The University of Cumbria (UoC) is a university in Cumbria. Its headquarters are in Carlisle. Other major campuses are at Lancaster, Ambleside, Barrow-in-Furness, Penrith and London. It was established in 2007, following the merger of St Martin's College, the Cumbria Institute of the Arts and the Cumbrian campuses of the University of Central Lancashire. Its roots extend back to the Society for the Encouragement of Fine Arts established in 1822 and Charlotte Mason teacher training college in the 1890s. The university is based upon the idea of a "distributed learning network", so that teaching takes place both at the university's main campuses, and at remote colleges of further education around Cumbria, a rural county that includes the Lake District.
