The Faculty of Technology was one of the faculties of the University of Manchester. It was established in 1905, and was responsible for all university-level teaching at the Manchester Municipal School (later College) of Technology, the body which later evolved into the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology (UMIST) in 1965.
Faculties had general responsibilities for admissions, curricula, examinations and the award of degrees for the subject areas they supervised. Each Faculty was headed by a Dean, who chaired the Faculty Board. Faculty Boards had powers to recommend regulations for courses of study and the appointment of examiners to the University Senate. The Faculty of Technology was originally responsible for the degrees of B.Sc. (Tech) and the M.Sc. (Tech); Ph.D.s were the responsibility of the General Board of Faculties.
The Faculty of Technology was established as a result of a concordat between the University and Manchester Corporation, which owned the School of Technology, signed on 17 July 1905. The concordat recognised that the School of Technology would be the location for university-level technological education, and its staff would undertake teaching and research in this area. However, the organization of such university-level education would be the responsibility of the University, exercised through the Senate and the newly-created Faculty. The Principal of the School of Technology and the professors of mechanical engineering, electrical engineering and applied chemistry were recognized as University staff, with membership of Senate (they were joined by the professor of textile technology in1919). The Principal acted as Dean of Faculty (an arrangement which lasted until 1963; thereafter a senior UMIST academic was appointed Dean). Membership of the Faculty Board also included academic members of the School, who were not recognized as University professors, as well as the Vice-Chancellor and five academic members of the University of Manchester. Faculty meetings were held at the University of Manchester's premises until 1950.
The Faculty of Technology originally comprised the departments of mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, sanitary (municipal) engineering, technological chemistry, architecture and building construction, mining, textiles, physics and mathematics (the physics, mechanical engineering and mathematics departments were independent of their counterparts at the University, and were only responsible for teaching in connection with technology degrees). These were later joined by, among others, the departments of building construction, civil engineering, industrial administration (business), biochemistry, computation, control systems, European studies, instrumentation, language and linguistics, metallurgy and materials, ophthalmic optics, paper science, and polymer science.
Over time the Faculty appointed sub-committees for particular areas of work, notably the Undergraduate Courses Committee, and the Postgraduate Committee and Panel. In 1994 the Faculty of Technology was wound up when UMIST became to all intents and purposes an independent university.
