Identity area
Type of entity
Authorized form of name
Parallel form(s) of name
Standardized form(s) of name according to other rules
Other form(s) of name
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Description area
Dates of existence
History
Anthony Crossland, in his notable 1965 Woolwich speech, laid out the Government's vision for a binary system of Higher Education within the UK: i.e. universities and polytechnics, where the latter would concentrate on high-level vocational skills. He claimed that, whilst it is always sensible to build on what already exists if rapid expansion is to be achieved within limited resources, it is also important to offer an alternative channel to H.E. that is distinct from the established University system in a number of ways:
Distinct in traditions that have been inherited from its precursors in the non-university sector
Distinct in its adaptability and responsiveness to social change
Distinct organisationally
Distinct in the kind of students that it attracts
The City of London Polytechnic was formed in 1970 from an amalgamation of the City of London College, the Sir John Cass College and the Navigation College at Tower Hill and it was one of the first of the London-based polytechnics to be so designated. It was initially organised into 4 Schools:
The Sir John Cass School of Science and Technology
The Sir John Cass School of Art
The School of Navigation
The School of Business Studies
In 1972 it became one of the first institutions in the country approved to run a modular degree. In 1977 it took responsibility for the running of the Fawcett Library (subsequently renamed the Women's Library), the oldest established women's library in the UK. It merged with the London College of Furniture in 1990. In 1992 the Polytechnic was granted university status - and, with that, its own degree-awarding powers - by the Further and Higher Education Act of that year and was renamed London Guildhall University.