Ruskin College

Ruskin College, originally known as Ruskin Hall, Oxford, is a higher education institution and part of the University of West London, in Oxford, England. It is not a college of Oxford University.

Named after the essayist, art and social critic John Ruskin, it specialises in providing educational opportunities for adults with few or no qualifications.

Degrees taught at Ruskin were formerly awarded by the Open University. The college joined the University of West London in 2021.

Ruskin Hall, Oxford, was established in 1899 to provide education for working-class men who could not access university. It was founded by Americans Charles A. Beard and Walter Vrooman, both of whom had studied at the University of Oxford. Vrooman's wife, Amne (née Grafflin), an heiress, financially supported the foundation of the college.

The school was envisioned as a mechanism by which "working-class reformers" could "educate themselves efficiently at nominal cost." Tuition, lodging, and board was priced at 12s 6d (£0.625) per week, with a parallel correspondence course alternatively offered for 1 shilling (£0.05) per week plus a 1 shilling entrance fee. Courses were offered in political economy, sociology, the history of the labour movement, principles of politics, English literature, psychology, and other related aspects of the social sciences.

The school was administered by a General Council, which included elected representatives from the Parliamentary Committee of the Trades Union Congress and the Central Board of the Cooperative Union. An auxiliary organisation of supporters of the school was launched in 1901, the Ruskin Hall Educational League, which arranged conferences and public lectures in conjunction with the activities of the school.

In October 1907 Arthur Smith of Balliol College paid a visit to Ruskin College on behalf of some of his university colleagues. He broached the idea of bringing Ruskin closer to the University, suggesting that this would involve the University providing funds for the College, and allowing Ruskin students to join the University.The majority of Ruskin students were suspicious that the proposal would lead to the erosion of the college's independence. Following a visit from Lord Curzon, the proposal was repeated and Dennis Hird, a lecturer in Sociology and Logic responded that as far as the students were concerned Ruskin College was irrevocably part of the Labour movement.

In 1908, a group of Ruskin students, dissatisfied with its education policy which they viewed as too pro-establishment and imbued with elements of "social control", formed the Plebs' League. The students' revolt was supported by the Principal, Dennis Hird, and following his dismissal the students took strike action, refusing to attend lectures.