Edge Hill University

Edge Hill University is a campus-based public university in Ormskirk, Lancashire, England. The university, which originally opened in 1885 as Edge Hill College, was the first non-denominational teacher training college for women in England, before admitting its first male students in 1959. In 2005, Edge Hill was granted Taught Degree Awarding Powers by the Privy Council and became Edge Hill University on 18 May 2006.

The university has three faculties: Arts and Sciences, Education, and Health and Social Care; these teach at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels.

Edge Hill College opened on 24 January 1885 on Durning Road, Edge Hill, Liverpool, by a group of seven Liverpool businessmen and philanthropists. It was named after the district in which it was sited, and was the first non-denominational teacher training college for women in England. By 1892, Edge Hill was one of only two colleges in England combining teacher training and degree course study. As student numbers increased, Edge Hill quickly outgrew its surroundings. The institution was handed over to the Lancashire Education Committee, with the foundation stone for the present Ormskirk campus laid on 26 October 1931 by J.T. Travis-Clegg, Chairman of Lancashire County Council. The main buildings consisted of a main education block, four halls of residence (named Stanley, Clough, Lady Margaret and John Dalton), an Assembly Hall, a library, craft room, gymnasium, lecture theatres, classrooms and a music room.

Between 1939 and 1946, during the Second World War, the college was evacuated to Bingley in Yorkshire, and the Ormskirk site was requisitioned for use by the military.

The Durning Road premises were destroyed in a bombing raid on 17 November 1940, during the Liverpool Blitz, which killed 166 people.

Edge Hill became a mixed college, admitting its first male students in October 1959, when it had about 500 students in total. In 1963 the college recorded having 660 students and 59 members of staff.

The institution has since expanded, with further developments at Ormskirk and the absorption of the former Sefton School of Health Studies.

In 2005, Edge Hill was granted Taught Degree Awarding Powers by the Privy Council. On 18 May 2006 the institution became Edge Hill University and in August 2008 the university was granted the power to award research degrees.