 Coat of arms Liverpool Hope University | |
| Motto | Ancient Greek:ὲν πιστει ὲλπιδι και ἀγἀπη |
|---|---|
Motto in English | In faith, hope and love |
| Type | Public |
| Established | 1844 – S. Katharine's College (as Warrington Training College) 1856 – Notre Dame College (as Our Lady's Training College) 1964 – Christ's College 1979 – Liverpool Institute of Higher Education 1995 – Liverpool Hope University College 2005 – Liverpool Hope University |
| Chancellor | Monica Grady |
| Vice-Chancellor | Claire Ozanne |
| Students | 5,055 (2023/24)[1] |
| Undergraduates | 4,195 (2023/24)[1] |
| Postgraduates | 860 (2023/24)[1] |
| 121[2] | |
| Location | , England |
| Campus | Hope Park,Childwall & Creative Campus,Everton |
| Colours | |
| Website | www |
 | |
Liverpool Hope University (abbreviatedLHU) is apublic university with campuses inLiverpool, England. The university grew out of threeteacher training colleges: Saint Katharine's College (originallyWarrington Training College), Notre Dame College, and Christ's College. Uniquely inEuropeanhigher education, the university has anecumenical tradition, with Saint Katharine's College having been Anglican and Notre Dame and Christ's College having both been Catholic. TheAnglicanBishop of LiverpoolDavid Sheppard and theCatholicArchbishop of LiverpoolDerek Worlock (who give their names to the university's Sheppard-Worlock Library) played a prominent role in its formation.[3] Its name derives fromHope Street, the road which connects the city'sAnglican andCatholic cathedrals, where graduation ceremonies are alternately held.[4]
The university is both a research and teaching intensive institution. It has gained notable recognition for its teaching.[5]
In 2023, it achieved an overall Silver rating in theUK Government'sTeaching Excellence Framework (TEF),[6] andrankings in teaching-focused league tables is comparable with lower-performingRussell Group universities.[7][8]
FormerVice ChancellorGerald Pillay summarised the university as aliberal arts college-style environment where "[students are] a name, not a number."[5] Its "small and beautiful" ethos has been contrasted with the larger neighbouringUniversity of Liverpool andLiverpool John Moores University (LJMU).[5]
The university's earliest origins lie in the "Warrington Training College" set up in 1844 under the auspices of the Rector of WarringtonHoratio Powys.[9] Powys, who has a lecture theatre named in his honour in the EDEN Building, was the first Secretary of theBoard of Education set up by theDiocese of Chester in 1839. The Warrington Training College was the second college set up by theChester Diocesan Board within the current boundaries ofCheshire; the first having been established in Chester itself in 1839 (similarly the point of origin of theUniversity of Chester).[9] With the Chester college having been designed to train its (male) schoolmasters, the Warrington college was set up as a counterpart to train female teachers for the diocesanelementary schools.[10]
In 1856 the second of the university's predecessor colleges, "Our Lady's Training College", also referred to as "Notre Dame" and "Mount Pleasant", was opened by theSisters of Notre Dame de Namur.[11] Like Warrington Training College, Notre Dame provided education to women. Researchers have noted that while both colleges educated women, Notre Dame "offered a broad-based education" unlike the "more domestic expectations in the education of women" which prevailed at Warrington Training College.[11]
In 1930 Warrington Training College arrived in Liverpool, moving to the Taggart Avenue site having relocated initially toBattersea inLondon following a fire that had destroyed the college's original Warrington building in 1923.[11] Its new home was the then-newly constructed building that still stands. Designed by the London-basedScottish architects Slater & Moberly[12] at a cost of £170,000 (equivalent to approximately £10m in 2019) in partnership with a youngReginald Uren (who handled the construction phase), it is described byHistoric England as being laid out "on a grand scale with accomplished Vernacular Revival styling reminiscent of Lutyens' Home Counties architecture" and "[an] impressive main court [that] maximises views over the Rector's Lawn and is complemented by a cloister-like rear quadrangle".[13]
In 1938 the college was renamed "Saint Katharine's Training College", after thepatron saint of learningKatharine of Alexandria.[11]
