The fledgling university in Peterborough is punching above its weight. It’s doing a great job addressing the metro area’s long-standing lack of access to higher education. This milestone was celebrated as the first cohort of students graduated, expressing their satisfaction with the growth they experienced alongside the institution.
The university is a civic collaboration between Anglia Ruskin University, the City of Cambridge Council and the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority. Its mission is to expand educational opportunity and attainment in the region. Their ambitious plan builds on big investments in expanding course offerings to reach a projected 12,500 students by 2030. The yet-to-be-completed Bishops Road campus is central to this vision and will help integrate the experience.
A significant recent addition to the campus is The Lab, a £32 million studio and teaching facility that opened in November 2024. The facility features state-of-the-art amenities for microbiology, tissue culture and engineering laboratories. This configuration allows students to receive real world, hands-on experience working in their fields. The university is planning for a last round of construction from September 2025 to August 2028. For example, they are especially committed to developing postgraduate-student friendly facilities.
Prior to the creation of this new university, Peterborough was known as a “higher education cold spot.” As students like Faaizah Hussain have pointed out, the experience of being on the new campus has been life-changing. “I feel like I’ve grown with the university. We’ve grown as a campus, we’ve grown as individuals,” she stated, highlighting the supportive environment fostered by faculty members.
Krishna Kukaneswaran emphasized the advantages of studying at this new institution, noting, “I’ve been able to secure quite a few work experience and internships across the last few years, definitely with the support of my lecturer and the university.” He further appreciated the balance between his academic and personal life, saying, “I was able to spend time with my family but be at uni with my friends.”
Peterborough’s new Mayor Paul Bristow could not have been more enthusiastic in welcoming the university to his city. He underscored its vital role in providing local students access to furthered education. Professor Ross Renton described the first graduation ceremony in Peterborough Cathedral as a “historic milestone.” This joyous occasion represented a great victory personally for these graduates, as well as a larger communal victory.
The campus continues to expand and has recently introduced several new programs. This expansion creates opportunities for students—inclusivity advocate Zainab Hafeez, pictured above, among them—to continue their studies without interruption. She remarked, “That was just awesome and convenient for me,” underscoring the accessibility provided by the new university.
