| Description | Minutes of the Board of Adult Education from 3 June 1946 to 9 February 1959, as well as papers from earlier in the 1940s discussing the work and development of the Extra-Mural Department which led to the establishment of the Board of Adult Education, and some papers generated by the Board during the 1962-1963 academic session
The papers which pre-date the establishment of the Board cover the period 1943 to 1946 and primarily focus on the scope and effectiveness of the existing Extra-Mural Department and the need to revise its functions to increase its usefulness. The papers include a copy of a Memorandum to the Senate Sub-Committee on Extra-Mural Studies, possibly dated 1945, which summarises the state of Extra-Mural education at the University at that point. The memorandum mentions the work of the Joint Committee of the University and the Workers Educational Association to supervise tutorial and University sessional classes. It also mentions that a University Extension Lecture Committee existed but did not hold regular meetings. It refers to the ad-hoc Committee of the Senate on Extra-Mural Studies, and recommends the establishment of an Extra-Mural Department with the status of a University teaching department, and the establishment of a Board of Adult Education to develop University policy; to correlate the work of the department; to secure adequate representation for interested parties; and to maintain and develop close collaboration between the University and the Workers Educational Association.
It recommended that membership of the Board should be made up of one fourth University members appointed by the Senate; one fourth Local Education Authority representatives; one fourth Workers Educational Association representatives; and one fourth representatives of other bodies interested in Adult Education. The Vice-Chancellor to be chair and the Vice-Principal would be deputy chair. The Director of Extra-Mural Studies and the WEA District Secretary were to be ex-officio members but included among the representatives of their respective bodies.
The Board would have responsibility to Senate and Council for the general supervision and co-ordination of all Adult Education activities in which the University is concerned; the receipt, administration and expenditure of all money alloted from any source in respect of the Board's work; selection and recommendation to Senate and Council for appointment of all staff tutors and teaching members of the Extra-Mural Department; the establishment and award of Extra-Mural scholarships; the approval of all programmes and budgets of Sub-Committees; the approval of the annual report of the Extra-Mural Department; and the control of residential colleges of non-residential institutes for Adult Education when these are conducted under University auspices
Minutes of the Board survive from 3 June 1946. The Board made recommendations for appointments of tutors and received reports from the Joint Committee with the Workers Educational Association and Extra Mural Department. The minutes also include programmes of classes for each academic session, presented by the Joint Committee and the Extra-Mural Department, and copies of the Treasurer's Report on the estimated income and expenditure of the Board of Adult Eduation. Minutes contain information about class attendance figures; reports from Workers Educational Association Summer Schools; discussion about University Extension Lectures; minutes of Joint Committee with the Workers Educational Association; and Board of Adult Education income and expenditure accounts. The minutes also contain printed material issued by the Universities Council for Adult Education including a Statement of Principles 1948, and annual reports for the years 1953-1954, 1954-1955, 1955-1956, 1956-1957, and 1957-1958
Printed reports of the Director of Extra-Mural Studies for the years 1945-1948, and then annual reports for 1948-1949, 1949-1950, 1950-1951, 1951-1952, 1952-1953, 1953-1954, 1954-1955 (typed copy only), 1955-1956, 1956-1957 (typed copy only); and 1957-1958 (typed copy only) are also present, as well as a copy of a printed report of the Department of Extra-Mural Studies of the University of Birmingham 'A Survey of New Developments 1945-1955' by D. R. Dudley
Minutes of the meeting held on 6 November 1950 include a copy of a Memorandum on the relationship between the Extra-Mural Department and the Workers Educational Association; a paper on the Quinquennial Development Programme 1952-1957 for the Extra-Mural Department; and a paper on a proposal for a 'University Institute of Adult Education in Birmingham'. Minutes of the meeting held on 7 May 1951 include a copy of a printed, illustrated booklet on the Centre for Continued Studies, University of Birmingham, housed at Primrose Hill
There is a gap in the records between May 1959 and November 1962, and then only a small quantity of material survives for the 1962-1963 academic session, consisting of partial minutes and agendas together with a printed copy of the annual report of the Director of Extra-Mural Studies 1961-1962; and copies of the Universities Council for Adult Education report 1961-1962 and Universities Council for Adult Education report on Broadcasting and Adult Education. There is also a paper setting out proposals for the use of Winterbourne as a new Centre for Continued Studies and headquarters for the Extramural Department
Surviving records are not the authorised versions but were probably papers kept by the Registrar, and these include draft minutes and papers, and some committee correspondence. The Board of Adult Education was replaced by the Board of Continuing Education in 1983 (see UB/COM/72 for minutes), but no records of the Board of Adult Education between 1959 and 1962 or from 1963 to 1983 have been transferred to the University Archives. Copies of printed annual reports of the Director of Extra-Mural Studies can be found in Senate minutes (UB/SEN/1) but these do not form a complete set |