Host universities

From its origins as one of the first civic universities to its place as a groundbreaking Russell Group university which excels at teaching, learning and research, the University of Liverpool has remained committed to the 'advancement of learning and ennoblement of life'.

The University of Liverpool was one of the first civic universities. Founded in 1881 with the establishment of University College Liverpool, the College opened in 1882 with 45 students on Brownlow Hill.

From the start, it recruited notable scholars and received generous financial support from the people of Liverpool. A high proportion of the original students came from Merseyside; for poor yet able students there were scholarships and fellowships. The University grew quickly, and the famous Victoria Building, the original 'redbrick' designed by Alfred Waterhouse, was opened in 1892.

The University attracted the pioneers of the day, including Professor Oliver Lodge, who made the world's first public radio transmission in 1894. Two years later, Lodge demonstrated the use of X-ray photography by taking an image of a bullet in a boy's wrist. It was the first time an X-ray had been used for surgical purposes in the UK.

1899 saw the foundation of the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine. Future Nobel Prize winner Ronald Ross, who had just completed his renowned research into the origins of malaria, was appointed at the helm.

In 1903 the University received its Charter. This enabled the University to confer degrees in its own right, and so University College became the University of Liverpool.

The University quickly established itself as an incubator for success. Professor Charles Glover Barkla's research into X-Rays won him the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1917, and Sir James Chadwick was awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1935 for discovering the neutron.

Other successes included Allan Downie, Professor of Bacteriology from 1943 to 1966, who was instrumental in the eradication of smallpox and Dr Robert Minnitt, Honorary Lecturer in Anaesthesia from 1933 to 1947, who developed the use of gas and air in childbirth.

More recently, Sir Joseph Rotblat was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1995 for his work on limiting the threat posed by nuclear weapons.

The University entered the 21st century with great confidence. Its £9m Management School opened in 2002, offering a world-class business education, and a £25m Biosciences Centre opened in 2003, providing first-rate facilities for research, teaching and new biotech businesses.

The University's contribution to science has continued apace with present-day successes including the development of a new low-cost drug to treat malaria. Work is ongoing to develop an effective therapy for Pancreatitis, which afflicts 20,000 people each year in the UK alone. Research at the University has shed important light on the mechanisms involved in the disease.

Today, the University has over 230 first-degree courses offered across 103 subjects, over 19,000 registered students and an annual income of £219 million, which includes £75 million for research. The University remains strongly committed through the teaching and research of its staff to the 'advancement of learning and ennoblement of life' which the people of Liverpool helped establish over a century ago.

URL: http://www.liv.ac.uk

Whilst Liverpool Hope University is one of the newest universities in the country, our history stretches back over a century and a half, when the Church of England Diocese of Chester and the Roman Catholic Sisters of Notre Dame established separate teacher education Colleges for women. These Colleges (S.Katharine's and Notre Dame) were in Warrington and Liverpool City Centre respectively. They were supplemented on Merseyside when a second Catholic teacher education College, Christ's College, on a site adjacent to S. Katharine's, admitted its first students in 1965.

In 1980 these three Colleges joined in an ecumenical federation under the holding title of Liverpool Institute of Higher Education (LIHE). The late Archbishop Derek Worlock and Bishop David Sheppard wrote of this as being "a sign of hope" (Better Together).

In 1995 a new Instrument and Articles of Government established a single, unified, ecumenical College, and a new name -Liverpool Hope -which better reflected our role and Mission. A Company Limited by Guarantee and registered as a Charity was formed.

Meanwhile, expansion followed in both the range of degrees and in student numbers. The status of a fully accredited institution of the University of Liverpool had been achieved in 1994. This gave full responsibility to the College for the quality and standards of its course provision and provided recognition of its academic standing. In 1998, the Accreditation Agreement was renewed for five years and extended to cover taught postgraduate awards. After extensive scrutiny by the Quality Assurance Agency in 2001 and 2002, Liverpool Hope University College gained taught degree awarding powers in August 2002.

The application to become a University - submitted in September 2004 - was successful and the Privy Council approved the title Liverpool Hope University in July 2005.

The next natural stage in the University's development is to apply for Research Degree Awarding Powers and it is intending to do this in the next few years. In the meantime, Liverpool Hope University will continue to build its profile as a teaching-led, research informed, Mission focused University.

URL: www.hope.ac.uk

Originally founded as a small mechanics institution (Liverpool Mechanics' School of Arts) in 1825, the institution grew over the centuries by converging and amalgamating with different colleges and eventually became the Liverpool Polytechnic. In 1992, the Polytechnic became one of the UK's new generation universities and assumed the name Liverpool John Moores University.  The University took its name from Sir John Moores, the founder of the Littlewoods empire, which has been synonymous with Liverpool since it began in 1923. Sir John was a great believer in the creation of opportunity for all which embodies the ethos of LJMU in providing educational routes for people of all ages and from all backgrounds.

LJMU has continued to go from strength to strength, and we now have over 24,000 students from all over the world.  The University has played a vital role in the cultural renaissance of Liverpool and has taken an active part in the regeneration of the city. New advances in digital technology and science have placed the University at the forefront of exciting developments in areas such as multimedia, sports science and space exploration.

LJMU is a contemporary university in one of the most famous cities in the world.  We aim to give people the opportunity to maximise their potential in an environment that is stimulating, challenging and exciting, but also caring and supportive to promote a sense of whole person development.  We are particularly committed to providing opportunities for talented people from backgrounds where a university education is not always seen as a viable option.

The University is organised into six Faculties spanning Business and Law; Education, Community and Leisure; Health and Applied Social Sciences; Media, Arts and Social Science; Science; Technology and Environment.

URL: www.ljmu.ac.uk