University of West London - History

History

The University of West London traces its roots back to 1860, when the Lady Byron School was founded at what is now University of West London's Ealing campus. The school later became Ealing College of Higher Education.

The Slough campus was founded in January 1912 as a selective secondary school in William Street. By the 1960s, it had become Slough College of Further Education. In the 1970s it became Thames Valley College of Higher Education and in 2011 it was closed down.

In 1990, Ealing College of Higher Education, Thames Valley College of Higher Education, Queen Charlotte's College of Health Care Studies and the London College of Music were merged to become the Polytechnic of West London. Two years later, the polytechnic became a university under the Further and Higher Education Act 1992, and adopted the name Thames Valley University.

In 2004, the university merged with Reading College and School of Arts and Design (which was originally founded in 1947 as Reading Technical College). Reading College's sites at Kings Road and Crescent Road became TVU sites.

In 2009, the university decided to divest itself of its further education courses, together with its Kings Road site, that it had inherited from the Reading College and School of Arts and Design. In 2010 the responsibility for further education, along with the Kings Road site, were transferred to a re-launched Reading College. The university retained its other sites in Reading, including the Crescent Road site that also originated with the Reading College and School of Arts and Design.

In May 2009, the university announced that it be would closing its Slough campus in 2010 due to the relocation of nursing students, who make up the majority of the student body there, to Reading. Other courses will be moved to one of the university's west London campuses, although some part-time and nursing courses will remain in Slough at a different site.

In August 2010, it was announced that the university would change its name to the University of West London, with the Privy Council subsequently granting permission for the change. The university unveiled a new logo and branding in April 2011. Vice-Chancellor Peter John stated that the changes reflected the university's development since 1992 and new focus on its Brentford and Ealing campuses.