University of Cumbria
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| Motto | n/a |
|---|---|
| Established | 2007 |
| Type | Public |
| Vice-Chancellor | Professor Chris Carr (from Aug 1 2007) |
| Location | Carlisle, Penrith, Ambleside, Lancaster, Cumbria/Lancashire, UK |
| Website | Official website about the University for Cumbria development |
The University of Cumbria is a new university, due to open in August 2007. It will be centred in Carlisle, England. Its formation will be allowed by a merger of St Martin's College, the Cumbria Institute of the Arts and the Cumbria campuses of the University of Central Lancashire. These institutes currently run degree programmes accredited by Lancaster University and the University of Central Lancashire. In order to precipitate the change, St Martin's College applied for independent degree-awarding powers in March 2005 and was successful in July 2006 after nine months of scrutiny by the Quality Assurance Agency (QAA).
The plans, as detailed in a report by Sir Martin Harris, envisage a university based upon a 'distributed learning system'. Teaching would take place at the current sites of St Martin's and CIA but also at sites based at Further Education Colleges across Cumbria in order to provide easily accessible Higher Education opportunities for people across the region.
As well as the three main constituent bodies, which are centred in Ambleside/Lancaster (St Martin's College), Penrith/Carlisle (University of Central Lancashire in Cumbria) and Carlisle (Cumbria Institute of the Arts), it is proposed that some teaching will occur at the following locations:
- Carlisle College - Carlisle
- Furness College - Barrow-in-Furness
- Lakes College - Workington
- Kendal College - Kendal
Plans for the university include it to become a specialist research centre in the decommission of Nuclear power plants. This reflects the forthcoming decommission of Sellafield, the world's oldest nuclear power plant which is located in the county and due to be decommissioned over the next forty years.
