The University of Central Lancashire (UCLan) is a public university based in the city of Preston, Lancashire, England. It has its roots in The Institution For The Diffusion Of Knowledge, which was founded in 1828 and became known as Harris Art College in 1839. UCLan was officially established by Royal Charter in 1992.
UCLan is organised into eight faculties: Arts and Creative Industries; Business and Law; Education and Health; Engineering and Computing; Language and Social Sciences; Media, Film and Journalism; Pharmacy and Biomedical Sciences; and Science and Environment. The university offers over 200 undergraduate courses and more than 100 postgraduate courses.
UCLan has a strong reputation for research, particularly in the areas of health, engineering, forensics, pharmacy and environmental sciences. In the most recent Research Excellence Framework (REF), UCLan was ranked 28th out of 154 institutions for the quality of its research output.
The university has a student population of over 38,000, including over 5,000 international students from more than 130 countries. UCLan is one of the largest employers in Preston with over 3,500 staff members working across its campuses or within its partner organisations.