h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

UMIST was founded in 1824 as Manchester Mechanics Institute. The plan was put together in the Bridgewater pub for a school to train people to take advantage of the new technologies of the industrial revolution. In 1902 the Institute moved to its home on Sackville Street and was renamed Municipal School of Technology. It was shortly after this that the faculty of technology was started which answered to the Victoria University of Manchester.

The School of Technology, which in 1918 became the Manchester Municipal College of Technology mainly concentrated on non degree courses. It gained its own charter in 1956 and was renamed the Manchester Collage of Science and Technology. Gradually the emphasis was increased on degree courses and by 1966 all non-degree courses were transferred to the Manchester PolytechnicNow Manchester Metropolitan University.. It was in 1966 that the name University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology was adopted.

The 1960s was massive expansion of the both universities. UMIST’s campus was built south of the Manchester to Liverpool railway, extending into Chorlton upon Medlock and included a number of white tower blocks designed by architect ?? ReynoldThe building that houses the main lecture theatres is named after him. One of his other notable buildings in Manchester was built with metal stick figures abseiling down the side.. UMIST also took over Jackson’s Mill which in the centre of the new campus. The main building on Sackville Street was expanded to become one of the largest red brick buildings in Europe. It was more corridors than any other building in Manchester.

UMIST formally split from the Victoria University in 1993, though the two continued to share halls and the students were eligible to join societies in their establishment. Some departments like Aerospace Engineering and Material Science were shared between the two universities. In 1998 UMIST opened the Manchester Business School. The UMIST Students Union withdrew from the NUS and renamed itself the UMIST Students Association, in order to better represent its students. UMIST spent £50,000 on a large sign on its maths tower which was lit up by various coloured lights at night. Suggestions that it was a massive waste of money were born out when just a few years later it had to be taken down because of the merger

By the early 2000s talks were going on behind the scenes to merge the two universities again. Obviously nobody told whoever was in charge of the two universities computer networks who chose summer of 2000 to split the computer facilities without telling the student bodyOr many of the staff., causing much confusion. In 2003 UMIST and The Victoria University were disbanded to form The University of Manchester.