Named after the essayist, art and social critic John Ruskin, it specialises in providing educational opportunities for adults with few or no qualifications.

Ruskin Hall, Oxford,[3] was established in 1899 to provide education for working-class men who could not access university.

They placed the college in Oxford because the city symbolised the educational privilege and standards to which ordinary people could never previously have aspired.

[citation needed] Vrooman's wife, Amne (née Grafflin), an heiress, financially supported the foundation of the college.

The school was envisioned as a mechanism by which "working-class reformers" could "educate themselves efficiently at nominal cost.

Following a visit from Lord Curzon, the proposal was repeated and Dennis Hird, a lecturer in Sociology and Logic responded that as far as the students were concerned Ruskin College was irrevocably part of the Labour movement.

[4] In 1908, a group of Ruskin students, dissatisfied with its education policy which they viewed as too pro-establishment and imbued with elements of "social control", formed the Plebs' League.

[9] The conference organisers included Ruskin students Arielle Aberson and Sally Alexander, and historian Sheila Rowbotham.

The college asserted that it was legally required to dispose of the records because they contained personally identifying information.

[21] The college is a part of the University of West London Group, and operates as a charity limited by guarantee.

The Reunion is held over a weekend and incorporates speakers on relevant topics, a social activity including a bar, music and a buffet and, on the Sunday morning of the Reunion weekend, the Fellowship's Annual General Meeting (AGM).