Impact and influence

We are investing and are being invested in. In August 2022 we received planning approval for our new Citadels campus development in Carlisle. Scheduled to open in 2026, with £55 million funding secured through the Borderlands Inclusive Growth Deal and Carlisle’s Town Deal, the £78m development of the new campus on the Citadels site is a transformative project.

We are working with Imperial College London to establish a new graduate-entry medical school here in Carlisle. The Cumbria School of Medicine, which plans to enrol its first students in autumn 2025, will train new doctors for Cumbria and northwest England to transform healthcare in local communities. 

And in March this year we received full planning permission to develop our new university campus in Barrow. The University of Cumbria campus is central to the creation of the Barrow Learning Quarter and will transform access to further and higher education and opportunities for those in the town and surrounding areas, now and in the future.

Impact and influence

We are proud to have been recognised as a silver-rated university by the Teaching Excellence Framework 2023 (TEF) for the quality of our teaching and student outcomes. And we are amongst the best in the UK for graduate employment and top in the North West, with 97% of our students getting a job or going on to further study within 15 months of graduating (HESA 2023).

As a modern university, based in the real world, we prepare our graduates not only for work, but also for life. Central to this is the promotion of an environment that encourages our students to use their skills, talent and intellect in delivering social, cultural and economic and social benefit.

We have international reach and impact, our graduates support global, as well as national and local communities, practising in and contributing to over 100 countries across the world.