When it comes to university, there are a whole host of terms floating around that everybody seems to know about. For prospective university students, this can be super confusing, so don’t worry if you feel out of the loop – you aren’t alone! An example of such terms is the concept of a ‘red brick university’. What exactly does a ‘red brick’ university mean and which universities are part of it?
A ‘red brick university’ refers to one of nine universities in the UK that were established in a major industrial city before the 1960s. The name derives from their style of architecture, red bricks, compared to the architecture of older universities made of stone. There were six original red brick universities given university status before the First World War, followed by three new red brick universities in the 1920s-1950s. However, the status of these new universities as ‘red brick’ is debated.
There’s still much more to learn about red brick universities! This article will explain what red brick universities are, which universities are red brick universities, and where the red brick universities rank.
Table of Contents
What are red brick universities?
The term ‘red brick university’ is used to describe one of the nine universities in the UK that were founded in the UK’s major industrial cities during the Victorian period.
Red brick universities are also sometimes referred to as ‘civic universities’, but these are essentially the same thing, and you will likely hear ‘red brick’ being used more often.
In the UK’s industrial cities, there was obviously a greater focus on physical labour as opposed to higher education. The founding of these universities was designed to connect the communities of these cities and provide education outside of the prestigious ancient universities.
As such, ‘red brick’ refers to the architectural styles of the new universities – made from red bricks – compared to the old styles of the ancient universities, which are all stone. This difference in style reflected the feeling about these universities: modern compared to traditional.
Many of the red brick universities were not founded individually, but rather, they split from older universities and became independent universities in their own right.
You can read the dictionary definition of a red brick university in the Cambridge Dictionary linked here.
How many red brick universities are there in the UK?
There were six original redbrick universities that were granted university status before the First World War. However, three other universities would then join those redbrick universities to form 9 redbrick universities in the UK.
The original six redbrick universities granted status before the First World War are:
- University of Birmingham: founded in 1900, and the first civic university to achieve full university status. Their website is linked here.
- University of Liverpool: formerly part of Victoria University, and became an independent university in 1903. Their website is linked here.
- University of Manchester: succeeded Victoria University as the Victoria University of Manchester in 1903, then merged to become the University of Manchester in 2004. Their website is linked here.
- University of Leeds: like the University of Liverpool, it was formerly part of Victoria University and became an independent university in 1903. Their website is linked here.
- University of Sheffield: founded in 1905. Their website is linked here.
- University of Bristol: founded in 1909. Their website is linked here.
You can read about the individual histories on the respective university’s website, linked for you in the list above.
What are the new red brick universities?
As mentioned earlier, there were three ‘new’ redbrick universities that were added to the category of ‘red brick’ after the First World War.
These three new redbrick universities are:
- University of Reading: founded in 1926, after it separated from University College Reading and became an independent university. You can read about the university’s history on their website here.
- University of Nottingham: founded in 1948, after it separated from University College Nottingham and became an independent university. You can read about the university’s history on their website here.
- Newcastle University: founded in 1963, after it separated from King’s College (not to be confused with King’s College London) and became an independent university. You can read about the university’s history on their website here.
As you can see from this list, these three universities separated from colleges to become their own universities.
Although they were established a lot later than the original red brick universities, they were all (except for Newcastle University) established before the introduction of ‘plate glass’ universities, a category I’ll discuss later in this article.
However, the gap between the original red brick universities and the new red brick universities means that their status is contested. Many don’t consider the Universities of Reading, Nottingham, or Newcastle to be red brick universities.
Are red brick and Russell Group universities the same thing?
The answer to this question is actually quite complicated.
Technically, ‘red brick’ and ‘Russell Group’ are two separate categories, and they mean different things, which is something I’ll discuss later in the article.
However, there is a large overlap. The six original red brick universities are also now part of the Russell Group. The Russell Group is a group of 24 UK public research universities; if you’d like to read more about them, check out this Think Student article.
Therefore, the same university can belong to both red brick and the Russell Group, but these categories are not the same.
‘Red brick’ is related to the history of the institution and its original role in society, whereas the ‘Russell Group’ is related to the institution in the modern day and its present as well as future role in society.
Which is the highest-ranking red brick university?
In the Guardian’s best UK universities 2023 rankings, the highest-ranking university of the red brick universities is the University of Bristol. You can read The Guardian’s complete rankings on their website, linked here.
The University of Bristol ranked 16th of 121 universities in the UK with a score of 76.2 out of 100. It ranked 14th in 2022, the highest again of the red brick universities.
In the Times Higher Education best UK universities 2023 rankings, the highest-ranking red brick university is the University of Manchester. You can read Times Higher Education’s complete rankings on their website here.
The University of Manchester ranked 8th in the UK’s top 10 universities. However, the University of Bristol ranked 9th.
Based on these rankings, the University of Bristol is generally thought of as the best red brick university. However, the University of Manchester is not far behind that, so Bristol and Manchester can be considered to be equal.
Which is the lowest-ranking red brick university?
In the Guardian’s best UK universities 2023 rankings, the lowest-ranking university of the red brick universities is the University of Liverpool.
The University of Liverpool ranked 40th of 121 universities in the UK with a score of 71.1 out of 100. It ranked 40th again in 2022, the lowest again of the red brick universities.
