This symposium on the changing role of universities through history takes place at The University of Manchester on Wednesday, 16 September 2015.

The idea of the university has been evolving since medieval Europe and the process of change continues today through innovation and reimagining of purpose.

This symposium will focus on how, when and where universities have been remodelled or repurposed and how their history informs their present. It will consider, for example: why new forms of the university were introduced; how new institutions challenged the university’s established functions, or their relationship with church and state; the process through which these institutions became a primary mechanism for knowledge production and dissemination; and how they came to serve a greater proportion of citizens.

It will also consider the context, motivations and expression of these changes across time and space and how they continue to inform and shape the universities of today.

The symposium will be opened with a keynote address by Professor William Whyte of St Johns College, Oxford, who recently published Redbrick: A Social and Architectural History of Britain’s Civic Universities. You can watch a film of him discussing the architecture of Keble College here

Registration

There is no charge for the event and lunch will be provided.

You can register for the event by clicking here