University of Central Lancashire

University of Central Lancashire

Motto	The British University of Cyprus
Type	Private
Established	2012 (2012)
Location	Pyla, Larnaka , Cyprus
Website	www.uclancyprus.ac.cy

UCLan Cyprus is a branch campus of the University of Central Lancashire situated in Pyla, Larnaka.[7] The campus opened in 2012 and is licensed and registered as a university in Cyprus. It is the only private British university in Cyprus.[7] It accepts international students.

UCLan Cyprus is the first University in Cyprus that has a Moot Court for used by the School of Law students.[7]

UCLan Cyprus offers bachelor's degrees in business administration, advertising and marketing communications, accounting and finance, hospitality and tourism management, computing, mathematics, English language studies, law, web design and development, sport and exercise science and psychology.[8]

It offers master's degrees in business administration, business management, marketing management, education leadership, teaching English to speakers of other languages (TESOL) with applied linguistics, financial and commercial law, computing, cybersecurity, data analytics, sport & exercise science and forensic psychology.[7]

The University is currently undergoing a £200 million expansion programme, with several new buildings under construction at the Preston main campus.[9] These building are:

• Social Spaces (open as of 2018). Two new social spaces, one located between the Harrington and Greenbank buildings and the other at the Foster building. These social spaces contain a range of relaxation space for students including; pool tables, table tennis tables and a bean bag area.
• Engineering Innovation Centre (opening September 2019). A £32 million purpose built teaching and exhibition space.[10] The building contains several specialist labs as well as four flight simulators.
• Oasis: Faith and Spirituality Centre (open as of May 2018). Consisting of multiple faith rooms, counselling and event space as well as roof terrace, this multi faith centre is to replace the existing one located on St. Peter's Court.[11]
• Student Centre and New Square (construction underway, opening in 2021). This £57 million project is intended to create a new campus reception building, housing several student services, meeting rooms, office space, event venues and a rooftop garden. A new square is to be constructed in front of the student centre. Both the new square and student centre are to be constructed partially on the existing Adelphi roundabout and on now empty land once occupied by the Fylde building.

Livesey House, is named after temperance activist Joseph Livesey.

The university opened the new JB Firth building in September 2011, at a cost of £12.5m. It houses the School of Forensic and Applied Sciences, which includes subjects such as chemistry and forensic science. The new building has a 4,000 m² teaching area, which includes six laboratories: two for chemistry undergraduate teaching, one for chemistry research, one analytical laboratory and two fire laboratories. The building was named after James Brierly Firth, a founder of forensic science in Britain.[12]

The Sir Tom Finney Sports Centre opened, replacing the Foster Sports Centre, in 2011. It is a purpose built indoor facility on the main campus and offers Students' Union sports clubs, instructor-led classes and individual training. Sports membership (including gym) is free for most students and discounted for staff.

The Engineering Innovation Centre was opened in 2019. This is an advanced, state-of-the-art £35 million facility located within one of the most intense engineering and manufacturing areas in the UK. The EIC provides an integrated space for teaching, research and direct links with industry allowing students to work on live, real-world projects with commercial partners. The EIC secured £10.5 million worth of funding via the Lancashire Enterprise Partnerships’ Growth Deal with the Government. The new facility has also received £5.8 million from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and £5 million from HEFCE’s STEM Capital Fund. [13]

Other key facilities include a £15m Media Factory with facilities for digital media and performing arts students, and a 'business incubator'. The £5.3 million Allen Building incorporates facilities for students in the School of Medicine and Dentistry.

UCLan enrolls students from over 100 countries and has partnerships with 125 international institutions located across the world. Each year over 2,000 international students study at the University's Preston Campus.

UCLan was the first modern university in the UK to be included in the Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) World University Rankings. In 2013 QS awarded UCLan the full five stars for its approach to ‘Internationalisation’ with a proven track record for specialising in all aspects of international educational provision.

