History

Whilst Liverpool Hope University is one of the newest universities in the country, our history stretches back more than one hundred and fifty years, when the Church of England Diocese of Chester and the Roman Catholic Sisters of Notre Dame established separate teacher education Colleges for women. These Colleges, S.Katharine's (1844) and Notre Dame (1856) were in Warrington and Liverpool City Centre respectively. They were supplemented on Merseyside when a second Catholic teacher education College, Christ's College, on a site adjacent to S. Katharine's, admitted its first students in 1965.

In 1980 these three Colleges joined in an ecumenical federation under the holding title of Liverpool Institute of Higher Education (LIHE). The late Archbishop Derek Worlock and Bishop David Sheppard wrote of this as being "a sign of hope" (Better Together).

In 1995 a new Instrument and Articles of Government established a single, unified, ecumenical College, and a new name -Liverpool Hope -which better reflected our role and Mission. A Company Limited by Guarantee and registered as a Charity was formed.

Meanwhile, expansion followed in both the range of degrees and in student numbers. The status of a fully accredited institution of the University of Liverpool had been achieved in 1994. This gave full responsibility to the College for the quality and standards of its course provision and provided recognition of its academic standing. In 1998, the Accreditation Agreement was renewed for five years and extended to cover taught postgraduate awards. After extensive scrutiny by the Quality Assurance Agency in 2001 and 2002, Liverpool Hope University College gained taught degree awarding powers in August 2002.

The application to become a University - submitted in September 2004 - was successful and the Privy Council approved the title Liverpool Hope University in July 2005.

In September 2009, after 18 months of rigorous scrutiny by the Government’s official agency, Liverpool Hope has been granted Research Degree Awarding Powers (RDAP) making it a fully-fledged university.