UMIST and Heythrop College

Sadly, two of the four university colleges that I attended as a student, UMIST and Heythrop, have now ceased to exist. The following is a potted history for both:

The University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology (a.k.a. UMIST) began its life in 1824 as the “Manchester Mechanics Institute”. Its original mission was to provide workers with a basic knowledge of science, with a later focus on subjects that served the industrial needs of the region. In 1905, it became the Faculty of Technology at the Victoria University of Manchester. In 1956, it gained independent status as a university in its own right, and in 1966, it was renamed as the “University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology”. In 1968, UMIST established the Department of Computation, with Computation defined as the study of the interactions between people, software, data and information. In 2004, UMIST and the Victoria University of Manchester both ceased to exist as independent universities, merging into the University of Manchester. (Link for History of UMIST).

Heythrop College traces its history back to the early 17th century as the English Jesuit college, initially based in Leuven in 1614 and then in Liège from 1616. The college moved to England in 1794 during the French Revolutionary Wars, and, in 1926, moved to Heythrop Hall, Oxfordshire. In 1964, the college was raised to the status of a Pontifical Athenaeum, and was renamed the “Heythrop Faculties of Theology and Philosophy”, opening its doors to laity and clerics from outside the Society of Jesus. In 1970-71, Heythrop College moved to London, was granted a royal charter, and became a college within the University of London, with a specialist focus on philosophy and theology. The college ceased to be part of the University of London and ceased operation in 2019. However, the Heythrop College Library, widely regarded as one of the finest collections of theology and philosophical volumes in the UK, will continue to be made accessible to members and readers of Senate House Library. (Link for more information).