London South Bank University

London South Bank University (LSBU) is a public university in Elephant and Castle, London. It is based in the London Borough of Southwark, near the South Bank of the River Thames, from which it takes its name. Founded in 1892 as the Borough Polytechnic Institute, it achieved university status in 1992 under the Further and Higher Education Act 1992.

In September 2003, the university underwent its most recent name change to become London South Bank University (LSBU) and has since opened several new centres including the School of Health and Social Care, the Centre for Efficient and Renewable Energy in Buildings (CEREB), a new Student Centre, an Enterprise Centre, and a new media centre Elephant Studios. The university has 16,840 students and 1,700 staff.

In November 2016, the university was named the Entrepreneurial University of the Year at the Times Higher Education Awards. In the inaugural 2017 Teaching Excellence Framework, London South Bank University was awarded a Silver rating and maintained the rating in the 2023 assessment.

History

Origins

London South Bank University was founded in 1892 as the Borough Polytechnic Institute. It has since undergone several name changes, becoming the Polytechnic of the South Bank in 1970, South Bank Polytechnic in 1987, South Bank University in 1992 and London South Bank University in 2003. The university has also merged with a number of other educational institutions.

In 1888, Edric Bayley, a local solicitor and member of the London School Board, set up the South London Polytechnics Committee whose members included the Lord Mayor of London, Archbishop of Canterbury, Lord Salisbury, Lord Rosebery and Sir Lyon Playfair. The committee was successful in persuading the Charity Commissioners to pledge to match whatever could be raised from the public, up to the sum of £200,000 to establish polytechnics in South London. A public meeting at Mansion House launched the public appeal, and by 1891 enough money had been raised to establish polytechnics at Battersea and at Borough Road, Southwark, now LSBU.

During 1890, the former buildings of Joseph Lancaster's British and Foreign School Society were purchased for the Borough Polytechnic Institute. In May that year, the South London Polytechnics Institutes Act was passed, so that by June 1891 the governing structure and general aims of the new Institute had been created. These aims were "the promotion of the industrial skills, general knowledge, health, and well-being of young men and women" and also for "instruction suitable for persons intending to emigrate". W. M. Richardson was chosen to be clerk to the governing body, C. T. Millis was appointed as Headmaster, Miss Helen Smith was appointed Lady Superintendent and Edric Bayley was appointed the first Chair of Governors.

On 30 September 1892, the Borough Polytechnic Institute was officially opened by Lord Rosebery, with a remit to educate the local community in a range of practical skills. The polytechnic was given a seal based on the Bridge House emblem of the City of London and a motto taken from Ecclesiastes — "Do it with thy Might". A gala event was held to mark the occasion which was widely reported in the press because of Lord Rosebery's speech on the banning of smoking in the new Institute. One of the speeches made included the hope that "the Polytechnic would do its share towards perfecting many a valuable gem found in the slums of London".

The polytechnic specialised in courses that reflected local trades including leather tanning, typography, metalwork, electrical engineering, laundry, baking, and boot & shoe manufacture. Instruction was also given in art, science, elocution, literature and general knowledge and the polytechnic held public lectures by the likes of George Bernard Shaw, J. A. Hobson, Henry M. Stanley, and Ralph Vaughan Williams.

Campus

The main campus populates a triangular section of roads in the Borough of Southwark, immediately north of the Elephant and Castle. London's South Bank is a short tube or bus journey away from Waterloo or London Bridge. To the north of the campus is Borough Road, where the main entrance is situated and the original building of the Borough Polytechnic Institute. To the west is London Road and to the east is Southwark Bridge Road. At the northwest corner is St George's Circus.

Schiller International University had a campus in the Technopark Building on the London South Bank University property. In August 2011 Schiller stated that it was closing its London campus and will not start the Autumn 2011 semester there, due to stricter student visa requirements in the United Kingdom. A central Croydon campus opened in October 2021 at Electric House in Wellesley Road.

Organisation

• The university has seven Schools, they are;
• School of Applied Sciences
• School of Arts and Creative Industries
• School of the Built Environment and Architecture
• School of Business
• School of Engineering
• School of Health and Social Care
• School of Law and Social Sciences

Contraction

The university announced in April 2021 that in 2021 they were not admitting students to study history or human geography.

Academic profile

The British painter David Bomberg taught Art at the Borough Polytechnic between 1945 and 1954. One of the university's halls of residence, David Bomberg House, carries his name and a handful of his works are on display at the university. Major paintings by Bomberg were acquired by the Tate Gallery after his death.

London South Bank University works in partnership with institutions in the UK, Europe, Africa, the Americas and Asia. It currently works closely with the Beijing Institute of Technology, Hunan University, Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, Northwestern Polytechnical University, and the National Academy of Education Administration. The collaborative educational programmes both at undergraduate and postgraduate levels have been running for over ten years with the Chinese partners. LSBU established the first Confucius Institute for Traditional Chinese Medicine in 2007.

Rankings and reputation

In November 2016, the university was named the Entrepreneurial University of the Year at the Times Higher Education Awards.

The Guardian's 2018 league table of teaching excellence ranked the university 92 out of 121 British institutions. The Sunday Times' league table, measuring a number of different factors including teaching quality, research quality and employment rates, ranks the university 120th. However, The Guardian rated LSBU joint 13th for law students.

In the inaugural 2017 Teaching Excellence Framework assessment which ranked the quality of undergraduate teaching across UK universities and applied either a bronze, silver or gold ranking, LSBU was awarded a "Silver" ranking.

Admissions

70% of UK students at London South Bank University are Londoners. Students primarily come from the South London Boroughs of Southwark, Lambeth, Lewisham and Croydon, and the East London Borough of Newham. Around 12% of students are from overseas, which equate to over 3,000 EU and other international students, from more than 130 countries. 56% of the student population are from ethnic minorities and over 80% of the students are classified as mature (21 or over when they start their course).

Эх сурвалж: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)