The University of Central Lancashire is to go ahead with a full rebrand, including ditching the “central” in its name.
The Office for Students has today approved the University of Lancashire name.
“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,” explained Vice-Chancellor Professor Graham Baldwin.
“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.”
The name change will be “incremental” over the coming year and it expects that by September 2025 it will be fully implemented. The first changes will be signage around the Preston, Burnley and West Cumbrian campuses.
The url will also be updated to 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,” continued 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.
“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.”
The university only became University of Central Lancashire in 1992.
1828 – Founded as the Institution for the Diffusion of Knowledge.
1882 – Following a substantial donation from the Trustees of Edmund Robert Harris, it changed its name to the Harris Institute.
1956 – Then came a government re-organisation of technical education, which meant it renamed as 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.
