Swansea University: Campus and Community in a Post-War World, 19452020
marks Swansea University's centenary. It is a study of post- Second World War academic and social change in Britain and its universities, as well as an exploration of shifts in youth culture and the way in which higher education institutions have interacted with people and organisations in their regions. It covers a range of important themes and topics, including architectural developments, international scholars, the changing behaviours of students, protest and politics, and the multi-layered relationships that are formed between academics, young people and the wider communities of which they are a part. Unlike most institutional histories, it takes a 'bottom-up' approach and focuses on the thoughts, feelings and behaviours of people like students and non-academic staff who are normally sidelined in such accounts. As it does so, it utilises a large collection of oral history testimonies collected specifically for this book; and, throughout, it explores how formative, paradoxical and unexpected university life can be.
Table of Contents: Acknowledgements vi
List of Figures x
List of Tables xiv
Abbreviations xv
Note on terms and place names xvii
Note on oral history interviews. xviii
Introduction 1
Chapter 1 - ‘Communities of learning’: Intellectual and Economic Reconstruction, 1945–1956. 40
Chapter 2 - ‘A Quiet Revolution’: Campus and Community Life, 1947–1964. 102
Chapter 3 - ‘How in hell can we cool them down?’: Politics and Protest, 1964–1973 157
Chapter 4 – ‘Don’t be so Complacent!’: Crisis and Cutbacks, 1973 – 1988. 219
Chapter 5 - ‘Change with the times’: Marketisation and Commercialisation, 1988–2020. 272
Conclusion 330
Bibliography 340
Appendices 373
