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Teesside University

Teesside University is a public university with its main campus in Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire in North East England. It was officially opened as Constantine Technical College in 1930, before becoming a polytechnic in 1969, and finally granted university status in 1992 by the Privy Council.

The university has over 22,500 students studying in the UK, according to the 2021/22 HESA student record.

A shortage of funding long proved a barrier to developing the Middlesbrough-based Mechanics' Institute of 1844. With the required funding, the college's launch could have come as early as 1914. Even after the donation of £40,000 to build the college from local shipping magnate Joseph Constantine in 1916, progress was slow. A Governing Council took place in 1922, followed by a doubling of the original financial offer by the Constantine family in 1924. For the task of constructing the first technical college building, Graham R. Dawbarn (a London architect also responsible for additions to Corpus Christi College, Cambridge) was appointed on 29 March 1926. Building work began in 1927, culminating in the beginning of enrolment and teaching on 16 September 1929.

Constantine Technical College was formally opened on 2 July 1930 by the future King Edward VIII, the Prince of Wales. Although not yet a university, Constantine was a further and higher education college from the outset. Students at Constantine could be as young as 15. Degree courses, published in the college's prospectus were validated by the University of London. Disciplines included metallurgy, engineering and chemistry. Five rooms were also reserved for an art department, until cramped accommodation forced the School of Art to split from its parent site for the 1950s.

The 1960s were years of sweeping change. By the end of the decade the first two "Teesside University" campaigns had begun: the first, from the early 1960s to 1966, and the second, from 1967 to 1972. Spates of enthusiasm were killed off on each occasion by the scepticism of then-Minister of Education, Anthony Crosland, and Margaret Thatcher's defining white paper, respectively. The latter effectively shelved plans for the erection of any new institution in the United Kingdom, until the 1980s at least.

On campus, one of the most visible major developments for the college was an extension in 1963 which featured an 11-storey "skyscraper". The college also acquired the neighbouring former High School of 1877. The college briefly restyled itself as "Constantine College of Technology", before becoming "Teesside Polytechnic" (Britain's 13th Polytechnic) in 1969. At that point, the institution ran seventeen degree courses.

A merger with Teesside College of Education took place in the 1970s along with the purchase of Flatts Lane. The Clarendon Building was added in 1973, as was the Stephenson Building in 1976. Both of these buildings remained in use for the Polytechnic's long-awaited conversion into a university. That happened on 16 June 1992, when Teesside Polytechnic became the University of Teesside, one of the UK's first new universities following the Further and Higher Education Act 1992.

By the 1990s, the institution had almost 8,000 students.[citation needed] In 1997 the old Polytechnic's library was replaced with a Learning Resource Centre. Subsequent additions included the Virtual Reality Centre and Centre for Enterprise, and later, the Phoenix and Athena Buildings by CPMG Architects. Today, historic structures such as the old High School (the Waterhouse building), the Constantine building and Victoria Building of 1891 (a schoolyard-equipped Victorian school, housing a series of graduate business incubator units), are all Grade II listed buildings.[citation needed]

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