In 1930, by coincidence the same year as Saint Katharine's (then Warrington) Training College arrived in Liverpool, theVictoria University of Manchester (VUM) and the University of Liverpool had set up a Training College Examinations Board covering the teacher training colleges that existed at that point withinLancashire – which at that time included bothMerseyside andGreater Manchester – and Cheshire.[14] This followed the blueprint for universities being involved in "Joint Examining Boards" for teacher training, initiated by theBoard of Education in 1926 and based on the idea of making the curriculum and organisation of teacher education more in tune with other forms of higher education.[15]
Both Notre Dame (in the guise of Mount Pleasant Training College) and Warrington Training College were on a list of eight such colleges overseen by the VUM/University of Liverpool Examinations Board; among the others were the Diocesan Training College in Chester (the future University of Chester) and thenon-denominational Edge Hill Training College inOrmskirk (forerunner ofEdge Hill University).[14] Initially two colleges based in Manchester were involved, but over time these withdrew from the scheme and it became exclusively a University of Liverpool venture, with the training colleges defined as the University of Liverpool's Associated Colleges.[14]
In 1964 Saint Katharine's Training College was renamed simply asSaint Katharine's College, and, in the same year,Christ's College was opened to students on the opposite side of Taggart Avenue.[14] Christ's had been founded by theCatholic Education Council and upon its creation enrolled like Saint Katharine's and Notre Dame as one of the University of Liverpool's Associated Colleges. Unlike Notre Dame, it admitted male students and was the first Catholic co-educational teachers' training college in England.[14]
In 1974 the three colleges (along with the other colleges included in the venture) became formally integrated into the University of Liverpool'smanagement structure via its new Board of College Studies.[3] Instead of Associated Colleges, they were now re-designated as Affiliated Colleges.[14] The Board of College Studies had "quasi-faculty status" and was the vehicle for a validation agreement which formalised the ability of the colleges (consented to by the University of Liverpool the previous year) to offer a general BA degree.[3] Students who excelled were allowed to complete their studies to honours level at the University of Liverpool itself, though in practice few students from Saint Katharine's, Notre Dame or Christ's did so.[3]
The 1972James Report had forecast a future reduction in teacher training intakes due to an oversupply of trained teachers in the context of the post-baby boomdecline in the UK'sbirth rate since the mid-1960s.[16] In response, the three colleges set up a joint committee in 1973 to discuss federation, establishing an Interim Federal Academic Council in 1974.[3] The momentum towards federation was increased in the mid-1970s when the two Victorian colleges (along with similar institutions across the UK) were served with notice of imminent closure by the Government.[3] Unlike Saint Katharine's and Notre Dame, Christ's was not earmarked for closure given its more modernprovenance and also its success at the time.[3]
As the proposed federation promised to bring together Catholic and Anglican education it was supported by Archbishop Worlock and Bishop Sheppard as "a major plank of their wider ecumenical vision for the city".[3] A visit to London by the two men was instrumental to the granting of permission from theeducation minister, who reputedly agreed "as an expedient" to placate the two men, believing that the proposed federation would be short-lived.[3]
In 1979 the federation was formally completed, with the three colleges becoming the constituents of a new body:Liverpool Institute of Higher Education (LIHE). The following year the two Catholic colleges merged, continuing on Christ's' Taggart Avenue site asChrist's and Notre Dame College (CND).
During the 1980s the two colleges Saint Katharines and CND co-existed under the umbrella of LIHE, withrationalisations gradually taking place to reduce the duplication of functions. However, whilst on an administrative level this was generally accomplished, at the end of the 1980s and into the 1990s there were still two libraries on the combined LIHE campus, as well as two chapels. (It was not until the 2000s that themodernist chapel formerly of Christ's became the only chapel at the Taggart Avenue site, with the Saint Katharine's chapel converted into asenatechamber.)[17] Student social life was also largely carried on separately in the two colleges.[18]
In 1990 the colleges merged and LIHE became a single institution as opposed to a federation of two colleges.[14] The colleges therefore finally ceased to exist as academic entities.
