page_title: University of Birmingham Guild of Students
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: University of Birmingham Guild of Students / History
caption_attribution_description: The University of Birmingham Guild of Students building, University of Birmingham, in Birmingham, United Kingdom
context_page_description: The University of Birmingham Guild of Students is the officially recognised body that represents around 37,000 students at the University of Birmingham. The Guild functions as a students' union as per the Education Act 1994.
context_section_description: The Institution had its first foundations in the Mason Science College in the centre of Birmingham around 1876. The University itself formally received its Royal Charter in 1900, with the Guild of Students being provided for as a Student Representative Council. As a consequence, both the Guild and the University officially celebrated their centenaries in 2000. Mason College had had a union of sorts with a club house opening in Great Charles Street in 1905.  The Guild of Students, having been provided for in the 1900 Charter, was formed in 1909 as the Guild of Undergraduates, being based at Edgbaston.
  The Guild possesses archives that go back to the First World War, establishing a very long tradition of what is referred to as 'modern Students' Unionism'. Alongside Liverpool Guild of Students, the Guild was a founding member of the National Union of Students.
  The Guild of Students occupies the Union Building (often referred to as just 'the Guild'), situated at the edge of campus by the East Gate, for a peppercorn rent from the University. The building itself, by Holland W. Hobbiss, dates to 1928 and has been added to and amended, most significantly in the 1950s, when a south wing was added, and again in the 1960s, when a much larger west wing was built. At 10,000 square metres, it is one of the largest Student Union buildings in the UK.
  It is not known for certain why the organisation is named a 'Guild of Students' as opposed to a 'Union of Students', in line with the vast majority of its English peers. It shares its name with five other student unions, including Liverpool Guild of Students and University of Exeter Students' Guild.
  The Guild introduced new branding in 2007, intended to replace the previous 'BUGS' brand, which had been adopted in 2000.
caption: Guild building
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