University Archives

The UCL Institute of Education

The history of the UCL Institute of Education is one of persistent renewal. Since its founding in 1902 as the London Day Training College, through its establishment as a university institute and merger with UCL, the IOE has constantly grown into new areas of learning and social research. As a locus for leadership, it has exerted influence upon the nature and direction of education nationally and internationally.

Drawing upon a wide range of sources, the connections between internal history and external historical developments are sensitively teased out. The result is an elegantly written history, characterised by substantial scholarship and analysis, and enlivened by illustrations and anecdote. The pages of this book are peopled with some of the most influential, and at times controversial, figures of education, including Sidney Webb, Cyril Burt, Susan Isaacs, Sophie Bryant, Richard Peters, Basil Bernstein, Ann Oakley, Celia Hoyles and Stephen Ball.

Two new chapters extend Richard Aldrich’s text to 2020. These examine the extraordinary years of growth in the early 2000s, followed by a period of consolidation, merger with UCL and subsequent expansion. The IOE is unique in successfully pursuing a world-leading research agenda while also supporting a wide range of teacher education, having an impact in London, across Britain and the world.

Universities and Climate Action

Universities have a pivotal role to play in addressing the climate crisis, not only educating an increasingly large proportion of the global population, but also through scientific breakthroughs, technological innovation and raising public awareness. Higher education is particularly important given the roots of ecological and social breakdown in our models of civilisation, culture and knowledge. Yet its potential has not always been realised, and universities have historically been implicated in the exploitation and destruction of the natural environment and human communities. A transformation is thus needed in higher education, with institutions reorienting their activities towards positive engagement with climate.

Universities and Climate Action presents an original framework for understanding the impact of universities on climate change. It explores the interactions of education, research, services, public debate and campus operations on society and the ecosphere, and the complex interplay of influences on local, national and global levels. It provides in-depth discussions of ways of engaging with climate in teaching and learning and the curriculum, in research agendas, in governance and management of estates, and in engaging with external communities. The theoretical models are contextualised with examples of climate action in universities around the world. This book provides vital tools for analysis and action for researchers and practitioners working with and within the higher education sector.

The Web as History

The World Wide Web has now been in use for more than 20 years. From early browsers to today’s principal source of information, entertainment and much else, the Web is an integral part of our daily lives, to the extent that some people believe ‘if it’s not online, it doesn’t exist.’ While this statement is not entirely true, it is becoming increasingly accurate, and reflects the Web’s role as an indispensable treasure trove. It is curious, therefore, that historians and social scientists have thus far made little use of the Web to investigate historical patterns of culture and society, despite making good use of letters, novels, newspapers, radio and television programmes, and other pre-digital artefacts.

This volume argues that now is the time to question what we have learnt from the Web so far. The 12 chapters explore this topic from a number of interdisciplinary angles – through histories of national web spaces and case studies of different government and media domains – as well as an introduction that provides an overview of this exciting new area of research.

The Research University in Today’s Society

In this topical lecture, investor and philanthropist Gerald Chan examines the role of philanthropy in the rapidly changing higher education environment. He proposes that society will be short-changed if the purpose of universities is seen as human resource rather than humanity. Dr Chan argues that the independence of universities is crucial for maintaining the balance between their dual role as engines of the economy and places of curiosity-driven research, and that a philanthropic public private partnership is vital to that. ‘Higher education is not cheap; but what is more expensive to society are the consequences of not supporting its universities… In a democratic society, governments come and go, and government funding priorities come and go, but a properly managed endowment endures.’ Dr Chan’s thought-provoking lecture ranges from pre-Enlightenment beliefs to the invention by Steve Jobs of the first Apple Macs, to demonstrate the vital role of universities to humanity.

Key Concepts in Public Archaeology

This book provides a broad overview of the key concepts in public archaeology, a research field that examines the relationship between archaeology and the public, in both theoretical and practical terms. While based on the long-standing programme of undergraduate and graduate teaching in public archaeology at UCL’s renowned Institute of Archaeology, the book also takes into account the growth of scholarship from around the world and seeks to clarify what exactly ‘public archaeology’ is by promoting an inclusive, socially and politically engaged vision of the discipline.

Written for students and practitioners, the individual chapters provide textbook-level introductions to the themes, theories and controversies that connect archaeology to wider society, from the trade in illicit antiquities to the use of digital media in public engagement, and point readers to the most relevant case studies and learning resources to aid their further study.

This book was produced as part of JISC’s Institution as e-Textbook Publisher project. Find out more at https://www.jisc.ac.uk/rd/projects/institution-as-e-textbook-publisher