• Universities

The University of Central Lancashire (UCLan) was founded in 1828 as the Institution for the Diffusion of Knowledge.Based in Preston, Lancashire, UCLan is one of the UK’s largest universities offering 400 undergraduate and over 200 postgraduate courses across 20 academic schools.UCLan’s main campus is a ten minute walk from Preston city centre, with other campuses located in Lancashire and Cumbria, and an overseas one in Cyprus which opened in 2012 – the first British university in the country to do so.High among UCLan’s priorities are maximising employability for students, furnishing them with relevant skills and developing course content to meet the needs of business.The university boasts strong links with employers that include British Aerospace, Rolls Royce and Cisco Systems, and it offers business incubation facilities and training for students after graduation. In the last five years alone, it has helped more than 1,000 graduates start their own businesses - the second highest figure in the UK.In addition to its focus on practical skills, the university also scores highly for its research, with all 16 of its subject areas judged to be ‘world leading’ in the 2014 Research Excellence Framework.The university has recently embarked on a £200 million redevelopment of its facilities, including the construction of a £30 million Engineering Innovation Centre. Other recent additions to UCLan’s student offering include the introduction of courses in fashion and forensics and, in 2015, it opened the UK’s newest medical school.Home to a student-staff community of around 38,000, with 2,000 international students among them, UCLan has a thriving, vibrant atmosphere. Beyond the campus, Preston is a small and compact city, easy to navigate and with excellent transport links to the rest of the UK. On its doorstep is the picturesque countryside of the Ribble Valley, the Trough of Bowland and the Southern Lakes.