Northampton Institute Northampton Polytechnic Institute Northampton Polytechnic Northampton College of Advanced Technology City University

Northampton Institute Northampton Polytechnic Institute Northampton Polytechnic Northampton College of Advanced Technology City University

City University was founded as the Northampton Institute in 1894 with the aim of "the promotion of the industrial skill, general knowledge, health and well-being of young men and women belonging to the poorer classes". In 1906 the name was changed to Northampton Polytechnic Institute, from 1935 it was Northampton Polytechnic which in 1957 became Northampton College of Advanced Technology (CAT). Following the Robbins Committee Report of 1963 the College acquired University status and its charter was granted in 1966 when it became The City University (TCU), it is now known as City University London.

The first proposal for the Institute was made in 1891 in a Charity Commissioners' scheme for a City Polytechnic, linking Birkbeck College, the City of London College and a proposed Northampton Institute in Finsbury, to facilitate funding for these institutions by the City Parochial Foundation. The City Polytechnic was dissolved in 1906 without any real links having been established between the three institutions but it had enabled funding for the building and establishment of the Northampton Institute on land given by the Marquess of Northampton. Other funding came from the Skinners' Company, the Saddlers' Company and the Technical Education Board of the London County Council.

Building began in 1894 to a design by Edward Mountford (1855-1908) and teaching at the Institute commenced in 1896 under Robert Mullineux Walmsley (1854-1924), its first Principal, with the Institute being fully operational by September 1897. The organisation of the Institute was greatly influenced by the nearby Finsbury Technical College, and, in common with the Polytechnic ethos, the social aspects of the Institute, which survived until World War I, were as important as the educational classes which concentrated on providing technical instruction, initially in the evenings only, relevant to the trades and crafts of its immediate neighbourhood of Clerkenwell. Its six departments were mechanical engineering and metal trades; artistic crafts; applied physics and electrical engineering; horology; electro-chemistry; and domestic economy and women's trades. From 1900 the Institute had a number of University of London recognised teachers and students were able to register for internal degree courses of the University. In 1903 the sandwich course system was introduced requiring students to spend one quarter of their course working under supervision in an appropriate industry. The Institute pioneered systematic courses of instruction rather than the study of isolated subjects.

With recognition as a CAT in 1957 Dip.Tech courses were introduced and residential accommodation for students was provided. The relationship with the London County Council and its funding ended in 1962 with the award of direct grant status through the Department of Education and Science, followed by transfer to the University Grants Committee in 1965 and university status the following year. City University has remained on its original site and a conscious decision to limit student numbers and not move out of London to a country site was taken in 1966.