History of Northumbria University
Northumbria University is a large metropolitan university, first established as a polytechnic in 1969 and inaugurated as a university on 1 September 1992. The largely modularised curriculum is delivered to just over 23,500 students about 16,000 of whom are full-time. The remainder study on a wide range of part-time and short courses.

History
Newcastle Polytechnic was formed in 1969 from the amalgamation of three regional colleges, Rutherford College of Technology, the College of Art & Industrial Design, and the Municipal College of Commerce. These colleges themselves had origins which were deeply rooted in the region. The practical and vocational training needs of local industry had stimulated the development of relevant post-school education as far back as the nineteenth century.

Building on these firm foundations, the Polytechnic became one of the leading institutions of its type in the UK. It became a major centre for the initial training of teachers with the incorporation of the City College of Education in 1974, and subsequently the Northern Counties College of Education in 1976.

In 1976 the Polytechnic, which already offered nurse training, began occupational therapy and physiotherapy training. In 1995 the incorporation of the Bede, Newcastle and Northumbria College of Health Studies was transferred into the University.

Newcastle City Centre
The City Centre site houses the administrative centre of the University, the main Library, the Students' Union Centre and the Student Services Centre as well as the bulk of teaching accommodation.

The city centre campus is the location for an exciting research project, funded with grants from the European community and from industry. The entire south facing facade of the Northumberland Building has been clad with solar panels. The panels are intended to provide a significant proportion of the building's power needs. This is the northern-most experiment of its kind in Europe, looking into potential alternative power sources for city centres.

The University has contributed considerably to the regeneration of Newcastle's city centre, having refurbished a variety of old buildings adjacent to, or close to its city campus. These include student accommodation at Garth Heads, Art Conservation housed in Burt Hall, and the state-of-the-art IT and teaching facilities in the Trinity Building (a deconsecrated church) and The Drill Hall. The Law School is housed in the old Dental Hospital, a 19th century building now renamed Sutherland Building.

Coach Lane Campus, Newcastle
The suburban campus at Coach Lane, about three miles east of the centre, was the home of the Northern Counties Teacher Training College. The new £18 million Campus provides learning and teaching facilities for around 5,000 students from the University's teaching, health and social work related courses.

The new Campus, on a 27 acre site, incorporates teaching and seminar rooms, staff accommodation and Learning Resources Centre within which library and computing systems will be fully integrated.

The buildings, which blend well into the open space environment of the locality, are predominantly three storey with some two storey section. Solar shading is provided to southerly facing facades to reduce heat gain, and some areas of glazing have been reduced to minimise traffic and pedestrian noise. The buildings are designed to be heat efficient and environmentally friendly. The surrounding area has been attractively landscaped.
 

Longhirst Hall
The Business School has established a high quality centre for postgraduate education, with some specialist undergraduate programmes at Longhirst Hall. This 18th century country mansion has been tastefully extended to provide the highest quality teaching accommodation and facilities, with very attractive student accommodation and leisure facilities.

Carlisle Campus
The University's expansion into Carlisle was made possible through a partnership agreement with the City Council, and the Carlisle Campus was opened in 1992. The resulting refurbishment of listed City Centre buildings was awarded the British Urban Regeneration Association's Best Practice Award for 1995. Students in Carlisle are studying on programmes in Business and Management, Social Sciences and Humanities.