The crucial quarter century is from 1945 to the designation of the polytechnics at the end of the 1960s. Technology after the Second World War was "in the news", and recommendations for higher technological education in and outside the universities came from individuals, organisations, governments and reports in the 1950s. A White Paper on technical education in 1956 further promoted "advanced work" in technical colleges, and the Colleges of Advanced Technology (CATs) and a National Council for Technological Awards (NCTA) were created. A major feature of these developments (and later of the polytechnics) was the expansion of sandwich courses. The CATs became universities following the Robbins Report of 1963 and the NCTA was replaced by the Council for National Academic Awards. This paper addresses these and other developments and traditions and the controversies surrounding them. It underlines the relative absence of research on higher technological curricula in universities and other higher education.