Times Higher Education does not have a 2023 ranking of all of the UK universities, only the top 10. Therefore, based on the Times Higher Education world university 2023 rankings, the lowest-ranking red brick university is also the University of Liverpool.
The University of Liverpool ranked 176th in the world, which is still a great score, but the lowest of the red brick universities.
The Guardian’s complete rankings can be found on the Guardian website, linked again here.
The Times Higher Education’s complete world rankings can be found on their website, linked for you here.
Which is the easiest red brick university to get into?
Save the Student used data on the number of applications compared to offers, for 2022 entry, to work out the offer rates of universities in the UK. According to this list, the University of Sheffield has the highest offer rate of the red brick universities, at 74.7%.
You can check out this list on this Save the Student page, linked here.
Which is the hardest red brick university to get into?
Despite not being the highest-ranking of the red brick universities, according to UK university offer rates provided by Save the Student, the University of Leeds has the lowest offer rate of the red brick universities.
According to Save the Student, the University of Leeds had an offer rate of only 47.3% in 2022. Bear in mind that these statistics change year on year – but these should give you a rough idea.
What is the difference between the different types of UK universities?
In 2016, the UK government’s Department for Education classified UK universities into four different categories. These are ancient universities, red brick universities, plate-glass universities, and polytechnic/metropolitan universities.
The Russell Group is another collection of universities, which contains institutions from each of these four categories. You can read the full report on the government website, linked for you here.
As red brick universities have been explained at the beginning of this article, I’ll take you through the other 3 types, as well as universities that are part of the Russell Group.
Ancient universities
Ancient universities are the earliest universities founded in Britain and Ireland. There are six ancient universities in Britain and Ireland:
- The University of Oxford (founded in 1096)
- The University of Cambridge (founded in 1209)
- The University of St. Andrews (founded in 1413)
- The University of Glasgow (founded in 1451)
- The University of Aberdeen (founded in 1495)
- The University of Edinburgh (founded in 1582)
- The University of Dublin (founded in 1592)
These universities are typically the most prestigious in their countries, and have been ranked at some of the best universities in the entire world for multiple years.
For example, in the QS World University Rankings 2023, linked for you here, the Universities of Cambridge, Oxford, and Edinburgh were in the top 15 best universities in the world, with Cambridge at 2nd and Oxford at 4th.
Similarly, in the Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2023, linked here, the Universities of Oxford, Cambridge, and Edinburgh were in the top 30 best universities in the world, with Oxford 1st and Cambridge 3rd.
Plate-glass universities
Plate glass universities are universities that were established (or promoted to university status) in the late 1950s and 1960s. Whereas ‘ancient’ refers to the time in which the universities were established, ‘plate-glass’ refers to the style of architecture.
The University Grants Committee (UGC) originally decided to approve seven plate-glass universities:
- The University of East Anglia (founded in 1963)
- The University of Essex (founded in 1964-5)
- The University of Kent (founded in 1965)
- The University of Lancaster (founded in 1964)
- The University of Sussex (founded in 1961)
- The University of Warwick (founded in 1965)
- The University of York (founded in 1963)
Unlike the previous universities – ancient and redbrick – these universities were named after the counties they were found in as opposed to the cities.
Polytechnic and metropolitan universities
Polytechnic and metropolitan universities are universities that established themselves after previously being polytechnics and colleges. You can read more about polytechnic and metropolitan universities on the Newcastle University website linked here.
There are too many universities in the UK that fall into this category to list, but some notable examples are the University of Westminster, Staffordshire University, and Coventry University.
An easy way to tell if a university is a polytechnic or metropolitan university is if the city already has a major university.
For example, Liverpool John Moores University and Birmingham City University are both separate from the University of Liverpool and the University of Birmingham respectively, but still have the city in their name. These universities used to be polytechnic colleges in the area.
Russell Group universities
The Russell Group is a group of 24 UK universities. The Think Student article with all you need to know about the Russell Group universities was linked earlier in this article, so check that out for more information!
There is a lot of overlap between the different categories of university in the UK and the Russell Group universities.
All of the original red brick universities, and all of the new red brick universities except for the University of Reading, are part of the Russell Group.
Of the ancient universities, the following are part of the Russell Group:
- The University of Cambridge
- The University of Edinburgh
- The University of Oxford
Of the plate glass universities, the following are part of the Russell Group:
- The University of Warwick
- The University of York.
There are no polytechnic universities that are part of the Russell Group. Of all 4 major university categories, the red brick universities have the most in the Russell Group!
Are red brick universities the best type of UK university?
The answer to this question really depends on where you want to study.
Many people do see the red brick universities as some of the best universities in the UK; they are some of the oldest universities in the UK outside of the ancient universities, and have been offering high-quality education for decades.
As well as this, all six of the original red brick universities are now part of the Russell Group, which is known for being a prestigious selection of universities offering great degrees and postgraduate opportunities.
However, there could be some reasons why people feel they aren’t the best type of UK university.
For example, red brick universities rarely feature in the top 20 highest ranking universities in the world, whereas ancient universities such as the University of Oxford, Cambridge, St. Andrews, and Edinburgh have consistently ranked as some of the best in the world.
Similarly, some red brick universities may not offer the course you want to study. This could be a personal reason why students may feel that red bricks aren’t the best type of university.
It all depends on what you look for in a university! It is more important that a university has the right course and environment for you, rather than when it was built.