Keele University

Keele University is a public research university in Keele, Staffordshire, England. Originally established in 1949 as the University College of North Staffordshire, it received university status through a Royal Charter in 1962, becoming the University of Keele. The university pioneered the UK's dual honours degree system, offering students the chance to study two subjects together. It celebrated its 75th anniversary in 2024. Cambridge and Oxford extension lectures had been arranged in the Potteries since the 1890s, but outside any organised educational framework or establishment. In 1904, funds were raised by local industrialists to support teaching by the creation of a North Staffordshire College, but the project, without the backing of Staffordshire County Council, was abandoned. By the late 1930s, the Staffordshire towns of Longton, Fenton, Burslem, Hanley had grown into the largest conurbation in the UK without some form of university provision.