Lancaster University, situated in Lancashire, England, is now ranked as the top institution in the North Western region of UK. Along with the universities of Durham, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle, Sheffield and York, Lancaster forms the N8 Group of research universities.
The University was established by Royal Charter in 1964, it stipulated that HRH Princess Alexandra of Kent was to be the first Chancellor. The Princess served as the University Chancellor until retiring in 2004. She is the longest serving Chancellor of any British university.

The University is divided into three faculties:

• The Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences – this consists of the school of Law and the departments of Applied Social Science; Educational research; English and Creative Writing; European Languages and Cultures; History; Linguistics and English Language; Philosophy; Politics and International Relations; Religious Studies and Sociology, the Institutes for Cultural Research; for Health Research; for the Contemporary Arts (Art, Design, Music & Theatre Studies) and the Ruskin centre.
• The Faculty of Science and Technology – this consists of the departments of Biological Sciences; Communications Systems; Computing; Engineering; Environmental Sciences; Geography; Mathematics and Statistics; Natural Sciences; Physics and Psychology, and the centre for Medical Education.
• The Faculty of Management - is a single school faculty (Lancaster University Management School) consisting of the departments of Accounting and Finance; Economics; Management Learning and Leadership; Management Science; Marketing and Organisation, Work and Technology; the Institute for Entrepreneurship & Enterprise Development and the centres for e-Science; for Excellence in Leadership (CEL); for the Study of Technology & Organisation (CSTO); International Centre for Research in Accounting (ICRA); Lancaster Centre for Forecasting (LCF); Lancaster Centre for Strategic Management; Lancaster China Management Centre (LCMC); Lancaster Leadership Centre (LLC), Health Leadership Centre (HLC) and Centre for Performance-Led HR (CPHR).

The university campus is located in Bailrigg, a 200 acre site donated by Lancaster’s City Council. The campus buildings are located on a hilltop, the lower slopes of which are landscaped parkland which includes the "Carter Lake" duck pond and the university playing fields. The site is located 5 km south of the city centre. In contrast to some of the other campus universities, Bailrigg was designed to integrate social, residential and teaching areas.

Student life at Lancaster is full and colourful. The university has clubs and societies that range from Ballroom Dancing to Fencing, Backpacking and hiking to Chess and Taekwondo. There are societies and clubs for all interests and hobbies.

There is on campus accommodation available for 40 weeks at a stretch, which allows you to stay put without the hassle of shifting during Christmas break.  Off campus accommodation is also available for different budgets and lifestyles. As Lancaster city is only a 10 minute bus journey from the university, off campus accommodation is feasible as well.