Beloff: The Plateglass Universities

Literal and metaphoric.

Michael Beloff’s The Plateglass Universities (1968) explores a transformative period in British higher education. His title is both literal and metaphoric: referring to seven modern universities built on greenfield sites between 1961 and 1965, far from industrial towns, their contemporary, glass-fronted architecture that went on to define them. Beloff’s work is responsible for the term which is regularly used alongside the much well established names: Ancient, Redbrick, and Whitetile Universities.

The seven new institutions that Beloff wrote about are the University of Sussex (1961), East Anglia (1963), York (1963), Lancaster (1964), Essex (1964), Kent (1965), and Warwick (1965). Each were products of the University Grants Commission and earlier government initiatives such as the Percy Report (1945), White Paper on Technical Education (1956) and fully confirmed in the Robbins Report on Higher Education (1963) under Lord Robbins, which accelerated the establishment of new universities and the elevation of the advanced colleges. These reforms aimed to expand access to higher education and modernise curricula. While Beloff focused on a specific group, he was aware of the Colleges of Advanced Technology, referring to their integration to civic universites as delayed, almost as “second-class citizens.”

Beloff’s analysis goes beyond architecture, though he acknowledges the significance it plays in establishing the group. Plateglass campuses demonstrated a “flair and enthusiastic approach to education,” merging innovative design with progressive pedagogy. Contemporary materials reflected new teaching philosophies, symbolising transparency, modernity and ambition. Yet, there was a tension too, their aspirations and higher education’s longstanding traditions. He compared them to cathedral city universities, noting that even the most modern campuses struggled to escape the continuity and conformity of older institutions. His work captures the universities at their most ambitious and vulnerable, offering insight into their socioeconomic and cultural contexts. His prose is critique and admiration, for instance, the “particular green of pines and the soft, delicate grey of ubiquitous concrete” at the University of East Anglia, a nod to Scandinavian influence in campus design. While architectural discussion is brief, comments do highlight the role of architectrual design in influencing university life.

Overall, The Plateglass Universities is a critical account of a pivotal moment in British higher education. The book blends socioeconomic and cultural observation, offering a lens through which to view the rapid evolution of universities. Beloff’s work remains an engaging and thought-provoking read, illuminating how design, policy, and educational ambition came together to influence a much of liberal era of learning. 

Beloff, M. (1968). The Plateglass Universities. England: Secker & Warburg.