History of Birkbeck: 2000-present
| Month/year | Event |
|---|---|
| 2001 | Over 91 per cent of academic staff have papers reviewed in the Research Assessment Exercise – the highest rate for any multi-faculty institution in London and the fifth highest in the UK.
Over 85 per cent of Birkbeck research is ranked as being of international importance. Biology receives top marks in the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education (QAA) subject review. The Department is now ranked alongside Oxford, University College London, Kent and Sunderland for the quality of its teaching in organismal biosciences. Work begins on the £18.5 million campus consolidation project at Malet Street. Birkbeck’s Faculty of Continuing Education celebrates 125 years of university adult education in London. |
| 2003 | Birkbeck’s team is crowned University Challenge champions.
The major refurbishment of Birkbeck’s Gordon Square Buildings is completed. Three Schools in the Faculty of Arts – History, Classics and Archaeology, Spanish and English and Humanities – are eligible for the proposed new 6* ranking for their outstanding research. |
| April 2003 | The Master, Professor David Latchman, marks the completion to roof phase of the campus consolidation project with a milestone ceremony. |
| November 2003 | The Chancellor of the University of London, HRH The Princess Royal opens the redeveloped Malet Street building, consolidating Birkbeck’s position as the country’s leading provider of face-to-face part-time higher education. Moreover, the College continues to prove that it is possible to recruit students from under-represented groups, maintain high academic standards and deliver world-class research.
Around one in four students come from an ethnic minority; 14 per cent of all first degree students have no formal qualifications on entry and over 90 per cent of all Birkbeck students are aged 25 or over. In addition to 1000 continuing education certificate and diploma courses, undergraduate and foundation degree programmes, Birkbeck currently offer over 90 postgraduate programmes and research opportunities. |
| Autumn 2004 |
The Bloomsbury Colleges (TBC) consortium is set up, consisting of the following six colleges of the University of London: Birkbeck, the Institute of Education, the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, the Royal Veterinary College, the School of Oriental and African Studies and The School of Pharmacy. |
| November 2004 |
The College launches its Birkbeck Institute for Lifelong Learning research centre to develop and sustain collaborative research into lifelong learning at national and international levels. |
| 2005 | The Centre for Brain and Cognitive Development adds to its successes by being awarded The Queen's Anniversary Prize for Higher and Further Education 2005. |
| September 2005 |
In the first-ever National Student Survey, Birkbeck comes joint top in the country for teaching, and is rated seventh in the country in the overall ranking. Birkbeck beat 92 multi-faculty institutions and all other higher education institutions in London. |
| February 2006 |
Birkbeck’s world-class research is celebrated when a team studying brain function in the young attends a reception at Buckingham Palace to receive a Queen’s Anniversary Prize for Higher and Further Education. |
| April 2006 |
Birkbeck is awarded £5m by the Government to take its evening programmes to east London. The ‘Birkbeck, Stratford’ project aims to extend higher education into ‘hard to reach’ communities in partnership with the University of East London. Birkbeck is awarded a further £3.7m to lead the Linking London: Lifelong Learning Network (LLLLN). Birkbeck comes top in a league table of research funding. The College was successful in 48 per cent of its grant applications – well above the national average. |
| January 2007 |
The Wolfson Institute for Brain Development and Function, in Birkbeck’s new Henry Wellcome Building, opens its doors. Researchers at the Institute will place specific emphasis on the development of the brain during infancy and childhood. |
| June 2007 |
The first Birkbeck, Stratford Open Evening is held to showcase an exciting range of programmes, from certificates, diplomas and undergraduates degrees (Foundation and BSc) to postgraduate degrees. Birkbeck’s new Centre for Film and Visual Media opens at 43 Gordon Square, with a 70-seat cinema auditorium. |
| Summer 2007 |
The Learning Information Centre in the newly developed Birkbeck foyer opens, boasting the College’s new Café on the Square, information points for the public about Birkbeck courses and a mural of famous faces and recent graduates. Visiting from New York, James Birkbeck IV meets his illustrious ancestor. |
| 1 October 2007 | Faculty of Continuing Education officially becomes the Faculty of Lifelong Learning. |
| 2008 | Research Assessment Exercise, based on a comparison of research in a range of subjects at 159 higher education institutions in the UK, ranks Birkbeck in the top 25 per cent of UK multi-faculty HEIs.
The Centre for Psychosocial Studies is transferred to the new School of Psychosocial Studies (now the Department of Psychosocial Studies), having established a range of clinically and socially oriented taught Master's courses in collaboration with external bodies, for example, the Institute of Family Therapy, the Institute for Group Analysis, and the British Association for Psychotherapy. |
| 1 August 2009 | Including the full integration of the Faculty of Lifelong Learning across the college, Birkbeck restructured from four Faculties and 21 Schools into five Schools, comprising 19 academic departments: |
| 14 June 2010 | Professor David Latchman awarded CBE
Professor David Latchman, Master of Birkbeck has been awarded a CBE in the Queen's birthday honours for services to Higher Education. |
| 16 September 2010 | Birkbeck ranked in Top 200 of World Universities
Birkbeck ranks among the top 200 universities in the world, according to data published today. The 2010-11 Times Higher Education World University Rankings lists Birkbeck at number 152. It is the first time that Birkbeck has been included in the rankings having been selected from a shortlist of more than 400 international institutions. |
