City and Guilds College

The City and Guilds College was originally known as the Central Institution of the City and Guilds Institute. A meeting of the livery companies in 1876 led to the foundation of the City and Guilds Institute (C&GLI) for the Advancement of Technical Education, which aimed to improve the training of craftsmen. One of the objectives of the C&GLI was to create a Central Institution in London. As they were initially unable to find a site for the Institution, Finsbury Technical College was established in 1878 in Cowper Street. The other main objective of the C&GLI was to conduct a system of qualifying examinations in technical subjects. This was done in 1879, when the system established by the Society of Arts in 1873 was taken over by the C&GLI. The Central Institution opened in 1884, in a purpose designed building in South Kensington. It became known as the City and Guilds College after its full incorporation into Imperial College in 1910.