The Office for Students (OfS) has given its approval for the University of Central Lancashire to officially change its name to the University of Lancashire.
Although the University of Lancashire is officially the institution’s new name, visible changes will be incremental over the coming year and the transition is considerate and in line with the student recruitment cycle.
Vice-Chancellor Professor Graham Baldwin said: “Changing our name to the University of Lancashire better reflects our regional economic importance and will aid continuing efforts to raise brand awareness further afield.
“Attracting more people to live and study in the North West is an important strategic objective we share with local government. Changing our name allows us to better cement our brand position and build on our recruitment efforts both nationally and internationally.”
"Changing our name allows us to better cement our brand position and build on our recruitment efforts both nationally and internationally."
— Vice-Chancellor Professor Graham Baldwin
Expectations are that by September 2025; the University of Lancashire will be operating fully under its new name. Signage around the Preston, Burnley and West Cumbrian campuses will be one of the first changes people will start to see. External signage already in place will have the word ‘central’ removed.
Big changes that need to be made digitally to ensure prospective students can find the University via search engines easily and quickly will also be prioritised and over time the website domain name will change to www.lancashire.ac.uk
“The University is the county’s largest provider of graduate-level qualifications and one of the largest universities in the North West,” explained Professor Baldwin.
“As an established civic pillar across the county and an important member of several pan Lancashire partnerships, we work with both public and private sector organisations on various matters affecting Lancashire.
"By changing our name, we will highlight the fact that we are a respected university and operate predominantly across the county of Lancashire. "
— Vice-Chancellor Professor Graham Baldwin
“Locally the acronym UCLan was widely used but for many outside the region they don’t know it was the title of a university nor where it was located. By changing our name, we will highlight the fact that we are a respected university and operate predominantly across the county of Lancashire.
“Our history can be traced back to 1828 and in four years' time we’ll be celebrating our 200-year anniversary. Within that time, we’ve successfully changed name six times. We believe in the spirit of opportunity for all, which is the same motto and ethos as when we were created as the Institution for the Diffusion of Knowledge. Our alumni over the many years we have been in operation continue to be very important to us.”
University timeline
1828 – Founded as the ‘Institution for the Diffusion of Knowledge’.
1882 – Following a substantial donation from the Trustees of Edmund Robert Harris, we changed our name to the ‘Harris Institute’.
1956 – Following a government re-organisation of technical education, our name changed to the ‘Harris College’.
1973 – The Harris College was designated by Central Government as a polytechnic and became ‘Preston Polytechnic’.
1984 – Preston Polytechnic changed its name to ‘Lancashire Polytechnic’.
1992 – Lancashire Polytechnic became the ‘University of Central Lancashire’ after the Government bestowed degree-awarding powers to polytechnics.
2007 – New logo to emphasise the abbreviation 'UCLan'.
2020 – In September 2020, the University launched its new brand, with a new logo and colour scheme to emphasise its position as a place of learning, where opportunity creates success
