University of Cumbria
The University of Cumbria is a university in Cumbria, England. Its headquarters are in Carlisle. and other major campuses are at Lancaster, Ambleside, Barrow-in-Furness, Penrith and London. It was established in 2007, following the merger of St Martin's College, the Cumbria Institute of the Arts and the Cumbrian campuses of the University of Central Lancashire. Its roots extend back to the Society for the Encouragement of Fine Arts established in 1822 and Charlotte Mason teacher training college in the 1890s. The university is based upon the idea of a "distributed learning network", so that teaching takes place both at the university's main campuses, and at colleges of further education around Cumbria, a rural county that includes the Lake District.HistoryThe University of Cumbria was formed by the merger of St Martin's College, Lancaster, the Cumbria Institute of the Arts (CIA)- formerly Cumbria College of Art & Design (CCAD) - and the Cumbrian campuses of the University of Central Lancashire on 1 August 2007. These institutions formerly ran degree programmes accredited by Lancaster University and the University of Central Lancashire. In order to facilitate the change, St Martin's College applied for independent degree-awarding powers in March 2005 and was successful in July 2006 after nine months of scrutiny by the Quality Assurance Agency. In January 2007 official university status was granted by the Privy Council.