The 1988 Teaching and Higher Education Act had imposed a new accountability framework which made the "tutelage relationship" with the University of Liverpool more inconvenient for LIHE in the early 1990s.[17] In response to the 1988 Act, the validation agreement which operated through the Board of College Studies was tightened. University of Liverpool staff were now required to be present at LIHE subject management meetings and to be consulted over any proposed academic changes, however small.[17]
In 1994 these constraints resulted in the replacement of the validation agreement with an accreditation agreement from the University of Liverpool which gave LIHE autonomy to validate undergraduate degrees on its own.[17] With the change also applying to the former Diocesan Training College in Chester (by that point renamed as Chester College of Higher Education and the only other remaining Affiliated College), the University of Liverpool's College Studies Unit was disbanded the same year.[18][14]
In 1995 it was decided to rename LIHE, which formally assumed the nameLiverpool Hope University College (shortened to "Liverpool Hope" or simply "Hope").[19] The name-change represented an attempt to establish a more striking, characterful identity that reflected the original religious purpose of the three founding colleges. Reflecting upon the renaming in 2003, Elford asserted that "Hope is now arguably one of the most mission-explicit Christian institutions in British higher education".[20]
The Taggart Avenue site was accordingly renamed Hope Park, with the site of the former St Francis Xavier's School site in Everton (theschool itself having moved toWoolton in the 1960s) being purchased and developed as the Creative Campus in 1999.[21]
Hope achieved taught degree awarding powers in 2002, and three years later was awarded university status, becomingLiverpool Hope University.[21][22] Research degree awarding powers and full independence followed in 2009.[22]
The university has two teaching campuses. The larger of these (though still small, with a built area occupying around 30 acres) is Hope Park inChildwall, in thevicinity of Childwall Woods andCalderstones Park. The second campus is Creative Campus, closer to Liverpool city centre, and hosts the School of Creative and Performing Arts.
The university has a residential-only campus, Aigburth Park, inSt Michael's, approximately three miles from the city centre and Hope Park.
The university also has an outdoor education centre, Plas Caerdeon.
The Sheppard-Worlock Library is the university's main library. Located at Hope Park (there is also a small library at the Creative Campus), it is blended in to the Hilda Constance Allen Building, extending upwards an original low-rise block running east–west between two wings at the building's northern end. Previously the space had been occupied partly by kitchen and dining facilities.[18]
The library was constructed in 1997 at a cost of £5.34m.[18] A £1.5m refurbishment in 2012 included the creation of a British Standard vault for its special collections.[23]
| Name | Description |
|---|---|
| Gradwell Collection | Entrusted to the university upon the closure ofSt Joseph's College atUp Holland in 1991. Contains material covering theology, philosophy, church, secular and local history,ecclesiastical history, art, architecture, sociology, education and works of general reference. Also includesrecusant works and early printed works. |
| Picton Collection | Contains many of the classicNew Testament works published before 1975, linguistic studies including olderHebrew,Aramaic andGreek lexicons, and several sets of theological texts. |
| Archbishop Stuart Blanch (1918–1994) Collection | Materials from the estate of Archbishop Blanch. Includes notes from his time as a student atWycliffe Hall, Oxford and notes for sermons, lectures, talks and speeches made while Bishop of Liverpool (1960–1966) andArchbishop of York (1975–1983). |
| Library for the Andrew F. Walls Centre for the Study of African and Asian Christianity | Materials donated by Walls himself on the history ofmissionary activity, principally inAfrica and theAsia-Pacific region but also in other parts of the world, and also on mission theology and practice, non-Christian faiths, and the history of religions. |
| Education Research Collection | Books, pamphlets and journals on education and related subjects donated by the University of Liverpool. Contains 30,000 books and pamphlets, and books on all aspects of education (especially historical) with large sections on special education and religious education. Includes bibliographies, Government and other statistical publications, and annual reports of organisations connected with education. Also includes 400 journals, with strengths in learning difficulties and special education, educational psychology, and education overseas. |
| Josephine Butler Collection | Small collection of materials received from the University of Liverpool on Butler and her work. |
The university's specialist campus formusic andvisual andperforming arts teaching is theCreative Campus inEverton next toSt Francis Xavier's Church. The university also has a residential-only campus, Aigburth Park inSt Michael's, and Plas Caerdeon, anoutdoor education centre inSnowdonia,North Wales.[24]
The university's teaching campuses contain threeGrade IIlisted buildings. One of these is the former main building of Saint Katharine's College at Hope Park, now renamed as the Hilda Constance Allen Building.[13] The Creative Campus includes the other two: the former Saint Francis Xavier's School (now the Cornerstone Building) designed byHenry Clutton, and the former LSPCC (Liverpool Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children) building at 3 Islington Square.[25][26][27]
Hope Park isbisected by Taggart Avenue, which runs north–south through the middle of the campus and divides the former sites of two of the university's three predecessor colleges. On the western side of Taggart Avenue is the former campus of Christ's College, while the eastern side (which besides Hilda Constance Allen also includes the EDEN Building and the Sheppard-Worlock Library) was formerly the campus of Saint Katharine's. In the era when the two colleges existed, high walls ran along both sides of Taggart Avenue, physically separating the institutions.[3]
The university's third predecessor college, Notre Dame, was located onMount Pleasant at its corner with Hope Street. Its former property, which it vacated in 1980, was acquired by Liverpool Polytechnic and became part of the campus of LJMU, the polytechnic's successor institution.[28] Together with an adjoiningtownhouse it forms LJMU's John Foster Building.
