Plate glass university

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The University of York's Central Hall is an example of plateglass architectural design.

The term plateglass university has come into use by some to refer to one of the several universities founded in the United Kingdom in the 1960s following the Robbins Report on higher education. The term 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.

The name 'Plateglass Universities' was apparently first used by Michael Beloff in his 1968 book 'The Plateglass Universities', published only a few years after the 'New Universities' (as they were generally called at the time) had been created. Beloff invents the term "Plateglass Universities" to describe the 1960s universities - specifically Sussex, York, East Anglia, Essex, Lancaster, Kent at Canterbury, and Warwick - and describes his reasons for using the term:

I had at the start to decide upon a generic term for the new universities - they will not be new for ever. None of the various caps so far tried have fitted. 'Greenfields' describes only a transient phase. 'Whitebrick', 'Whitestone', and 'Pinktile' hardly conjure up the grey or biscuit concrete massiveness of most of their buildings, and certainly not the black towers of Essex. 'Newbridge' is fine as far as the novelty goes, but where on earth are the bridges? Sir Edward Boyle more felicitously suggested 'Shakespeare'. But I have chosen to call them the Plateglass Universities. It is architecturally evocative; but more important, it is metaphorically accurate.

Beloff has many things to say about the new universities, some critical, but much positive. His aim, he says, is "to provide information about the youngest universities in England to offset ignorance about them in the oldest", and in an Epilogue responding to the student revolts of summer 1968 he concludes with positive comments about the universities, despite the controversy created by some of their students:

The role of Plateglass in reviving a belief in the need for and virtues of higher education is especially important. Plateglass universities gives the lie to the view that universities are conservative, unchanging institutions. In syllabuses, examinations, teaching methods, administration, discipline, they have taken new initiatives. It seems ridiculous that their promise should be sacrificed because of the irresponsibility of a minority of their members [the student rebels]. All who are concerned with the current situation should remember that students have long protested against the world - it is the duty of graduates to change it.