University of East London

UEL can trace its roots back to 1892, when the newly formed County Borough of West Ham decided to establish a West Ham Technical Institute to serve the local community. The institute was to be, in the words of John Passmore Edwards speaking at the building's opening ceremony, a "people's university".[citation needed] The college provided courses in science, engineering and art, and also established its own internal degree courses in science and engineering, which were ratified by the University of London. In addition, it had a women's department.

As demand for technical education grew throughout the 1930s and 1940s, Essex County Council created two further colleges at Walthamstow and Dagenham (South West Essex Technical College and South East Essex Technical College).In 1970 these three colleges (West Ham, Walthamstow, Dagenham) were combined as a merger of higher education colleges, to create the North East London Polytechnic. Campuses were modernised and revitalised by buildings such as the Arthur Edwards building on the Stratford campus, completed in 1982.