The university follows aChristian principle to avoid bank loans and has not taken out a new bank loan since the mid-2000s.[29] Expenditure is financed from university cash reserves, and the university budget is set from zero each year with only permanent staffing rolled over.[29] In 2018 the university established an Income Generation Plan to diversify income streams away from a reliance onundergraduate tuition fees.[29]
Elford'sThe Foundation of Hope discusses howbrand management was of particular importance to the university in the 1990s, with the inception of the "Hopebrand" in 1995: "The Hope brand was vigorously developed and marketed"; "Newcorporate colours [were developed]".[30] The university had previously struggled to unite its three predecessor colleges into a singlecorporate identity, with "internal dissonances" persisting.[31] Elford argues that, during its time as Liverpool Institute of Higher Education, the university "had effectively failed to establish an identity of its own".[31]
The university adoptedred as the main corporate colour of the Hope brand, contrasted primarily withwhite. It is the only university in the Liverpool metro area that uses red, a corporate colour more commonly associated with universities elsewhere in thehistoric "red rose" county of Lancashire (in particularLancaster,Salford andUCLan). The university uses red for spiritual/theological rather than geographical/historical reasons.[32] Its original (1995–2006) logo (the word "hope" written in red in lower case italics with the tail of the "e" turning upwards and encircling the word) can be found inThe Foundation of Hope on the book's title page and rear cover.[33]
In 2016/17 the university began using its coat of arms as its sole corporate logo, emphasising itsbrand heritage.[34] This involved retiring its most recent modern logo, which had been designed in partnership with theLondon-basedcreative agency Fabrik in 2006.[32] (The graphical package produced with Fabrik also included atypeface and generallayout andcolour-scheme principles for university publications that continued to be used after 2016/17.)[32] The 2006 logo included a red rectangle with the university's name written in white, accompanied by a whiteStar of Bethlehem in the upper-right corner (this being appropriate to the Star of Bethlehem being aStar in the East: the upper part of the rectangle signifying the sky andeast being on the right-hand side of the map). The logo also included the legendEST. 1844 in the bottom-right, a feature which survived after 2016 (sometimes renderedEst. 1844) in the university's variant presentations of its coat of arms inletterheads and other graphical uses. For the 175th anniversary of that year in 2019 the university also presented its coat of arms alongside the legend "175YEARS OF ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE". In this legend "175" was rendered in gold to reflect the university's TEF Gold rating for Teaching Excellence achieved two years earlier.[35]
The university comprises four faculties and nine schools.[36]
The School of Creative and Performing Arts is located at the Creative Campus, with all other schools/departments at Hope Park.
| Faculty | Schools |
|---|---|
| Faculty of Business, Law and Criminology | Liverpool Hope Business School; School of Law and Criminology |
| Faculty of Creative Arts and Humanities | School of Creative and Performing Arts; School of Humanities |
| Faculty of Education and Social Sciences | School of Education; School of Social Sciences |
| Faculty of Human and Digital Sciences | School of Health and Sport Sciences; School of Computer Science and the Environment; School of Psychology |
In 2023/24 the university had 305 academic staff.[37] 230 of these (75.41%) were qualified to doctoral level, placing the university 16th highest in the UK on this measure.[37][38] The university's aim is for 85% of its academic staff to have doctorates and the remainder to be Professional Tutors with industry experience in areas such as education, law and accountancy.[38]
The university is a member of theCathedrals Group. Within thismission group, the university validates and awards the degrees of PhD and MPhil forNewman University andSt Mary's University, Twickenham.[39][40]
The university has a number of international partnerships with other academic institutions, many of whom areChristian universities. Major partners includeUniversité Catholique de Lille in France,Christ University andStella Maris College in India, two American liberal arts collegesHope College andOuachita Baptist University, andSun Yat-sen University in China.[41]
The university's Network of Hope was established in 1998 as a set of partnerships withCatholicsixth-form colleges in theNorth West.[42] Current Network of Hope partners includeCarmel College (St Helens),Holy Cross College inBury andSt John Rigby College, Wigan.[43]
