England’s newest university was launched on 1 August 2007. It has been formed from three institutions – St Martin’s College, Cumbria Institute of the Arts, and the Cumbria campuses of the University of Central Lancashire. The university has come about following recommendations by Sir Martin Harris in September 2005 (see http://www.hefce.ac.uk), with the full support of the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE), the Learning and Skills Council and the North West Development Agency – some 20 years after the idea was first floated. The university has campuses in Lancaster, Ambleside, Penrith and Carlisle and sites in London and on the west coast of Cumbria – a very dispersed community. In all there will be six site libraries and the Learning Gateway in Carlisle, managed by learning and information services and over 17,000 students, over half of them part-time and nearly 1,000 of them further education students. The university’s headquarters will be in Carlisle. The university’s prospectus is ready for its first intake in 2008