One of the largest counties without a university of its own has put that right through the amalgamation of a former teacher training college and an arts institute, with the addition of the two Cumbrian campuses of the University of Central Lancashire.

The new University of Cumbria is divided between Carlisle, Penrith, Ambleside and Lancaster, as well as running a specialist teacher education centre in east London.

There are also partnerships with the four further education colleges in the county to provide higher education locally. The new university, which will have more than 14,000 students, was eight years in gestation and saw false starts in the expansion of provision, especially in Carlisle, where there are three separate sites.

Finally established in August 2007, the university has five faculties: arts, design and media; education; business, social sciences and sport; health, medical science and social care; and science and natural resources.

The biggest of the component parts is the former St Martin’s College, which was founded in Lancaster by the Church of England in 1964 to train teachers. It took in a nursing college and another teacher training college, in Ambleside, during the 1990s.

There were more than 12,000 students by the time university status arrived, making the college the largest provider of higher education in Cumbria by a considerable margin.

Modern

The main base remains in Lancaster, a ten-minute walk from the town centre, with a modern library and excellent sports facilities, including a £2.5-million sports complex, gymnastics centre and fitness centre.

The Ambleside campus has an outdoor studies centre and a new learning resources centre. There are plans for more residences and improved sports facilities. The nearest railway station is a 20-minute drive away at Windermere.

Cumbria Institute of the Arts can trace its history in Carlisle back to 1822, eventually becoming the only specialist institute of the arts in the north west of England and one of only a small number of such institutions in the country.

Its campus boasts a new Learning Gateway, an innovative multimedia learning resource centre, and a sports centre with a fourcourt sports hall and well-equipped fitness room.

Development

The creative arts are one of the main areas for development in the university’s initial planning. The main Cumbrian campus acquired from the University of Central Lancashire is a mile outside Penrith, in landscaped gardens overlooking the fells, and caters mainly for agriculture and forestry.

A former agricultural college, it has broadened into related areas such as environmental management and other subjects not directly related to land-based industries. Courses include outdoor education and leadership, geography, business, tourism, sport and computing.

Library and learning resource facilities have been improved and residential accommodation expanded. There are also two farms, one adjacent to the campus and a working hill farm 15 miles away within the national park. In the longer term, the university is planning a £160 million transformation of its estate, almost half of which will go on a new campus in Carlisle.

The proposals include plans for further development at all the existing centres to maintain a “Cumbria-wide presence”. Combined scores from the Cumbria Institute and St Martin’s College were used to produce Cumbria’s first League Table entry, in the lower reaches but by no means at the bottom.

Its position improved in this year’s table. The early focus of the university is on attracting more students from a region of low participa-tion in higher education, as well as on serving the social and economic needs of the county. Applications were up by more than 10 per cent at the start of 2008, when there was a decline at most universities.

Times recommends

• Minister sacked over fake degree
• Student grant blunder will hit 80,000 families
• Half of Cambridge students admit cheating