The Historical Disruption of English Higher Education: The Victoria University and its Federalisation Legacy

This book examines the establishment (in 1880) and dissolution (in 1903) of the Victoria University as a federal institution for the North of England. It was a ‘disruptor’, an experiment intended to meet growing demand for high level study in the industrial cities of the North and to provide a regional organisation for higher education. The experiment ended in failure and has never been repeated; rather, it heralded the emergence of independent civic universities that would prove so influen...