University of London - any future for it?
Simon Jenkins writes in The Guardian: ...[Bloomsbury] has become one of the bleakest parts of central London. The University of London took over ownership from the Bedford estate between the wars and set about destroying what had been a graceful, secluded area. New blocks were thrown up in the cheapest design. Gardens were occupied with prefabs. No attempt was made to plan the campus as a whole.
...
If I were UCL I would stage a flat-out takeover bid for the University of London's £85m of property assets. I would review every activity on the Bloomsbury campus and plan Europe's premier academic township. Down would come the Senate House and the Institute of Education. Montague Place, Malet Street and Woburn Square would be redesigned as quadrangles, streets and piazzas. Hidden churches, museums, gardens and townhouses would be brought to light. I would find somewhere to recreate a Brick Lane.
Full article reproduced on UCL website.
The future of the University of London was also the subject of a White Paper produced by the Provost in March 2005. It seems to point strongly in favour of dissolution or at least significant streamlining of the University of London as a central body, arguing in the conclusion: it should not be simply assumed that the present role and structure of the University [of London] is the best model for higher education in the UK or in London. The powerful functions the University once exercised have today largely evaporated, and the Colleges have become the real engines of its academic activity.
I'm quite in favour of this new, radical forward thinking. Aside from the fact that Simon Jenkins is a philistine for putting down Senate House so (what about the Brunswick Centre? That should go down. I bet Simon Jenkins raves about the National Theatre too; it's practically Guardian policy), he's right about the awful 1960s architecture around Gordon Street. Even the architects themselves are housed in a right carbuncle of a building, Wates House.
I say we should throw the issue open to widespread and serious debate across UCL (at least for the few of us who care about things like this), and especially request proposals from students from the Bartlett and Slade schools. We should start making use of all this human capital we have lying around. At the very least, they might come up with something interesting, and it will generate awareness and discussion -- which surely can only be good things in a university?
Anyone else have any thoughts on this?
...
If I were UCL I would stage a flat-out takeover bid for the University of London's £85m of property assets. I would review every activity on the Bloomsbury campus and plan Europe's premier academic township. Down would come the Senate House and the Institute of Education. Montague Place, Malet Street and Woburn Square would be redesigned as quadrangles, streets and piazzas. Hidden churches, museums, gardens and townhouses would be brought to light. I would find somewhere to recreate a Brick Lane.
Full article reproduced on UCL website.
The future of the University of London was also the subject of a White Paper produced by the Provost in March 2005. It seems to point strongly in favour of dissolution or at least significant streamlining of the University of London as a central body, arguing in the conclusion: it should not be simply assumed that the present role and structure of the University [of London] is the best model for higher education in the UK or in London. The powerful functions the University once exercised have today largely evaporated, and the Colleges have become the real engines of its academic activity.
I'm quite in favour of this new, radical forward thinking. Aside from the fact that Simon Jenkins is a philistine for putting down Senate House so (what about the Brunswick Centre? That should go down. I bet Simon Jenkins raves about the National Theatre too; it's practically Guardian policy), he's right about the awful 1960s architecture around Gordon Street. Even the architects themselves are housed in a right carbuncle of a building, Wates House.
I say we should throw the issue open to widespread and serious debate across UCL (at least for the few of us who care about things like this), and especially request proposals from students from the Bartlett and Slade schools. We should start making use of all this human capital we have lying around. At the very least, they might come up with something interesting, and it will generate awareness and discussion -- which surely can only be good things in a university?
Anyone else have any thoughts on this?