A History of University Life

Swansea University

2020 marks Swansea University’s centenary. This podcast uses aspects of the University's history from the past 100 years to shine a light on the wider nature of University life in Britain. My name is Sam Blaxland and I explore how Swansea University became an established institution; how the nature of its staff and student community changed over time; and its place in the story of student politics and protests. A History of University Life also looks at the role women have played in University life since the 1920s.

Episodes

  1. 1. The foundations, famous staff and students

    02/09/2020

    1. The foundations, famous staff and students

    One hundred years ago, in July 1920, King George V and his wife Queen Mary travelled to Swansea. As part of their tour, in a grand ceremony, the king laid the foundation stone for the University College of Swansea.  In this first episode I talk about those early foundation years and how the University developed in the first few decades of its life, looking particularly at some of the most famous names who shaped the University and helped cement its reputation. My name is Sam Blaxland and I have just written a book about Swansea University to mark its 2020 centenary, called Swansea University: Campus and Community in a Post-War World, 1945-2020. In this four-part series I am going to explore some of the more unusual and interesting things I uncovered during this research.

    19 min
  2. 2. Campus development

    02/09/2020

    2. Campus development

    Calon Lan, the Welsh hymn tune, introduced a public appeal from Swansea University in 1960 for a massive £400,000 – the equivalent of over £8 million today. The music was designed to appeal to the patriotism of businesses, alumni and the public so that they would help fund a massive expansion of the University’s Singleton Park site, which would eventually make it one of the forerunners of British campus universities. This public appeal was part of a story that made Swansea University an important player in the history of post-war university building and architecture. My name is Sam Blaxland and I have just written a book about Swansea University to mark its 2020 centenary, called Swansea University: Campus and Community in a Post-War World, 1945-2020. In this four past series I am going to explore some of the more unusual and interesting things I uncovered during this research. In this second episode, I discuss the physical expansion of the University, showing how the plans to develop a campus from the early 1950s was a radical plan. I also explore how this impacted upon, and fundamentally changed, university life there.

    18 min

  3. 02/09/2020

    3. Protest and politics

    In this third episode, I want to re-live the pivotal few years at the end of the 1960s and beginning of the 1970s where Swansea University witnessed not one but several major protests, sit-ins and strikes – completely upturning the natural order at the University. The University played a part in one of the most dramatic moments in post-war history. However, behind newspaper headlines and the photographs showing scenes of disorder and excitement, there was also a large student body that had no appetite for protest and politics as well… My name is Sam Blaxland and I have just written a book about Swansea University to mark its 2020 centenary, called Swansea University: Campus and Community in a Post-War World, 1945-2020. In this four-part series I am going to explore some of the more unusual and interesting things I uncovered during this research.

    15 min

  4. 02/09/2020

    4. Women in academia

    If asked to date when this event happened - when a woman student at Swansea was thrown out of a pub for wanting to drink a pint of beer - people might assume it was from the 1950s. But Jane Simm was actually a student in the mid-1970s. Her experience was not unusual and it reflected the way in which attitudes to women, and to women students, remain quite conservative in this period. But this was also the period of women’s liberation in Swansea, and of many other advances, proving again that University life was not a straightforward experience for anyone during these years. In this fourth episode, I cover a long sweep of time and examine some of the key turning points and moments of change for both women staff and students at the University. My name is Sam Blaxland and I have just written a book about Swansea University to mark its 2020 centenary, called Swansea University: Campus and Community in a Post-War World, 1945-2020. In this four-part series I am going to explore some of the more unusual and interesting things I uncovered during this research.

    24 min
  • 4 Episodes

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About

2020 marks Swansea University’s centenary. This podcast uses aspects of the University's history from the past 100 years to shine a light on the wider nature of University life in Britain. My name is Sam Blaxland and I explore how Swansea University became an established institution; how the nature of its staff and student community changed over time; and its place in the story of student politics and protests. A History of University Life also looks at the role women have played in University life since the 1920s.

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