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 metaphorical: 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 “Plateglass Universities,” which is regularly used alongside the much well established names: Ancient, Redbrick, and Whitetile universities.

The universities Beloff studied were products of the University Grants Commission and earlier government initiatives such as the Percy Report in 1945, and the White Paper on Technical Education in 1956. These reforms sought 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 (CATs), which were later elevated to university status, noting their delayed integration as “second-class citizens”!

The analysis goes beyond architecture, though he acknowledges the significance it plays in establishing the group. Plateglass campuses embodied 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 conveys both critique and admiration, noting, 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, it highlights the broader role of design in shaping university life.

Overall, The Plateglass Universities is a critical account of a pivotal moment in British higher education. It blends socioeconomic, and cultural observation with a keen eye on architecture and pedagogy, 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.

The seven new institutions that Beloff wrote about are the University of Sussex (1961), the University of East Anglia (1963), the University of York (1963), the University of Lancaster (1964), the University of Essex (1964), the University of Kent (1965), and the University of Warwick (1965). Beloff’s term ‘Plateglass University’ is central to this project. The word, unless used for the broader group of Plateglass universities and clearly stated, will be for the original seven new institutions.