UWA/F/PP/4A/5

Coventry Evening Telegraph - March 29th 1960

• University of Warwick presented to UGC with local support of church, education officials, local government and industry, but what about the 'standard local' support at grass roots level?
• University presented as an ASPIRATIONAL ideal; '[...] the raising of the cultural standard of life in this area by the establishment of a university ought to be an aspiration widely held.'

March 25th 1960

• Desperation for university places, opened the University of Sussex 2 years early in 1961 rather than 1963, Basil Spence as architect. Designed 'College House' as an intellectual centre for the university, arranged around a central courtyard with a modernist, clean, linear style. Similar to the aims of Eugene Rosenberg who designed Warwick?

October 13th 1960

• Programmes of expansion, 170,000-175,000 student places planned for mid-60s = architecture now based on packing as many students in as possible rather than 'intellectual swagger' creation?
• Interesting reflection on the curriculum, has it come full circle now? Aim to '[...] provide a general education on a broad inter-disciplinary course, with the minimum of specialisation at undergraduate level.'

December 1960 - January 1961

• 03/01/1961 - Henry Rees letter stressing the importance of a rural location. 1) If the university was placed in Coventry city centre, it could not be considered part of Warwickshire. 2) The UGC demanded a 200 acre site, and Kenilworth road site provides this and allows for the possibility of expansion. 3) Importance of a beautiful environment to encourage personal and intellectual development.
• The Barlow Report - suggested 6 new universities should be built to enable 170,000 student places to be available by 1970.
• Importance of new universities to experiment with the traditional degree structure to adapt to a changing labour market.

March 1961

• H. Walker - first suggestion of a university clearing house tro ensure all students who wished to go to university were able to, even if it was not their first choice of university that they were eventually placed at. Aspirational nature of going on to H.E is apparent here, also phrased as an 'enabling' service rather than a stigmatised last resort as clearing is today.

Birmingham Post, May 19th 1961

• University of Warwick as a symbolic and architectural centre for Coventry, with Cathedral representing spiritual life and university symbolising intellectual and technical progress since the war.
• Ling and Johnson, initial plans for Warwick = 670 resident students in 7 dorm blocks.
• University to be built on two levels due to the fall of the land, with an educational precinct and a social precinct, consisting of a 200ft tall 'tower of learning' in the centre to mark this 'symbolic identity' of Warwick for Coventry.

Coventry Evening Telegraph, May 19th 1961

• University architecture as a symbol of Coventry's development = 'Coventry's astonishing development in this century is punctuated by a series of impressive landmarks. SOme of them stand out like pinnacles.'

May 14th 1962

• Discussion of new universities and collegiate system, accepted at York as seen as more inclusive and personal, establishing solid links with tutors, university as a place of education NOT instruction.
• But critics, some of which were advocates of Warwick, argued this system was a mere reflection of the nostalgia of Oxford and Cambridge, and the driving force behind the new universities was the fact that they challenged this heritage.

November 1962

• Appointment of Butterworth as vice-chancellor, had ideas about the ethics and so the structure of the university itself. Wanted male and female students, international students, wished for most students to live on campus and for Warwick NOT to be a '9-5' university. Warwick as a round the clock SOCIAL and LEARNING SPACE; is this what the university strives for today?

Notes by L.E