About Us

Today we’re one of the UK’s largest universities with a staff and student community approaching 38,000. Our employment-focused course portfolio with over 350 undergraduate programmes, nearly 200+ postgraduate courses and rich array of CPD courses means we offer you the skills and experience that industry needs.

​Building on last year's impressive rise of 27 places, we’ve climbed a further 5 places in the Complete University Guide 2021 and are now ranked 70th out of 130 institutions. And we’ve been ranked first for the money invested into student wellbeing services according to the 2020 Student Welfare League Table.

We have been awarded Silver in the UK Government’s 2017 Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF). Our TEF Silver rating is based on high quality teaching, excellent teaching facilities and the good careers that our graduates go on to discover.

We’ve always believed in helping people to seize every opportunity to flourish in education, at work and for life. Through the combination of academic excellence and real-world teaching, we inspire people to transform their lives by seizing opportunities and achieving things they never thought possible.

Our graduates achieve outstanding results and are highly employable. Over 69% of our students graduate with a First or 2:1 while 95.5% of our graduates enter employment or further study within 6 months of graduating (​Higher Education Statistics Agency 2018). Discover what our talented graduates are doing now.

Our community is made up of students from more than 100 countries around the world. And we are partnered with 125 institutions across the globe making us a truly international University.

We are ranked in the top 6.5% Centre for World University Rankings 2020-21 and we hold the maximum 5 QS stars for the quality of our teaching.

We started life in Preston and have since grown the number our UK campuses. As well as Preston, we are also based in Burnley (East Lancashire) and Westlakes (West Cumbria). We were honoured to establish the first British University in Cyprus in 2012 having been granted an academic license by the Cyprus Ministry of Education and Culture.

We are embarking on an ambitious Campus Masterplan vision is to create an attractive and inviting, world-class campus compatible with our status as one of the UK’s largest universities. A core principle of our plan is to integrate our campus seamlessly with the rest of the City, benefitting current and future generations of students, staff, visitors and the wider community.

On the world stage, our research teams work collaboratively with major international organisations, from the United Nations and the World Health Organisation to the European Space Agency and NASA. Whether it’s helping to produce the world’s first photograph of a Black Hole, advising the Government on the potential fire risks to those living in high rise tower block, or supporting the wellbeing of those living with dementia, our researchers are delivering accessible and impactful research that is relevant to society.

We are a national leader in the number of student and graduate start-up businesses we support. We’ve been ranked in the top five of UK universities for the number of graduate start-up businesses created, that’s 201 start-up businesses!

Our University is Lancashire’s largest provider of graduate level qualifications and we have established links with global businesses, police constabularies, NHS trusts and more than 1,000 regional enterprises across a variety of sectors.

In 1828 the University of Central Lancashire was founded as the Institution for the Diffusion of Knowledge. Our motto ‘Ex solo ad solem’ means ‘from the earth to the sun’; and remains an important part of who we are today. We help people from all walks of life to achieve their potential.

Right now, our Preston Campus is undergoing a radical transformation as our £200m masterplan project nears completion. Our vision to create a world-class campus for the benefit of students, staff and the whole community is becoming a reality.

A new Student Centre, opening in 2021, will look out over our new civic square, which will become an exciting hub of activity, a focal point for community events and an iconic gateway linking together the city and the University.

Our new £35m Engineering Innovation Centre (EIC), which opened in 2019, has become a hive of innovation, bringing together University researchers, industry experts, local businesses and students in a spirit of collaboration and discovery. Crucially, we see the EIC helping the region’s businesses to link-up with us to deliver the benefits of what has become known as the ‘fourth industrial revolution’ in areas such as virtual reality, artificial intelligence and 3D printing.