University of Greater Manchester

The University of Greater Manchester stands in Bolton, a town in Greater Manchester. It began in 1824 as the Bolton Mechanics’ Institute, set up to teach local apprentices technical skills as industry grew. By 1887 the institute had become a Technical School with over 1,500 students. In 1926 it became a college, and in 1964 it split into two separate organisations. The Bolton Institute of Higher Education formed in 1982, led first by John McKenzie and then by Bob Oxtoby, who campaigned for university status. The institution gained degree-awarding powers in 1990 and became a university in 2004. The university is known as a ‘post-92’ institution, referring to the 1992 Further and Higher Education Act. It has about 11,000 students and over 900 academic and professional staff. The campus lies between Deane Road and Derby Street in Bolton’s centre, with plans to bring all services to a single site. Senate House, once Deane Tower, was refurbished in 2004 to support design research and consultancy. The Chancellor’s Building, completed in 2007, houses the library, student services and a coffee shop in a £2.5 million Social Learning Zone. A five-storey Eagle Tower contains offices and subjects such as art and design, media studies and psychology. Bolton One is a £31 million centre built with Bolton Council and NHS Bolton, offering health, science and sports facilities plus a sports complex. The university also runs University Collegiate School, a secondary school opened in 2015 by Prince Edward and renamed in 2020. A 50-ton steam hammer on the Deane Campus recalls Bolton’s industrial past, once used at Thomas Walmsley’s Atlas Forge to shape hot iron billets.