Celebrating the role of London Met

This year marks two decades since the 1992 Further and Higher Education Act allowed modern institutions to apply for university status.

Date: 13/03/2012

This year marks two decades since the 1992 Further and Higher Education Act allowed modern institutions to apply for university status.  

In honour of this anniversary, the university think tank Million+ held a special event at the Houses of Parliament, and a delegation from London Metropolitan University was in attendance. 

Two of the precursor institutions of London Met, the Polytechnic of North London and City of London Polytechnic, both obtained university status in 1992. 

London Met's Cecile Tschirhart was one of the representatives at the function. For her, the modern universities’ role in society cannot be overlooked.

She said: “During the visit to parliament I saw the statue of Viscount Faulkland, to which suffragette Marjorie Hume once chained herself, proclaiming, “deeds, not words!” 

“The post ‘92 universities drive social mobility, teaching half of UK students. This made me reflect on how even a change of words, from Polytechnic to University, can lead to a good deed.” 

2012 is a particularly special year for London Met. Not only does it mark 20 years of university status for the institution, it is also ten years since the modern London Metropolitan University was created.  London Met came into existence with the joining of Guildhall University and the University of North London in 2002. 

The University has, however, been around for over a century in one guise or another, but one ethos pervades its history; an unswerving commitment to providing an affordable quality education. 

From its origins in 1848 as the ‘Metropolitan Evening Classes for Young Men’, the institution has always stood for accessibility and social mobility. Now, as the University looks to the future, this ethos seems set to endure for many years to come.