Dossier LSBU/3/16 - Academic Structure Committee First and Second Reports and Recommendations

In 1970 the Borough Polytechnic Institute merged with the Brixton School of Building, City of Westminster College and National College for Heating, Ventilating, Refrigeration and Fan Engineering to form the Polytechnic of the South Bank. The Designation Ceremony took place at the Royal Festival Hall on the South Bank on 22nd November 1971. Margaret Thatcher, the Education Secretary at the time was the special guest.

The Academic Structure Committee was Chaired by the Polytechnic's Director and established in 1972. The Committee met 28 times, received and circulated a number of topic papers, considered 67 submissions by individuals or groups and met 25 members of staff. Its careful recommendations, set out in the reports, advocated a departmental structure as against the then fashionable course-school matrix, to consist of 19 departments, reasonably uniform in size, in six faculties. Major resource responsibilities were to be at faculty level with four 'development areas' identified in Law, Education and Psychology, Applied Social Science and Humanities.

Despite widespread consultation, the proposals in the first report were savaged. The Committee withdrew its proposals and its second report in November 1973, after 30 more meetings, met with indifference rather than hostility, and seemed likely to be adopted however administrative support could not be gained and the proposals misfired. Modest changes were later implemented with minimum change to the existing departments, with the establishment of four faculties in 1973-74, which were Administrative Studies, Built Environment, Human Studies & Education and Science & Engineering.