History
The University of Surrey was established on 9 September 1966 with the grant of its Royal Charter, but its roots go back to a late 19th-century concern to provide greater access to further and higher education for the poorer inhabitants of London. Battersea Polytechnic Institute was founded in 1891 and began concentrating on science and technology around 1920, teaching students for degrees from the University of London.
By the beginning of the 1960s, the College had outgrown its main building in Battersea Park Road and in 1962 it was decided to move the institution to Guildford, becoming the University of Surrey four years later.
