Ruskin College, originally known as Ruskin Hall, Oxford, is a higher education institution and part of the University of West London, in Oxford, England. It is not a college of Oxford University. Named after the essayist, art and social critic John Ruskin, it specialises in providing educational opportunities for adults with few or no qualifications.[1][2] Degrees taught at Ruskin were formerly awarded by the Open University.[1] The college joined the University of West London in 2021.
History
Part of the 1901 class of students at Ruskin Hall, Oxford (Ruskin College)
Ruskin Hall, Oxford,[3] was established in 1899 to provide education for working-class men who could not access university. It was founded by Americans Charles A. Beard and Walter Vrooman, both of whom had studied at the University of Oxford. They placed the college in Oxford because the city symbolised the educational privilege and standards to which ordinary people could never previously have aspired.[citation needed] Vrooman's wife, Amne (née Grafflin), an heiress, financially supported the foundation of the college.
The school was envisioned as a mechanism by which "working-class reformers" could "educate themselves efficiently at nominal cost."[3] Tuition, lodging, and board was priced at 12s 6d (£0.625) per week, with a parallel correspondence course alternatively offered for 1 shilling (£0.05) per week plus a 1 shilling entrance fee.[3] Courses were offered in political economy, sociology, the history of the labour movement, principles of politics, English literature, psychology, and other related aspects of the social sciences.[3]
The school was administered by a General Council, which included elected representatives from the Parliamentary Committee of the Trades Union Congress and the Central Board of the Cooperative Union.[3] An auxiliary organisation of supporters of the school was launched in 1901, the Ruskin Hall Educational League, which arranged conferences and public lectures in conjunction with the activities of the school.[3]
20th century
In October 1907 Arthur Smith of Balliol College paid a visit to Ruskin College on behalf of some of his university colleagues. He broached the idea of bringing Ruskin closer to the University, suggesting that this would involve the University providing funds for the College, and allowing Ruskin students to join the University.The majority of Ruskin students were suspicious that the proposal would lead to the erosion of the college's independence. Following a visit from Lord Curzon, the proposal was repeated and Dennis Hird, a lecturer in Sociology and Logic responded that as far as the students were concerned Ruskin College was irrevocably part of the Labour movement.[4]
In 1908, a group of Ruskin students, dissatisfied with its education policy which they viewed as too pro-establishment and imbued with elements of "social control", formed the Plebs' League. The students' revolt was supported by the Principal, Dennis Hird, and following his dismissal the students took strike action, refusing to attend lectures.[5][6][7]
During the First World War, some of the two hundred Belgian refugees who came to Oxford were lodged in the college.[8]
In 1970 Ruskin College hosted the UK's first National Women's Liberation Conference. The conference ran from 27 February to 1 March with between 500 and 600 people attending. The Guardian newspaper called the conference the "biggest landmarks in British women's history".[9] The conference organisers included Ruskin students Arielle Aberson and Sally Alexander, and historian Sheila Rowbotham. The organisers were associated with the History Workshop seminars held at the college and the conference was initially intended to focus on women's history.[10]
Ruskin College was a secular sister-school to and a model for the Roman Catholic-linked Plater College until Plater's closing in 2005.[11]
2012 relocation
A £17m redevelopment programme of the college's Old Headington site was completed in 2012, and the headquarters of the college moved there from the more central original site in Walton Street which was sold to Exeter College, Oxford.[12] The redeveloped site has a new academic building incorporating an expanded library, named the Callaghan Library in honour of former Labour Prime Minister, James Callaghan, who made a major education speech at Ruskin in 1976. The MacColl / Seeger archive has a dedicated room within the new library. All other buildings on the site have been refurbished, the grounds have been improved and the walled garden, with its listed 'crinkle crankle wall' has been brought back into use by local volunteers. A cafeteria is open to the public.
Around this time, parts of the college's archives were controversially destroyed. The college asserted that it was legally required to dispose of the records because they contained personally identifying information.[13][14][15]
2021 merger
In February 2021 the college agreed to merge with Activate Learning.[16] In May 2021 the College Principal was suspended.[17] In August 2021 it was announced that the college had been acquired by the University of West London.[18]
The college is a part of the University of West London Group, and operates as a charity limited by guarantee.[22] It is administered by a board of trustees.
College officials
The college is led by a Principal, currently Peter John CBE (as of 2024). He is supported by a Vice-Principal, currently Anthony Woodman.[23]
Student life
Student accommodation is provided through arrangement with local private providers.[24]
Union and societies
The Ruskin College Students' Union provides student representation in the college.[25]
The Ruskin Fellowship is an alumni association for ex-Ruskin College students and staff. Independent of but associated with the college, the Fellowship aims to support the work and ethos of the college in offering university-level education to disadvantaged adults in Britain. There is also a post graduate programme and an international section involving: International Labour and Trade Union Studies; Webb and Chevening Scholars.
The Ruskin Fellowship was founded in the academic year 1911/1912 and held its first "Annual Meet" on 27 May 1912. This tradition continues with an Annual Reunion held in September of each year. The Reunion is held over a weekend and incorporates speakers on relevant topics, a social activity including a bar, music and a buffet and, on the Sunday morning of the Reunion weekend, the Fellowship's Annual General Meeting (AGM). The AGM elects an executive committee to run the Fellowship for the following 12 months. A history of the Fellowship was produced in 2012 to mark the centenary of the Fellowship's first "Annual Meet".
A pamphlet on The History of the College and the Fellowship During World War One has been published as part of the commemoration of the War.
