Loughborough University

Loughborough University (abbreviated as Lough or Lboro for post-nominals) is a public research university in the market town of Loughborough, Leicestershire, England. It has been a university since 1966, but it dates back to 1909, when Loughborough Technical Institute was founded. In March 2013, the university announced it had bought the former broadcast centre at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park as a second campus. The annual income of the institution for 2023–24 was £363.2 million, of which £47.8 million was from research grants and contracts, with an expenditure of £251.6 million. In 2024, Loughborough ranked ninth nationally for undergraduate education.

The university traces its roots back to 1909, when the Loughborough Technical Institute was founded in the town centre. There followed a period of rapid expansion led by principal Herbert Schofield, during which there was renaming to Loughborough College and development of the present campus.

In early years, efforts were made to mimic the environment of an Oxbridge college, e.g. students wore gowns to lectures, while maintaining a strong practical counterbalance to academic learning. During World War I, it served as an "instructional factory", training workers for the munitions industry.

Following the war, the institute was divided into four separate colleges:

The last would become the nucleus of the present university. Its rapid expansion from a small provincial college to the first British technical university was due largely to its principals, Herbert Schofield, who led it from 1915 to 1950, and Herbert Haslegrave, who oversaw its further expansion from 1953 to 1967 and steered its progress first to a College of Advanced Technology and then to a university in 1966. In 1977, the university broadened its range of studies by amalgamating with Loughborough College of Education (formerly the Training College). More recently, in August 1998, the university merged with Loughborough College of Art and Design (LCAD). Loughborough College remains a college of further education.

Herbert Schofield became principal in 1915, and continued to lead the College of Technology until 1950. Under his guidance, the college changed almost beyond recognition. He bought the estate of Burleigh Hall on the western outskirts of the town, which became the nucleus of the present 438-acre (177-hectare) campus. He oversaw the building of the original Hazlerigg and Rutland halls of residence, which are now home to the university's administration and the vice-chancellor's offices.

Frederick Annesley Michael Webster (27 June 1886 - 11 April 1949), of Bradwell Juxta Coggeshall in north-west Essex, with Evelyn Montague, an athlete who competed in the much-heralded 1924 Summer Olympics, started an AAA summer school at Loughborough, from August 18 1934. It was the first summer school for athletics in the UK. Tutors on the course included the sprinter Harold Abrahams and javelin thrower Jock Dalrymple. At the summer school on August 12 1938, Lord Burghley attended, with Austrian coach Franz Stampfl, giving a hurdling display.

The first Loughborough College Stadium was opened on the afternoon of Tuesday June 1 1937, by Clarence Bruce, 3rd Baron Aberdare, the chairman of the National Advisory Council for Physical Education, with Lt-Col R E Martin, the chairman of Leicestershire County Council. The stadium was the first in the UK for all track and field events, built on eight acres, and built by students, who were paid with only a cup of tea. A new School of Athletics, Games and Physical Education would begin later in September 1937. It was founded by F.A.M. Webster; his son, Richard Webster (athlete), had competed in the 1936 Berlin Olympics, coming sixth in the pole vault.