University of Central Lancashire UCLAN

The University of Central Lancashire (UCLan) in Preston was founded in 1828 as the Institution for the Diffusion of Knowledge. ‘Ex solo ad solem’, or in translation, ‘From the Earth to the Sun’, has been its motto ever since – helping people from all walks of life to make the most of their potential is what UCLan’s all about. From state-of-the-art facilities and world class teaching and support to help undergraduate students succeed, to providing world-leading Astrophysics researchers with the opportunity to work with NASA and photograph the Sun, UCLan has it all.

UCLan has evolved over the years to become a world class institution, recognised with its inclusion in the 2010 QS World Rankings – the first Modern University in the UK to gain this status. The University has a global reach and in the most recent Research Excellence Framework (REF) all 16 of the subject areas we submitted were recognised as demonstrating elements of world-leading research. Applied research is critical to the development of UCLan and the REF results show the real differences the University’s research is making to the economy and communities regionally, nationally and internationally. So whether it’s devising a blood test to detect brain tumours, uncovering a potential cause of Alzheimer’s or helping the world’s poor to gain access to vital medicines, UCLan’s research is changing lives.