Red brick universities

Red brick university (or redbrick university) is a term originally used to refer to eight or nine civic universities founded in the major industrial cities of England in the 19th century, although it is sometimes restricted to only those six that achieved independent university status prior to the first world war. The term is now used more broadly to refer to British universities founded in the late 19th and early 20th centuries in major cities. Six of the original redbrick institutions, or their predecessor institutes, gained university status before World War I and were initially established as civic science or engineering colleges.

Whilst the term was originally coined as these institutions were new and thus regarded by the ancient universities as , the description has since ceased to be derogatory with the 1960s proliferation of universities and the reclassification of polytechnics in 1992. Eight of the nine institutions are members of the Russell Group (which receives two-thirds of all research grant funding in the United Kingdom).

The term red brick or redbrick was first coined by Edgar Allison Peers, a professor of Spanish at the University of Liverpool, to describe the civic universities (under the pseudonym "Bruce Truscot" in his 1943 book Redbrick University). Although Peers used red brick in the title of the original book, he used redbrick adjectivally in the text and in the title of the 1945 sequel. He is said to have later regretted his use of red brick in the title.

Peers' reference was inspired by the fact that The Victoria Building at the University of Liverpool (designed by Alfred Waterhouse and completed in 1892 as the main building for University College, Liverpool) is built from a distinctive red pressed brick, with terracotta decorative dressings. On this basis the University of Liverpool claims to be the original "red brick" institution, although the titular, fictional Redbrick University was a cipher for all the civic universities of the day.

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