In 2016 the university signed a five-year partnership agreement withEverton Football Club.[44][45] The partnership included a monitoring and evaluation project on the club's Everton in the Community Free School (opened in 2011)[46] and graduate scholarships to research the club's history.[47][48]
| Year | Award | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 2019 | The Academic Insights Magazine – International University of the Year[49] | Won |
| National rankings | |
|---|---|
| Complete (2026)[50] | 90= |
| Guardian (2026)[51] | 77 |
| Times / Sunday Times (2026)[52] | 90= |
| Global rankings | |
| THE (2026)[53] | 1501+ |
For many years the university did not take part inuniversity league tables. Upon entering for the first time in 2015 (for the 2016 editions), the university increased its positions, notably in theGuardian league table (which excludes research metrics). In the 2018 table announced in May 2017, the university outperformed its more prestigious neighbour the University of Liverpool for the first time, a fact used by the student news siteThe Tab in a 2018April Fool's Dayhoax that the University of Liverpool would lose its Russell Group status.[54]
In June 2017 the university was awarded Gold by the UK Government'sOffice for Students in its Teaching Excellence Framework.[55] It was one of two universities in the Liverpoolmetro area (the other being Edge Hill) to achieve this rating.[56] The university (alongsideCoventry andNottingham Trent) was named by theGuardian as one of the "excellent modern universities" who had been "rewarded with gold ratings, while some Russell Group institutions had to suffer the indignity of being awarded bronze".[57] In the 2023 TEF assessment, the university's award was revised to "silver".[6]
The university has 12 research projects/centres:[58]
There are 12 halls of residence for students enrolled at the university.[59] (The university runs a free shuttle bus between the campuses.)[60]
| Name | Campus | Ensuite | Open to |
|---|---|---|---|
| Newman Hall | Hope Park | Yes | First year undergraduates |
| Teresa Hall | Hope Park | Yes | First year undergraduates |
| Wesley Hall | Hope Park | Yes | First year undergraduates |
| Oscar Romero Hall | Hope Park | No | First year undergraduates |
| Kitty Wilkinson Hall | Hope Park | No | First year undergraduates |
| Josephine Bhakita Hall | Hope Park | No | First year undergraduates |
| Catherine Booth Hall | Hope Park | No | First year undergraduates |
| Angela Hall | Hope Park | No | First year undergraduates |
| Austin Hall | Hope Park | No | First year undergraduates |
| Gerrard Manley Hopkins Hall | Creative Campus | Yes | All undergraduates |
| Josephine Butler Hall | Aigburth Park | Yes | All students |
| St Julie's Hall | Aigburth Park | No | All students |
Students at the university are represented by the Students' Union (HopeSU), which is affiliated to theNational Union of Students.[61]
In 2023/24 the university had 4,985 students including 3,895 undergraduates and 1,090 postgraduates, making it the126th largest university in the UK (out of the 169 universities included inHESA statistics).[1] The university is less than half the size of the other two universities in the Liverpool metro area with comparable histories, Edge Hill (13,560 students) and its elder sister Chester (13,545 students).[1]
The university has a greater number and proportion of postgraduates than four of the six universities closest to it in size.[1]
| Name | Undergraduates | Postgraduates | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| St Mary's University, Twickenham | 3,670 | 1,855 | 5,520 |
| University of Chichester | 4,395 | 1,150 | 5,545 |
| Harper Adams University | 4,125 | 555 | 4,680 |
| Queen Margaret University | 3,510 | 1,615 | 5,130 |
| Liverpool Hope University | 3,895 | 1,090 | 4,985 |
| University College Birmingham | 4,435 | 495 | 4,930 |
| St George's, University of London | 3,520 | 810 | 4,330 |
{{cite web}}:|last= has generic name (help)Elford, R. John, ed. (2003).The Foundation of Hope: Turning Dreams into Reality – Liverpool Hope University College. Liverpool:Liverpool University Press.ISBN 978-0-853-23529-3.
Heery, Pat (2002).The History of St. Francis Xavier's College Liverpool 1842–2001. Liverpool: K & N Press.ISBN 978-0-9535782-1-4.
Pye, Ken (2009).A Brighter Hope: The Story of Liverpool Hope University. Liverpool: Liverpool Hope University Press.ISBN 978-1-898-74901-1.
Taylor, William (2008). "The James Report Revisited".Oxford Review of Education.34 (3):291–311.doi:10.1080/03054980802116857.S2CID 146168955.
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