The University of Brighton

This is a short history of how University of Brighton came into being.

I first went to Brighton in 1960 and enrolled in The Brighton Technical College (in Richmond Terrace).

At that time there was a feeder Institute the Preston Technical Institute (in Preston Road Brighton) that produced HND and the Students joined the Brighton Technical College for higher  education.

In 1962, Preston Technical Institute assumed the title Brighton Technical College, being responsible for all the non-advanced day and evening courses, while Brighton Technical College became the Brighton College of Technology, intended for more advanced studies than those offered by the technical college.

Brighton College of Technology opened on the site of school playing fields in Lewes Road in 1963. The ten-storey Cockcroft Building was followed in 1976 by the seven-storey Watts building, named after the college’s first principal. Mithras House, erected at Lewes Road in 1966, has been used since 1977.

In 1970 the School of Art and Brighton College of Technology merge to form Brighton Polytechnic.
Margaret Thatcher signs the certificate to confirm the former colleges’ new polytechnic status.

The Teacher Training College merges with Brighton Polytechnic, giving the university a further campus at Falmer.

The East Sussex College of Higher Education, including the Chelsea School, merges with Brighton Polytechnic spreading the polytechnic into Eastbourne.

In 1992 along with many other polytechnics Brighton is granted university status and becomes the University of Brighton