UCLan has over 3,000 students enrolled offshore, across a diverse range of countries including China, Greece, India, Mauritius, Singapore and the USA.

In 2012 the University opened UCLan Cyprus, a €53 million branch campus in Larnaka, Cyprus.[14][15] It is the only private British university in Cyprus.[16]

In 2013, following receipt of Chinese Ministry of Education approval and together with its partner Hebei University (HBU), the UCLan established the ‘Hebei/UCLan School of Media, Communication and Creative Industries’.

Initially the joint School will have non-independent status, meaning that although it will be a separate entity from HBU it will be wholly owned by it. The School will have 800 students, recruiting 200 per year for the four-year duration of the programmes. The intention is to grow to 1,600 students and then to focus on a broader range of subjects, targeting science in the second wave. When successfully operating at the expanded level, the School will apply for independent campus status.

UCLan is in the top 3.7% of universities worldwide according to The Centre for World University Rankings 2016 (CWUR).[23]

UCLan is in the top 800 universities globally according to the Times Higher Education World University Rankings.[24]

UCLAN is the only university in the UK to run a feature film module. Results of this course include The Collaborators (2015), Audax (2014),[25] The Wedding (2013),[26] Wraith (2012)[27] and Needle In The Hay (2011).[28]

UCLan has established one of the UK's largest paid undergraduate research internship schemes.

Since the scheme launched in 2008, nearly 450 interns have worked directly alongside UCLan researchers on projects as diverse as digital publishing, wind power analysis, facial composite development and smart bandage exploration. Interns have presented work at international conferences and won awards for their research.

The initiative enhances a variety of academic and employability skills, leading to some fantastic outputs including presentations at the Houses of Parliament and published journal articles.

In 2012, UCLAN announced a partnership with the BAE Systems, and four other north-western universities (Liverpool, Salford, Lancaster and Manchester) in order to work on the Gamma Programme which aims to develop "autonomous systems". According to the University of Liverpool when referring to the programme, "autonomous systems are technology based solutions that replace humans in tasks that are mundane, dangerous and dirty, or detailed and precise, across sectors, including aerospace, nuclear, automotive and petrochemicals".[29]

The Students' Union venue, 53 Degrees.

The nightclub and live music venue at the Students' Union, '53 Degrees', has two floors with a bar on each and occasionally hosts well known musical performers. Across two rooms, total capacities are 1,100 & 350 for club nights and 1,400 and 350 for all live gigs. The adjoining bar, 'Source', is open seven days a week during term times. '53 Degrees' is no longer owned by the Students' Union however Freshers' Week events are still run in the venue.

There are over 35 sports clubs run by the students’ union. Many have block bookings at the Sir Tom Finney Sports Centre in term-time for training and matches. The sports clubs participate in British Universities and Colleges Sport competitions and have home and away fixtures.

The university outdoor sport facilities can be found at UCLan Sports Arena (USA) which is located 2 miles away and was opened in 2000 by The Princess Royal. The £12 million arena provides facilities for Rugby league, Rugby Union, Football (5 grass pitches) Hockey (2 floodlit all-weather pitches) Netball and Tennis (4 floodlit courts) and Cycling (1 mile (1.6 km) circuit), as well as an eight lane athletics area, equipped for school, club and county competitions.

The university's Motor Sports Engineering and Operations students run a motor racing team, UCLAN Racing.[30]

The Pulse is the student newspaper. It is six times a year, and began in 1985 as the Ribble Echo and then was named Pluto until June 2016. It is now printed in tabloid format with colour photography. The newspaper published its first edition on 12 September 2016.

Pulse Radio is the student radio station which is located on the ground floor of the Students' Union building. It was founded in 1999 as Frequency Radio and is currently broadcasting during term time. The new radio station started broadcasting on 12 September 2016.

Pulse Radio is the student television station which is located on the ground floor of the Students' Union building. The station covers news, entertainment, and documentaries.