Leeds Beckett University - City Campus,
Woodhouse Lane,
LS1 3HE
Patrick Nuttgens and a Community of Equals
Patrick Nuttgens once said that "Death may be the greatest leveller of all, but illness runs it a close second". Polio affected his childhood, so in adulthood, he walked with difficulty, sometimes with walking aids; in later life, he used a wheelchair.
Levelling
Levelling was a condition Nuttgens was keenly aware of, and it significantly influenced his thinking, leading him to become an advocate for a classless, democratic and free society. Those principles stood firm, especially when applied to Higher Education. This egalitarianism contributed to his enthusiasm for the Polytechnic project, particularly Leeds Polytechnic. He became its first Director in 1969-70. The Polytechnics were conceived by the 1966 White Paper "A Plan for Polytechnics and Other Colleges", but Leeds got a head start in the 1950s by establishing most of its colleges together on one site, forming the Leeds Central Colleges, now LBU’s City Campus.
Patrick Nuttgens
Many arts, many skills
One definition of the term polytechnic is "many arts, many skills", which corresponds with Nuttgens' notion of an institution offering in-depth practical courses in a wide range of subjects. He believed that the "Polytechnics were the true heirs of vocational studies". He saw their purpose as standing separate from and cutting through the rigid University system of "tidy boundaries" where disciplines were, in his view, siloed and inflexible. His vision for Leeds Polytechnic was to provide a multi-disciplinary structure, a cooperative atmosphere and a place of action, as opposed to scholarly contemplation. This last point needs some qualification. Nuttgens wasn't suggesting mindless activity, but a practical, deep investigation of a task that led to real-world solutions. Nuttgens contended that only during the nineteenth century did a separation between the study and theory of art and beauty and that of technical knowledge occur. In Leeds, the creation of Leeds Mechanics Institute, a body set up to educate the artisans of the Town, illustrated this philosophy; the formation of Leeds School of Art in the 1840s furthered this aim by producing artists and designers for Leeds' burgeoning industry and manufacturing base.
Three principles
Nuttgens had in mind three principles: first, to educate people outside academia who would be enabled by new "skills and abilities", taking them determinedly out into the world of work. Secondly, he saw Polytechnics awarding people a new status, outside scholarship, as the makers and the doers in society. Finally, he understood that to be successful, the Polytechnic needed to foster cooperation across the field; it would require disciplines to build relationships with one another.
Leeds Polytechnic from Woodhouse Car Park
A collegiate place
A collegiate working relationship was fostered by Nuttgens, an idealism evidenced by the make-up of the first Directorate of the Polytechnic, including Eric Roberts, former Principal of the College of Commerce, Eric Taylor, former Principal of the College of Art and Stuart Smethurst, former Vice Principal of the College of Technology, as Assistant Directors. The triumvirate broke down almost immediately, with Smethurst leaving to become Director of Birmingham Polytechnic, and Eric Taylor retiring in 1972 after coming to regret the polytechnic experiment that brought Art and Technology together. Anecdotally, there was tension between the Arts' wants and needs and those of Technology. Both Nuttgens and Eric Taylor envisioned a marrying of the two, leading to a new dynamic. Nuttgens believed that Technology embraced Design, that the original Greek root techne did not include a distinction between making and designing, perhaps Nuttgens' interpretation in practice was too organisational. Meanwhile, Taylor envisioned an idealistic flourishing union of Art informing Technology. Bureaucracy and organisational structures perceived as biased towards Commerce and Technology led many in the Arts to conclude that Colleges of Art were sacrificed to a monolith, a view culminating in Patrick Heron's Guardian article, ' The Murder of the Art Schools', in 1971. Nuttgens must have been conflicted by all this with his background in architecture and painting on the one hand and his organisational and educational skills on the other. Or was he perplexed by the apparent inflexibility of those around him, writing in 1978 that "technology requires creativity, it includes design". It was clear in his mind that there should be no distinction between the needs of Technology and the Arts; they were the same thing.
Anarchic encounters
Another area that proved difficult for Nuttgens was the student body. He had firm ideas about the role of students, declaring early on that "It is important that they should have participation at the top and be free to develop their own activities". The problem was that students of this generation were a different animal from those he had encountered earlier in his career. As an example, Fine Art students, influenced by anarchic tutors such as Jeff Nuttall, caused the Polytechnic many PR nightmares. The conservative-minded local press and nonplussed, equally conservative local councillors added to Nuttgens' problems as he navigated his steadying-the-boat instincts.
Leeds Polytechnic from Woodhouse Lane
Learning and a purpose
Despite all this and more, Nuttgens continued steering Leeds Polytechnic forward until 1986, trying to foster a place of educational innovation, collaboration and a place that valued the talents and skills of both staff and students, relying heavily on his personal charm and genuine interest in the people he met. He determined that Leeds Poly should be a place where learning had a purpose. On the face of it, the Polytechnic experiment failed. In 1992, Leeds Polytechnic, like others, converted to university status. Nuttgens thought this a grave mistake, perhaps even a betrayal of the original Polytechnic instinct to educate in a different, complementary approach to the older Universities. In recent years there has been debate about reintroducing the Polytechnic idea to address the UK’s skills shortage. Meanwhile, universities like LBU continue to provide routes into the world of work. Maybe somewhere deep in Leeds Beckett's DNA, some old Polytechnic instincts still haunt the corridors of Woodhouse (old B Building), Portland (old C Building, Calverley (old D Building) and Headingley (old Beckett Park).
