Nostalgic pictures bring back fond memories as Lancaster University celebrates 60 years

From its birth in 1964 to its place today as a pioneer of global research and gold-standard teaching, Lancaster University has powered through the decades.

And, with each new decade of expansion and progress, the University has built and maintained a reputation as a proudly Northern university with a strong global footprint and sustainable ethos.

It was back in 1947 that the idea for a university in the city was first mooted, but things only really started to take shape with the creation of the Robbins Commission to look at expansion of the

UK’s university sector in 1961.

Lancashire County Council duly threw its hat into the ring, with several locations, including a site in Blackpool, considered before Bailrigg was chosen as the home for the new university.

The founding Vice-Chancellor, Charles Carter, came into post on April 1 1963, and the University accepted its first 330 students in October 1964 with only 13 professors, 32 additional members of

teaching and research staff, 8 library staff and 14 administrators.

While the impressive new campus took shape on a 300-acre site some four kilometres south of the city centre, the first cohorts of students were taught in temporary facilities in St Leonard’s Gate,

close to the heart of Lancaster.

It was not until 1967 that operations moved to the University’s present location.

This campus-based university is set right in the heart of a region that boasts an historic and bustling city, an impressive coastal Bay and rolling green countryside.

Its founding subjects were in the natural sciences, business subjects, and the humanities, including an emphasis on modern languages, while the second generation of subjects focused

particularly on social sciences and technology.

Fast forward through six transformative decades and Lancaster University in 2024 is home to four faculties housing a full spectrum of academic departments and research centres, with more than

16,000 students and close to 4000 members of staff.

Widely acknowledged as a top 15 UK university, with a gold rating from the Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF), Lancaster now has campuses around the globe.

Internationally, Lancaster’s 60th year marks the launch of its international branch campus in Bandung, West Java, in collaboration with Deakin University – adding to its growing status as a teaching partner with Beijing Jiaotong University, China; Lancaster University Ghana; Lancaster University Leipzig, Germany; and Sunway University, Malaysia, the latter partnership catering for more than 7,000 students.

Over the years, Honorary Degrees have been awarded to people regionally, nationally and internationally marking success and achievements in all walks of life, including the local community,

academics, pioneers, politicians, and sports personalities.

There are many famous names among this long and growing list, which, in its earliest days, included the then Prime Minister Harold Wilson.

More recent awardees have included leading alumni, like actor and director Andy Serkis and TV presenters Ranvir Singh and James May, to name but a few.

Celebrations to mark Lancaster’s 60th anniversary have included a series of in-conversation events with alumnus, Barry Lucas, who was appointed the University’s first social manager in 1971, and

led a dedicated team in transforming Lancaster into one of the top gig venues in northern England.

Between 1970 and 1984 the University played host to some of the biggest names in rock and pop, including Paul McCartney, The Who, Queen, Pink Floyd, Joy Division and Tina Turner... among many others.

At the heart of Lancaster’s history are the University’s global community of more than 175,000 alumni, spread across more than 180 countries.

Many of them returned to Bailrigg in September for the annual alumni reunion weekend, with some travelling from as far afield as Australia, Hong Kong and the United States.

Remarkably this included 30 members of the original cohort who studied at Lancaster in those early days.

Together they toasted a remarkable six-decade story of success and the future with the hope of even greater things to come in the next 60 years.

Vice-Chancellor of Lancaster University Professor Andy Schofield said: “Lancaster University has had a remarkable 60 years; the impact of our University is felt beyond the city and across the globe.

"Our research and education changes lives, creating opportunity and delivering excellence.

"With every graduation ceremony, and every new academic year, our community grows.

“In this, our anniversary year, we’re proud to be consistently recognised as one of the best universities in the UK as well as the best university in the North West and remain just as ambitious

for our future as those who founded our university in 1964 with such determination and vision.”