"Red Brick University vs Ivory Tower, University of Birmingham Explains the Difference between Chinese and British Education

Whether the university to "out of the ivory tower" has been a hot topic of discussion, but this issue of some universities in the United Kingdom may not have to consider, because they were built at the beginning of the school was named and the ivory tower in contrast to the "red brick university" name. Britain's first "red brick university," the University of Birmingham's president David Lewis Road recently in an exclusive interview with Xinhua News Agency reporter, also used this contrast to talk about the relationship between the university and society. The name "ivory tower" originated from some classical universities, used to praise the university from vulgarity, but now it is often used to criticize the university out of social reality. It is now often used to refer to universities that are far away from reality and not well connected to the society around them, (in the sense that) we are certainly not going to be ivory towers," said Easelow.

On the other hand, "a red brick university sounds like a university that is located in a city and articulated with the real world, and that's exactly where we are."

"Red Brick University" is the collective name for a group of universities in the UK. The name derives from the fact that most of their campus buildings are made of mass-produced red bricks from the industrial era, and it also implies that they are municipal universities that were established in response to the local needs of a number of cities in the United Kingdom after the great growth of the Industrial Revolution. Among them, the University of Birmingham, located in Birmingham, the second largest city in the United Kingdom and an industrial town, was the first to receive the "Royal Charter" in 1900, which can give the official status of a British university, and was the first red brick university in the United Kingdom.

Easelow said that the "red brick university" is characterized by a strong connection with the surrounding society. This connection through a variety of channels distributed at different levels: simple as through the campus open day and other activities to show the public what the school teachers and students in the study and research; deeper surface, the university involved in the development of the city, for example, Birmingham recently put forward the name of the "science of the city" development plan, the University of Birmingham has assumed a number of these The University of Birmingham has taken on many of these tasks.

This link is a win-win partnership for both the university and the city, says Lewis: "The University of Birmingham receives a significant investment of resources in areas such as healthcare and advanced manufacturing, and the university's research helps to stimulate and drive the local Birmingham economy."

For students, this connection brings important and practical benefits in the form of numerous internships from local industry. Students who have gained work experience in advance are significantly more likely to be favored by employers on graduation than those who have only read books and have less exposure to the community.

For 100 years, the "red brick universities" have earned respect and recognition for their "non-ivory tower" approach. Now, the University of Birmingham, the University of Manchester, the University of Liverpool and a number of other "red brick universities" are members of the Russell Group, an alliance of elite universities in the UK.

In today's globalized world, Louis Vuitton believes that the "real world" that universities need to connect to should not be limited to their cities and regions, but should be extended to the international stage. Therefore, the University of Birmingham has opened branches in the United States, Brazil, India and China, and encourages students to take advantage of short-term seminars, summer study and other opportunities for overseas exchanges, to help students to accumulate international cooperation experience, which will also help to enhance the competitiveness of students.

Louis, who became Chancellor in 2009, has a "clear plan" for the future of the University of Birmingham "to build a global university based in the city of Birmingham." This remains true to the tradition of the "red brick university" of connecting with the real world. In the view of Louis Vuitton, the university and the local community to bring a large number of internships, and with the globalization of the stage to bring the international perspective, will become the school for students to prepare two solid "paving bricks".