University of Central Lancashire

The University of Central Lancashire (UCLan) in Preston was founded in 1828 as the Institution for the Diffusion of Knowledge. 

Today UCLan is one of the UK’s largest universities, with a student community approaching 35,000. Internationally UCLan has academic partners in all regions of the globe and it is on a world stage that the first class quality of its education was first recognised. 

In 2010 UCLan became the first UK modern university to appear in the QS World University Rankings. In 2015 the Centre for World University Rankings placed UCLan in the top 3.8 percent of all worldwide universities, highlighting the progress the institution has made in providing students with real-world learning experiences and reflecting the institution’s broad pool of academic talent.

Amongst its programme portfolio of some 400 undergraduate and 200+ postgraduate courses, UCLan has been at the forefront of developing degrees in emerging disciplines such as Fashion and Forensic Science and, in 2015, opened the UK’s newest Medical School.

Aerospace Engineering is another new programme, part of UCLan’s commitment to grow its portfolio of engineering-related courses, and is coupled with the development of a £30 million+ Engineering Innovation Centre (EIC). The aim is to provide a rich source of new graduates that reflect the economic priorities of the North West, the UK and indeed the global economy.

UCLan is commitment to academic excellence, striving to ensure that its teaching and learning, research and knowledge exchange activities are all recognised as being of exceptional quality. The impact is perhaps best seen in the results of the 2014 Research Excellence Framework: all 16 subject areas in which UCLan’s research was assessed were judged to contain ‘world leading’ quality.

In the future UCLan will enhance its standing as an institution with a world-class academic reputation firmly rooted in modern-day relevance. It is a future which focuses on the provision of innovative thinking – for the real world.