardiner * Armin Medosch

References

External links

Higher Education website

Students' Union website
1962 establishments in England Universities and colleges established in 1962 Art schools in England Art schools in London Education in the Royal Borough of Greenwich {{Coord , 51, 30, 6, N, 0, 0, 20, E, type:edu_region:GB-GRE, display=title