About 180 years ago, Joseph Livesey, a wealthy man formed a society of seven around a simple pledge never to consume alcohol again. This was the result of his observations based of which he reached the conclusion that the main reason some people are poor is abusing alcohol. Apparently, they were so happy with the outcome of this pledge they decided to take more steps one of which was building an educational centre for Preston, Lancashire.

What we know today as "The University of Central Lancashire" in fact started from a small college called "Harris Technical College" by the society. About thirty years later in 1932 and after lots of changes and development, the name was changed to "Harris Art College". Later it became a polytechnic and years after like some other polytechnic in UK was awarded the status of university. Finally in 1992 it was named "The University of Central Lancashire".

One of the most celebrated alumnus of UCLan, Victoria Derbyshire, currently performing on BBC 5 Live obtained her English degree in 1998, then she joined 5 Live and performed as co-presenter of the Breakfast Show with J. Worricker. Since summer of 2004 she has been presenting The Morning show along with some other TV programs. In her programs usually people contribute by calling and sharing their ideas about main issues of the day including news, gossips, sport and so on.

Vocalist and singer, Vera Lynn is another famous alumni of UCLan. Although already an established singer, she became widely known during WWII. She was in her twenties when the second world war started. Veterans now remember her songs which were mostly in theme of sadness and homesickness of the British soldiers off their homeland. Her well-know song, "We'll Meet Again" with its air of hope, became very popular among both the British and American soldiers. Another song of her "Auf wiedersehen Sweetheart" made her the first British singer at the top of US charts just after the WWII. Her last appearance was in "VE Day Diamond Jubilee Ceremony" in 2005.

The university boasts a multimillion pounds – 12.5 to be exact - sport site called "Preston Sports Arena". Located on Tom Benson Way, it extends 1 mile from its entrance and covers 60 acres. The arena construction started in 1998 and was officially opened in April 2000. The facilities include three grass rugby pitches, six five-a-side all-weather pitches, an eight-lane athletics track, four tennis/ netball courts, floodlit Grass Master Desso football pitch and seven grass football pitches.

The universities offers a wide range of courses under four faculties, Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, Lancashire Business School, Health and Science and Technology, among them Journalism has had the most successful alumnus. Courses like "Tourism and Leisure Management", "Art and Fashion", and design are also offered which are among the most popular courses. The most popular course amongst international students is Languages and International Studies.

It is predicated that the up-going trend of international students will continue at least for the next 5 years. In year 2007 It welcomed about one thousands international students from 32 nationalities.